An Egyptian organization called “The Committee for the Protection of Democracy” is calling to engage in a political, constitutional and democratic reform in Egypt. This according to The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights’ (EOHR) web site.
The committee, comprising various parties in the Egyptian parliament and from Egyptian human-rights organizations, recently launched a campaign in which people signed a petition (without giving their full details) calling for reforms. Those who signed the petition “learnt the lesson of the American invasion of Iraq and its occupation…which would not have taken place had there not been a lack of democracy and a tyrant’s [Saddam] seizure of control. Therefore they desire to free the political life in Egypt of the restraints and limits on general liberties, basic human rights and genuine democracy,” the report stated.
The stormy debate among scholars over the last decade regarding whether one can talk of a civil society in the Arab world, examines the term “civil society” and the degree of its adaptability to the Arab world.
Researchers, mainly western, examine the institutional dimension and tend to see a civil society as one influenced mainly by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which can peacefully promote interests of different factions of the population, without fearing intimidation from the government. Human-rights organizations are an important element amongst such organizations.
Researchers also talk of the moral dimension, and study if the population at all regards itself as able and willing to promote changes and processes which will advance its own situation and interests.
Regarding these two dimensions, one can see that the Arab world is lagging behind the rest of the western world by far. There are researchers who claim that a civil society in the Arab world is not a valid concept, and one should talk of a ‘public sphere’. The most influential NGOs in the Arab world are actually the Islamic ones, who are more receptive to the needs of lower classes, providing them with education and financial assistance. While doing so, they instill Islamic ideas into these people, ideas which by nature are undemocratic and therefore are contrary to the very idea of a civil society, at least according to a few acceptable definitions of the term.
In light of this, it is interesting that human-rights organizations in Egypt, despite the many problems and restrictions they encounter in their work, still function and even press for extensive reforms in the Egyptian regime. Take the first paragraph of the petition for example:
“Electing the president of the republic (and his deputies) will be carried out via direct elections among more than one candidate,” or the sixth paragraph which talk about freedom of the press.
Whether this is an important change in the “public sphere” of Egypt, or just a lonely call in the desert, depends, as always, on the results.