"They can stand like giants. Why do they choose to stoop so low?"
0 Comments Published by Tom Gara on Saturday, August 25 at Saturday, August 25, 2007.
"Why a society with such a tremendous reservoir of human talent, historical legitimacy, state credibility and modern political leadership in the Arab world would need to use authoritarian police state tactics against its own citizens who engage in peaceful politics is one of the great, painful tragedies of the Arab world. Egypt is one of the few Arab countries that can influence the rest of the region, given the power, legitimacy, and respect of its unique legacy of Arab statehood, nationhood, citizenship rights, constitutionalism and pluralism. To lose Egypt to the emotional and intellectual dungeons of authoritarianism is to lose immense Arab treasure and potential."The Egyptian government gets taken to school in today's Daily Star Lebanon...
UPDATE: Speaking of vigorous schoolings, the heroic Egyptian reformist academic Saad Eddin Ibrahim had an Op-Ed in the Washington Post this week, which was also potent stuff:
"Sadly, this regime has strayed so far from the rule of law that, for my own safety, I have been warned not to return to Egypt. Regime insiders and those in Cairo's diplomatic circles have said that I will be arrested or worse. My family is worried, knowing that Egypt's jails contain some 80,000 political prisoners and that disappearances are routinely ignored or chalked up to accidents. My fear is that these abuses will spread if Egypt's allies and friends continue to stand by silently while this regime suppresses the country's democratic reformers."The Washington Post seems to be especially good with regards to publishing the words of Egyptian reformers and activists - they ran an Op-Ed by Wael Abbas a few months ago, and have published Ibrahim a few times before as well. They have also covered the ongoing Ayman Nour scandal pretty thoroughly. Someone in their newsroom obviously has pretty solid Egypt clues.
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