May
21
Be Daring, Mr. Obama
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The U.S President needs to make clear where he stands on promoting democracy.
President Barack Obama’s decision to address the ‘Muslim world’ from Egypt has provoked a great deal of head-scratching from observers, myself included. I had hoped that the President would pick a location outside of the ‘Arab world’, to emphasize the diversity existent amongst Muslim nations (and perhaps to show that the notion of a ‘Muslim world’ is of our own making). The decision comes as part of a prominent public relations campaign to better ties with Muslims the world over. An interview with the satellite news station Al-Arabiya, and a speech to Turkey’s parliament, both emphasized the value of respect and the willingness on behalf of the United States to listen to the grievances of these nations. While this has been an effective start, the President would do well to make his speech in Cairo a compelling advocacy for the ills of autocratic political culture.
The likelihood that Obama ‘the pragmatist’ will make any room in his speech, however, for effective criticism of the Egyptian regime is quite low. Early signs from his administration indicate that the United States is willing to shelve its push for political reform in Egypt in order to gain that government’s cooperation on other regional issues. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, speaking after having met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, claimed that while the U.S would always support democratic reform, the $1.3 billion that Egypt receives in military aid would not be subject to any conditions of such reform. Obama, though, would be wise to follow his own wisdom, as expressed in an interview with the Washington Post during his campaign for the presidency in which he stated that despite the occasional necessity of working with repressive governments, “those interests need not and must not prevent us from lending our consistent support to those who are committed to democracy and respect for human rights.”
The President’s speech will be sure to draw much comparison to that of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, delivered in 2005 amidst the Bush administration’s forceful push for political reform in the Middle East (transcript). That speech upset the Egyptian President, who refused to visit Washington during President Bush’s second term. And while much of the political repression imposed by the Mubarak regime in the aftermath of that speech was also a response to it, it would be incorrect to assume that it wasn’t worth the trouble or that such efforts shouldn’t be repeated. Learning the right lessons from the past eight years of democracy promotion will be crucial to ensuring that Obama’s upcoming speech does not play directly into the hands of an authoritarian government.
What follows are five suggestions for what the President should say in Cairo:
- Stress the importance of democracy and human rights
The Bush administration’s push for democratic reform in Egypt produced a limited opening of political space for dissidents and opponents of the regime. Many candidates openly campaigned for both the presidency and seats in parliament, and a tangible democratic yearning filtered throughout Cairo’s streets. To be sure, the reform was not perfect and quite short-lived. The elections were predictably marred by fraud and vote-rigging, unconstructive political campaigns and corruption. Nevertheless, a democratic political culture cannot be cultivated overnight, and the gains made during this period were certainly to Egypt’s benefit. Ignoring democracy promotion would risk completely rolling back any of the limited advances made since 2003. And as far as human rights go, an emphasis should be placed on minorities and the protection a democratic political system affords them. Even if all of this is delivered in abstract fashion, the point will be well felt by the local regime.
- Speak out against torture
Police brutality has been a well documented, frequent occurrence in Egypt. A quick YouTube search reveals dozens of videos depicting a complete disrespect for human dignity on behalf of Egyptian officers. Egypt is also a prime destination for suspects in the C.I.A rendition program. As a former CIA agent has remarked, “If you want a serious interrogation, you send a prisoner to Jordan. If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria. If you want someone to disappear — never to see them again - you send them to Egypt.” Given the U.S experience with torture, and the positions that Obama has taken throughout his campaign and presidency, it would be morally negligent for this issue not to be brought up. As much as it is a domestic U.S debate, Obama should introduce the discussion on an international level.
- Speak out against discrimination
This point, as with the last, is related to addressing the necessity of human rights, and can be applicable to much of the ‘Muslim world’. In Egypt, Christians, Baha’is, and Bedouins (among others, certainly) are often treated poorly by the state. The President should make an effort to highlight the diversity within Muslim nations, so as to acknowledge the minorities as he addresses the majority. He would serve his cause well to relate the experience of black Americans, of his own story, to those of the repressed minorities in these nations. And if he’s feeling extremely brave, Obama could make a plea for anti-Semitic state-funded propaganda to cease. It’s high time that a head of state call the autocrats of the ‘Muslim world’ out on their complicity in the dissemination of that junk.
- Tell the Egyptian regime to ‘build, not destroy’
President Obama should repeat the line from his inaugural address in which he addressed leaders of the ‘Muslim world’, advising them to “know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.” Economic and human development is signal to the betterment of the Middle East and Muslim nations. Obama should tell the autocracies of the region that stifling the growth of human development will continue to engender antagonism to their rule. He should speak definitively about the inevitability of democracy, and make clear that when the day comes that all Egyptians are represented by their governments, an educated and skilled population will be to their collective advantage.
- Don’t be afraid of the regime
There will inevitably be a response by the Egyptian government to any principled advocacy of these issues. These campaigns tend to involve wide-scale political repression, imprisonment of oppositionists, and bravado about the interference in internal affairs of Egypt. Unfortunately the domestic population will likely suffer from this in the short term. But President Obama must not allow himself, his administration, or his principles to be intimated by such thuggery; a clear message must be sent that these values are not subject to concessions. The U.S administration must call the Egyptian government out on any future “I’ll show you” backlash that is to follow.
While the speech is likely to be littered with references to Iranian cooperation and Isreali-Palestinian peace, failing or refusing to mention these issues compellingly would only serve to embolden an aid-fueled autocracy that adheres little to international norms of behavior. It would also make this administration culpable in the stifling of political reform in Egypt and the ‘Muslim world.’