Kirsten Powers has defied the Convention, and may have
broken it for good. She wrote: “Give Egypt some credit” which may sound normal
to people around the world but not in North America where it is as sacrilegious
to say something good about Egypt as it is to say something bad about Israel or
anything Jewish. Powers wrote the article for USA Today, which also came under
the subtitle: “The recent vote demonstrates that the country is moving towards
democracy,” and was published on January 22, 2014.
She put the readers in the correct frame of mind by telling
them in the first paragraph of her piece that Egypt is an ancient society, which
means that change does not come to it easily. But despite this reality, the
country has “made history” says the author, by voting on a constitution that
protects the rights of women, and bans religious discrimination among other
desirable provisions.
Unhappy with what she saw happen in America in response to the Egyptian referendum
on the constitution, especially what the Washington Post expressed in an
editorial that was titled: “Egypt 's
bogus democracy,” Kirsten Powers responded with her own article to set the
record straight. This is a constitution that stands in stark contrast to the
previous ones, she reminded everyone; it is groundbreaking and it sets the
stage for holding presidential and parliamentary elections in the coming
months. As friends of Egypt ,
she calls on Americans to celebrate rather than criticize.
She spoke with Amr Moussa who drafted the constitution, with
Dr. Mona Makram-Ebeid who was a member of Egypt 's
parliament, and is now a professor at the American
University in Cairo , and she spoke with Frank G. Wisner who
was President Obama's envoy in 2011. All three have stressed the fact that Egypt 's new
constitution expands on the rights of individuals, and bans all sorts of
discrimination.
Yes, like says the Washington Post, the constitution does
not diminish the power of the military sufficiently but like Wisner put it to
Kirsten Powers: “Egyptians hate chaos … they look around the Arab world, and
say 'do we want to go down the road of Libya
or Syria or Yemen ? No. We
don't want the chaos.'”
Well, that's what the American envoy said because it is what
he heard the Egyptians say about themselves. So, allow me to elaborate further,
being of Egyptian origin and still in tune with the culture there. Seven
thousand years of civilizations have given the Egyptians the time to shape a
society that comes as close as you can imagine to being both a law and order
society and a compassionate one.
In fact, time and time again, the people of Egypt have
demonstrated how comfortable they feel being “one with the army,” and seeing
nothing wrong in letting the latter as well as the police rule over them. They
will tolerate the security apparatus as long as it does not get out of line the
way it did under a previous administration that had gotten too old and too
distracted.
In addition to that, and to make sure that things will never
get out of hand again, the people of Egypt insisted on having term limits
placed on the administration, and they got it in the new constitution. Also, to
have a system of checks and balances that suits their temperament; they gave
the judiciary – that which will oversee all aspects of the nation's management
– as much powers as the security apparatus.
In short, the people of Egypt gave themselves the sort of
constitution which they, at this time, believe is the best that can be for
them. Will they feel the same way two years from now, two elections down the
road or two generations into the future? Let time speak in its own behalf.
Meanwhile, you can be certain that the one thing the Egyptians do not fear is
time itself.