Just a few short months after John Kerry disingenuously congratulated Egypt’s military junta for “transitioning to democracy”, the young students who helped galvanize the 2011 Egyptian Revolution are back protesting its increasingly draconian rule. Campus protests have broken out in several major cities calling for the release of imprisoned student activists and for the removal of new limits on academic freedom imposed by the regime.
As part of wide-ranging campaign to stifle popular dissent, the government of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has recently given itself broad powers to directly appoint university heads, dismiss faculty without the possibility of appeal, and force students to sign documents promising “not to participate in political activities” in their housing applications. Private security firms have also been hired to enforce order on campus and monitor activists.
Predictably, these measures have led to outrage among students – and equally as predictable, their protests have been met with harsh retribution from the military regime.
According to Human Rights Watch, more than 100 students have been detained since the start of the school year on October 11th. Video shot by student activists has shown images of protestors teargassed and brutalized by baton-wielding riot police.
Despite this, the Obama administration has remained steadfast in its support of the Egyptian government. Indeed, in the face of an escalating campaign of repression by the Sisi regime – including a Tiananmen Square-scale massacre of protestors, arbitrary detention, extrajudicial killings and torture – the American government has seemingly doubled down on its support for him.
Earlier this year the U.S. concluded a major arms deal with the Egyptian government, even as popular activists once heralded as the vanguard of democracy languished in prison. In response to rampant human rights abuses, the American government has remained tactfully mute, even offering inexplicable praise at times for the Egyptian government’s non-existent commitment to “democracy”.
While the crackdown originally targeted its fury at supporters of deposed President Mohammed Morsi, it has now extended itself to left-wing groups and civil society activists. Major NGO’s have been forced out of the country, and journalists have been imprisoned after public show trials.
The sad truth behind all this is that the U.S. has always been a committed enemy of democracy in Egypt. Apart from a few short weeks in 2011 when global media coverage of popular demonstrations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square made such a position politically untenable, the U.S. has consistently supported Egyptian dictators willing to align with American policies in the region – particularly support for Israel and Gulf Arab dictatorships.
The reality of this has not been lost on Egyptians, who have seen successive American governments help impose military rule upon them and stifle their hopes for a democratic future.
It’s worth remembering that the ideology which inspired Al Qaeda was itself born in the torture chambers of Egyptian government prisons. And when the military under General Sisi last year intervened to annul democratic elections – killing, torturing and imprisoning Muslim Brotherhood political activists in the process – it made clear that peaceful political participation was not an option available to Islamist groups.
While heretofore such groups have largely eschewed a violent response in the (likely misplaced) hope that the international community will eventually intervene on their behalf, it’s difficult to imagine them continuing on this path indefinitely in the face of escalating repression.
Abboud al-Zumar, a former member Egyptian Islamic Jihad who spent 30 years in prison for his role in the assassination of Anwar Sadat, said upon his amnesty after the 2011 Revolution:
“The revolution created a new mechanism, the mechanism of strong, peaceful protests…the climate for armed action is finished and the main reason is the atmosphere of freedom we are now establishing… violence breeds violence.”
Those avenues of peaceful democratic protest and representation have now been violently shut. As many analysts have pointed out, the repression of the Sisi regime in many ways dwarfs that of even Mubarak or Sadat.
It remains to be seen what these policies – both tacitly and actively condoned by the Obama administration – will eventually give rise to in response. But if history is any guide, the answer will not be good.
Photo: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Let’s act like that happened, let’s consider it relevant material. Let’s point out that it is, and that foreign relations are important. Let’s acknowledge that they are human beings, and consider that a fact.
Let’s all act like we understand their culture and history! Let’s act like that’s meaningful at this point. Let’s point out obvious facts and act like there’s consequences to doing that, let’s act like that’s understood. Let’s all act like we’re in the stone ages and that Tutankhamen exists, that appears irrelevantly relevant in an ambiguously definite sort of way. Let’s act like there’s a dictatorship, let’s act like that’s a fact. Let’s all live with that fact, and accept it as true. Let’s act like that’s happening.
Well when it comes to democracy promotion no country listen to America anymore; the world has discovered long ago the duplicity and murders of this country policy promotion. The American government; their elites and of course their famous editorial writers work very well in this double speak. I remember very well these writers at the Tahir square mingling with protesters in denouncing Mobarak and shouting democracy, but where are they when Sisi’s coup removed the first elected President in Egypt history. The Sisi regime in Egypy is a contraction of Saudi Arabia, UAE, United States and of course Isreal to subvert the will of Egyptian people. Violence begets violence, so get ready for more terrorists in the future.
It is clear that the US has embraced El-Sisi. But he may not be able to stay in power. It would seem that his crackdown on journalism and human rights in Egypt is contrary to American values. On the other hand, he is in power. Why not deal with him and keep some influence over him?
If the United States is good with El-Sisi and people like him, then who is the United States not good with? What kind of government does the United States not want to see in the Middle East? The honest answer to that is: the US does not want to see a Muslim dominated democracy unite the people. A stable Muslim democracy that does not like the US would be the worst possible outcome. Peaceful Muslim democracies could act in concert with each other and influence the region against Western influence. ISIS is not the worst outcome as long as they stay over there. ISIS can be bombed forever. El-Sisi’s brutality is not a problem either. In fact, he is a partner. He is weak because he is fundamentally crooked and he has a lot of blood on his hands. But that too is good in a way because his weakness makes Egypt weak and malleable.
This ugly explanation is the only one that makes sense of what the US is doing.
I wonder what role internet and cell phones are playing is this crackdown. What technologies are the Authorities using to monitor and track dissent?
Mr. Hussain
“……The reality of this has not been lost on Egyptians, who have seen successive American governments help impose military rule upon them and stifle their hopes for a democratic future……”
That statement is suspicious at the least. It was massive protests against Morsi which led to the removal of Morsi in the first place. The US supported the election of the Muslim Brotherhood and not only criticized the military overthrow of Morsi, but threatened to withhold military aid to Egypt which was given to Egypt as a part of the Camp David Agreement signed by Sadat in 1979. The Camp David accords are a bedrock US policy in the Middle East. This seriously threatened the military leadership of Egypt. Saudi Arabia supported (and was behind) the coup in Egypt and put together an aid package to the Egyptian military which far surpassed aid given by the US (according to the Guardian):
“……The kingdom has backed its words with money, and oil. It has already put together an $12bn (£7.7bn) aid package along with the UAE and Kuwait which is four times as much as the military and economic grants from the US and the EU combined ($1.5bn and $1.3bn respectively)…….”
Egyptian and Saudi security are tied together – and the Saudis opposed the MB like the plague (terrorists). Prince Bandar made a trip to Russia at about the same time that Egypt signed a military defense agreement with the Russians after the coup putting effective pressure on the US to reinstate the military aid.
“……Last month, this same mistrust of Washington prompted Egyptian military leader Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to choose Russia as the destination of his first visit to a non-Arab country since the July removal of Islamist president Muhammad Morsi. In the wake of that coup, the United States suspended the transfer of some weapons systems to Egypt, spurring Sisi to seek Moscow’s help in diversifying the country’s sources of military procurement. According to various reports, he inked deals to purchase $2 billion worth of weapons from Russia during the February 12-13 visit…..”
The support for al-Sissi by the US goes far beyond a simple aid package to a longtime ally in the Arab world – and it’s an extreme simplification to blame the US for the crack down on leftist demonstrators. The Middle East is currently in turmoil as Islamists, peaceful democracy protesters and regional powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran, vie for power and influence. All of these factors are driving US policy in the Middle East – but only the US is being held to the fire in this complex geopolitical environment.
The Arab Spring is a threat to the authoritarian regimes and regional interests driven by oil and hegemony (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Hezbollah, Syria, Russia, US etc.) which is why the leftist demonstrators in Egypt are being arrested. Sooner or later, these demonstrations will grow in size which is what led to the overthrow of Mubarak. In the meantime, until the situation is resolved between Iran and Saudi Arabia, actions in the Middle East by all participants – like in Syria and Egypt, for example – will revolve around these regional powers. Arab Spring participants currently do not have the power to compete in this environment as was demonstrated in Syria and Egypt.
Put in another way, blaming the US for the crack down on leftist demonstrators is wrong in my opinion.
You couldn’t be more wrong: it wasn’t massive protests against Morsi that removed him from office. There was even a NY Times article which revealed that the Obama administration made a phone call indicating it was now time for Morsi to be removed from office and be replaced with al Sisi (“daddy says we only have one more hour left to play” is what Morsi’s staff are quoted as saying). It was all an inside job, Morsi’s government was sabotaged from the old Mubarak loyalists. You make all the wrong conclusions with all of the wrong facts. The U.S. said hardly against the bloody coup, Kerry even met with al Sisi during the massacre. Dude you got it all wrong.
I partly agree with you. It’s definitely a complex situation and many powers, in particular Saudi Arabia and it’s gulf allies, have specific interests in Egypt which makes it a lot harder to make the right humanitarian choice. Having that said I don’t see the US or the EU making efforts to democratize Egypt and pressuring Al-Sisi to stop cracking down on protesters, journalists and human rights activists. Instead they chose to support the Egyptian military and you can definitely blame them for thát. Of course you can’t blame them for all that is going on in Egypt and it would be ridiculous to suggest that the US is fully responsible for the crackdown on leftist demonstrators, but it would also be ridiculous to suggest that the US and the EU have nothing to do with it at all. The west is just among the other geopolitical players, and, unfortunately as usual, it overshadows humanitarian commitments.
When we all come to accept that the United States is first and foremost, a business, with subsidiaries throughout the planet, growing and propagating their brand, then all else becomes easy to understand.
The CEO’s and board members of this behemoth and its subsidiaries are the false faces that are presented to an unwitting world populace, a populace so engaged in the time consuming job of basic survival, they have no time to consider dissent.
Notice the speed with which dissent is dealt with, whether it be in Egypt against students, or in the United States, against anyone who is perceived as being capable of coalescing opposition.
Some recognize where this is going, the Snowden’s and Greenwald’s of the world, who against extraordinarily powerful and dangerous entities, seek to get the word out.
I personally doubt their efforts will pull people out of their apathy.
The forces arrayed against dissent are united in their resolve, and with a complicit worldwide mainstream media, they are well able to undermine any movement that may appear to be sustainable.
The all-encompassing 24/7/365 surveillance is intended to be their early warning system, now so fully deployed even individuals in tiny rural hamlets and townships are monitored.
“We the People” have effectively become mindless slaves herded daily into and out of the various work centers, created to keep the behemoth alive and eternally alert.
Unfortunately, It’s that apathy which inhibits any real change here in the US. I can’t attest to the rest of the western cadre but here it runs very deep. The people are cajoled from sunup to sundown to accept the status quo and to not use their brains for even a single original thought. If gentle persuasion fails then the fear factory steps in. Be afraid of everything, terrorists, disease , drones. Then there’s the struggle just to live to deal with. Out of 4 children only one is engaged in issues that affect their freedoms or matters of war and peace. The other three are working long arduous hours raising my grandchildren and putting food on the table and securing a roof over their heads. So, I can’t really blame them for not joining another struggle with unclear objectives and dubious chance of success. Those of us who can must fight for the apathetic masses who by no fault of their own find the struggle too daunting at this point in their lives.
Keep in mind that I enjoy your material and that the following is a parody of sorts.
You foolishly start off the article with a personal attack on John Kerry being disingenuous about bringing democracy to Egypt. Where is the discrepancy between Egyptians heralding these newfound freedoms and citizens of Egypt protesting draconian rule? After all, there is nothing in democracy itself that carries a reputation of having draconian rule! You simply made the mistake of not trusting John Kerry that democracy has arrived in Egypt. The fact that the president of Egypt has made students of that nation sign agreements not to participate in that democracy as John Kerry ushered in merely points out the obvious that the citizens of Egypt unanimously decided not to engage in the freedoms that democracy provides. You could call it a lifestyle choice.
This Egyptian democracy that John Kerry ushered in with the word, “Be”, was obviously all that was needed on the part of the United States of America being a bastion of democracy itself for Egypt’s president to apply this very same standard that would apply to all citizens of Egypt. The undeniable fact that there’s been a “massacre of protestors, arbitrary detention, extrajudicial killings, and torture” on Egyptian citizens by it’s own leaders merely shows that democracy has dawned. After all, these four phenomena are the core of a healthy, vibrant democracy which the United States of America can claim credit for. By which I mean that John Kerry is full of shit and that the Egyptian leadership appears to be following the path otherwise known as not a democracy. Because there’s obviously no reason why the United States of America would not welcome a democracy in Egypt so that these two nations can engage in a fair exchange of culture and equitable treatment. Unless there happens to be a deceptive air in the midst between the parties who happen to control the resources and power in the countries otherwise known as an ulterior motive. So what I’m getting at is there appears to be an ulterior motive in the whole thing and that the established power needs to be challenged in order to effect a reasonable outcome. This would only ensure the integrity of the handling of the power itself and would only make sense for the benefit of the two nations!
So in the end I can’t help but point out that I need to thank you for writing this article.
Your comment is a senseless rambling that makes no sense, totally unclear what you are trying to say. You need to say what you think clearly, directly, and concisely. You have done none of these things.
John Kerry is full of shit
So I need to thank you, deschutes, for the following compliment:
“Your comment is a senseless rambling that makes no sense, totally unclear what you are trying to say.”
Because I was mocking John Kerry and the Egyptian leadership.
Thanks for publishing this, as the MSM simply won’t. It is important to add that el Sisi was trained for many years in the US military and has a very close relationship with the DOD and political leadership. Morsi’s election was democratic and fair–but Israel and USA didn’t like the outcome of that election…so the US government forced the coup to get rid of Morsi and replace him with el Sisi. It is absolutely disgusting. In truth, I think Israel decided that Morsi must go: el Sisi will do Israel’s bidding and keep the rafallah crossing closed, and most importantly crush the muslim brotherhood with a reign of terror, torture and disappearances. This is all very pleasing to Obama, Clintons, Kerry etc as they now have a brand new Egyptian dictator to replace Mubarak who was getting old. The USA only supports democratic elections when the outcome is to their advantage. The USA looks very, very bad allowing el Sisi to mow down so many peaceful protestors, and the death sentences by the hundreds. What a fucked up country the USA has become :-(
You could also add the Hams election in 2006, when the Gaza massacres escalated to an unpreceding point! Democracy to us and israel means what their main interests are. If the democracy election choose differently, it´s automatically a dictatorship! But hard-power does not win always the eharts and souls of the public opinion, as we witnessed clearly what happenned on the last Gaza genocide! Thanks god history is ciclical, some day sooner than many think the axis of power will turn around.
From the tone of this article you indicate that Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood elected Government should not have been removed by the Egyptian military. But he had a full year to do what he promised and revive the Egyptian economy, and either did nothing or was ineffectual, he was elected because he offered a welcome change from Military Rule, but the Egyptian people did not expect to see him emerge as a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood once he felt confident enough to do so and to see him spend all his efforts trying to consolidate the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, much to the general population’s displeasure. The population pretty much revolted against Morsi’s clumsy attempts at this and the majority were pleased to see the change. He also made the mistake of alienating the military by removing their senior officer and trying to bring the military under the Muslim Brotherhood control, I suspect this was his fatal error. You can’t have it both ways by criticising the US if they interfere and criticising the US if they don’t interfere. Here you imply that the US were instrumental in removing Morsi, but they were not. Remember Obama’ White House praised Morsi non stop while he was in power, right up until the Army took over, against the White House’s wishes, but much to the pleasure of most, and by most I mean the majority of Egyptians. Today the White House has realized that the Army is in control and is not interfering, instead wisely staying away. There are protests now against the Military rule, true enough, but how many are Muslim Brotherhood inspired and seek to re-instate the Muslim Brotherhood by the use of force?
This is so true and wise, it should become the US (the mother of all democracies and the source of all freedoms) official MO. The US Constitution needs to be amended ASAP to stipulate that, whenever the elected executive or congress fail to revive the economy or prove incompetent a bloody military coup followed by massacres is in order.
We all agree. No?
It’s funny, I had this exact same conversation with my Egyptian Coptic Christian coworker (see below). For reasons she couldn’t explain, she believes that there shouldn’t be coups in the US but it’s Okay to have them in Egypt. Because the country is full of animals who don’t deserve better.
I don’t support the coup – even if a government comes to power that does things you don’t like, that’s democracy. They won every election they contested, handily. But even if there was a coup and it was popularly supported, what came afterwards was absolutely beyond the pale. They should’ve held new elections right away and if the MB was unpopular enough they would’ve lost. Instead they massacred and crushed them mercilessly while they peacefully protested, it was and is shameful.
I just want to point out a misconception, which is a trick more known here in Egypt. Obama is seen as an Enemy, so when he backs the Brotherhood it makes them so much easier to attack. Which I’m sure he knows, very well. Especially when the (west-backed) media keeps bombarding us with the “Morsi backed by Obama, Morsi the TRAITOR” story consistently. The Same thing could have been done to Sisi, but the Media was throwing its “International ties healed by Sisi, Sisi the Messiah” spin on the situation.
Also, contradictory to common belief, the protest are NOT by the Muslim Brotherhood members. Some are, some aren’t. It’s just against another The President/Lapdog to the Western Dictators. For example, I was born a Christian Egyptian, all my family are the same, in fact, I don’t even know a single person from the Muslim brotherhood, not on purpose, just never happened. Yet I’m Anti-Sisi and want him out. I find it hard to imagine a worse President, to be honest.
Also to put it all in perspective, I also (personally) want Morsi back, as a person, not as a Muslim Brotherhood regime (again, as media wants to spin it). I thought he was doing great, as great as you can against the might and wrath of the West. As far as I can see he tried to stand against enormous powers, and didn’t cave in like most Arabic Presidents. Which alone (in spite of any of his negatives) puts him ahead of any of the surrounding or previous Presidents, excluding Gaddafi. I don’t think we will be getting anyone as good as him again, it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance and we missed it. Such a shame.
One more thing, all that stuff is so hard to see even for Egyptians living amidst it. For many reasons that I won’t go into, but basically when you’re surrounded by lies, better lies and half-truths it would be a little foggy, to say the least. That’s why I’m speechlessly impressed by Glenn’s investigative work here, and in his previous article about Egypt. Somehow he reached to the bottom line of this play and to the heart of what is exactly happening. Just amazing, really.
Oh sorry, it’s not Glenn. It’s Murtaza. Great Work!! :)
My sentiments as well.
The United States government, its corporate owners, and the complicit media, are all engaged in keeping the people of the world entertained and busy trying to survive (Bread and Circuses).
An aware and alert population is the nightmare they fear.
Any opposition movement that may appear to be gaining traction, and become sustainable, is quickly eliminated, generally through the spreading of disinformation about their intent, and when opportunity occurs, violence, provided there is nothing that can tie them to it; fortunately they do make mistakes, some pretty big ones, as in the billions of dollars disbursed to fund the Ukraine problem.
This,
“Despite this, the Obama administration has remained steadfast in its support of the Egyptian government.”
is way, way off the mark. Remove the words “despite this” and you are closer to reality.
There is nothing really objectionable to the Obama administration (or the US corporate “government”) in the actions of the new, improved Egyptian fascist “government.”
They may make use of words to pretend otherwise, but the US Corporate Government Inc. is probably rather envious of the Sisi regime.
Does president Obama even know what is going on in the world? He gives good speeches but doesn’t seem connected with reality. It’s as if he shows up and reads what someone wrote for him and then puts the world on auto-pilot and goes home. Either that or he’s a lying dickhead. Both scenarios work equally well for me because no matter which one you choose the results are the same. We support democracy as long as it doesn’t upset the status quo. We support dictatorships for the same reason.
of HER nation not ‘his nation’
One of my co-workers is a Coptic Christian from Egypt. She is an ardent supporter of Sisi and she believes that all Muslims other than those who collaborate with the US and Israel are animals and should be killed. She was happy and proud of his nation when Sisi’s troops were massacring the street demonstrators after the coup.
Interestingly, she also claims that she’s all for freedom and democracy but, of course, Muslims (she calls them ‘the Brothers’) can’t have that because they are animals and animals don’t deserve it.
I listened to the same kind of casual talk from the mouths of Christians in Texas. Thousands of times.