Ms. Fatma Abdalla, director of the press office for the Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt in Ottawa, claims in several Canadian newspapers that denying Egyptian individuals freedom of expression by banning the TV series Knight Without a Horse, "would not be synonymous with the democratic principles that Egyptian society follows." Exactly what "democratic principles" is Ms. Abdalla referring to?
Perhaps the ones that were responsible for expelling the renowned Egyptian playwright Ali Salem from the Union of Egyptian Writers over a year ago for visiting Israel, several times from 1994-1996, and for publishing a book on those visits. Or perhaps the ones that were responsible for imprisoning Egypt's most prominent advocate of democracy and open government, Saad Eddin Ibrahim, last year, sentencing him to seven years in prison for his so-called pro-Israel stance and democratic views. He and his colleagues publicized Egypt's presidential nepotism and corruption and the discrimination against Egypt's Coptic Christian minority. His respected democracy organization, Cairo's Ibn Kaldun Centre, was shut down by the government two years ago and 27 of his colleagues were sentenced to prison terms. He also committed what was perceived in Egypt as the Great Evil: visiting Israel and talking with the Israeli left-wing peace movement. Imagine that.
Knight Without a Horse, the Egyptian dramatization of the anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, merely infuses the masses with a virulent hatred of Jews. Criticism and open debate are suppressed in Egypt. This only creates the conditions in which Islamist fanaticism and Jew-hatred flourish - conditions that are in violation of the 1979 Israel-Egyptian peace accord, which calls on both sides to prevent incitement against each other. Yet Ms. Abdalla reassures us that the drama "has passed through a rigorous censorship governmental committee" prior to being aired. But those who do not reflect Egypt the way the government wants can lose their jobs, are imprisoned, receive death threats, or are killed. Is this what Ms. Abdalla calls democracy? Only the state version of events dominates in Egyptian media. Egypt's so-called freedom of expression restricts the expression of anyone who dissents from the government view.
You will never see pro-Israel or pro-American points of view in the Egyptian and Arab press, loaded as it is with vicious anti-Jewish rhetoric. Yet, in a truly democratic country such as Israel, one will find pro-Arab letters to the editor in Israeli publications. If Egypt truly followed democratic principles, then articles such as this one would run in its publications.
--------------------------------------------------------
Cynthia Yacowar-Sweeney is an associate with the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research (CIJR) in Montreal.
Perhaps the ones that were responsible for expelling the renowned Egyptian playwright Ali Salem from the Union of Egyptian Writers over a year ago for visiting Israel, several times from 1994-1996, and for publishing a book on those visits. Or perhaps the ones that were responsible for imprisoning Egypt's most prominent advocate of democracy and open government, Saad Eddin Ibrahim, last year, sentencing him to seven years in prison for his so-called pro-Israel stance and democratic views. He and his colleagues publicized Egypt's presidential nepotism and corruption and the discrimination against Egypt's Coptic Christian minority. His respected democracy organization, Cairo's Ibn Kaldun Centre, was shut down by the government two years ago and 27 of his colleagues were sentenced to prison terms. He also committed what was perceived in Egypt as the Great Evil: visiting Israel and talking with the Israeli left-wing peace movement. Imagine that.
Knight Without a Horse, the Egyptian dramatization of the anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, merely infuses the masses with a virulent hatred of Jews. Criticism and open debate are suppressed in Egypt. This only creates the conditions in which Islamist fanaticism and Jew-hatred flourish - conditions that are in violation of the 1979 Israel-Egyptian peace accord, which calls on both sides to prevent incitement against each other. Yet Ms. Abdalla reassures us that the drama "has passed through a rigorous censorship governmental committee" prior to being aired. But those who do not reflect Egypt the way the government wants can lose their jobs, are imprisoned, receive death threats, or are killed. Is this what Ms. Abdalla calls democracy? Only the state version of events dominates in Egyptian media. Egypt's so-called freedom of expression restricts the expression of anyone who dissents from the government view.
You will never see pro-Israel or pro-American points of view in the Egyptian and Arab press, loaded as it is with vicious anti-Jewish rhetoric. Yet, in a truly democratic country such as Israel, one will find pro-Arab letters to the editor in Israeli publications. If Egypt truly followed democratic principles, then articles such as this one would run in its publications.
--------------------------------------------------------
Cynthia Yacowar-Sweeney is an associate with the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research (CIJR) in Montreal.