Translated Articles
Constitutionalizing the Identity … By Dina Asal
Article Date : 10 December 2013
Published at The voice of reason Organization: http://thevoiceofreason.de/en/article/10572
(This article was originally written in Arabic by Dina Asal for “Masrana” and translated also by Dina Asal for The Voice of Reason Organization).
You can view the original article in Arabic here: http://www.ouregypt.us/assal/d.asa10.html
There is a debate which does not seem to end each time a new proposed constitution is in negotiation, concerning the “identity article” and its formula in the constitution, in general. The rising issue of the identity of the State was not new in the fifty-member committee, headed by Mr. Amr Moussa, as the 100-member committee, headed by Senior Judge Hossam Al Ghariani, was tasked with writing the constitution of 2012, and has also taken up this argument, but differently. Then, they claimed that they established an Islamic state, therefore, from their point of view, it was necessary to be an article in the constitution to protect the identity, so they created article 12 in the Constitution of 2012. Article 12 adds that “the State shall safeguard the cultural and linguistic constituents of society, and foster the Arabization of education, science and knowledge.”
As if the Arabization of education, science and knowledge shall safeguard the cultural identity of the state. So, after the referendum on the constitution of 2012 and when the 'yes' vote got the majority, an MP belonging to the Salafist Al Nour Party said that the reason for the collapse of the education system and the decline in the level of graduates is teaching English. Accordingly, he demanded to prevent the teaching of the English language, as if the country couldn’t pass reforms, without the Article 12 that they created in the constitution of 2012 and insisted on it in the 50-committee in 2013, because it was within the articles that have been canceled.
The discussion of the Islamic state, the civil state, and the identity articles are always the cause of wide debate. Since it established in the minds of many people that when you talk about civilization, liberalism, secularism, nationalism, socialism or other terms, these terms mean disbelief in religion. Although they are - simply - not religions, they could provoke conflicts between the two groups. One group calls for the Islamic state, and another group calls for the civil state, although in the end, these are merely terms and what's most important is the way they're applied.
These different political orientations have several explanations, even though they were not a product of our culture, we have added the touch of the East. Of course, due to our geographical nature and innate identity, we are religious people by nature, and we know how to have a relationship between man and God. So these terms created by political practice will inevitably have a reference, and as we are in a state where most of the population are Muslims, it will naturally have an Islamic reference. In the end, we want a consensual constitution not favoring one person or one side over another and not support sectarianism, partisanism, mistrust, or exclusion.
Faith in political thought or conviction of ideology to the point of fanaticism, extremism and the desire to impose this thought or ideology and reject the other is what led some to spoil the name of goodness or corruption by the name of reform. Both of them don't offer anything to their country, except backwardness, reactionary and discrimination. When they just wear the dress of goodness or paying lip service to reform, but in fact, what occupies their minds are ideas to promote division. They only work according to their interests and their personal whims, talking about freedom, democracy and national liberation while their minds and consciences are originally occupied.
Maybe they are doing everything in their power to formulate the identity of Egypt as they want, but everyone misses that identity change whenever the circumstances, world, and age change. The proof of that, is the great transformations that we have lived through, the events that we are going through now, and what we will live through in the future. This does not mean that when time passes we will forget the past which carries our civilization and our culture, but does it mean to be an article in the constitution to identify our identity, either the cultural or national identity, and our lives shall be lost?!
Identity outbidding has led them to forget that Egypt is facing the threat of terrorism, and there is shedding of blood everyday. Either because of the terrorist bombings that kill soldiers, or sectarian attacks that target churches, or assassinations, like what happened with the National Security Officer, Mohamed Mabrouk, who was moving without guard and was assassinated by bullets of treachery, or victims of neglect, since train accidents have become distressingly common. Thus, many of lives are lost and the simple reason is, they live on the land of this country. But the government officials inevitably are responsible for the bloodshed. Because, to all those murdered by terrorism and neglect, the maximum reaction that could be given is, expressing condolences .. paying visits to the injured people .. paying compensation .. or receiving coffins, which is not different from what the previous government was doing. Then, when will people feel the transitional justice and reconciliation, and when will calm pervade the country instead of this black sphere?
Please preserve the unity of the homeland, it no longer tolerates further more discrimination and schisms in the name of identity. Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, talked about identity in his poem (Counterpoint), that he writes for the Palestinian intellectual, Edward Said, saying that: "Identity is the child of birth, but at the end, it is self-invention". I think this poetic line is better than any constitutional text, as it summarizes the issue and end matter.
Woman President of Egypt (Part 2) … By Dina Asal
Article Date : 03 November 2013
Published at The voice of reason Organization: http://thevoiceofreason.de/en/article/9815
(This article was originally written in Arabic by Dina Asal for “Masrana” and translated also by Dina Asal for The Voice of Reason Organization).
You can view the original article in Arabic here: http://www.ouregypt.us/assal/d.asa9.html
The present text is a continuation of an article that was published on 14 April 2013, titled (Woman President of Egypt). Today, I write the second part for two reasons: first, reading the heading "Woman President of Malawi reduces her salary and sells the country's presidential jet to feed a million people" in an attempt to avert food crisis and grow crops to fight malnutrition in the country. I think that by doing so, Joyce Banda sends a special message to every one that despises woman in authority positions. The second reason is my complete trust in women's authority, especially now that the political atmosphere is different. The first article was written when Dr. Morsi was the president of Egypt. At that time, holding early elections seemed impossible. Now, however, the circumstances have changed; we are on the threshold of parliamentary and presidential elections so women must assert themselves this time.
In discussing the Constitution after the revolution, we No, Constitution after two great revolutions which are January 25 and June 30, women must get attention in this constitution just to get some of their rights and achieve the equality between men and women. Beside protecting women from violence and sexism that they may face in communities unaware of a lot of things that relate to humanity and practice racism with all its forms in everyday life. Over the past few years in general and last year in particular, there have always been attempts to marginalize the woman role and relegate her participation through wasting their rights, assassinating them morally, and promoting sexism by saying woman must remain at her - home - which means that she has no right to pretend or participate in the political or even practical life. I think that if they were able to infanticide her as they were doing in the days of the ignorance, they did.
In fact, woman has the right to elect the candidate apart from being that candidate a man or a woman. She also should give her vote to those who worth and will achieve the hopes of the Egyptians. As there is a reality saying that women have played a major role in making the future so their participation in political life, whether by standing for election or by voting is an inevitable matter. The first woman ruled in the world was the Egyptian pharaonic queen "Hatshepsut", who is considered one of the most successful pharaohs. Her rule characterized by force and peace at the same time, where she was staying good relations with the countries of the ancient Near East. It seems that the countries ruled by women are more peaceful than countries ruled by men.
The most famous model for a woman rule is "Bilqis" a monarch of the ancient kingdom of Sheba that mentioned in the Qur'an, as this great woman proved her wisdom when she said {Ye chiefs! advise me in (this) my affair: no affair have I decided except in your presence} .. from sura An-Naml (verse: 32). This is what said by the queen of ancient kingdom of Sheba to her advisors to counsel them about the letter which received from Solomon. When they told her about their willingness to go to war, she was wiser than them and aware of Solomon soldiers and his armies and know that the jinn, birds and men are under his control so, she resorted to subside, peace, reconciliation and act deceptively at the same time. She decided to send him a gift to see his reaction and told her people If he accepted the gift then he is a king so go to war but If not accepted then he is a prophet so follow him. Her wisdom enabled her to judge what is right as if she applies the words of Allah to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him {consult them in affairs (of moment)} .. from sura Al-i-'Imran (verse: 159). Also Almighty has praised the virtuous saying {who (conduct) their affairs by mutual Consultation} .. from sura Ash-Shura (verse: 38). She is Bilqis, an ignorant woman worshiped the sun but proved her sage and wise and this shows that sometimes women are superior to men in their wisdom.
No one can deny the role of women also in the Islamic era. Although Islam urges the political participation of women, there are also who prohibited women from taking positions of authority and leadership based upon the statement of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him: {A people will not succeed who are commanded by a woman}. Despite this Hadith was said in a private incident but it is one of the Hadiths that the nation receives with acceptance despite of the governance method has been differed. Now, the rule of institutions not the rule of the individual and this is what happened with the former president Morsi, where the state institutions were addressing his decisions. Therefore if the woman became president she would be in the presidential position but the rule is institutionalized. There are a large institutions in the state has sovereignty such as the judiciary, army, police and other institutions that operate according to the constitution which defines the purview of each institution, including the institution of the presidency. For example, the president has not the right to stop, settle or modify the judiciary order and if that is happened, it is considered as violation. The president of the state does not work according to his/her mind or personal temperament, but there are the constitution, laws, consultants, parliament and Vice- President so the president whatever a man or a woman, he or she, does not have the authority of absolute rule.
The Committee of 50 that work on future constitution is receiving suggestions concerning the constitution legislation. Among these suggestions, demand that a future constitution currently being drafted must include quotas for women participation not less than 35% in parliament. Defining the women's share of seats in parliament is very important to achieve "justice" between men and women. I mean not using the word "equality" between men and women in this matter specifically, because equality is not synonym of justice. There may be equality, but justice cannot be achieved and in this regard of the quotas for women, it is achieving justice. Although some people may consider it as discrimination, it is positive discrimination as the quotas for women should not be just on the parliamentary elections, but it must be activated also in the presidential elections. There must be a number of women candidates entering the presidential race in front of male candidates. Also this idea of quotas for women has to be activated in the employment of women in the State. There must be legislation prevent sexism when applying to a job as only efficiency that determine who is worth the position and that is to reform the dysfunctional situation.
Finally, everyone offers solutions for administration of what is just for woman, but she has the big role to raise herself to noble rank and knows her value in case of her participation in life. The state now is built so every Egyptian has to participate in this building by exerting effort as much as his love to this country. I always hear the phrase "A Better Future for Our Children" as if they will not enjoy this better future with their children, then what about those who have no children! - So we want this better future for us before our children.
Bet on the mirage … By Dina Asal
Article Date : 10 October 2013
Published at The voice of reason Organization: http://thevoiceofreason.de/en/article/9398
(This article was originally written in Arabic by Dina Asal for “Masrana” and translated also by Dina Asal for The Voice of Reason Organization).
You can view the original article in Arabic here: http://www.ouregypt.us/assal/d.asa7.html
The Muslim Brotherhood failed to rule Egypt after mixing earthly matters with the sanctity of religion, and after proving, through their political practice, that they were not of a religious but a petrodollar reference, working according to their interests even when cooperation with the enemy was required. They led the country into collapse instead of growth, and thus betting on them was like betting on a mirage.
That group, who claimed to apply the Sharia law, worked on causing discontent and dispute. They tried to silence their opponents and committed many political crimes under the cover of being a religious party, while what they did in fact had nothing to do with Islam. The Islamic civilization, through its tolerant doctrine, achieved justice among people and called for rational discussion and the use of science to stay in touch with reality. It seems, however, that the Muslim Brotherhood thought that their candidate was elected as an eternal president. Therefore, when millions of people announced their rejection of the rule of Dr. Morsi, his followers sought to transform society into chaos and disorder by claiming that those opponents were infidels, and by asking for support from the West, and even threatening with violence until they fell into the trap of terrorism.
As a result, the court order to dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood was a successful and an inevitable step, especially after their refusal to accept the status quo and describing what happened as a military coup, while what happened was in fact a revolution in accordance with the will of the masses. This group announced explicitly their intense hostility toward Egyptians and the Egyptian army, while Egyptians are blessed by a bond with Allah till the Day of Judgment and blessed by the best soldiers on earth.
Despite the end of the Muslim Brotherhood’s reign, we are now back to the debate on whether to start the parliamentary elections or the presidential elections first, and the raging controversy regarding the nature of the electoral system of the Parliament elections. The majority of political parties prefer an all-inclusive list while few parties want the individual system. Although there are multiple parties and diverse views, each party is preparing to put in all the money necessary to support their party's candidates to win the next elections, hoping to get the majority of votes – especially when there is a fear of religious parties taking over again.
One of the most prominent proposals made by the Committee responsible for making amendments to the Constitution was the banning of religious parties and illegal groups in the new constitution. However, there needs to be a step to dissolve all current parties since they did not bring their optimal performance but rather sought to fulfill their own interests in accordance with certain ideologies used to build a base of supporters. As a result, all party members found themselves bound by their Party’s ideas, ideologies, decisions and objectives. This may advocate extreme political measures and, consequently, tension between parties, who left a sphere of political activity and were only concerned with their Partisan affairs, while the biggest loser at the end is the citizen who chooses the Parliamentary representatives to find them either asleep or talking about issues that reflect their ignorance and oblivion to the critical issues. Some act as opponents merely to appear on cameras inside the chamber of the Parliament, and a few of them are genuinely concerned with the issue. For example, Al Nour Party members in the Committee of Fifty, who is making amendments to the constitution, still insist on the ‘Arabization’ of science and refuse to stand up in mourning of the police martyrs, so at the end nothing changes.
Although I never agreed with the involvement of the Muslim Brotherhood in our politics, I agree with Hassan El-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood group, concerning the political parties as he saw them working on dividing and separating people. Since the group founded its political party, which is inconsistent with the thought of its founder, they succeeded in splitting the society and discriminating between the people, and proved they were seeking to rule and not to propagate Sharia. We found that the ruling of the Freedom and Justice Party was a mirror image of the ruling of the former National Democratic Party, starting with the headquarters to the partisan tyranny and ending with the suggestion that any ruling party would do the same practices. Thus, it is necessary to ban all parties at least these days.
Regarding this matter, I would like to refer to Gamal Abdel Nasser's bargain in the fifties and sixties, when Abdel Nasser’s regime was authoritarian and populist at once. It forged a ruling bargain with the labor force and the middle class, while all political parties and civil-society organizations were banned. At the same time, the regime of Abdel Nasser raised slogans of socialism only in order to gain popularity, where socialism was used as a means to gain popularity followed by the use of oppressive power. The most prominent example of that is Adolf Hitler, the head of the German Nazi Party that was based on the principles of socialism. Hitler also committed crimes against the world on behalf of his Socialist Party, which led to the fall of Nazi rule. Later, the party was announced illegal in Germany, and the use of its symbols and ideas were prevented. The same issue is present in Egypt with the Muslim Brotherhood group and its political party, although they did not use the principles of socialism but an even more powerful weapon: religion. They lost at the end.
It has been proven that betting on a party regardless of its ideology is like betting on the mirage. I think it is necessary to ban all parties until Egypt becomes one team, while each one of us has their own thoughts, ideas, and beliefs. The citizens must make their decision as the do not need anyone to decide for them. At the end, we are all Egyptians who only care about our home "Egypt".
Woman President of Egypt ... By Dina Asal
Article Date : 25 September 2013
Published at The voice of reason Organization: http://thevoiceofreason.de/en/article/8885
(This article was originally written in Arabic by Dina Asal for Menbar El Shourouk newspaper and translated also by Dina Asal for The Voice of Reason Organization).
You can view the original article in Arabic here: http://shorouknews.com/menbar/view.aspx?cdate=14042013&id=df31f56c-901d-4282-9c6a-680eb377ba39
It is also published again recently in Arabic at (Masrana): http://www.ouregypt.us/assal/d.asa8.html
Although women are dominating all aspects of life, to be Egypt's president is something closer to fiction than fact, especially these days. After the January 25th revolution, we dreamed of changing the future, but rather found that change is moving in the direction of the past which is more rigid and racist. During this period, Egyptian women achieved some gains, from having the right to learn and work to taking up judicial and ministerial positions, and have proven their superiority. Although there has been a set of laws that do women justice, these laws, however, become threatened when the country is ruled by a dictatorial regime and close-minded people.
These women have played a role in the revolution which no one can deny, but, unfortunately, they have also been subjected to systematic violence and immoral harassment which worked to deport and intimidate the female protesters in order not to use their political rights. Fierce attacks were also launched against those women in the name of piety; they were even accused of being crusaders and immoral. Those who were talking about piety and religion are, in fact, religion dealers for they want to violate and apply Heraba punishment against the opponents. Thus, If the entire society is not advocating freedom, particularly the freedom of women, we will be back to the dark ages. And this is exactly what they are seeking to achieve: to make the new generations unaware of what freedom means and satisfied with the status quo.
As all dictatorial regimes, those wanted to repress the women and deny them their rights, all in the name of the law produced by the dictator and his followers. The Clause on 'female equality' has been canceled after the dispute over whether the constitution which supports it actually contradicts the "Islamic law." In an attempt to keep women away from political life, the parliament code includes at least one woman candidate in every list in the parliamentary election, without the requirement for identifying its position in the list: half or one-third, on the grounds that it is more desirable to be given to her instead of having her excluded. However, this seemed as the first steps of the exclusion.
I am saddened to see this happen in Egypt now after we thought that we were on the threshold of a new political era. Despite the worthiness of women in the political sphere, this has not help them stand as equals to any other candidate; it has not either helped in making the people choose between her and the other man on grounds of efficiency and ability to serve the people and achieve the demands and implement the promises. I do not even know if women will be nominated for the presidential elections in Egypt one day, and if this ever happens, will the fact that she is a woman be a complelling enough of a reason to prevent both men and women from seeing how eligible she is, just as a man is, to be a merited president?!
Although there were examples from history when women ruled, women then still faced opposition despite their success. For example, Shajarat al-Durr, who ruled Egypt after the death of her husband, Saleh Ayoub, by a pledge allegiance from the Mamluks. Although she had shown skill and firmness in the management of state affairs and succeeded in liquidation of crusaders but the circumstances were not favorable for her to stay in power for a long time, especially after facing a fierce opposition inside and outside the country. The Egyptians denounced a woman sitting on the throne and, thus, organized demonstrations against her. Caliph al-Musta'sim, the last Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad at that time, sent a sarcastic message saying: "If men have been nonexistent, let us know and we will send men to your country", knowing that this Caliph failed in fighting the Mongols while Shajarat al-Durr succeeded in defeating Crusaders. The Mongols killed this Caliph and his men and, therefore, his death was the end of the Abbasid rule in Iraq.
There is also in ancient Egypt a woman who ruled timidly. she was Queen Hatshepsut, one of the most famous queens in history. Although the rule of Hatshepsut had been marked with peace and prosperity, and despite of the strength of her army, she was doing everything in her power to develop the relations, especially in trade, with the countries of the ancient East in order to avoid any wars with them. However, she had problems with people. Most people saw that she could not rule the country only because she was a woman, which made her always dress like men in order to give the impression that she could rule.
But we are now in the twenty-firstcentury, and, naturally, this sexism should not be present any longer, especially as we find examples of women in the world who excelled in fields such as politics, both as presidents and prime ministers. A great example is Thatcher, the British Prime Minister, and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others who founded their own political schools and have proven proficiency and Excellency in the political sphere. There is a saying by Margaret Thatcher that goes: “If you want something said, ask a man , but if you want something done, ask a woman.”
In spite of the role played by women in the revolution, it disappeared completely from the presidential elections which were full of conflict. It seemed like political conflicts, but it was basically social, intellectual and cultural conflicts. By having a woman rule Egypt, there will be a new step towards the eradication of such sexist thought. Women deserve what is better than this.
