Egypt Doesn't Have a Democratic Culture
By Amr Bargisi
As of this writing, the contest between President Hosni Mubarak and hundreds of thousands of protesters remains a standoff. No one can predict what Egypt will look like in a few days—let alone the next few months and years. But from my vantage point in Cairo, I believe that the result will be one of two evils.
First, the 1789 case—a win for the revolutionaries, as the massive anger that sparked the uprising is channeled into a Jacobin regime that hunts down its enemies mercilessly. It is a grave mistake to assume that the rage of the masses will be placated by the ousting of the tyrant.
Last night, one demonstrator told two friends of mine in downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square that the next step will be to knock on the doors of suburban villas and ask the owners: Where did you get the money to afford these?
The second possibility is a reactionary scenario. If the ruling elite wins—meaning Mr. Mubarak's cronies, if not Mr. Mubarak himself—the country will be ruled by a contract between the state and the frightened middle classes to make sure no similar uprising ever happens again. This is an angle that has been totally missing from Western media coverage, as far as I can tell without Internet access.
There is another force in the streets of Cairo besides the demonstrators. Equal, if not in numbers then certainly in influence, are the thousands of young men standing all night in front of their houses and stores to protect them from looting.
Perhaps they share the anger of their peers in Tahrir Square, but their fear is much stronger than their rage. On Friday night, after the police disappeared, these young men got a taste of what could come: Hundreds of thugs roamed the streets, looting and burning. Then there are the inmates, reportedly several thousand, who have fled prison and are apparently still on the loose.
I believe the reactionary scenario is more likely. But regardless of my own opinion, what is clear is that Egypt lacks the sort of political culture that can sustain a liberal democratic regime. The superficiality of the opposition's demands is matched only by the absurdity of the regime's discourse. Without knowledge of the likes of Locke and Burke, Hamilton and Jefferson, my country is doomed to either unbridled radicalism or continued repression.
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Months before protests erupted throughout Egypt aimed at toppling the regime of President Hosni Mubarak, President Obama's own associates provoked anti-regime chaos on the streets of the now embattledMiddleEast country and longtime U.S. ally.
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