|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FantasylandReader comment on item: Anoush Ehteshami and Democracy in Egypt Submitted by Sonny Boichik (United States), Feb 11, 2011 at 03:35 The requirements to even propose democracy, much less establish it, are for Egypt much further out than the ozone layer. Consider just one of the dozen prerequisites of a "working" democracy, freedom of religion, to see the problem. What are the chances of Christians and Jews living in a democratic Egypt? Polling booths instead of massive street assemblies will be a facade, but the underlying system will quickly expose that to be a sham. Without a free press and free speech and private media, voting becomes a mere act. The effect being the right to vote for one party. A similar democracy exists elsewhere, like the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. That's North Korea, not South. Or closer to Egypt, there's the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And voting is allowed in Venezuela also, another fine democracy. And of course Gazans are no doubt proud of their democracy, which Jimmy Carter watched over, declaring them "completely fair and honest." Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments". << Previous Comment Next Comment >> Reader comments (18) on this item
|
Latest Articles |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes (The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998. For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.) |