US urges Egypt to reform

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The United States has urged the Egyptian authorities to implement political and economic reforms while calling for calm as protesters burned government buildings in Egypt. The government there has blamed the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood for the violence. But novelist and activist Alaa Al Aswany, speaking from Cairo with host Marco Werman, says the Egyptian demonstrations reflect popular anger at the Mubarak regime. Download MP3

• BBC video: Egypt protests
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• On The World: more protest in Cairo

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Marco Werman:  Hi, I’m Marco Werman, and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI, and WBGH Boston.  There were more protests in Egypt today.  Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to battle thousands of anti-government demonstrators.  A spokesman for the Interior Ministry says some five hundred Egyptian demonstrators are under arrest.  Tensions were especially high in the city of Suez, where three protesters were killed on Tuesday.  As part of their crackdown, Egyptian authorities appear to have blocked the social networking website FaceBook for several hours today, and that comes one day after Twitter was blocked. U.S. reaction to the protests in Egypt had been muted yesterday, but today Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Egyptian authorities not to block social networking sites and to allow peaceful protests.

Hillary Clinton:  We support the universal rights of the Egyptian people, including the rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly, and we urge the Egyptian authorities not to prevent peaceful protests or block communications including social media sites.

Werman:  Egyptian author and activist Alaa Al Aswany is among those who have joined in the demonstrations.

Alaa Al Aswany:  We must not forget the police in Egypt is one of the toughest police in the world, but these protesters were really very courageous.  And what I saw yesterday, and I was among the young protesters, is they have a very clear vision, and they want to change the regime, and they don’t want any compromise whatsoever.

Werman:  Today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the Egyptian government and the government of Hosni Mubarak not to prevent peaceful protest or block communications, including social media sites like FaceBook and Twitter.  Tell us, Dr. Al Aswany, what role you want Washington to play right now.

Al Aswany:  This regime is considered an ally for the U.S., and we know that the U.S. is very reluctant about any change in the Arab world, especially in Egypt.  And we know that some decision makers in the U.S. administration, some think really that democracy is a good thing for Arab countries.  And I hope that, especially in the administration of Obama, who is very positively seen in Egypt, I hope that American government could really, even once in their life, could stand for the American values.  The American values have been all the time with the people, with the freedom, with justice, and with democracy.  And I’m sorry to say that American governments do not all the time follow the American values

Werman:  I reckon the people, the critics who believe that democracy may not be a good thing for the Arab world, look at Egypt and they think of the Muslim Brotherhood, which, while considered by some around the world as extremists, they have a lot of support in Egypt.  Do you think a Muslim Brotherhood getting in power in Egypt is the logical conclusion to all of this?

Al Aswany:  I don’t think so.  And I said and I wrote before many times that the Muslim Brotherhood, is a very closed organization, which has been existing since 1928.  And the Egyptian regime has been all the time exaggerating the influence of the Muslim Brothers just to send the following message to the Western governments, saying that either you accept the dictatorship in Egypt or you must accept Muslim Brothers in power.  This is not true, and the evidence is, yesterday among forty thousand protesters, I saw there were very few Muslim Brothers.  And the Muslim Brothers, even from the beginning announced that they are going to participate in the manifestation.  So the Muslim Brothers could have a half million members or even one million members, but we must not forget that the Egyptian population is eighty-four millions.  So I don’t think that the Muslim Brothers really are a real risk to the democratic change in Egypt at all.

Werman:  Who then, Dr. Al Aswany, do you think is the logical successor to Hosni Mubarak?

Al Aswany:  Well, there are many names as a matter of fact, but the point is that what the people are asking for is not a particular president.  They want to enjoy their human rights and to, to choose their president through free elections.  And what we have in Egypt has nothing to do with elections.  I mean, it’s a… What the regime calls elections in Egypt is a miserable piece of theater, which is very boring to any Egyptian, because we know from the beginning what will be the result of the so-called elections.

Werman:  Dr. Alaa Al Aswany, novelist, thank you very much.

Al Aswany:  Thank you, sir.

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