3 Years after Democratic Revolution, Egypt Decides it Prefers North Korean Model

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http://www.juancole.com/2014/01/democratic-revolution-decides.html

3 Years after Democratic Revolution, Egypt Decides it Prefers North Korean Model
By Juan Cole | Jan. 15, 2014

The title of this piece is provocative and a little tongue in cheek. Were I in Egypt as I publish it, I’m not sure, though, that the authorities would get the joke. The 2011 revolution, which was in part about dignity and personal autonomy and censorship and police torture, apparently went too far for Egypt’s ruling classes (the army, big business, big government).

I’m referring to the Tuesday and Wednesday referendum on the constitution crafted by a body appointed by a government that was appointed by the officer corps. The resulting constitution is not actually as bad as many of its detractors paint it, and has some good points that if they are implemented could allow positive change. But the referendum process itself is highly objectionable. The Carter Center is sending observers only of the larger political context but not doing actual election observation. The Carter Center did not observe the December 2012 referendum on the Muslim Brotherhood constitution at all. Neither referendum was held in such a way as to meet international certification for an impartial electoral process. Some election observers were allegedly mistreated at polls on Tuesday.

But on Monday the government arrested members of the Strong Egypt party for hanging banners urging a no vote. That’s not acceptable. Likewise it arrested three Aljazeer journalists on the grounds that Aljazeera is based in Qatar and Qatar has been supportive of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood.

The Egyptian airwaves have been full of propaganda insisting that a yes vote on the constitution is a patriotic duty. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi comes on tv, sometimes sitting down among troops, saying folksy nationalist things.