El-Erian: Western Veto Behind Our Deprivation of Democracy

MB leader Dr. Esam El-Erian affirmed that the absence of democracy in the Arab-Islamic world is intentional on the part of America and Western powers through their denial of peoples of the countries surrounding Israel which are Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon, freedom and democracy through their veto power while at the same time they support the dictatorial and despotic regimes in these countries based on the principle that if Arab-Islamic people vote for Islamists, then it is as if a war will be waged on the Israeli entity.

 

In a conference titled “Towards a New Social Contract” held on May 16, El-Erian explaine that “the concept of the contract is one that is deep-rooted in the Arab-Islamic culture, rather than being a western invention, and its application in our societies would have changed, to a large extent, the region’s form,” calling on Arabs and Muslims to adopt a world dialogue on the necessity of establishing a social contract to restore the usurped wealth and freedom of the region’s peoples.

 

“The old contract stipulated that Egyptians give up their political rights to the regime for a dignified life in return. But now the dreams of enjoying the basic rights of food and work have all evaporated in the air,” El-Erian said.

 

El-Erian further emphasized that the crisis of syndicates in Egypt is a reflection of the big crisis of public national, societal, and political work affirming that the regime’s abandonment of its duties of offering services to the society forced syndicates to take on this role, such as the medical treatment project of the Union of Egyptian Medical Professionals and the joint social liability project.

 

In his response to accusations that the MB are in control of the professional syndicates and at the same time have done nothing for their members, El-Erian called on the Syndicate Head Institution to hold symposiums concerned with addressing the efforts of the MB inside professional associations in which an opinion poll can be conducted on the members of the general assemblies who voted for the MB in the syndicate elections.

 

El-Erian further denied another accusation alleging the presence of a hidden deal between the Egyptian regime and the MB saying, “there is no such thing, for the MB are victims of the regime’s practices, and the proof is that there are Islamic regimes leading and managing their nations using highly democratic systems such as Turkey, Indonesia, and Malaysia.”

 

From his part, member of the Press Syndicate Council Gamal Fahmy affirmed that “the West is propagating concepts in our Arab world such as the rights of women and minorities, but, it in fact it doesn’t desire any real democracy for us,” pointing to the necessity for agreement over a social contract through which popular forces can be reformed and developed to rid the Egyptian society of its state which no polite political word can describe.

 

Moreover, Director of the Earth Center for Human Rights Dr. Osama Bedeir expressed his complete refusal of any international monitoring of elections in Egypt stressing that democratic change and transformations must spring from the within the Egyptian society without any external interventions.