Politics are a serious matter in Egypt and, frankly, too fragile for this website. We’ll leave the big time power struggles to reporters with ringside seats while we focus on people.

Because, in spite of living in an authoritarian country, the people have opinions and  ways of getting them across. Maybe they don’t have enough power; maybe their means of communication are not ballotic, but even the government knows it's a mistake not to listen.

To appreciate the people's creativity and courage, it’s necessary to grasp Egypt’s political framework. So, this is a briefing, as cool and quick as we could make it. - The Editors

As It Has Been...Is It Now?

From ancient times until an army coup in 1952, Egypt was ruled directly by foreign governments and/or indirectly by the kings they maintained on the throne. The country’s military and security apparatuses have always been used – up to and including the present - to support the government in power. See Why Are People So Patient.

Technically speaking, Egypt today is  a republic with limited democratic features. Political power resides with the president, cabinet, legislature and court system - in other words, a disbursed  power arrangement. In reality, all power rests in the hands of 80+year-old President Hosni Mubarak who has been able, at will, to appoint, dismiss and dissolve the other three parts of the system.

But civil society and political participation has become increasingly energetic since 2006. NGOs constantly wrestle with the government over degrees of independence; workers protest against broken promises; activists against the arrest of journalists, city employees against stagnant wage structures and citizens against the government for continuing to keep the border crossing closed even during the January 2009 Gaza War.

The government usually gives the protesters just enough of what they want to quiet them (although not with the building of the Gaza wall).

Opposition Parties

Opposition parties have been permitted since 1977 but are tightly controlled by the ruling NDP party. Other than those running as independents from the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, opposition candidates are few.

Until recently the Brotherhood has maintained a strong political presence in Egypt but recent jailings of its leadership are said by some to have seriously weakened the organization's political power. According to the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, there are approximately 17,000 political prisoners in Egypt, a majority of whom are Islamists.

Emergency laws passed in 1981 that allowed peremptory detention are to be replaced by equally repressive ‘anti-terrorism” ones aimed primarily at controlling the Islamist opposition.

Voting

People power around the world is increasingly leveraged by mobile phones and the internet. Egypt is no different

As in many authoritarian countries, the meaning of the word "voting" has been modified to suit the rules. There are polling booths and lists of voters. Unfortunately, few show up and it's said that many of those who do have been rewarded.

At the March 2007 election, the government reported a 23 - 27% turnout; independent groups said it was more like 5%. This was odd, given that the purpose of the election was to ratify/not ratify a constitutional amendment which would ban political activity and parties based on religion, remove judicial supervision of election and give the government special powers to fight "terrorism," which has been known to mean activism.

According to the BBC's Heba Saleh, Egyptians don't vote because they figure their vote won't count.

Internet

The government, realizing the economic value of the electronic tools, has agressively invested in their growth. Today, almost half of Egypt's citizens have mobile phones; internet use is estimated at 8.62 million people, or about 10% of the population - but sharing is common and internet cafe's are active places.

The downside for the government is electronic activism, now signified by the April 6, 2008 National Day of Protest, the first time the tech-savvy generation organized themselves for political purposes. Although the government routinely imprisons electronic activists, most people believe that ultimately, it hasn't got a chance against creative and home-grown computer nerds.

Media

Watch this spot. The government, which has preferred censorship, must now cope with Al Jazeera (55% watch it for foreign TV news); al Masry Al Youm (available on-line in English) the first "licensed independant daily newspaper in Arabic;" plus an estimated 162,000 bloggers

The government, which licensed Daily News Egypt and provides free dial-up access to the internet, scurried to create new criteria to govern media content. "Principles for Organising Satellite Radio and TV Broadcasting Charter", which human rights groups punch at.

Public Prayers

Friday noon Muslim prayers reach all. Megawat speakers are attached to street corners throughout every city and village, so the entire population learns what's on the minds of Muslims. While focusing on religious subjects and avoiding statements to get themselves into political trouble, the level of aggression/calm is a clue to the political climate among the people. When they start preaching non-violent child-rearing, as one Friday speaker did recently, chances are that the moment is relatively benign.

Taxis

If you speak Arabic, the most entertaining way to test the political waters is to chat up the taxi drivers. Some are too weary to hold a conversation (driving is usually a second or third job), but the live ones are worth the wait. Not only do they opine, but they do so with a color and humor counter-indicated by the formal, censored media

  Underneath It All

• The educational system in Egypt is missing-in-action. Critical thinking - so essential to a healthy civil society - is neglected, if not punished.

• Cultures with a long history of authoritarianism tend to be authoritarian all the way down: in the family, in business, in religion. Civil society organizations (not to mention the media) are slowing introducing other civil skills.

• The majority of citizens of Egypt are too busy scraping together a living in an imbalanced economy (and in 2008, the year of the global food crisis, an exceptionally cruel one) to be informed citizens and take the risk of voting; they do manage to make life work. Strong family ties, their religious faith and Islamic social services protect them when the government doesn't.

All that said, even the most durable Egyptians wonder how long the current situation can continue without substantial change in the lives of the 70% who are poor.

Read opinions of Egyptians without computers
Read other backstories: Islam in Egypt. Art in Egypt

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