Democracy

My reflections on democracy

Without education and freedom of thought, I cannot begin to fathom how democracy can come into play.
In turn, freedom of thought cannot flourish unless it is nourished with a good dose of education.
So, in my mind, democracy, freedom of thought and education are analogous to components of a tree, where democracy is ultimately the fruit analogue.
Of course, you will ask, how about the branches and leaves and the effect of the seasons on the tree’s components?
For that, I offer the following analogies:
The branches carry the leaves and fruit.
On the other hand, the seasons lead to the birth and decay of the leaves.
So, if the fruit is democracy, then the branches, in their varied forms and shapes, are the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government.
The leaves provide the food to the tree via a special interaction with light, therefore, in the analogous system that I delved into; I must come up with the equivalent element in the path to democracy.
The one that closely resembles the leaves are the political parties.
If they are effective, they will help in the nourishing the democratic season.
They will come into power when they are voted in and go out of power when they are voted out.
The voting process thus is the equivalent to the seasonal effects.
That finally leaves us with a vital component of a tree, namely: its roots.
I am sure that you must by now have guessed that these represent the complex conduits for providing the nourishment to the tree from external sources.
In the democracy analogue, these are a combination of educational institution, heritage, religions, ideologies etc., which in liaison with the other tree components, lead to the democratic fruit.
I am aware that a tree’s life-cycle, from seed to fruit is confronted by many challenges, none of which can be ignored.
Take for example the birds, bees, wind, rain, human intervention, etc.
For these, I leave it to your imagination to come up with analogues of the challenges to democracy!
Needless to say, some are beneficial and others are detrimental.


In closing, I have one request: Please do not get carried away and ask me about what happens to the fruit when it is ripe!
My reasoning via the tree analogy was only to take you to the fruit!


Hani Badawi
March 18, 2011

Egyptian Revolution: The Unfinished Symphony!

Most symphonies consist of more than one movement and more typically they comprise four movements, starting with “fast” followed by “slow”, “dance-like” and finally “fast”.

Like any form of art, the completed symphony naturally goes through many gyrations and rehearsals before it is finished. Needless to say, composers go through hard times putting a symphony together, but I can only begin to imagine what may be the composer’s feeling after the symphony is finished!

Over the years, the world has listened to symphonies by great composers and delivered by great (and sometimes not so great!) conductors (also known as maestros). The conductor’s primary duty is to make sure that the orchestra players perform their respective role in unison in both tone and timing. Imagine what would happen if the timing of the different players and instruments is out of synchronization. The end product would be what is known as a “cacophony”!!

With this short introduction to a musical symphony, let me turn your attention to a "work in progress" that is happening in Egypt, namely the “Egyptian Revolution”.

In the past 4 months many events and activities within the definition of the "Egyptian Revolution" have been unfolding. In essence, the first “movement” was essentially completed and, as most would agree, that movement could be described as powerful and “fast”. Amongst the millions of people worldwide who hailed the revolution as a success, I was ecstatic by the resounding success of that movement and have not refrained from expressing my euphoric feelings.

Like many, when possible, I have been reading and following the second “movement” on multiple channels (of course Facebook being one of them), and, in my humble assessment, the evolution of that “movement” remains a “work in progress”. The naturally conflicting ideas and ideologies are reminiscent of the evolution of a symphony where a composer’s inspiration and his/her initial amalgamation of the composition may be totally different from the finished product.

The Friday protests in Egypt, including the one that is due to take place this Friday (May 27) are, in my mind, the rehearsals and gyrations that will eventually fine tune the second movement (and beyond) of the "Egyptian Revolution".

In spite of the difficulties, negative campaigning, clash of ideologies, etc. that have occurred (and I expect will continue to occur for some time) I remain optimistic of the final outcome.

The road to completing the revolution is not easy, but the journey has started and I hope that the next movement in the Egyptian Revolution Symphony will be completed “allegro”!!

Hani Badawi 
May 26, 2011

Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

On many occasions in my life I have experienced and also witnessed the notion of “Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (SFP)” in action. 

The term “SFP” was coined by Robert K. Merton, a 20th century sociologist. A good description of the concept of SFP could be found in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-fulfilling_prophecy.

In observing the multitude of events and currents that are shaping the post-January 25 revolution Egypt, I can’t help reflecting on how different people are reacting to the events, and, unconsciously, propagating information (some true and some false) in order to justify their own prophecies. 

God bless Egypt and its people, and, may the dominant SFPs be the ones that will drive the “New Egypt” towards a flourishing future.

Hani Badawi 
June 3, 2011

Unsubstantiated Rumors!

In recent media coverage or information exchange via Twitter and Facebook I noticed an inordinate amount of negativity about the fate of the Egyptian Revolution.

Freedom of speech is welcome, however, the propagation of unsubstantiated rumors tends to tarnish the image of individuals and the revolution as a whole, and I can't help thinking that the perpetrators remind me of children playing with fire!

In a previous posting I touched on the subject of "self fulfilling prophecies" and I believe that I am witnessing it happen to some people!

Talk is free, but action speaks much louder than words.

God bless the Youth of Egypt and may their march and persistence lead them to greener pastures in the near future. 

Think Positive - Act Positive!

Hani Badawi
July 22, 2011

Ideological Profiling

Further to my previous notes/reflections on the Egyptian Revolution, I would be remiss if I do not touch on a phenomenon that is clearly unfolding as we witness the evolution of the Egyptian Revolution (apologies for the rhyme!). That phenomenon, which I refer to as "Ideological Profiling", will be addressed in the following analysis.

My analysis will hinge on the fact that I believe that in the past 60 years or so, the engagement of the majority of Egyptians in the political and ideological arena has been insignificant. To take the analysis further, it is imperative for me to mention that poverty, illiteracy, oppression and fear are major factors that led to the aforementioned submissive behavior. Needless to say, the rulers of Egypt and their agents (both national or foreign) in that time frame were a significant force in stumping any improvements in these major factors.

Moving on, come January 25, 2011, the frustrated and desperate masses declared that it is time for a change. It would, however, be fictitious to allude that all Egyptians believe that this uprisal was/is the path for the future betterment of life in Egypt. Be that as it may, the forces of change have occurred, and six months later they are continuing to press on towards a seemingly irreversible change in the way of life in Egypt. Rising from a deep slumber that lasted six decades, these forces of change are obviously numerous, and as such, they have different ideologies, beliefs, agendas, and, indeed, have different levels of radicalism or organizational structures. The one thing that these forces (whether they are individuals or parties) have in common, is that they are operating within an unprecedented vacuum in key aspects of the basic daily life needs such as order, security, visibility, transparency, productivity and accountability.

This brings me to the phenomenon of Ideological Profiling, a phenomenon that has been rapidly escalating over the past six months. The aforementioned forces of change, in their plight to gather support and momentum from the masses, have been using underhanded tactics, some of which are no different than the ones that were used in the past 60 years! Irresponsible scathing and incriminating articles and conspiracy theories are spreading like wild fire. In many of these articles the ideologies seem to have taken the stance "It is my way or the highway" or "If you don't belong to our ideology then you don't belong to the country"! If this is not a form of bullying or bigotry, what is?

History is replete of examples of diverse aspects of "profiling" (e.g. political, ideological, religious, ethnic) in different corners of the world. History has also shown that, profiling, in any shape or form, is a crime against humanity. Unfortunately, history also tells us that mistakes were committed and subsequently repeated, sadly sometimes in the same corners of the world.

Hopefully, in the evolution of the democratic process in Egypt, all forms of profiling will be controlled and treated as a crime for which the appropriate punishment(s) must be defined and implemented. Yet another price for democracy!

Hani Badawi
July 24, 2011