Dr. Hossam Badrawi Official Website
In this place, Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, dated January 2017, I wrote an article entitled “Half Dictatorship… Half Democracy,” influenced by a poem by Khalil Gibran about the philosophy of half. From the cultural impasse that you are attracted to!!.
One of the young women said, I said in the article 7 years ago:
“Are we ready to choose?!, Are we ready for a cultural, social and political decision that not only serves to enlighten minds and change the shape of the country’s future and suits the development of humanity, but rather is its maker? Or do we want half openness and half closure?!.
Do we really want a strong private sector that creates job opportunities, or do we want a sector owned and controlled by the state and its agencies, or half of that and half of that is selective according to circumstances and pressures?!
Do we want to get rid of poverty and be rich, or do we want equality in poverty because we are in the middle?!
Do we want a strong civil society and active civil societies that support and develop, or do we implement laws that kill it in its infancy, and prevent it under the pretext of bureaucracy at times and security at other times?
We are in the middle of what we want and do not want.. Unfortunately, what we want changes according to events, as reactions and not as initiatives.
Are we a modern civil state or a reactionary religious state? Everything that happens in front of me says that we are in the middle. We are not a religious state in its full sense, nor are we a civil state in its full sense. We do not explicitly prevent the interference of religion in politics, but rather we use the vocabulary of its language in governance, and we allow laws It is forbidden to discuss what is human under the pretext that it is divine, while defending and believing in hadiths based on the philosophy of ISIS, the Taliban and their likes in some of our educational books and in many of our television programs.
We call for citizenship and our actions contain absurd discrimination between citizens of different religions, and we do not accept anyone who dares to say otherwise. We are in the middle.
We work days and nights, and form committees, through time, to come out to the world with strategies that preserve human rights, and we speak to the world in one way and deal with each other in another way, so we do not protect women from violating their rights.
We claim to preserve human rights and adhere to citizenship in the constitution, and we do not dare to remove the religion field from the identity card to confirm that the identity of the citizen is linked to religion and not to the homeland.
We claim to protect freedoms, and we allow years of preventive detention without conducting investigations that deserve custody of the accused.
All are examples of reality that can be modified with the stroke of a pen, and quickly.
Are we a security state or a modern civil state, as the constitution says?! We’re in half.
In politics, the impression becomes a reality even if it has no proof.. And how many collapses have occurred in countries, as a result of reducing the volume of society’s negative impressions on matters that may not be true, but they are proven in the conscience as if they were the truth (the philosophy of fourth generation wars).
Do we really respect freedom of expression, or do we only respect freedom of expression if you support the regime, and do not respect it if you oppose it, but rather prevent it? .. We are in the middle.
And the young politician continued, saying: Isn’t that what you wrote and told us, but rather published it uncensored at the time 7 years ago!! And in Al-Masry Al-Youm!!, Can you publish it now?!.
I said: I will try publishing again and see the space of freedom available, but the answer to your question is.. Yes, my daughter, I can publish, based on the credibility I gained over the years, before and after January.. during the time of Mubarak and the era of Sisi and even during the years of the military council’s rule and after that the Brotherhood .
I build and not demolish, I advise and I do not wait for anything, and you, the makers of the future, must navigate the storms of local and international changes with reason and review the facts before rushing to take positions.
And many agencies in the state, especially those that deal with citizens, must be careful not to increase what they think is a protection from chaos, because it sometimes becomes a cause for it.
There are ten main pillars that we must seek to achieve the well-being of society, individuals and families, and we aspire and work for the happiness of people, and we completely eradicate poverty, ignorance, disease, chaos, injustice and corruption, and we do not stand in half, these directions are:
First: Stability on the political system to govern the country, allowing for the selection of the most efficient and effective, with transparency and the ability to be accountable. And on the condition that this is done in a gradual and planned way that allows building the capabilities of citizens, creating a free political climate that allows the birth of new leaders, ensuring the institutionalization of governance and the transfer of power without chaos, and definitively not allowing a group, group or institution to waste freedoms or tyrannize power.
Remaining in political power without deliberation creates tyranny, regardless of the intentions, and creates hypocrisy and fear, regardless of the courage of individuals.
In this context, it is necessary to define the identity of the modern civil state and consolidate its concept among the new generations without retreat, and we must close the dens of reaction, Salafism and backwardness, after its factories in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were courageously closed.
Second: Bringing about a cultural and behavioral change in the conscience of society from the gate of education, culture, and media, and setting clear policies to deal with youth in different age groups, in order to build a broad base of citizens that can actively participate in development later on.
This means putting the axis of human development, including education in all its departments, culture, media, youth and health care, in a file that can be dealt with, and in it, within a consistent framework to achieve what we aspire to in terms of creating the Egyptian citizen healthy in body and mind, educated, technologically empowered, enlightened, creative, Responsible, proud of his country’s history and cultural identity, passionate about building its future, aware of the importance of regional and global communication, and capable of competing in all fields.
Third: Carrying out a correct structural change in the Egyptian economy, with the aim of stimulating, sustaining, and balancing growth, while creating employment opportunities and lifting obstacles (actually, not rhetorically) in front of foreign and national investment for the economy to grow and prosper, in order to accelerate the achievement of an economic rate of 8% to 10% on average. annually for fifteen consecutive years. This is something that can only be achieved by sustaining policies, convincing the people of them, and respecting their philosophy, without retreating or departing from them with a short-term public political goal and without stopping in half.
Fourth: Administrative reform and changing the pattern of governance and digitalization in all institutions, with the gradual application of decentralization.
Fifth: Preserving the environment for the sake of future generations, while sustainably providing clean energy and water for the growing needs of the Egyptian people.
Sixth: Institutional and intellectual development of judicial and law enforcement institutions (police).
Seventh: Determining the Egyptian role in shaping the future of Africa, the Middle East and the world, and the strategies for its implementation.
Eighth: Increasing the capabilities of the Egyptian army, in terms of equipment, training and manufacturing equipment, and protecting it from involvement in political and economic work, so that it is not placed in the face of the masses when failure instead of being their savior when they demand it.
Ninth: Developing the role of an effective civil society, revitalizing it, supporting it, and respecting the rights of citizens.
Tenth: Controlling the growth, quality and distribution of the population.
The question is: Do we have clear policies and possible applications for all of what I mentioned?
The answer is: Yes.. but the difference is in the successful implementation and accounting, and not to get stuck in half. Half is to arrive and not to arrive, to work and not to work, to be absent and to be present… Half a road will not lead us anywhere, and half an idea will not give us a result. Half is a moment of incapacitation, not an achievement.
The accumulation of experiences and the peaceful transfer of power, without demolition or chaos, is the only way to sustain any policy or application.
I can be certain that Egypt possesses human potential, professional competencies, and the striking force of its youth who are willing to learn and train, which guarantees it, in one decade, to assume its position at the forefront of developed countries.
But the challenge lies in the implementation, which requires commitment to the vision, and efficient management at all levels without compromising the achievement of performance measurement indicators announced with timelines for citizens, and it needs a dose of optimism and positivity made by some decisions that the people see and feel so that they regain hope, which is the subject of my next article.
