Dr. Hossam Badrawi Official Website
I thought a lot about the absence of philosophy sometimes behind decisions and actions. We were discussing this matter with young people who dream of tomorrow, and one of the young people said to me: What do you mean by the philosophy behind the action, give us examples?
The clever young woman said: So start with your chronic issues in education and health?
I said: The philosophy of education is a right of the citizen. If the state imposes fees for entering public schools or establishes universities with the logic of the private sector with the aim of recovering financial investment, it violates the philosophy of its role in education by all standards.
I remember that when Britain imposed additional fees on top of the state budget allocated to each student in universities, it established with it a student financing system that the graduate can only pay after graduating, working and obtaining an income that allows repaying the loan without affecting his life. I remind you that all citizens of Europe have the right to education at the expense of society as a whole represented by governments. Citizens cannot be deprived of this right because there is a philosophy behind everyone’s right to education.
Another example is the teacher-raising philosophy, which says that “the level of education in any nation does not rise above the level of its teachers”.
So the philosophy of education is linked to working to raise the level and worth of teachers. Otherwise, we will become outside the concept of the philosophy of education.
The author of the first question said: Give us another example.
I said: For example, the philosophy of the prosecution in the justice system is to protect the people. Philosophically, the prosecutor is the attorney for the masses of the people.
If the statistics come in saying that the number of cases of innocence in the courts has become more than the cases of proving the accusation, and I do not know whether this is true or not, but I will give an example, the people’s lawyer turns into his executioner because the philosophy of his existence has been disrupted.
Therefore, to maintain the philosophy behind the act, there must be statistics and analysis so that the function does not depart from the philosophy of its existence.
The same thing applies to the philosophy that the accused is innocent until proven guilty. If we put everyone we suspect behind bars, whether in pretrial detention, or by placing the accused in a cage during his trial, then we have departed from the philosophy of prompt justice.
Another young man said: I did not think about the subject from this entrance before. You enlighten me, Doctor, and what else?
I said: The philosophy of constructing highways, for example, is to facilitate traffic, and the speed of reaching the goal, and that the width of the road is measured by its narrowest point.
If we spend money and build roads and then do not plan the road or put guide signs as is known all over the world, or if we do not build its exits with the road with a capacity that allows facilitating movement, then we do not follow the philosophy of its existence as a basis and state spending becomes without an integrated return.
The same thing applies to the case of closing traffic in front of hundreds of cars during peak hours to verify the licenses of cars, for example, or just looking inside the car from the security men to discover one violator in front of disabling one hundred non-violators behind him. Philosophy says that the right of the ninety-nine and facilitating their lives is better than disabling everyone in order to discover one offender.
An intelligent young woman said: What is the philosophy of democracy, and do we respect it?
I said: The philosophy of democracy is consultation, freedom, and the transfer of power within the framework of a law agreed upon by all.
If governments violate this philosophy, they have gone off the right path.
The philosophy of democracy has changed over time and passed through stages until it reached the modern definitions associated with the universal rights of man.
If we go back to the history of social or political revolutions, we cannot see a movement that is believed to be a “human rights” movement in one of the meanings and philosophy of this phrase as we understand it in the present era. Democracy movements in Greece, the use of the word democracy was interpreted as a movement of peoples and human rights, but it was not like that even in its verbal connotation. As Professor Al-Akkad says: “The democratic system in Greece was called the government in which the tribes participate in the election, and its participation in the election was not a recognition of a human right in which individual people are equal, but rather a recognition of the tribe and to prevent its opposition to work in the army.
This was the philosophy of its time, and the Greeks and Romans succeeded in various types of democratic governments that did not have a principle on which to base them, other than that they had practical plans to ward off sedition and attract loyalty from the recruits for the army and the fleet from among the tribesmen and the owners of industries. We will consider that the first generation of democracy.
As for the human and electoral rights that arose in Western democracy in the mid-twentieth century, they gradually generalized according to the needs of the electorate. Workers in industrialized countries obtained them before the farmers acquired them, and women obtained them after they became workers in factories on behalf of soldiers in the war, and people of color obtained them. In the United States, after the state was forced to serve their services in society and in the armies gradually in the two world wars, and different peoples gained them as a result of mutual pressures and conflicts between classes to reach a specific political formula acceptable to all parties. We will consider that the second generation of democracy.
As for human rights that are recognized in principle and not practical plans dictated by equality of power between sects and the masses of voters, they are represented by an unimaginable human democracy without the elements of equality, individual responsibility, and rule based on shura and on well-defined constitutions of limits and consequences.. These are the elements that we advocate as principles. In general, it is not a compulsion to an electoral reality or to serve in the armies, but it represents a real belief in the method of justice in governance in recognition of the rights of citizens, regardless of their educational level or social position, and this is the third generation of democracy.
But we notice that as we look at the third generation of Western democracy, and what is applied from it in the countries of the world, especially the developing countries, we find many contradictions between philosophy and reality, and the coercion of the powers granted to the governments, and sometimes the social injustice of classes of peoples who are not able with the elements of their knowledge and capabilities to obtain Real equality of opportunity available, as we claim and say, the most educated, the wealthiest, the most open to the world, He gets the opportunity, and the gap between citizens gradually increases, and the human development opportunities that we seek from good governance are often lost.
Third generation democracy succeeded in Europe and North America, and is now suffering, but failed to implement it in developing and poor countries.
the question is:
What is the dilemma of applying the rules of political freedom and achieving democracy in Egypt?
The answer is that there must be a fourth generation of democracy to solve the dilemma and to look at the philosophy of democracy in a new and deeper way.
The young man said: We have increased our knowledge by taking into account our reality!
I said: The democratic model, even in its current application in the West, is subject to review as a result of the information and communication revolution that broke the barriers between the citizen and the decision maker, and provided an opportunity for direct communication between them, perhaps without the need for a mediator such as parties. Rather, parties lost their importance as a tool for organizing, mobilizing voters and collecting donations because of the possibility The candidate does these things directly over the Internet. There is also a decline in the importance of ideology as a framework for gathering citizens in a political or partisan action. Perhaps the greater interest of the citizen now is focused on the effectiveness of the ruling, that is, the extent of achievement and response to the demands of the citizen, regardless of the ideological idea adopted by the regime.
But on the other hand, achieving the greatest effectiveness of governance is linked to the most efficient reaching the seats of government through a system that allows this, and is also linked to the importance of having a system of control and accountability for the decision maker, and setting periods for governance to ensure innovation in thought and vitality in performance. In short, we see that the new generation of democracy should focus on the following elements:
The effectiveness of the ruling.
The efficiency of the referees.
– Oversight and accountability independent of the executive authority.
– An independent and effective justice system (the real revolution must take place here in this field).
An education and culture system that gives citizens the opportunity to choose the best.
We are looking for a new initiative to govern, in agreement between what we dream of of a modern civil state and the real power on the ground, an initiative that does not deprive the country of its human potential or of its effective national institutions, an initiative that gives freedom its place and respect it by controlling the speedy justice that does not allow freedom to turn into Chaos, nor the selective manipulation of the law. An initiative that allows the general public to freely choose and make good choices for their representatives in Parliament. This is the philosophy behind the word, and the action must match it.
The clever young woman said: So start with your chronic issues in education and health?
I said: The philosophy of education is a right of the citizen. If the state imposes fees for entering public schools or establishes universities with the logic of the private sector with the aim of recovering financial investment, it violates the philosophy of its role in education by all standards.
I remember that when Britain imposed additional fees on top of the state budget allocated to each student in universities, it established with it a student financing system that the graduate can only pay after graduating, working and obtaining an income that allows repaying the loan without affecting his life. I remind you that all citizens of Europe have the right to education at the expense of society as a whole represented by governments. Citizens cannot be deprived of this right because there is a philosophy behind everyone’s right to education.
Another example is the teacher-raising philosophy, which says that “the level of education in any nation does not rise above the level of its teachers”.
So the philosophy of education is linked to working to raise the level and worth of teachers. Otherwise, we will become outside the concept of the philosophy of education.
The author of the first question said: Give us another example.
I said: For example, the philosophy of the prosecution in the justice system is to protect the people. Philosophically, the prosecutor is the attorney for the masses of the people.
If the statistics come in saying that the number of cases of innocence in the courts has become more than the cases of proving the accusation, and I do not know whether this is true or not, but I will give an example, the people’s lawyer turns into his executioner because the philosophy of his existence has been disrupted.
Therefore, to maintain the philosophy behind the act, there must be statistics and analysis so that the function does not depart from the philosophy of its existence.
The same thing applies to the philosophy that the accused is innocent until proven guilty. If we put everyone we suspect behind bars, whether in pretrial detention, or by placing the accused in a cage during his trial, then we have departed from the philosophy of prompt justice.
Another young man said: I did not think about the subject from this entrance before. You enlighten me, Doctor, and what else?
I said: The philosophy of constructing highways, for example, is to facilitate traffic, and the speed of reaching the goal, and that the width of the road is measured by its narrowest point.
If we spend money and build roads and then do not plan the road or put guide signs as is known all over the world, or if we do not build its exits with the road with a capacity that allows facilitating movement, then we do not follow the philosophy of its existence as a basis and state spending becomes without an integrated return.
The same thing applies to the case of closing traffic in front of hundreds of cars during peak hours to verify the licenses of cars, for example, or just looking inside the car from the security men to discover one violator in front of disabling one hundred non-violators behind him. Philosophy says that the right of the ninety-nine and facilitating their lives is better than disabling everyone in order to discover one offender.
An intelligent young woman said: What is the philosophy of democracy, and do we respect it?
I said: The philosophy of democracy is consultation, freedom, and the transfer of power within the framework of a law agreed upon by all.
If governments violate this philosophy, they have gone off the right path.
The philosophy of democracy has changed over time and passed through stages until it reached the modern definitions associated with the universal rights of man.
If we go back to the history of social or political revolutions, we cannot see a movement that is believed to be a “human rights” movement in one of the meanings and philosophy of this phrase as we understand it in the present era. Democracy movements in Greece, the use of the word democracy was interpreted as a movement of peoples and human rights, but it was not like that even in its verbal connotation. As Professor Al-Akkad says: “The democratic system in Greece was called the government in which the tribes participate in the election, and its participation in the election was not a recognition of a human right in which individual people are equal, but rather a recognition of the tribe and to prevent its opposition to work in the army.
This was the philosophy of its time, and the Greeks and Romans succeeded in various types of democratic governments that did not have a principle on which to base them, other than that they had practical plans to ward off sedition and attract loyalty from the recruits for the army and the fleet from among the tribesmen and the owners of industries. We will consider that the first generation of democracy.
As for the human and electoral rights that arose in Western democracy in the mid-twentieth century, they gradually generalized according to the needs of the electorate. Workers in industrialized countries obtained them before the farmers acquired them, and women obtained them after they became workers in factories on behalf of soldiers in the war, and people of color obtained them. In the United States, after the state was forced to serve their services in society and in the armies gradually in the two world wars, and different peoples gained them as a result of mutual pressures and conflicts between classes to reach a specific political formula acceptable to all parties. We will consider that the second generation of democracy.
As for human rights that are recognized in principle and not practical plans dictated by equality of power between sects and the masses of voters, they are represented by an unimaginable human democracy without the elements of equality, individual responsibility, and rule based on shura and on well-defined constitutions of limits and consequences.. These are the elements that we advocate as principles. In general, it is not a compulsion to an electoral reality or to serve in the armies, but it represents a real belief in the method of justice in governance in recognition of the rights of citizens, regardless of their educational level or social position, and this is the third generation of democracy.
But we notice that as we look at the third generation of Western democracy, and what is applied from it in the countries of the world, especially the developing countries, we find many contradictions between philosophy and reality, and the coercion of the powers granted to the governments, and sometimes the social injustice of classes of peoples who are not able with the elements of their knowledge and capabilities to obtain Real equality of opportunity available, as we claim and say, the most educated, the wealthiest, the most open to the world, He gets the opportunity, and the gap between citizens gradually increases, and the human development opportunities that we seek from good governance are often lost.
Third generation democracy succeeded in Europe and North America, and is now suffering, but failed to implement it in developing and poor countries.
the question is:
What is the dilemma of applying the rules of political freedom and achieving democracy in Egypt?
The answer is that there must be a fourth generation of democracy to solve the dilemma and to look at the philosophy of democracy in a new and deeper way.
The young man said: We have increased our knowledge by taking into account our reality!
I said: The democratic model, even in its current application in the West, is subject to review as a result of the information and communication revolution that broke the barriers between the citizen and the decision maker, and provided an opportunity for direct communication between them, perhaps without the need for a mediator such as parties. Rather, parties lost their importance as a tool for organizing, mobilizing voters and collecting donations because of the possibility The candidate does these things directly over the Internet. There is also a decline in the importance of ideology as a framework for gathering citizens in a political or partisan action. Perhaps the greater interest of the citizen now is focused on the effectiveness of the ruling, that is, the extent of achievement and response to the demands of the citizen, regardless of the ideological idea adopted by the regime.
But on the other hand, achieving the greatest effectiveness of governance is linked to the most efficient reaching the seats of government through a system that allows this, and is also linked to the importance of having a system of control and accountability for the decision maker, and setting periods for governance to ensure innovation in thought and vitality in performance. In short, we see that the new generation of democracy should focus on the following elements:
The effectiveness of the ruling.
The efficiency of the referees.
– Oversight and accountability independent of the executive authority.
– An independent and effective justice system (the real revolution must take place here in this field).
An education and culture system that gives citizens the opportunity to choose the best.
We are looking for a new initiative to govern, in agreement between what we dream of of a modern civil state and the real power on the ground, an initiative that does not deprive the country of its human potential or of its effective national institutions, an initiative that gives freedom its place and respect it by controlling the speedy justice that does not allow freedom to turn into Chaos, nor the selective manipulation of the law. An initiative that allows the general public to freely choose and make good choices for their representatives in Parliament. This is the philosophy behind the word, and the action must match it.
