Why Egypt Matters.

The news is full of Egypt, and it's got my interest up (so far up in fact I've started using Twitter ( @OverHimself). You could ask why I should care, I'm a hell of a long way from Cairo, living in my safe democracy and totally unaffected by Egyption politics. Only I'm not.

Well, OK, I am those first two, but I'm not unaffected, and in more than just a John Donne "no man is an island" way. The largest part of UK and US foreign policy in recent years is focused on an area from Libya to Pakistan, add in the worries in the Home Office around arab-led, islamist motivated terrorism, and the interdependence created by global trade and this is all of our business. We get to take sides.

My horse, and I just hope she lives up to her form, is with people power. Mubarak and his party have ruled Egypt for 30 years. They have ruled under emergency law for most of that time; they have fixed elections and banned opposition parties and cracked down on dissent. They have provided stability and a degree of economic success. It's the old trade off, freedom from (poverty, hunger etc) at the cost of freedom to (speak, act, protest etc), and that is why the word bread is key in protesters' chants, once you stop providing the one, people will demand the other. The power of people protest is huge, and as I type this various sources are suggesting the government may have fallen.

If true this is a massive leap forward. The victory will belong to the people of Egypt, not to the Muslim Brotherhood, or other groups whose direction comes from Mecca and whose sympathy lies with Al Qaeda. The young, hopeful-looking protesters are talking of democracy and freedom, led by their experience and contact online with citizens of liberal democracies. It will shake up the region. The stabilizing effect of a relativly moderate and benign dictatorship in Egypt has probably prevented wars and moderated intifadas in Israel and Palestine. A democratic Egypt may not have this effect at first. But Angela Merkel had it right, the stability of Egypt is important, but not at the expense of the freedom of Egyptians.

A liberal democracy may not be as reliable a friend as a pocket dictatorship, but in the long run I would rather have a democracy who disagrees with us than a dictatorship always at our side. Democracy tends to moderate policy, it tends to allow rationality a stronger voice, diversity, culture, interaction and peace are all cherished more in democracies, where they are needed than in dictatorships where they can be replaced by a poster of the president. And democracy spreads. Democracy in Egypt could lead to democracy in Jordan, in Syria, in Libya, if all of those happens, even the House of Saud might be shifting uncomfortably in their thrones. And that would give us a more stable, more peaceful, more free world.

The Threat To The British Way Of Life

Jaqui Smith, the British Home Secretary, seems desperate to introduce 42 day detention without trial for terrorist suspects. This is the same government that bangs on incessantly about "Britishness", and they seem entirely to misconstrue the very nature of being British. Despite the calls from Whitehall for lessons, tests and pledges in schools, being British is not about things we do. The core values of Britain are those things we do not do. We do not rig elections. We do not torture people, and we do not imprison people without fair trial. This is not some new-fangled right, it has nothing to do with the Human Rights Act, the European Convention on Human Rights, or the UN Charter. This is an ancient right, Magna Carta was first sealed in 1215, the latest version dates from 1297, 2 articles remain in force. One of these is article XXIX which states:
"We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right."
Nowhere does it say "except for certain crimes", there is no wriggle room in the phrasing of "any man" to say "apart from those who look a bit Arabic".

Not only is the right to a timely trial ancient, the need for it is enforced by what happens when it breaks down. Elizabeth I and James I's persecution of catholics and protestants respectively kept England in a state of turmoil and near-revolution, Oliver Cromwell's disdain for these rights in Ireland were the cause of death and hatred that would last hundreds of years. More recently British governments suspended these basic rights to deal with the very real threat of Irish Republican terrorism. Internment was a disaster and a rampant recruiting poster for the IRA, Diplock courts were little better. The true success of dealing with terrorism came only through fair criminal trials, and political reform.

A small number of imams are preaching to a disenchanted youth, afflicted mainly by urban poverty and racism and labeled failures by failing schools, that the west, and their own government is out to get them. By denying basic rights to members of these communities we build a case for these pernicious preachers of hate. The problem runs deeper than this; as a nation we oppose human rights abuses in Burma (Myanmar), we demand rights for the oppressed Tibetans, and call for human decency in Darfur. If we ourselves cannot guarantee within the United Kingdom the rights we have so often fought for around the world, we are nothing but a nation of loud-mouthed hypocrites.

There is here and now, as there was in 1971, a genuine terrorist threat, the figures quoted by the Home Secretary of the numbers under surveillance are real (however they are not new, having been announced by various security chiefs at times dating back to 2006). However just as in 1971, to deal with this threat to our traditions by suspending those traditions is to give succor to terrorism. The threat must be countered without losing our decency, by allocating more resources to the security services, by allowing the use of properly obtained (i.e. with a warrant) phone tap and other intercept evidence in court, and most importantly by producing evidence and allowing fair defence.

So if you live in the UK take a stand NOW. Write to your MP, lobby members of the House of Lords, point out to them the great traditions of British justice, and the threat that comes from abandoning those principles; say to them "this is something that I will not do and I will not let you do it in my name". Ask them to vote against this bill when it comes before them. Only if we have British action for justice in Britain do we have any right to call for Global action for justice in Darfur.

And wherever in the world you are, take the same stand, don't let fear and hatred triumph over the rights that you and past generations have struggled for. If we do then we risk permanently disfiguring the beautiful freedom we enjoy.