By Salama A Salama From day one, the way national dialogue was being conducted didn't make much sense to me. It was hard to see how it could lead to consensus on how to organise political life in the country. As we've seen in the first session, the dialogue became a mere forum for the exchange of general opinions and ideas, minus focus or purpose. Good intentions aside, the dialogue was quite unsatisfactory. For starters, it was difficult to get all the political currents represented, from the right and the left, the intellectual and the religious, the Sufis and Salafis too. As it turned out, the youth of the revolution were left out and the whole thing began to look like the Tower of Babel, a place where everyone spoke a different tongue. If we were confused before it started, the dialogue only added to the general confusion. We talked, then we talked some more, and little was accomplished. Take for example this simple question: Do we write a constitution first or hold elections? And here is another: Do we hold presidential elections before the parliamentary elections or afterwards? With 160 members on the panel, reaching a conclusion wouldn't be an easy task. Hoping to move things forward, the prime minister chose another moderator for the dialogue. Instead of Yehia El-Gamal, now it is Abdel-Aziz Hegazi. It won't make any difference; let me tell you why. Unless the methods and purpose of the dialogue change, it will fail to come to a satisfactory ending. What we need, if you ask me, is a national dialogue about a "new social contract". We need an Egyptian bill of rights, along the lines of the American Bill of Rights. Such a document would lay down the general framework for the constitution. It would protect the rights of all, majority and minorities. It would banish the spectre of dictatorship, including that of the majority. And it would safeguard the rights of minorities. A bill of rights would guarantee a balance between the ruler and the citizen, safeguard human rights, guarantee the freedoms of religion and expression, and ensure the right of all citizens to decent education, health, housing, and a minimum income. It would also defend justice, sovereignty of the law, and the independence of the judiciary. The youth of the revolution must take the lead in writing the Egyptian bill of rights, for it is their duty to be part of the new social contract, with all the implications that contract has for the future. The generation that led the revolution, bore its brunt, and paid its price must be also responsible for charting the way ahead. This is the way to save the revolution, build democracy and good governance. It is time that someone tells the demonstrators that enough is enough. Making more demands is not going to do us any good. Of course we have to bring the corrupt to trial, but we mustn't usurp the powers of the judiciary. We mustn't hold extraordinary courts or make arbitrary decisions. We mustn't, for the sake of revenge, sacrifice the sovereignty of the law. Hasty decisions can lead to unpredictable dilemmas. We can, of course, fire every last university president, dismiss every governor, and sack the entire set of city and town mayors. We can dissolve local councils and send the media chiefs packing. But the chaos that results may be too much to bear. What is happening in this country is not mere window dressing. It is a meticulous dismantling of the apparatus of a central state, and it should be done with care. Our revolutionar y youth should learn to handle this process with patience and prudence.
