One who has nothing can give nothing. A woman who enjoys no freedom can't free others in her family or in her community. Similarly, a man with no freedom can't free others. A free society is composed of free men and women and a free state is one whose society is free. This free society will make way for free elections, governments, parliaments, ministers, families, arts, education, and culture. It is the society that creates the state, and the nation that creates its democracy or form of government. If the nation doesn't know its rights and how to establish them through organizing its actions, then there will be neither a democracy nor a just constitution that treats all citizens as equals regardless of sex, religion, class, or other considerations. Never has it occurred in history that rulers willingly granted their people freedom or governed them justly. Freedom and justice are established by organized, aware national forces, or, for the matter, by the force of arms. The former is a better option because it avoids bloodshed and because that which is acquired by force is usually lost to a stronger force. However, what is acquired through organized action requires a higher level of organization and awareness to be replaced. This is how societies improve. Our country, however, is a different story. There is a lack of awareness of the lessons given by history and a lack of respect for the will of the people. Every right obtained in our country requires a decision from above, because the society has no collective will. Public opinion is weak or misguided. Knowledge provides power to the individual and the society. Misleading public opinion through media and education weakens the society. Unity is strength. That's why Europe has come into a union that now deifies the United States, and that's why the USSR vanished from existence with its disintegration into smaller parts. That's why the United States is keeping its unity despite internal differences. And that explains why Israel and the U.S are dividing Arab nations into religious, racial, political, and social groups. "Divide and conquer" remains the principal adopted by totalitarian governments of the past and the present. Real democracy is people governing themselves by themselves. It's not merely about having a pluralist society with a multiple parties. In fact, pluralism in a disorganized society could lead to greater segregation and conflict, making the nation easier to control. This is the case in Egypt. Political parties exist only on paper and only seem to manifest their existence through people shouting into microphones, particularly during elections. Since their establishment in the 1970s, political parties haven't managed to produce one single figure that could threaten the inheritance of power. Names reiterated recently as potential nominations for presidency included figures not associated with partisan or political activity. Some of them even live abroad and know nothing about Egypt's complex internal problems, such as ElBaradei and Zewail. But why has multi-party democracy failed in Egypt? Because it was imposed by a government that was itself pressured by external forces. It's not the product of an Egyptian society that is aware of the necessity of freedom or justice. Our democracy wasn't produced by a democratic society. Democracy can't be imposed from above, nor can it come into existence all of a sudden in a parliament. It is a style of life, a method of education based on justice and freedom and respect for others' ideas. Democracy finds expression in all fields, from politics to private life. It cuts across the fields of science, art, and economics. Even love, sex and ethical responsibility are connected to democracy. Differently put, a democratic state cannot be created except by a democratic society. By the same token, a civil state that separates religion from the state cannot be established except by a civil society. This is the real meaning of a civil society: One that puts in place a civil constitution without a single article pointing out a religious reference, a constitution that produces legislation, and ethical and educational values that foster freedom of thought and creativity, and treats all citizens as equals regardless of gender, religion or class. Such a constitution would lay the foundation for a Family Law that regards all family members as equals-- the basis of a civil society and thus a civil state. In other words the road to a civil state starts with a civil society. There are those who call for the creation of a civil or democratic state without seeking to develop the society toward that end. If the brains of the people are occupied with superstitions and ghosts, how could Egypt become a civil state? If discipline at homes and schools is based on submission to a family or religious authority, how can we give rise to generations that understand democracy and listen to other opinions? If our free thinkers escape outside Egypt dreading vilification or prosecution, then can we produce any science or art? How can it be that only those who emigrated from Egypt are fit for presidency? Hasn't the Egyptian society produced people who can lead public opinion, the government, or the state? Of course, there are creative minds and strong, noble figures in Egypt. However those very same people have had their fair share of stick-beating at school and baton-beating at peaceful demonstrations, let alone the other several forms of persecution to which both men and women are subjected. Only few will rebel for the sake of freedom, justice and creativity, and those represent the top of the society, even if they live at the bottom. They unite despite attempts to divide them and defame them. Determined, they work relentlessly for themselves and the society. They don't know the meaning of despair or defeat. They don't emigrate. They stay in Egypt to establish a free civil society, one only governed by law, the just civil constitution that all the society has together put in place. That's why we should talk about Egyptian solidarity for the sake of a "civil society" and not a "civil state" because it is the society that creates the state and not the opposite. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
