CAIRO - Debates at a recent seminar on challenges on the way of Egypt's transition to democracy revealed the enormity of worries and fears, haunting the nation's intellectuals, and politicised activists regarding the course this country is following after its revolution. The two-day seminar, which was jointly organised on Saturday and yesterday in Cairo by the European Union Institute for Security Studies and the Arab Forum for Alternatives, had also cast light on the chasm that separates the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on the one hand and the rest of Egypt on the other. Participants in the seminar cast doubt on the seriousness of the military rulers to instil real democracy into this country's political system, a system that suffered stagnation for decades before and during Mubarak's 30 year-rule. “I am not sure whether the revolution that ended Mubarak's political career has come to an end or not,” said Magdy Abdel Hamid, a civil society activist and one of the participants in the seminar. “The sure thing, however, is that the Armed Forces had protected the revolution as well as prevented the revolutionaries from achieving all their goals,” he added. His view seemed to be a popular one in this meeting, which was attended by a host of thinkers, including Hesham el-Bastawisy, a leading judge who plans to run for president and who was an outspoken critic of vote-rigging under Mubarak, and political analysts, including Amr el-Chobaki of Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. Some of the attendees expressed rejection of a controversial plan of the military to hold the parliamentary elections prior to the presidential vote. Others talked about the lack of steps on the part of the military to guarantee that the assembly that will make the next constitution will be representative of the whole of Egypt. “What makes me really worried is that there is not a specific criterion for selecting the members of the assembly that will make the next constitution,” el-Bastawisy said. “How can Parliament in the future abolish the Constitution according to which it was formed?” he asked. Even with all these worries, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces continues to send assurances to the public every now and then that it supports the aspirations of the revolutionaries and is committed to protecting the revolution. In its first statement in February, the military said it recognised the “legitimate” aspirations of the revolutionaries and vowed not to fire a shot against them. In a recent interview on official TV, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces reiterated the commitment of the military to protect the revolution and safeguard Egypt's transition to democracy. The military has even more than once said it did not have any plans to stay in power beyond the six-month transition it promised the people after Mubarak stepped down on February 11. But scepticism was everywhere to be found. There were experts from other countries, including Radha Kumar, the director of the Peace and Conflict Programme at the Delhi Policy Centre, who attended to tell participants in this seminar about India's democratic experience and Pedro Bacelar de Vasconcelos, the national coordinator of the Alliance of Civilisations and the director of the Human Rights Research Centre at the University of Minho who attended to speak about Portugal. The foreign experts underlined the importance of the presence of commitment from legislators to the articles of the new constitution. They said this commitment was important to make sure that these legislators will abide by this constitution. “Let me tell you that our revolution has not achieved its goals yet,” said el-Chobaki. “Egyptians still have an uphill battle to fight to make their revolution complete. What happened on January 25 and the following days was not the be all and the end all here. We still have a long way to go,” he added.
