The ideological change being offered by the new U.S. administration - the one in which the Bush administration's "marketing of democracy" is being abandoned - is worrying Egypt's intellectual elites. This week, Osama al-Ghazali Harb, the head of the Democratic Front Party that was established last year, wrote an open letter to Obama with suggestions for the address. Full Story »
Posted by Derek Hawkins
This isn't the most lucid story, but it highlights some great quotes from Osama al-Ghazali Harb, leader of the pro-democracy Democratic Front Party.
“I do not share the view espoused by many of my countrymen – whether they are honest or hypocritical – that U.S. support for democracy and freedom in our countries is tantamount to interference in our internal affairs. On the contrary, I wholly believe that it is necessary and inevitable.” Harb wrote that America’s “political, moral and ethical support for democracy and human rights in our countries is even more important than your economic and military aid. In fact, Mr. President, I think that your support for democracy in our countries will be a kind of penance or apology for the responsibility of the United States in previous decades by supporting authoritarian regimes and undemocratic governments that contributed – directly or indirectly – to the achievement of American interests at the expense of our peoples, our future and our children’s future.”
