In commemoration of Egypt's uprising, I looked through the pictures I shot at the very first protest on Jan. 25, 2011, in Cairo's Tahrir Square. The pictures are of clouds of tear gas and water-cannon trucks plowing through crowds of Egyptians, but surprisingly absent in them are men with untamed beards. The pictures reflect a revolution that was Utopian, pure and, alas, naïve, which made it susceptible to being hijacked. Today, it is debatable whether anything has changed in Egypt. The coercive system that tramples on human rights is alive and well, as is particularly evident from this last week's massacre in Port Said, undoubtedly instigated by Egypt's notorious security forces. I often wonder if the martyrs of the revolution aren't calling out from the next world, "Is this what my blood was shed for?"
Perhaps a better question is: Why did the majority of the Egyptian populace vote for Islamist parliamentary candidates rather than the liberal activists who brought about the revolution? The answer is partially rooted in how the United States spends our tax dollars. The Egyptian military has been one of the highest paid recipients of U.S. military aid for over three decades; this past year the U.S. provided the Egyptian military with $1.3 billion in military aid. This may seem a small price to pay for advancing America's security and economic interests abroad, but other costs must be considered that are not found on the balance sheet.
Egypt is not required to improve its dismal state of human rights while acquiring tear gas, tanks and fighter planes from the United States. This policy allows the Egyptian government to jail, exile, or cow into submission liberals, religious minorities, women, or anybody else who desperately tries to improve Egyptian economic and political life. Further, the government's silencing of Egypt's liberals has been a boon to the Islamists, who have used the opportunity to dominate the political sphere via their networks of Mosques, underhanded deals with the government, and petro-dollars pumped in from the Gulf. Given these conditions, it should be no surprise that the Islamists now dominate Egypt's post-revolution parliament. Perhaps it could have been different if America stuck to its ideals and made the healthy functioning of Egyptian society a condition for the army receiving $1.3 billion annually in military aid.
America is quickly running out of friends in Egypt. The Egyptian government, dominated by the military, cannot be trusted. They have stormed U.S.-funded NGOs, prevented their American employees from leaving Egypt, and will soon be putting these Americans on trial. Further, as a welcoming gesture to the new U.S. ambassador to Egypt, the front page of the military-controlled news magazine depicted her attempting to set Egypt's Tahrir Square ablaze using U.S. cash to light a bundle of dynamite, wrapped in an American flag. The caption read: "Ambassador of Hell Is Setting Tahrir on Fire." The Egyptian Islamists, demanding the release of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman from a United States prison, are of course a lost cause. This leaves Egypt's moderates and its youth, whom the army is currently bludgeoning into submission via tear-gas that comes in canisters boldly marked "made in the USA."
Matt Ellis is an Alaska resident who has lived in Egypt for the last three years. He is currently working as a researcher for the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies, a NGO that promotes democracy and civic engagement in the Arab world.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch. Alaska Dispatch welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.