Detaining Democracy

In the category of biting the hand that feeds it, you can add, besides sometimes-wayward dogs, Pakistan which hungrily consumes for its military, billions awarded it by the United States treasury, and Egypt, whose military has also benefited hugely from American generosity. Both of these countries' governments are currently in grave difficulty. Pakistan considers itself a great democracy with a free judiciary, and is infiltrated heavily by Islamists with their very Islamist agenda.

And Egypt, struggling to celebrate the anniversary of a perceived success that burst onto the scene with their version of the Arab Spring, sees the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces deeply ensconced as a replacement for Hosni Mubarak, juggling a future that Egyptian voters have promised to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist Al Nour parties, standing on the sidelines, eager to take their place as revolutionary leaders in the new Egypt.

The presence of Washington-backed non-governmental organizations like Freedom House and the International Republican Institute, irritates the ruling Generals no end. For they chafe under the obvious interference of 'foreign' groups such as these NGOs funded by the United States, whose function in Egypt is to encourage the growth of demand for free democratic reforms. The National Democratic Institute also has a presence, for it too, like its sister-organization, agitates.

And while Hosni Mubarak, while never promising to loosen the reigns of tyrannical power, sternly tamping down the powerful aspirations of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists, still offered a welcome accommodation for these American NGOs, knowing his people and his country better than they did. The ruling military council, however, sees a use for the presence of these NGOs, other than as irritants, claiming their interference in Egypt's affairs unsettles the country.

The NGOs doubtless wish they could claim the same, that their message of liberty and democracy is making inroads in the consciousness of ordinary Egyptians. But ordinary Egyptians have lived too long in poverty and hopes for a future that will be more enabling than the past. Their aspirations reach no higher for the time being than a need for abundant food and fuel at affordable prices, subsidized by the government.

And it has been not the government necessarily that has responded to their fundamental needs, but the wily outreach of the Muslim Brotherhood which, while espousing and teaching their especial brand of Islam, accompanied it with educational, health and funding support of Egyptians in need. The easiest way to the heart of a people, who respond with gratitude to those who offer help when needed.

The ruling military hardly knows now where to turn. They have been simply coasting along on the familiar, ruling as the former President Mubarak did, with a firm hand and an authentic sense of fulfilling the needs of a country he loved and felt obliged and entitled to rule. His former military chief, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi is continuing his reign, without his presence. They have no particular wish to defer total authority to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The various members of the Egyptian Youth movements have crowded Tahrir Square again, reluctant to leave it, since the last time they trustingly did, all that they demanded of the military rulers was promised, but everything swiftly returned to the status quo, and more. And while they understand that when the civilian government eventually does take the reigns of government with the military hovering helpfully in the background, their dream of equality will be starkly diminished; they know too that their brief moment in the sun has been relinquished to the Islamists.

The revolution was accomplished by their activism and their idealism and their having sparked Egyptians to flood Tahrir Square, but it now belongs to others. Who quietly and confidently stepped into the opportunity they provided. Their own time may come, but it is not yet. They will be frustrated for a long time to come. And the military regime will continue to blame the U.S. NGO presence for the youth dissatisfaction, and hamper them, confiscate their property, confine them.

And confidently continue to take American funding for the ongoing support of the military.