The Crisis of Funding of Egyptian Civil Society

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The Crisis of Funding of Egyptian Civil Society

by Mohamed Abdelbaky

The current controversy over United States aid given to Egyptian civil society stems from a lack of clarity pervading relations between the two countries on this issue. This comes at a time when Egypt is going through a decisive period-the birth of a democratic state- for which millions of Egyptians took to the streets last January in order to bring down the regime of Hosni Mubarak.

The crisis was ignited following the remarks of Anne Patterson, the new U.S. ambassador to Egypt, in testimony before Congress a few months ago, in which she noted that Washington spent 40 million dollars in support of democracy in Egypt in months subsequent to the revolution.

These poorly-timed statements were sufficient to incur the wrath of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the Egyptian government, both of whom were trying to convince the U.S. administration to provide aid to salvage the Egyptian economy, as well as to encourage investors to return once again.

Preoccupied with domestic concerns, Washington continued to ignore the crisis, allowing it to compound to the point where the Egyptian government dealt a direct blow to Egypt's civil society. Last month, the Egyptian government directed the state security prosecutor to open an investigation of 'unapproved' foreign funds received by Egyptian civil society organizations. According to Egyptian newspapers, the government acted to identify assistance that "could potentially harm Egyptian national interests and the security of the country."

The real surprise was not so much the position taken by the SCAF, which made statements about the April 6th Youth Movement having received training in foreign countries to overthrow the government. Nor was it even that Washington ignored the severity of the problem. The surprise was the position taken by the forces of the long-standing political opposition (here, meaning, the Wafd, the Nasserist and Progressive Unionist parties), which bolstered the SCAF's allegations and demanded an end to foreign funding of civil society organizations and to any form of "external interference," according to Sayyid Badawi, president of the Wafd Party, in remarks last month.

So, Egyptian civil society, which is supposed to be a key player in building democratic institutions in Egypt after the revolution, now finds itself straitjacketed between a military ruler attempting to limit its role, and an international partner that deals with Egypt with a blend of indifference and naiveté as the country goes through this most critical phase.

Click here to read the full article http://fikraforum.org/2011/07/a-debate-on-u-s-foreign-aid-to-lebanon-viewpoints-from-the-lebanese-community/

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