by Austin Bay
February 16, 2011As revolutions go, it was the first liberal democratic
domino -- and 235 years later, its proclamation that human beings are endowed
with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness continues to
empower democratic revolutionaries challenging autocracies and dictatorships.
The American Revolution also provides the emerging
architects of Egyptian democracy with very practical advice: Hang together, or
you'll substitute one tyrant for another.
As the Continental Congress prepared to ratify the Declaration
of Independence, John Hancock urged the opinionated rebels serving in the
assembly to pass it unanimously. "There must be no pulling in different
ways," Hancock said. "We must all hang together."
To which Benjamin Franklin allegedly quipped: "Yes, we
must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang
separately."
Franklin may not have actually delivered this perfect
rejoinder -- it remains a point of academic debate.
However, there is no debate about Hancock's crucial point.
Tyrants can focus their instruments of power -- secret police, armies,
controlled media, terrorists and assassins. Democratic movements, however, are
aggregations of individuals united by an idea that commits a society to a
process -- a pursuit that will always be imperfect and therefore generate
disagreement.
A democratic movement will never march in lockstep, but
common principles -- such as dedication to individual rights -- must translate
into a common spine to resist, with armed force when necessary, inevitable
manipulation, threat and attack by tyrants, terrorists and their vicious
partisans.
Recent history bears tragic witness. In the aftermath of
their popular rebellion of 1979, the hodgepodge collection of Iranian liberals
and nationalists fragmented. The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's radical Islamic
totalitarians divided the democratic coalition and attacked them individually.
Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, Iran's first president after the 1979
revolt, identifies the failure to form a unified democratic front as the
Iranians greatest strategic error. In an essay published in the Christian
Science Monitor last month, Bani-Sadr said most Iranian political organizations
"did not commit themselves to democracy. Lacking the unity of a democratic
front, one by one they became targets of power-seeking clergy in the form of
the Islamic Republic Party ... ."
The Iranians hung separately.
Iran's bitter legacy informed a column written two weeks ago
in which I argued that America's foremost diplomatic goal should be encouraging
"a resilient alliance of Egyptian secularists, moderate Islamists and the
military." Events this week suggest the Egyptians are in the process of
forging a democratic front that includes the Egyptian military -- luckily, an organization
packed with committed Egyptian nationalists.
Furthermore, it seems the Egyptians are creating the front
themselves, thank you. That sends a very positive signal. Despite the turmoil
and uncertainty, they aren't reacting as tyrannized subjects, but as active,
responsible citizens.
Over the weekend, the Egyptian military presented a group of
youthful Egyptian revolutionaries with its plan for handling the transition
from authoritarian regime to government by consent of the governed.
Twenty-first century technology promotes transparency, so
parts of the plan were posted on the Internet. It called for amending the
constitution and holding a referendum on the changes within the next two
months. Revolutionary leaders are scrutinizing the military plan, for many
suspect the military's motives. Since the rise of Gamal Nasser six decades ago,
the military has buttressed one strong man government after another. The New
York Times reported one revolutionary leader's assessment: "We have asked
for another meeting this week to tell them (the military) about our plans. Then
we'll see."
How the military receives the counter-proposal is crucial.
Rejection or ambivalent delay sends the ominous message that there is at least
one strong faction of military Bonapartists who prefer pharaoh to freedom. The
give and take of sincere negotiations among revolutionary factions and the
military, ending in authentic compromise, however, will not only forward the
process of building a democratic front but signal the emergence of genuine
democratic politics.
Pray Egypt's senior military leaders take John Hancock's
advice and pull with the public will to secure liberty.