Mark
Curtis, een historicus maakt zich flink pissig over het gebrek van de reguliere media om de Britse regering te confronteren met haar groeiende
banden met repressieve regimes, ofwel dictaturen. Curtis begrijpt het niet helemaal, maar de media in GB (en de rest van het westen) zijn er vooral om de bestaande neoliberale status quo te bewaren, maar dat terzijde……
De
Britse minister van internationale ontwikkeling. Andrew Murrison,
heeft gesteld dat GB een sterke partner is van ‘de Egyptische reis’ die
tot economische hervormingen* moet leiden…… De Britse regering ondersteunt momenteel 16 projecten in Egypte, inclusief het UK
Action Against Corruption Programme (UAACP)…….. Voorts werkt GB ook op het gebied van ‘veiligheid’ samen met Egypte……
De
neoliberale Britse regering had zelfs het gore lef te stellen dat de
Egyptische overgang naar democratie de potentie heeft om een
voorbeeld in de regio te zijn….. (als het gvd niet zo’n enorme
puinhoop was in Egypte wat betreft de schendingen van mensenrechten,
executies enz., zou je je daadwerkelijk doodlachen……)
In 2013
heeft het Egyptische leger bij de coup van al-Sisi 900 mensen vermoord en meer dan 1.000 mensen (van licht tot zwaar) verwond……
De
Egyptische overheid martelt, verkracht en dood tegenstanders en
ondanks dat steunen westerse landen, waaronder Nederland de
Egyptische dictatuur….. De VS is de grootste ‘donor’ van de
bloedige dictatuur in Egypte en geeft het land jaarlijks 1 miljard
aan militaire hulp……. GB steekt in totaal 67 miljoen pond in Egypte en dat voor 16 projecten……
En dan
durft het westen nog steeds een grote bek over de democratisch gekozen Syrische president Assad te hebben en dat op basis van leugens, terwijl in Egypte de mensenrechten
openlijk worden geschonden, een land dat de ene misdaad tegen de
menselijkheid na de andere begaat…….
Historian
calls out media for failing to question UK’s ‘ever-growing’
links with repressive regime
18th
September 2019
On
17 September, historian Mark Curtis slammed the media for failing to
hold the British government to account over its increasing links with
Egypt’s repressive elitist regime.
Tweeting a screenshot of a recent government announcement,
he said:
UK has an “ever growing economic partnership” (and military) with Egyptian regime whose deep repression is also ever-growing. But fortunately for Whitehall, the corporate media corps is so disciplined there will be none of those embarrassing news articles. bit.ly/2kkRobp
An
‘ever-growing partnership’ amid corruption allegations
The
15 September announcement quoted international
development minister Andrew
Murrison calling the UK “a strong partner of Egypt and its economic
reform journey” and speaking of “our ever-growing economic
partnership”. Indeed, the British government currently
has 16 ‘active
projects’ in Egypt, including the UK Action Against Corruption
Programme ([UAACP] with a budget of £39,126,318) and two Egypt Country
Programmes (with a combined budget of £27,992,471).
The
latter pledge to
“support Egypt’s economic reform agenda in support of the IMF
[International
Monetary Fund]
programme”, and also involves “security cooperation”.
Elsewhere,
the UK government has said:
Egypt’s
transition to a democratic state has the potential to be the role
model for many other states in the region.
At
the moment, however, Egyptian president Abdel
Fattah el-Sisi is
facing allegations from
a former military contractor that he has spent “millions of dollars
of public money on palaces, villas, and hotels”. And as academic
Dalia Fahmy told Middle
East Eye:
This
comes at a time of [IMF-backed] austerity programmes in Egypt, the
rising cost of basic goods, and at a time where President Sisi has
asked the average Egyptian to sacrifice even more for the future of
the country…
For
the average Egyptian to see state funds misappropriated to bankroll
the building of luxury homes for the president and his family during
times of austerity, that seems to cut deeper than the revelation of
government corruption.
El-Sisi
has denied misusing public funds.
“Unprecedented
levels of repression” (and Western support)
In
an open letter to the UN Human Rights Council on 17 September, 18
organisations (including Amnesty International and Reporters Without
Borders) insisted:
Since
the last review of Egypt’s record in 2014, human rights violations
have increased sharply and the undersigned organisations and our
partners have documented unprecedented levels of repression against
human rights organisations and human rights defenders.
As
signatory Human Rights Watch explained:
The
organizations made a series of recommendations concerning the death
penalty, torture, violence against women and girls, detention of
activists and rights defenders, and a crackdown on freedom of
expression and assembly, among other human rights violations.
Despite
the above, the UK isn’t the only “strong partner” of el-Sisi’s
regime. The US is also a major long-term supporter of the state.
As Reuters reported in
2015, “Egypt is the second-largest recipient of U.S. military
assistance after Israel”. In fact, it routinely gets over
a billion dollars
in military aid each year.
Earlier
this month, the US released $1.3bn in
military aid. An official memo “waived human rights conditions”
despite admitting that el-Sisi has “restricted freedom of
expression”, “actively prevented civil dissent and cut down on
democratic reforms”. The Egyptian government
also approved constitutional
changes in April which could see el-Sisi stay on as president until
2030 while increasing his “power over the judiciary”. In
2014, 47.5% of
Egypt’s eligible voters participated in an election where the vast
majority elected him as president. Then, in the 2018 elections,
only 41% of
voters turned up to vote – again handing him an overwhelming
victory.
When
will the media hold our governments to account?
El-Sisi overthrew Egypt’s
democratically-elected government in a military coup in 2013. Weeks
later, he oversaw a state massacre of civilians. This caused over
900 deaths and injured over 1,000 people. And as Al
Jazeera reported in
August 2019, “no one has ever been brought to trial and the
Egyptian government has yet to transparently investigate the
massacre”.
Despite
the allegations of corruption and mass repression, however, Western
support remains.
The
US still gives el-Sisi’s regime vast amounts of military aid; and
the UK continues to sell it
weapons. They do exactly the
same with
many other brutal regimes around the world. And amazingly, they
still act like
they have the moral authority to lecture other
nations on democracy and human rights.
You’ll
see almost no coverage of this in the corporate media, though.
Because that wouldn’t be good for business.
We
deserve so much better – from both our politicians and our media.
And we’ll only get that when we stand up and demand better.
Featured
image via YuoTube
– goingunderground RT
=========================================
* Economische hervorming aan de hand van een IMF programma, waarbij het volk nog verder wordt uitgekleed dan voor mogelijk werd gehouden…..
PS: begrijp overigens niet dat men nog steeds met vakantie naar Egypte gaat, zal er dan ook geen traan om laten als Nederlanders en andere toeristen bij een aanslag om het leven komen…..
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