Dear CSID Friends, Members, and Subscribers:
For the past 12 years, CSID has been at the forefront of two major struggles: supporting and encouraging freedom, human rights, and democracy in the Arab and Muslim Worlds, and educating the American people about Islam, Islamic cultures and civilizations, and Muslims. These two struggles have never been as critical as they are today, but CSID cannot succeed without your support.
Please consider supporting CSID by making a year-end tax-deductible donation by Dec. 31, 2010.
We need to raise at least $45,000 by Dec. 31, 2010, to support our efforts and activities in the US and in the Muslim World. We're running behind right now, but we can get there if more first-time donors begin pitching in and if current and previous members and supporters renew their support. If you appreciate what we do and want to see it continue, please support CSID today.
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You can also donate by check, made payable to: CSID, 1625 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 601, Washington, DC, 20036
Sincerely,
Radwan A. Masmoudi Asma Afsaruddin
President Chair of the Board
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Election coalition urges President Mubarak to dissolve parliament  A coalition of three Egyptian human rights organizations has questioned the constitutionality of the new parliament, especially after numerous violations and irregularities were reported and documented before and during the electoral process.
"The elections were full of widespread violations that brought Egypt at least 15 years back," the coalition said in a statement. "Transparency standards were overlooked at the largest scale. Rigging and forging the citizens' will has become the 'law' regulating this election. This was further consolidated by the abolishment of judicial supervision which was replaced by a high commission, the majority of which is formed by the ruling party, with limited powers."
Egypt's Higher Administrative Court has similarly warned that the new parliament is in danger of losing its legitimacy as a result of the lawsuits filed by independent and opposition candidates.
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Mubarak party bolsters grip at risk of credibility
By Christophe de Roquefeuil | AFP Egypt's ruling party has damaged its credibility with a landslide election win marred by fraud claims but its grip on parliament has been tightened ahead of the 2011 presidential poll, analysts said Tuesday."Nothing was left to chance," was the assessment of prominent political commentator Emad Gad.But with its sweeping victory, the NDP "has lost its credibility" both at home and abroad, Ammar Ali Hassan wrote in the independent newspaper Al-Masri Al-Yom.The party "had a pressing need to renew its legitimacy" but its efforts backfired, he said.Rights groups in Egypt and abroad have charged that the polls were marred by fraud and widespread violence.A coalition of rights groups which monitored the vote has called for the dissolution of the new parliament after Egypt's high administrative court -- whose verdicts cannot be appealed - cast doubt on the polling process.The United States and European Union both expressed their concern over irregularities and violence during the election process.
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Election Monitors Allege Widespread Fraud in Egyptian Vote
VOA | December 6, 2010
Election monitors in Egypt say widespread fraud marred the country's parliamentary election that is expected to produce a landslide victory for President Hosni Mubarak's party.
 The Independent Coalition for Elections' Observation said Monday that voting violations, including forgery, raise serious questions about the legitimacy of the new parliament.
Egyptians voted Sunday in the second round of parliamentary voting. The country's two major opposition groups, the Muslim Brotherhood and the liberal Wafd party, boycotted the run-off in protest of alleged fraud in last week's first round.
Many human rights groups and international observers believe the election campaign has been tarnished from the beginning after a government crackdown left many members of the Muslim Brotherhood in jail.
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Elections in Egypt to test Western commitment to democracy
By James M. Dorsey | Middle East Studies
 The parliamentary elections in Egypt are shaping up to be as much an indication of US and European commitment to human rights and democracy as they are a dress rehearsal for next year's Egyptian presidential election.
Michele Dunne, a Middle East expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said people in Egypt and other Arab countries were watching the West closely to see to what extent they press for free and fair elections in the Arab world's most populous country.
"They will take that as a sign of whether the US and Europe are serious about these issues or whether they have relegated them to the sidelines," Dunne said.
For much of the past year, the US and the European Union have largely been quiet about the deterioration of human rights and prospects for real democracy in Egypt. These issues were glaringly absent from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's agenda when she met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit earlier this month in Washington.
Some analysts argue, however, that the long-term risks of the US and Europe being perceived as perpetuating authoritarian rule in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world could prove costlier than the short-term benefits of turning a blind eye to flagrant violations of human rights and democratic deficiencies.
By publicly focusing on the issue, the US and the EU would shape debate in Egypt prior to a changing of the guard along the Nile, encourage democracy and human rights activists and alter widespread perception in Egypt and the rest of the Arab world that the United States favors authoritarian rule.
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Opinion: US reaction to Egyptian election exposes its unabashed hypocrisy
By Subir Ghosh | digitaljournal.com
 US President Barack Obama did find the right words for Myanmar during his visit to India last month. Obama went to the extent of exhorting India not to mince words for its military-ruled neighbour. He waxed eloquent on the values of a democratic polity and also that of human rights. The US President, however, was nowhere to be seen when it came to debunking the elections in Egypt.
It is also for this reason that the democratic veneer that the US shrouds itself with is increasingly perceived with suspect in many places of the world. It does not ask its allies to practice what it counsels its adversaries to.
Driven by its obsession with Iran, the US has only been hobnobbing with virtually totalitarian regimes in the Arab world, none of who are paragons of virtue. Many are not democracies even in name. Freedom of speech is a joke, human rights is a cruel joke. All the US wants is to nail Iran; and in its zeal to do so, it conveniently turns a blind eye to whatever goes on in its allied countries of the Arab world.
It is time US and its NATO friends stopped lecturing the world on human rights values and democratic ideals. You can't keep fooling the world in an age of WikiLeaks with empty rhetoric. Holding up the mirror to one's own face would be a better idea to see the emptiness within.
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Say hello to radicalism...!
By Bahey el-din Hassan | Almasry Alyoum The running joke in Egypt these days--about the doctors who congratulate themselves on a successful operation, even though the patient died--isn't new, but the parliamentary elections have given it a new twist.A review of election day events reveals that what happened was not simply widespread rigging, but the biggest act of organized political corruption seen in Egypt's modern history. The ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) overwhelming electoral victory was orchestrated at the highest levels of government in an act of massive political manipulation.The electoral slaughter of the opposition in such a scandalous manner will most certainly serve to revive radical political trends and violent tendencies, both in and out of official parties and political groups, and especially among Islamists.Several human rights organizations had warned early on that the government had no intention of holding free, fair and transparent elections. A press release issued by the Forum of Independent Human Rights Organizations on 9 November predicted the elections would be totally corrupt. A few days later, the Independent Coalition for Election Observation said that election fraud had already begun, well before the 28 November voting day.At the same time, the NGO directorate at the Foreign Ministry warned representatives of human rights groups resident in Cairo to be cautious in their activities and abstain from taking public stances critical of the elections.It seems fraud has its consequences and the NDP may potentially face a political blowback.
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Egyptians Blame Obama
by Khaled Abu Toameh | The Hudson Instiute Egyptians blame Obama for failing to fulfill his commitment to spreading democracy. Obama's reluctance to send a strong message to the Egyptian regime encouraged Mubarak to launch a massive and brutal crackdown on his political rivals and critics long before the election was held.Human rights activists and political activists say the election was held in an atmosphere of terror and intimidation. Some have gone as far as describing the election as "probably the most fraudulent in Egypt's history."But many Egyptians and Arabs are not as angry with Mubarak as much as they are with the US Administration of President Barack Obama.The Obama Administration had almost nothing to say in response. It also failed to respond in a firm manner when Mubarak ignored Washington's request to allow full monitoring by independent observers.A few weeks before the scandalous election, President Obama, after a meeting with the Egyptian tyrant, called for "credible and transparent elections;" and in a recent speech at the United Nations, he announced that, "democracy, more than any other form of government, delivers for our citizens."In his June 2009 speech in Cairo, President Obama pledged his commitment to democracy: "I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose."But by allowing Mubarak to confiscate the will of some 80 million Egyptians, President Obama has lost his credibility, or what is left of it, among Arabs and Muslims.
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About CSID
By supporting CSID, you help to: - Create a better future for our children so they can have more opportunities for improving their lives and realizing their dreams.
- Educate and inform Americans about Islam's true values of tolerance, peace, and good will towards mankind, including peoples of other faiths.
- Improve U.S. relations with the Muslim world by supporting popular movements rather than oppressive tyrannies and corrupt regimes.
- Replace the feelings of hopelessness, despair, and anger in many parts of the Muslim world, especially among the youth, with a more positive and hopeful outlook for the future.
- Encourage young Muslim Americans, and Muslims everywhere, to participate in the political process and to reject calls for destructive violence and extremism.
- Build a network of Muslim democrats around the globe who can share knowledge and experience about how to build and strengthen democratic institutions and traditions in the Muslim countries.
Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy
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Please donate generously. Your contribution to CSID is both tax-deductible, and zakat-eligible. Your contribution will make a world of difference.
The Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy is a non-profit think tank, based in Washington DC - dedicated to promoting a better understanding of democracy in the Muslim world, and a better understanding of Islam in America. To achieve its objectives, the Center organizes meetings, conferences, and publishes several reports and periodicals. CSID engages Muslim groups, parties, and governments - both secularist and moderate Islamist - in public debates on how to reconcile Muslims' interpretation of Islam and democracy. CSID is committed to providing democracy education to ordinary citizens, civil society, religious and political leaders in the Muslim world, and has organized meetings, workshops, and conferences in over 25 countries, including Nigeria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Iran, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, etc.
"Today, more than ever, we in the United States of America and beyond need to hear, understand, and promote the voices of reason, moderation, and democracy among Muslims. The CSID is one of the most articulate platforms serving this need. Through the CSID we can and have been tackling the deficit of democracy, human rights, especially women's rights in many Islamic societies. By supporting CSID we help support dialogue and understanding, instead of clash, among civilizations."
Nayereh Tohidi
Professor & Department Chair
Women's Studies, CSUN & UCLA
"There are few issues of greater concern to the future of the Muslim world than the prospects for democracy. CSID has pioneered the promotion of democracy at the practical level, and in this regard has provided invaluable service through education and social activism."
Vali Nasr, Professor
Naval Postgraduate School
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