Fahmi Huwaidi
Some news has attraction, ray of hopes and builds trust. The leader of Germany’s main right-wing, Frauke Petry, caused political uproar by insisting that the country’s border police should be authorised to shoot at refugees trying to enter the country illegally. This call was received with severe condemnations and some leftist leaders and even German Federal Police denounced her call. Reacting to the call of Petry, Thomas Oberman, prominent member of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), said “the last German leader who was of the opinion that such people should be shot was Arish during his tenure”. Arish condemned the leader of East Germany during the Communist time. “Shooting at refugees is a crime and it should not be repeated”, said Oberman.
On the other hand, the spokesman of the German Federal Police said that they never shoot at innocent civilians or immigrants because they respected the law. “Petry’s call is inhuman and extremist”, he added,“Such statements are extremist and require accountability because they spread hatred and provoke extra judicial killing”.
Christiane Taubira, French Minister of Justice who has occupied this portfolio since 2012 is more open-minded. The Minister has rejected an amendment to the constitution of France that was proposed,on the grounds of combating terrorism, based on a call made by the President François Hollande. The amendment was called following two terrorist attacks in Paris last November and February. The proposed amendment was to strip convicted French born terrorists of their citizenship if they have a second dual nationality,even if they were not convicted in cases related to terrorism, regardless of if they were born in France or not. Another proposal was to add some articles for some emergency provisions in the constitution.
The black lady minister who was born in French Guiana, an overseas region of France on the northeast coast of South America, took a stance on both proposed amendments. She found the amendments breached the basic rights of the nationals, as the nationality should not be cancelled at all under any circumstance even if they were convicted in terrorism cases. The state should not have right to harass the citizens after enforcement of the law.
The reluctant minister defended her stance in the French Parliament. She realised that she was being asked to support a position that did not satisfy her as a Minister of Justice so she resigned from her job. She returned to her home after her resignation, on her bicycle that she used to go to her office. Taubira instantly tweeted: “Sometimes to resist means staying, sometimes to resist means leaving” to let the last word be for ethics and what is right.
The third good news I have recently read about was that of the Ukrainian Minister of Economy who decided to leave his position and resign for an unexpected reason. The media coverage on January 2, said that the man had found himself unable to implement the required reform plans to achieve development in the country, because of obstacles put in his way by the power centres. When he realised this fact he decided to quit his position giving a chance to others who could carry the responsibility and perform the required reforms.
When someone reads such news in the morning,in the local newspapers, he might think that such individuals are from another planet, different from the planet we know and live on! Of course this is with the exception of German right-wing party leader who urged security forces to shoot the refugees at the border posts. I think she is related to some of our Egyptian politicians and media personalities, who cheer on killing and constantly promote hatred, thinking that genocide and exclusions are patriotism and can help the Egyptian state and regime.
Such a situation encourages us to make comparisons. This is because what the representative of the German Federal police said looks strange when we look at what our Egyptian police and security forces are often doing. They are using excessive force and violating human rights and dignity,and this fact is unanimously reported by all independent human right organisations. This is happening because the law protects them. Article eight of the terrorism law exempts police personnel from any criminal accountability if they use force while performing their duties.
Also, the decision of the French Justice Minister looks mythical and fanciful if compared to our ‘Justice Minister’ who wished to kill ten thousand members of the Muslim Brotherhood and their supporters,to retaliate for any death of police-men. Besides this he engaged in a dispute with the State Board when the board refused his suggestion to enable juries to dispense with witnesses in clear violation of the right of the accused to be defended in the courts. The minister also approved the holding of the ‘Court of Cassation’ sessions in the offices of the Ministry of the Interior, which is considered an insult to the judiciary and was refused by judges.
The story of the Ukrainian minister looks as if it is a joke in our situation, because there are no officials like this in our country. I realise the fact that not all politicians on the ‘other planet’ mentioned above are the same, but the important thing for me here is the political environment that produced them, compared to our environment which has produced such ‘politicians’. Comparisons like this not only make us feel shame and regret, but also make us acknowledge that the distance between us and progressive values is much bigger than we thought.
The writer is an Egyptian journalist & columnist.
