Rainblog

Man with cross and Quran, Tahrir Square

This photograph was taken in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in April. I don’t know what he intended to say by carrying the symbols of two religions, but my guess would be that it was a plea for religious tolerance and solidarity. Elsewhere - in signs carried by other people in Tahrir, and in graffiti on nearby walls - it was common to see the crescent moon of Islam drawn alongside the cross of Christianity, often half-enclosing it as if in a protective embrace. The repeated message was one of unity and mutual respect.

Now, violence between Coptic Christians and Muslims in Cairo has left dozens dead and hundreds injured. It’s all so pointless and unnecessary and, if what I saw in April was any guide, contrary to the wishes of the majority of Egyptians.

The must-see item on the Internet today has been Al-Jazeera’s live coverage of events in Egypt. It’s too early to call it for certain, but if someone were to ask me what regime change looked like, I’d probably point to the footage from Egypt and say “something like that”. If I were Hosni Mubarak, I’d be calling my travel agent about now.

Al-Jazeera’s coverage is good: juxtaposing the tranquil images broadcast by Egyptian state TV with their own footage of blazing police trucks was a nice touch. I have quite a lot of respect for “the Arab CNN”. As the scrappy new kid on the block, they’re not afraid to ask the tough questions that the more compliant and complacent American media won’t touch. Earlier today, one of their reporters was hounding a spokesman from the State Department mercilessly, belaboring him with “have you stopped beating your wife?” questions about the US relationship with the Mubarak government. You wouldn’t see that on CNN.

More interesting than that was their overall attitude. From where I was sitting, their coverage didn’t look neutral. It looked strongly sympathetic to the demonstrators, with their correspondents breathlessly enumerating each new development that suggested that the regime was in retreat and that the army was about to throw in with the protesters. For my money, based on what I saw, Al-Jazeera’s sympathies definitely lie with the Arab street.

Al-Jazeera is headquartered in Doha, Qatar. In common with a number of other states in the Middle East and North Africa, Qatar suffers from what Julian Assange might refer to as a “democracy deficit disorder”. To put it politely, Qatar and its neighbors are not exactly shining beacons of liberty and freedom of expression. In fact, on the Economist’s Democracy Index, Qatar sits at #137 - just one place above Egypt. Yemen and Jordan, which have protests of their own, are at #146 and #117 respectively; the UAE is at #148 while Saudi Arabia is down at #160.

Right now, the rulers of many of these states are probably looking over their shoulders and wondering if they’re next. If Egypt goes the same way as Tunisia, the odds that others will follow are going to increase enormously.

And Al-Jazeera is cheering for the Egyptian protesters. The US may be waiting to see how the chips fall before saying anything - remember, not only do they have to avoid alienating Mubarrak if he somehow survives, but everything the administration says will be carefully scrutinized by the Saudis and all our other autocratic friends as well - but Al-Jazeera isn’t quite so reticent. It looks to me as if the Arab world’s leading news network has already made up its mind that the future lies not with the autocrats but with the discontented masses.

Interesting, no?