2006年VOA标准英语-Egypt Cracks Down on Dissent

By Challiss McDonough
Cairo
17 May 2006

Egyptian human rights groups say about 360 people have been arrested over the past three weeks in what many are calling the biggest crackdown on political dissent¹ in recent memory.  Most of the arrests have taken place at protests in support of two fraud-busting judges who have become symbols of judicial² independence and the push for political reform.  

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An Egyptian policeman, center, kicks a pro-reform protester near a courthouse in Cairo, Egypt Thursday, May 11, 2006  
  

Hundreds of demonstrators chanting slogans faced off last week against thousands of riot police and plainclothes State Security officers responding with fists and batons³.

Scores of protesters were dragged off into police vehicles, becoming the latest to be arrested in a police crackdown that has lasted more than three weeks.

Anti-government street protests were unheard of in Cairo just a few years ago, but they have become relatively⁴ commonplace since the end of 2004, with the birth of the reform movement known as Kifaya, an Arabic word meaning "enough."

Mohammed El-Sayed Sa'id is both a senior member of Kifaya and a deputy director of the state-run Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

"It is my belief that the state really has been waiting for the right moment to roll back some of the gains achieved by Kifaya and other reform movements ...   And I do believe that the first priority for the police state is to roll back the right to rally, and to kill it," Sa'id says. "This is why they showed such a level of determination, and they are obviously willing to go all the way, filling Egyptian jails with reform activists⁵."

The arrests have targeted protesters who have taken to the streets in support of two pro-reform judges who face a disciplinary hearing and could lose their jobs because they went public with allegations of fraud in last year's parliamentary elections.  They have become a symbol for the pro-reform movement.

The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights says about 360 people have been arrested over the last three weeks.  But organization board member Gasser Abdel-Razek says the crackdown appears to have been designed to scare people away from protests and sit-ins in support of the judges.

"They could have defused this a long time ago," he says. "I think their analysis was if they start arresting people, people will not go back on the streets.  They started the new wave of arrests on the 24th of April thinking that people will not be showing up on the streets to support the judges on the 27th.  Yet people were there on the 27th and again on the 11th, and it does not seem that people are going back home."

On the contrary, he says, it may have actually galvanized the fragmented reform movement.  The protest last Thursday was the biggest in months.

Until recently Egypt appeared to be on the road to democratic reforms. 

Last year, President Hosni Mubarak for the first time allowed other candidates on the presidential election ballot⁶.  He allowed street protests calling for an end to his rule.  The banned Muslim Brotherhood⁷ was allowed to field an unprecedented⁸ number of candidates in the parliamentary poll.

But the arrest of the protesters is just one sign that Egypt's short-lived era of political reforms may be over.  

An Egyptian vendor⁹ passes by prepared billboards¹⁰ showing Ayman Nour, leader of the al-Ghad, or Tomorrow Party   
  
Ayman Nour, the opposition¹¹ candidate who placed a distant second in last year's presidential election, is in jail, sentenced to five years for forgery¹² after what many see as a flawed, politically charged trial.  The government postponed¹³ municipal elections for two years.  President Mubarak recently renewed the restrictive emergency law, which he had pledged during his election campaign to repeal¹⁴.

Georgetown University professor Samer Shehata, an expert in Egyptian politics, says all those issues are connected.

"And I think all of this is related, and all of this has to be understood as a general closing of political space in Egypt over the last four or five months, contrasted with what we saw at the end of 2004 and generally in 2005, which was political liberalization, an opening up of political space and promises by the regime of political reform," Shehata says.

One thing the Kifaya movement and its offshoots say they have done is opened the door for freedom of expression, political dissent, and previously¹⁵ unheard-of criticism of the president.

But Shehata says the gains may not ne long lived.

Egyptian riot policemen try to disperse¹⁶ pro-reform protesters outside courthouse in Cairo, May 11, 2006  
  
"These gains are not irreversible," he says. "They might be harder to take back, and there might be some friction¹⁷ involved, as we are seeing now.  But there is no inexorable logic¹⁸ in the march to democracy, that leads all of us inevitably¹⁹ [to] an end state of democratic politics ... and unfortunately, they are not irreversible."

The pro-reform activists are planning a number of new protests before the end of the month, in support of the judges. 

A major showdown was expected Thursday, when the judges' disciplinary hearing had been scheduled to resume.  But one of the judges, Hisham Bastawisy, had a heart attack and is still in the hospital, so it is not clear what will happen with either the trial or the demonstrations²⁰ that were expected to accompany it.  

The interior ministry²¹ issued a statement Tuesday making it very clear that demonstrations without permits will not be tolerated.  And so organizers and activists are expecting more arrests.  

1 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

2 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

3 batons   

n.（警察武器）警棍( baton的名词复数 )；（乐队指挥用的）指挥棒；接力棒

参考例句：

• There were many riot policemen with batons. 有许多带警棍的防暴警察。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Chinese police fight? Number one is a person with batons to fight! 满街飘的中国国旗，是一个老华侨在事发时那出来分给大家的，很感动，真的，从来一向多一事不如少一事的中国人今天团结到一起站出来反抗。 来自互联网

4 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

5 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

7 brotherhood   

n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊

参考例句：

• They broke up the brotherhood.他们断绝了兄弟关系。
• They live and work together in complete equality and brotherhood.他们完全平等和兄弟般地在一起生活和工作。

8 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

9 vendor   

n.卖主；小贩

参考例句：

• She looked at the vendor who cheated her the other day with distaste.她厌恶地望着那个前几天曾经欺骗过她的小贩。
• He must inform the vendor immediately.他必须立即通知卖方。

10 billboards   

n.广告牌( billboard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Large billboards have disfigured the scenery. 大型告示板已破坏了景色。 来自辞典例句
• Then, put the logo in magazines and on billboards without telling anyone what it means. 接着我们把这个商标刊在杂志和广告看板上，却不跟任何人透漏它的涵意。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年4月号

11 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

12 forgery   

n.伪造的文件等，赝品，伪造（行为）

参考例句：

• The painting was a forgery.这张画是赝品。
• He was sent to prison for forgery.他因伪造罪而被关进监狱。

13 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

14 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

15 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

16 disperse   

vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散

参考例句：

• The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
• The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。

17 friction   

n.摩擦，摩擦力

参考例句：

• When Joan returned to work,the friction between them increased.琼回来工作后，他们之间的摩擦加剧了。
• Friction acts on moving bodies and brings them to a stop.摩擦力作用于运动着的物体，并使其停止。

18 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

19 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

20 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

21 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。