Description
This article examines how human rights in Egypt have been framed as irredeemably Western and deviant, leading to a pervasive political subjectivity among Egyptians that they are unprepared for self-governance and democracy. Through state-led discourses, human rights defenders (HRDs) are depicted as agents of foreign agendas, promoting individual civil and political rights that conflict with collective economic and social needs. These portrayals have enabled the Egyptian state to justify repression, positioning human rights as incompatible with Egyptian values and reinforcing the belief that Egyptians are not yet ready for democracy. The article focuses on the deployment of these discourses against the backdrop of the January Revolution, when HRDs were increasingly marginalised and associated with moral deviance, especially through their defence of LGBTI+ rights. By contrasting the state's narrative of ‘the right kind of rights’ with the broader global discourse on human rights, this analysis reveals how this framing serves as a counter-revolutionary tool, reinforcing the perception that democratic self-governance must be postponed until Egyptians can demonstrate ‘honourable’ conduct. This dynamic entrenches authoritarian rule and curtails the possibility of transformational change. Moreover, the article argues that while human rights in Egypt constitute a counter-revolutionary and liberal technology of government, they also, through expanding the contours of citizenship, destabilise state-enforced binaries of ‘honourable’ Egyptian identity versus ‘Western’ deviance, playing an important role in revolutionary mobilisation.
