The Liberal Egyptian Party ( ar, الحزب المصري الليبرالي, ), formerly Mother Egypt Party, was a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

political party in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

advocating

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

and patriotism. This liberal party was a political party in

until the merger with another liberal party, the Egyptian Democratic Party, to become the

Egyptian Social Democratic Party The Egyptian Social Democratic Party ( ar-at, الحزب المصرى الديمقراطى الاجتماعى, al-Ḥizb al-Maṣrī al-Dimuqrāṭī al-Ijtmāʿī, ) is a social liberal and a social democratic party in Egypt. It was founded aft ...

on 29 March 2011. The party built on previous attempts by native anti-colonial activists in the early 20th century to re-assert ethnic Egyptian identity, based in part on national independence from the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and the Ottomans, the establishment of a secular and democratic national government, and the formalization of the local language. It also sought to revive the indigenous

Egyptian language The Egyptian language or Ancient Egyptian ( ) is a dead Afro-Asiatic language that was spoken in ancient Egypt. It is known today from a large corpus of surviving texts which were made accessible to the modern world following the decipher ...

and to disassociate Egypt from the Arab nationalist policies introduced by Gamal Abdel Nasser. The Liberal Egyptian Party called for separating religion from politics and most civil affairs. The party also called for capitalism and reducing the influence of the public sector in the economy. In its early history it called for full normalization with Israel, though this stance was repealed after subsequent alliances with Islamists and leftists. The founder of the Liberal Egyptian party was Mahmoud El Pher'oni, from the Assiut Governorate.

Ideas and goals

* The application of a liberal democracy in Egypt. * Complete secularization and religious neutrality on a political level. * The reassertion of the Egyptian identity separate from the pan-Arab identity. * Recognizing Masri (the colloquial language of the Egyptian people) as the official language of Egypt. * Reviving the

. * Complete religious freedom and protecting the rights of religious minorities to practice their own faith. * Removing the authority of religious scholars to affect political decisions under the pretext of Sharia law. * Ensuring that freedom of opinion, expression and belief extends to all members of Egyptian society.

References

2003 establishments in Egypt 2011 disestablishments in Egypt Political parties established in 2003 Political parties disestablished in 2011 Defunct political parties in Egypt Egyptian nationalist parties Language revival Liberal parties in Egypt Secularism in Egypt Pharaonism {{liberalparty-stub

Ideas and goals

See also

References