MERIP Media schrieb: > MERIP Press Information Note 90 > > Sparks of Activist Spirit in Egypt > > Paul Schemm > > April 13, 2002 > > (Paul Schemm writes for the Cairo Times.) > > For a few days in October 2000, near the beginning of the second Palestinian > intifada, it looked as though Egypt's student movement had finally found its > voice again after years of quiescence. Students at Cairo University and > other schools demonstrated daily and even clashed with security forces > during attempts to march on the Israeli embassy to show their solidarity > with the Palestinians. When this movement petered out soon after it began, > most observers sympathetic to the student movement shook their heads and > lamented the loss of Egypt's activist spirit. > > Today, October 2000 looks like a dress rehearsal. A year and a half later, > the universities have exploded again as the war of attrition in the occupied > Palestinian territories has taken a new and more awful turn. Minor protests > occurred throughout the month of March, in advance of the Arab League summit > in Beirut. But when the West Bank city of Ramallah was invaded on March 29, > large demonstrations began in earnest. Two weeks later demonstrations are > still going on daily. Though the protests may lack their initial fervor, the > current round of student unrest represents the longest period of activism in > Egypt since the 1990-1991 Gulf war, if not before. The militant tone of many > of today's rallies and marches seems qualitatively different from earlier > rounds of protest under President Husni Mubarak. > > The demonstrators' slogans started out condemning Israel, but not long into > each rally, the Egyptian government came in for criticism as well. "I've > been an activist for years," said one student, "and I've never seen them > attack Mubarak so directly." The usual chants reviling Israeli Prime > Minister Ariel Sharon or lamenting the absence of Arab armies from the > Israeli-Palestinian battlefield are now regularly supplemented with: > "Mubarak, you coward, you are the client of the Americans" or "We want a new > government because we've hit rock bottom." Even as demonstrations subside > following the shooting death of Muhammad Ali al-Saqqa, a student in > Alexandria, militancy and anger remain in the student population -- which > has now taken the opportunity to organize and network. "The objective > conditions for another outburst are there, but you never know when the spark > will come," said the long-time activist. > > COMPETING FORCES > > The glory days of the student movement in Egypt came in the early 1970s, > when demonstrations of hundreds of thousands filled the main square of > Cairo. Students were ostensibly urging then-President Anwar Sadat to go to > war with Israel to wrest back occupied Arab land, but after the 1973 war the > protests continued, focusing more on Egypt's lack of democracy and economic > hardship. In 1979, the government clipped the students' wings by passing a > new university law which forbade political activity by students -- > effectively confining student demonstrations to the campuses. Battles > between students and police were no longer fought in the main streets of the > capital, but at the university gates -- usually far away from the rest of > the population. > > Since the 1980s, the Muslim Brotherhood has become the strongest force on > the Egyptian campus. Usually the Brotherhood has been more interested in > spreading its influence by providing social services and encouraging its > particular brand of public morality than in stirring up protest on the > street. > > For this reason, it appears to be a fledgling movement of campus > "socialists," and to a lesser extent supporters of the old-guard, secular > Nasserist party, who have been galvanizing the students this time around. > The Brotherhood can mobilize more students to create a bigger demonstration, > but they won't clash with police. > > "THE LINE NOT TO CROSS" > > The most militant demonstrations have been at Alexandria University, long > considered a stronghold of the Muslim Brotherhood. On April 9, a > demonstration of 9,000 turned tragic when at least one student, al-Saqqa, > was killed and over 260 were wounded as police broke up the march with > rubber bullets and buckshot. > > "The police stopped the students in the street outside the university and > the students starting throwing things and destroying cars," said Muhammad, > an officer with the State Security, Egypt's plainclothes security service. > Different reports have claimed that the demonstrators were heading for an > American cultural center or the new Alexandria Library, where a conference > of oil companies was underway. The State Security officer maintained that > Brotherhood activists could not have been leading the demonstration. "There > is no religion in all of this. The religious groups are very smart; they > know the line not to cross." He attributed the violence in Alexandria to > "communists." > > Others familiar with the student movements concur -- the Brotherhood > activists are under strict instructions not to face off with police and > often coordinate protests with security officials ahead of time to make sure > that all goes without incident. The socialists, who describe themselves as > Trotskyites but insist that they are not affiliated with any international > movement, believe that a more confrontational attitude is necessary. Their > slogans target the Mubarak government directly, asserting that reform must > happen in Egypt before Palestine can be saved. "The road to Jerusalem runs > through Cairo," as one activist explained. The Brotherhood believes that > criticism of the regime must take a back seat to a united front against > Israel. > > What probably happened in Alexandria was that a demonstration originally > organized by the Brotherhood was taken over by socialist (or independent) > students who accurately read the crowd's temperament and led them out to the > streets. Security forces were unable to control the 9,000 students with > their conventional weapons of tear gas and police cordons, and resorted to > firearms. With the inauguration of the new Alexandria Library approaching on > April 23, the authorities did not want any event there disrupted. > > USUAL PRACTICE > > Security forces have been much more restrained in Cairo, partly because > there have not been any demonstrations in the streets by 9,000 people. With > notable exceptions, protests in Cairo have been fairly small, limited to a > few hundred people. As per usual practice, police have arrived in large > numbers, separated the demonstrators from the general public and then > allowed them to exhaust themselves chanting. > > The April 12 demonstration at al-Azhar mosque in the heart of Islamic Cairo > was an excellent example. Since it was well-known that a demonstration would > occur after Friday prayers, the authorities were prepared. More than 2,000 > black-clad Central Security policemen, in riot gear, were on hand. While at > one point 10,000 people massed protesting inside the mosque, they were > unable to get out as a group. Instead protesters were allowed out in small > groups and then swiftly ushered away from the mosque. Only around 200 were > able to gather and shout slogans in front of al-Azhar. > > The previous week, a similar small demonstration in front of al-Azhar was > reinforced by several hundred people marching up from nearby Ataba square. > On April 12, several lines of security blocked traffic and cut off > pedestrian access to al-Azhar from any direction. > > CAUGHT BY SURPRISE > > This elaborate routine contrasted vividly with the Cairo University > demonstration of April 1, which caught security forces by surprise. Until > that point, there had not been such a large rally so soon after an Israeli > incursion into Palestinian-controlled areas. The demonstration was > originally organized by a group called the Popular Committee for Support of > the Palestinian Intifada, comprised of various NGO activists and > representatives of the different opposition political parties. Their rally > was reinforced by some 10,000 students who suddenly left the university > campus, broke through the security cordon and headed for the Israeli embassy > down the street. Police eventually beat the protesters back with tear gas > and for the rest of the day, a fairly quiet standoff simmered at the main > gate of the university. > > Meanwhile, at a side gate near the Faculty of Commerce, a small force of > Central Security men was caught between several converging demonstrations, > including one composed of high school students and one from the university. > During the running battles that resulted between about 1,000 students and > police, protesters smashed several symbols of "America" -- including an > entire Kentucky Fried Chicken store and its accompanying street > advertisements. Students threw rocks at police and at one point overwhelmed > and pummeled a police captain who strode into their midst and tried to > arrest a stone thrower. > > It wasn't until the police began throwing rocks themselves and drove the > students back inside the university that order was restored. The next day, > there were similar clashes between police and students around the > university, but since then violent demonstrations in Cairo have ceased. At > an April 8 demonstration at Cairo University, only several hundred students > gathered outside the front gate, too few to contemplate a dash through the > security cordons. The demonstration was mostly characterized by squabbling > between the political factions over which slogans to chant. Later it turned > out that plainclothes security elements on the campus had prevented students > from joining the demonstration. > > While security seems to have now found the trick for strangling protests and > there hasn't been much active support from Egyptians off the campuses, the > students did affect government policy over the last few weeks, if only in > symbolic ways. The state announced it would downgrade > government-to-government relations with Israel (though not diplomatic ties) > and also halted Egypt Air flights to Tel Aviv. These gestures came in > response to the street protests. The sheikh of al-Azhar, Muhammad > al-Tantawi, recently reversed himself on the issue of suicide bombings. Once > he called them wrong, but now he is saying that Palestinians who perform > them are martyrs. > > "NOT THE END OF THE STORY" > > According to activists, the student leaders and political parties are > working to sustain the movement of the last two weeks. Political parties > have been trying to take credit for the students' sudden activism as well as > lead their own protests, but for the most part these have been small affairs > and Egypt's small opposition parties remain cut off from the militants. Most > socialist students expressed scorn for Tagammu', Egypt's legal left-wing > party. > > The Lawyers' Syndicate, however, has re-emerged over the last few weeks as a > center of political activism. Once this body was considered the political > bellwether of the nation. But when the Muslim Brotherhood won the syndicate > elections, the government suspended the board and appointed regime loyalists > in their place. The sequestration was lifted two years ago, but Egyptians > had already stopped looking to the syndicate for leadership. > > With the onset of the latest crisis in Palestine, the syndicate began > holding rallies and seminars on current events. As the universities are > riddled with informers and encircled by vigilant security, the syndicate > grounds have become a kind of "liberated territory" for student activists. > Here student leaders from different universities meet to get to know each > other as well as activists from older generations. Students are coming not > just from traditionally activist institutions like Cairo University and Ain > Shams University, but also from the polytechnic colleges and secondary > schools. > > "The real politics start after the demonstrations end," said one activist > who says that a political movement born out of the demonstrations of October > 2000 and the past two weeks is starting to form. He didn't count out the > possibility of further unrest in the country, despite the increasingly heavy > security crackdown. "This is not the end of the story," he declared. "The > public mood right now is a lot more militant than in October 2000." > > (When quoting from this PIN, please cite MERIP Press Information Note 90, > "Sparks of Activist Spirit in Egypt," by Paul Schemm, April 13, 2002.) > > ----- > > MERIP has updated a special primer on the ongoing crisis in > Israel-Palestine. Read it online at: > http://www.merip.org/new_uprising_primer/primer_all_text.html > > The summer issue of Middle East Report (MER 223) will focus exclusively on > the Israel-Palestine crisis, with a special section on the > Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the US arena. 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