Egyptians Try To 'Save The Revolution'

An Egyptian boy among the tens of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square yesterday


Signs Of Repression Return

The Former Political Vehicle Of Hosni Mubarak Is Revamping Its Image As It Attempts A Comeback.

By Jon Jensen
April 1, 2011 09:29
Courtesy Of "The Global Post"


CAIRO, Egypt — In the two chaotic months since the revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak began, Egyptians have desperately longed for the return of some semblance of stability.

They got some of what they wanted late last month when Egypt’s battered stock market finally reopened to gains after losing nearly $12 billion during the uprising. The security situation seemed hopeful as well as police forces returned to the country’s lawless streets.

But Egyptians have also started to witness the kinds of things they hoped they would never see again — things that were familiar during Mubarak’s three decades of autocratic rule.

Several detainees have come forward with allegations of torture at the hands of the country’s revered military, which assumed power in the wake of Mubarak’s departure. A popular blogger was arrested from his home this week, reportedly charged with publishing a scathing critique of the performance of Egypt’s interim government.

Now, even Mubarak’s own National Democratic Party — widely criticized for its corruption and use of intimidation to maintain control in Egypt for more than 30 years — is quietly regrouping for a return to political prominence.

Thousands of Egyptians gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday, in an event billed as “Save the Revolution Day,” demanding an end to corruption and the complete dismantling of the National Democratic Party, or NDP.

Some analysts believe that remnants of Mubarak’s former political party, which claims about 2 million members, could be a strong competitor in the country’s parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for September.

With the NDP potentially poised for a comeback, Egypt’s frustrated revolutionaries now worry that their hard-fought gains could be slowly slipping away. And many are fearful that the vestiges of Mubarak’s old order are creeping back in to fill the void.

“We want an end to corruption and the NDP gone from Egypt altogether,” said Ahmed Bakry, 21, an engineering student protesting in Tahrir.

The NDP appeared to be in shambles during the initial days of Egypt’s revolution, when enraged protesters torched and destroyed several of the party’s office buildings — including their Cairo headquarters along the Nile River.

Soon after the ouster of Mubarak on Feb. 11, in fact, most of the senior leadership quit the party.

A few NDP members — including steel magnate Ahmed Ezz — were detained on corruption charges. Egypt’s military-led transitional government slapped travel bans on several others pending investigation.

Still, the NDP remains an active — if not the largest — player in Egyptian politics.

“We have apologized for corruption in the past and fired all members accused of abuse of power,” said Mohamed Ragab, the current head of the NDP. “We are now moving forward, rebuilding with new faces. And our loyal members want us to get back on the streets right away.”

Despite resignations of some of the more public top posts, Ragab insisted that grassroots support for the party remained strong.

In Egypt’s recent nation-wide constitutional referendum, 80 percent of voters accepted the amendments, effectively speeding up the process toward legislative and presidential elections.

Observers noted that with less time for newer political parties to mobilize support, Egypt's referendum vote provided the NDP a clear advantage in the upcoming election with its already-established networks.

Even in post-revolution Egypt, NDP influence remains strong partly because of its previous three decades of unchallenged rule, especially outside of the capital.

“Ragab is gambling on the idea that the NDP is still strong in Egypt’s provinces outside liberal Cairo,” said Mohamed Abdelleh, a former NDP leader. “Tribal support for the NDP, where families are connected with local leaders, could be huge. Voters outside Cairo represent a huge slice of the pie.”

Even with such a wide base of support, the NDP faces many challenges going forward.

After the revolution, disagreements over the direction and message the NDP should take led to the resignations of several newly appointed members that had been given the task of reforming the party.

Abdelleh and other leaders quit, saying that little work was being done to combat the negative public perception of the party.

“Rebranding should be non-negotiable. For the sake of the Egyptian public, you need to have new colors, a new logo, and a new name,” said Maged Al-Sherbeeny, a former NDP leader who left the party in March. “The NDP has been burned into people’s minds as a symbol of corruption.”

Egyptians On March To Keep Revolutionary Spirit Alive

Protesters Angry At The Pace Of Reforms Once Again Packed Tahrir Square Yesterday.

By Patrick Cockburn Reports From Cairo
Saturday, 2 April 2011
Courtesy Of "The Independent"

Demonstrators fearful that the tide of revolution is on the ebb in Egypt staged a mass protest in Tahrir Square in Cairo yesterday to demand that a less authoritarian form of government be introduced.

The protesters appeared to sense that political power is drifting away from them and the old system is reasserting itself as they gathered after Friday prayers beside the blackened hulk of the old headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).

"I am worried that there are so many forces against the revolution, mainly in the army," said Ahmed Maher, a 30-year-old civil engineer and coordinator of the 6 April Movement, a group that played a crucial role in organising the street protests that ended the rule of President Hosni Mubarak. He added: "By demonstrating, we are showing our anger at what is happening."

Egypt's revolution is uncertain of its identity, or even if it really was a revolution. Mr Maher would prefer radical change but does not expect it. "I realise the revolution will not bring a new Egypt," he says. "We will have better people in charge and perhaps less corruption, but not a different system."

Mr Maher, who was jailed five times and tortured severely under the old regime, does not seem too downcast at present frustrations. The shadowy Supreme Council of the Armed Forces had failed to invite any of the radical groups to a dialogue, but he thought the political situation was fluid and the army would give ground under pressure. He said: "They don't want a clash with us."

There is a tug of war between the army and protesters over the degree to which the old authoritarian state should be dismantled.

The army promises that the old Emergency Law will be abolished but not yet. Thousands of prisoners have been freed but nobody knows how many are still in jail. There are still 10-minute trials by military tribunals handing out long sentences. The media may be more free, but criticism of the military for torturing suspects remains a red line.

After all, it was the army commanders, not protesters, who forced President Mubarak to stand down. "What began as a revolution ended up as a military coup," says one foreign observer. "The generals sacrificed the regime to save the state."

One change that may be irreversible is that Egyptians, certainly in Cairo, are now politicised where they were once apathetic. Officials are no longer entirely above the law, nor are police officers who are accused of killing or injuring protesters.

The self-confidence of the protesters is waning but they recall they forced the army to move against the sclerotic regime of President Mubarak. The chant in Tahrir Square then was: "The army and people are one!"

Many are now beginning to doubt this and recall that the army provided the three dictators who have ruled Egypt since 1952.

The groups demonstrating in Tahrir Square lack leaders and a political agenda. At the height of the protests, they received crucial reinforcements from the well-organised militants of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition grouping. But the Brotherhood, having got its members out of jail and wanting to maintain good relations with the army, is limiting its cooperation with its former allies. One of its leaders said: "We are not going to be extras in anybody else's movie."

The Brotherhood is itself divided on whether it should remain a secretive and highly ideological movement of militants and how far it should transform itself into a mildly Islamic party like the ruling AKP party in Turkey.

Mr Maher says he expects that the Muslim Brotherhood will get 40 per of the vote in a parliamentary election and the next President will be Amr Moussa, the current head of the Arab League, though he has long played a leading role in the old regime. He recalls that Mr Moussa made contact with him during the protests and advised compromise as the protesters fought to hold Tahrir Square.

"We broke off contact with him," Mr Maher says, "but later he rang us up and said he had been wrong."

Many protesters would prefer Mohammed El-Baradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, as candidate to be the next president. But they are irritated by his lack of political experience in Egypt and say he is too used to living in France or Vienna.

The political players in post-Mubarak Egypt are unable, as yet, to measure their own strength or that of their rivals. The groups that organised the mass protests know they lack organisation, money, and support in the countryside where most of the 80 million Egyptians live.

They say that 25 million Egyptians have access to computers and believe, perhaps optimistically, they can quickly organise their sympathisers.

nHundreds of thousands of Yemenis yesterday staged the largest demonstrations yet to demand that the country's long-time ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh step down after 32 years. In an unprecedented move, many mosques in the capital shut down on the Muslim day of prayer as worshippers and clerics streamed outside to protest.