When physician Ayman Zein asked the woman he helped give birth in Tahrir Square what she would name her child she said she'd decided to name her Tamarod. The campaign which kick-started the protests against President Mohamed Morsi could hardly have anticipated that it would be responsible for millions of ordinary Egyptians taking to the streets to demand the resignation of the president. Launched by a group of young activists, the Tamarod petition claims to have attracted over 22 million signatures in only two months demanding Morsi step down and early presidential elections be held. Two weeks before the 30 June protests Mahmoud Badr, co-founder of the campaign, told Al-Ahram Weekly that once Tamarod achieved its goal there would be no need for it to remain. Tamarod, says political analyst Abdallah Helmi, is unlikely to transform itself into a political party. “The 22 million people who signed Tamarod's petition are ordinary Egyptian citizens who do not want the Muslim Brotherhood to rule Egypt. This is the only thing they agree on. They are not potential members of a single political party,” says Helmi. Commentator Amr Bakli, while discounting any long term political future for the campaign, points out that its success in mobilising protesters will inevitably have an impact on the shape of any roadmap for the transitional period following the fall of Morsi's regime. He expects Tamarod to slowly disappear from the political scene, though he warns of possible clashes should the Muslim Brotherhood secure any privileges from the military. “Leaders of the campaign believe there is no reason to give anything to the Muslim Brotherhood and to do so would simply allow them to manage the political process in their favour,” he says. Tamarod has already rejected Morsi's latest offer of national dialogue saying the Egyptian people have already made clear they want Morsi to step down. “This is not a time for compromises,” says campaign spokesperson Hassan Shahin. “There is no alternative other than a peaceful end to Muslim Brotherhood rule and a fresh start for our revolution.” Tamarod, says Shahin, does not control the millions of Egyptians protesting in the streets. “All we can do is listen to them and repeat what they say.” The campaign, he adds, cannot lower its demands since to do so would be counter to the expectations of the Egyptian people. The campaign's most pressing role now, says Badr, is to maintain pressure on the Muslim Brotherhood to cede power and allow for a new democratic process. Tamarod seeks at present to help the opposition unite in their negotiations with the military in the near future. To do so, on Sunday it helped launch the 30 June Front which includes Tamarod and all opposition groups including the National Salvation Front. On Tuesday, the front announced that it had picked Mohamed Al-Baradei to be its official negotiator and representative. “Al-Baradei will coordinate efforts with state institutions to help implement a transitional roadmap agreed upon by opposition groups over the past few days,” the front said in a statement. The front also decided on Tuesday that the opposition leader will be its negotiator with the military during the transition. “The army showed its good intentions in protecting the will of the people. Our role is to furnish the army with the roadmap that we finalised three weeks ago in cooperation with opposition forces and make it real,” he says. The roadmap proposed by Tamarod on 26 June includes the appointment of an independent prime minister representative of the 25 January Revolution, the dismantling of the Shura Council, suspension of the current constitution and the drafting of a new one. According to the roadmap, the prime minister will call on the National Defence Council to defend national security. While some commentators have expressed fears that the success of Tamarod may open the way for other opposition groups to hijack the second phase of Egypt's revolution, Badr has no such worries. Tamarod, he points out, is made up of ordinary Egyptians not politicians. “Everybody knows that the success of the 30 June Revolution belongs to the Egyptian people, not to Tamarod or any other opposition group,” he says.
