“As young activists we realised that we must coordinate to monitor the democratic transition and participate in the construction of a more modern Egypt. We seek to empower a younger generation both as parliamentarians and in executive state institutions and seek to unite around a single presidential candidate and the adoption of a constitution that expresses Egypt's national identity,” said Mahmoud Afifi, spokesman of the National Partnership Current (NPC), during the press conference launching the movement. “The 25 January Revolution was sparked by the injustice and tyranny of the Mubarak regime, raised the slogan of freedom and social justice and hoped to lay the foundations of a modern democratic state. Two-and-a-half years later extremist currents had hijacked the revolution leading to millions of Egyptians taking to the streets on 30 June and raising the same slogans as 25 January,” said the NPC's launch statement. Afifi does not agree that polarisation is now an inevitable feature of the political scene. “I don't agree that Egypt is divided into two camps,” he told Al-Ahram Weekly. “A massive segment of public opinion supports building a democratic modern civil state capable of meeting the demands of the revolution.” “It is crucial to focus on these demands, just as it is crucial to pursue transitional justice, a generational shift in state institutions, justice for the martyrs and those injured during the revolution and to reach consensus on a presidential candidate and on the constitution.” The NPC has floated a list of demands which include rejection of a draft protest law which seeks to make demonstrations contingent on prior approval by the security forces and the fast tracking of a transitional justice law. It has also called for a radical overhaul of the Interior Ministry and the enforcement of all existing laws guaranteeing the basic rights of citizens. The press conference launching the NPC was attended by Hossam Eissa, minister of higher education and deputy prime minister, Mohamed Ghoneim, a member of the 50-member committee drafting the constitution, veteran politician and founder of the Democratic Front Party Osama Al-Ghazali Harb, founding member of the Constitution Party George Ishak, Free Egyptians Party chairman Ahmed Said and business tycoon Naguib Sawiris. “The newly established youth current is not inventing new demands,” Ishak told the Weekly. “All these demands have been on the table since the 25 January Revolution.” In a speech at the press conference Sawiris said the NPC's launch was long overdue and argued that the public is “tired of following the news and listening to political talk shows”; politicians, he said, “must instead reach out and listen to the people so that they begin to understand their real concerns”. Several revolutionary movements have been launched in an attempt to stake out common ground, the majority adopting the anti-Brotherhood/anti-military approach. They invariably collapsed, and sooner rather than later. “These past failures,” says Ishak, “were a result of a lack of seriousness and the tendency to rush at the goalposts. Now, though, revolutionary forces are beginning to unite because there is a desperate need for consensus on the constitution and over a presidential candidate.” Haitham Al-Shawaf, general coordinator of the Alliance of Revolutionary Forces and initially one of the NPC's founders, withdrew before its launch. “One reason I left is because some of the ideas and ideologies expressed within the movement are incompatible with mine,” Al-Shawaf told the Weekly. He added that he had no wish to repeat his experience as a member of the 30 June Front which he says became quickly bogged down in infighting. The NPC has been accused by some of being a parliamentary rather than revolutionary coalition. The accusation, says Afifi, misses the point: “One revolutionary goal is to empower a younger generation and one way of doing that is to see young revolutionary activists elected as MPs.” The NPC follows on the heels of the Way of the Revolution Front, an anti-Brotherhood/anti-military umbrella group launched in September which includes the 6 April, the 6 April Democratic Front, the Strong Egypt Party, the Revolutionary Socialists, and Freedom and Justice Youth among its members. Opposition groups once unified in the goal to oust Morsi have witnessed growing divisions since his removal. Factions that diverged over the roadmap set by the Armed Forces may find it problematic to unite before parliamentary and presidential elections. “Multiple revolutionary alliances and currents is a positive thing as long as people understand the meaning of difference. It is when difference turns to enmity that problems begin,” says Al-Shawaf. Activist Ahmed Doma warns that time is not on the revolutionaries' side. “We have to sit together and discuss our demands so as to achieve a consensus among all civil revolutionary forces,” Doma, who was jailed under both Morsi and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, told the Weekly. And the most important focus of agreement, he argues, must be a consensus presidential candidate.
