As calls for reform grow increasingly loud a new space is being carved out for dissenting voices. Amira Howeidy takes stock of the dynamics of the movement, its historic context, key players and growth 'People here are moving too' The current campaign for political reform is rooted in movements expressing solidarity with the people of Palestine and Iraq "Protest Mubarak dictatorship, Wednesday, 22 June at 6 pm in Dawaran Shubra. Join us and circulate." So reads the text message that has been doing the rounds of mobile phones in the past few days. It is a thoroughly modern medium, perfectly suited to the digital age. The message sums up the changes that are redrawing political boundaries in today's Egypt as the movement demanding reform gathers strength. And it doesn't look ready to run out of steam any time soon. The protest in the text message is one of a series of demonstrations held on Wednesday that have become a weekly occurrence since a peaceful rally on 25 May was attacked by thugs believed to be affiliated to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) who sexually molested and beat women protestors. Since that day the weekly demonstrations have developed their own momentum, each called by a different group. And in between the Wednesday protests new groups demanding change emerge. Seven have surfaced since, making an average of two a week. As Al-Ahram Weekly was going to press the fourth Wednesday demonstration was scheduled to take place in the low-income district of Shubra. The quick pace of developments may make them difficult to follow but few would argue against the impact they are having as more and more Egyptians begin to wonder what it all might mean. What we are seeing, say pundits, is the emergence of a vigorous civil activism that, in the words of law professor Hossam Eissa, could not contrast more strongly with an unrelentingly rigid government. The fast growing movement for change is in open revolt against decades of state control. The political rallies, street demonstrations, an unusually free press critical not only of the president but of the political influence of his family, radical net zines and the virtual world are the most visible manifestations of dissent. Nobody seems to know where it's heading though most agree it has snowballed to the extent that it cannot now be stopped. For Heba Raouf, lecturer in political theory at Cairo University, this new momentum is the result of a decaying political establishment. Over the past five years, argues Raouf, anti-war and Palestine solidarity activities undermined any claims to legitimacy made by the state. "There was always this notion that the political establishment is preoccupied with big regional issues like Palestine and Iraq," Raouf tells Al-Ahram Weekly. But the fact that Palestinians continue to get killed and Iraq is occupied put an end to any such claims of legitimacy. "People were encouraged and began to oppose the regime in ways previously unheard of," she says. Ezzat should know. Appalled by the 25 May attacks on women she put her longstanding dislike for politics aside to form the Association for Egyptian Mothers (AEM). The association demanded the resignation of the interior minister and called on people to protest the attacks by dressing in black on 1 June. The call circulated with astonishing speed via text messages, e-mail and word of mouth. On 1 June hundreds of black-clad women and men filled the steps of the Press Syndicate to defy the rows of riot police lining the street to prevent the demonstration from growing. The police didn't lift a finger, since when a variety of new groups has emerged, many involving younger activists. All share the same demands -- an end to the 24 year old emergency law, greater political freedom, the release of political detainees and, topping the list, peaceful regime change that does not involve the succession of Gamal Mubarak. The dynamics informing the growth of this movement are rooted in the experience of the last five years and in issues that, on the surface at least, appear unrelated to domestic politics. Since 2000 the emergency laws have been systemically challenged. Every street demonstration, every political meeting outside a licensed political party and every financial donation that took place without official approval infringed those laws. Because Iraq and Palestine "are non-negotiable national issues," argues Raouf, the government found its hands tied. It couldn't quash these activities, though it tried. The 2000 Intifada coincided with a decade old state policy that had systematically negated calls for political reform, leaving those outside the legal structure of political parties seeking new ways to protest Israeli brutality and then the US-UK led invasion of Iraq. In many ways it was the Popular Committee in Solidarity with the Palestinian Intifada (PCSPI), which had no legal framework and was based on civil activism, that formed the nucleus of today's movement for change. "Kifaya stretched that concept of operating outside but not against the law," says Ezzat, "constituting a de facto situation which all the new groups for change are now operating under." It is no coincidence that many of the leaders of the movement for change were involved in founding PCSPI in 2000 and then, later, in the anti-war movement. "This," says Abdel-Halim Qandil, spokesman for Kifaya and editor of the Nasserist Al-Arabi newspaper, "is crucial to understanding why, two years ago, during the massive 20 March anti-war demonstrations in central Cairo the slogans raised associated resisting imperialism with resisting tyranny. They're not separate, which explains why the Egyptian movement for change evolved out of the anti-war movement." That the movement has expanded so quickly has led some observers to express alarm over its diversity and the possible chaos that might cause as the ever-growing number of groups compete for media attention. "But what's the worry?" asks Raouf. "The younger generation that has joined the movement does not see this threat of chaos. It is brave and won't stop." Eissa agrees. The situation in Egypt, he says, leaves the movement with no option but to act. "They've seen it happen in Ukraine and Lebanon. The whole world is moving and people here are moving too."
