The poor turnout at a recent Press Syndicate sit-in against the war was just the latest manifestation of Egypt's critical lack of political activism. Gihan Shahine investigates With political parties and NGOs unable to mobilise any sort of effective anti-war activities, a few prominent professional syndicates have stepped onto the playing field of political activism. The Bar Association, the Doctors' Syndicate and the Press Syndicate have all attempted -- in recent weeks -- to provide venues for anti-war activities, albeit within the margin of political freedom allowed by the state. On Saturday, the Press Syndicate organised a sit-in in solidarity with the Iraqi and Palestinian people. Only 300 or so of the nation's 4000 journalists, however, took part. The appallingly low turnout was symptomatic of the problems encountered by groups attempting to organise any sort of public mobilisation effort against the war. It wasn't always this way. "Syndicates were highly engaged in political activism during the 1960s and 1970s," reminisced Press Syndicate secretary Yehia Qallash. "There was major interaction going on between the public and political powers in general. And syndicates had an impact on policy makers." In the aftermath of the 1967 war, for instance, the Press Syndicate organised rallies protesting the government policies that led to the defeat. "Cairo University students took to the streets in protest and marched down to the syndicate headquarters," Qallash told Al-Ahram Weekly, "where journalists convened and issued a statement in support of the students' demands." The late 1970s, however, witnessed a gradual demise in political activities. In fact, political activists consider the massive 1977 bread riots as the end of "an era when Egypt's streets would bustle with protests in reaction to every single national and international event." Today, the more likely scenario is -- in Qallash's words -- "a rally of 300 people cordoned by some 3,000 anti-riot policemen using tear gas and batons to disperse the protesters." The emergency law -- in force since President Anwar El-Sadat's assassination in 1981 -- has a lot to do with the change. Its imposition of a strict ban on street protests, Qallash said, "coincided with the establishment of anti-riot police forces who usually outnumber protesters." Despite the limitations, however, syndicates continue to try to mobilise people for certain causes. According to Ahmed Seif El-Islam Hassan El- Banna, secretary-general of the Bar Association and a leading member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood (his father founded the group), "not a day has gone by without syndicates holding an anti-war activity." El-Banna said "we could definitely mobilise more rallies if the government allowed street marches. But this is a time when all national powers should stand united in the face of external threats, and we don't want to be in confrontation with the government." In fact, in terms of public mobilisation, the Bar Association is seen as one of the most active of all syndicates. Over the past two months, it has organised public meetings and demonstrations, hung up banners on its headquarters, distributed leaflets, and issued statements denouncing the US and Israel as "one real enemy" and calling on "Arab and Muslim states to awaken from their slumber." Statements by the Islamist-dominated association have also called upon the government to send military convoys to Iraq, open the door for jihad in Palestine, and allow protests to take place in the streets. The association's headquarters have also been a venue for meetings of different political parties, student activists, and members of the Arab Lawyers' Union. "We have been steadily conducting our anti-war activities within the margin of freedom allowed by the authorities," said Sameh Ashour, chairman of the Bar Association and head of the Arab Lawyers Union. Ashour referred to the recent conference held by the syndicate -- which brought together 4,000 Arab lawyers in solidarity with Iraq and Palestine -- as "a historic event". Following the conference, a delegation of Arab lawyers attempted to hold a peace march in front of the Arab League, but heavy police presence kept them indoors. Similarly, a large rally that took place at the associations' premises on 23 February -- with protesters braving the rain to show their solidarity with Iraq -- was prevented access to the street for a march. The Islamist-dominated Doctors' Syndicate has also assumed a more politicised role, most significantly as the main organiser of a first-ever, government-sanctioned rally, which took place at Cairo Stadium on 27 February. Doctors' Syndicate chairman and NDP MP Hamdi El-Sayed was one of the three-member delegation that obtained the official permit needed to hold the protest, which drew a crowd of 120,000. And while financially-strapped and politically- restricted opposition parties failed to mobilise their constituents into participating into the march, the Doctors' Syndicate provided shuttle buses to bring in protesters from outside Cairo. The syndicate has also managed, so far, to raise LE500,000 in donations for medical supplies to be sent to the Iraqi people. Over the past two years, the syndicate sent LE13-million-worth of medical supplies to the Palestinian territories. Political activists, however, insist that syndicates are still not doing enough. Other than the stadium rally, most syndicate efforts are rarely able to mobilise more than a few hundred participants -- a far cry from the massive protests organised by alliances of anti-war and anti- globalisation movements in the US and Europe. One of the main factors hindering syndicate activities, analysts say, is the double-barreled pressure of government constraints and financial burdens. "The government either contained or froze syndicates," Qallash said, when their activities were seen as a potential threat. Syndicate laws, for instance, impose judiciary supervision over the groups' elections, which largely curtail their freedom. "Such laws allow the government to interfere with the internal affairs of syndicates, delaying elections and sometimes freezing their activities," said Qallash. The economic policies of the 1970s also dealt syndicates' political roles a serious blow. As a significant demise in the financial status of the middle class took place, syndicates began to shift their focus to providing social services for their members. This increased their financial burdens and encouraged members to elect service-providers rather than political activists as syndicate chairs. "It's deplorable how syndicates work today," Qallash said. The Bar Association spends much of its time dealing with the unemployment crisis in the legal field, while the Doctors' Syndicate exerts much of its efforts providing commodities for its members on credit. If anything, though, the current state of Arab affairs, with the impending threat of war on Iraq, and a worsening situation in the Palestinian territories, seems to have re-galvanised syndicates into action. "Syndicates have started to move again," Qallash said, "organising rallies despite all the security restraints and financial burdens they are facing." "It is high time that people wake up from their slumber," said Abdel-'Al El-Baqouri, deputy- chairman of the Press Syndicate and chief-editor of Al-Ahali, mouthpiece of the leftist Tagammu Party. "The war on Iraq is the greatest threat the region has faced since the First World War." A US invasion of Iraq, El-Baqouri explained, would certainly boost Israel as a super power in the region, which, in turn, would also threaten Egypt's strategic position as "a leading country in the Middle East." In fact, insisted El-Baqouri, "on the economic and political levels, Egypt is the country most endangered by the US occupation of Iraq. Arab leaders misconceive the US threat as only endangering nations and lands, but governments will also be at stake. Thus, they'd better move together to stop the war before it's too late." Much the same thing was being said at this week's poorly attended Press Syndicate rally, where protesters also called for the expulsion of the US and Israeli ambassadors and the cutting off of all political relations with the two countries. The participants also demanded a boycott of all US, Israeli and British products. The syndicate's Arab Affairs Committee had previously issued a statement calling on the Egyptian government to reconsider its bilateral relations with the US administration in light of American support for Israeli atrocities. The committee also called upon journalists to donate one day's salary towards efforts to gather aid -- in the form of medicine, food and children's milk -- for Iraq. But how far can rallies and slogans help in averting the danger? "It's all we have in our capacity as syndicates," Qallash said, "but history has also proven that words can be more effective than weapons of mass destruction. If rallies persist, governments will not be able to ignore the demands of their people forever. And I believe public spirit will never die out as people have managed to overcome tougher adversities throughout history. The US should know there is no way Arabs will end up like native Americans." El-Banna agreed. "The danger is looming even closer than we think," he said, referring to US plans to change the map of the Middle East. "Egypt should prepare itself immediately on both the economic and military levels." Of equal importance, in El-Banna's view, is the idea that the "public should be mobilised to stop any possible aggression."
