A Committee of the Wise, but who appointed them, asks Amira Howeidy It is unclear whether the appearance of a plethora of "wise men" 10 days into the youth-driven Egyptian revolution is either wise or warranted. As the revolution enters its third week, events are moving too fast for any committee to follow, whatever the extent of its wisdom. The Egyptian Intifada, as some now term the uprising, is gaining a momentum no one could predict even a few days ago. On Tuesday Tahrir Square -- the symbolic space "occupied" by demonstrators since 28 January -- saw more protesters than at any point in the revolution. There was no space left to accommodate those flooding into the square, at which point thousands poured towards the nearby parliament and cabinet buildings. The result was the "occupation" of that part of Al-Qasr Al-Eini Street where the People's Assembly building is located, a fact that contains a poetic justice of sorts, given that the current People's Assembly was elected in the most flagrantly rigged poll in Egypt's parliamentary history. One of the protesters' demands is that the assembly be dissolved and new elections held. The same day witnessed another turning point in the revolution when staff from state-owned Egypt Telecom took to Ramses Street in large numbers to join the demonstration in Tahrir. More surprising, perhaps, was the "coup" at the state owned Rose El-Youssef against the newspaper's editor and chairman of the board, both staunch defenders of the Mubarak regime and its security apparatus. Employees at the paper prevented its chairman, Karam Gabr, from entering the building. Wednesday's issue of Rose El-Youssef appeared without his column, though Editor-in-Chief Abdallah Kamal published his. As Al-Ahram Weekly went to press on Wednesday thousands of Egyptian Mail workers were joining the protests. The campaign of civil disobedience appears contagious, with reports of workers from a host of public institutions going on strike. What hope, then, of a week old "committee of wise men" which includes, amongst its ever expanding list of members former judges, intellectuals, writers and businessmen, keeping up with such turbo-charged events? While a week ago the idea might have looked attractive it now smacks of redundancy, not least to the demonstrators. And which committee? At least two have surfaced so far, the first created by Ibrahim El-Meallem, publisher of the Al-Shorouk imprint and the daily Al-Shorouk newspaper. Initially it comprised a handful of writers from the paper alongside Egypt's former ambassador to the UN Nabil El-Arabi, Kamal Abul-Magd, a prominent lawyer who happens to be El-Meallem's father- in-law, and telecom billionaire Naguib Sawiris. The committee first impinged on the public's consciousness immediately after hundreds of pro-Mubarak thugs, armed with Molotov cocktails, knives and live ammunition, attacked demonstrators in Tahrir Square on 2 February. Five people were killed in the clashes before the attack, which continued into the morning of 3 February, was repelled. Abul-Magd and Sawiris held a press conference on 2 February at which the former read a statement to the effect that the signatories supported the demonstrators' demands. But although the protesters have unequivocally demanded, and continue to demand, that President Hosni Mubarak step down, the committee phrased it differently, saying that the president should delegate his authority to Vice President Omar Suleiman. The statement added other demands including an end to the state of emergency, the formation of an interim government and guarantees that the protesters would not be persecuted by the security apparatus. More than 260 people have been killed since demonstrations began on 25 January. Events turned especially bloody on 28 January when anti-riot police fired live ammunition into the crowds. Hundreds remain missing and over 5,000 have been injured. The casualties continued even after Interior Minister Habib El-Adli was replaced and despite assurances by the new Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik that security instigated violence would end. The assault by pro-Mubarak supporters on the same day Abul-Magd read out the first committee's statements underlined just how marginal the pronouncements of the "wise men" were, to those who instigated the attack, and to those being attacked. "Some of their names sound familiar to me," Sally, a 20-year-old university student told Al-Ahram Weekly in Tahrir Square on Sunday, "but I'm not aware that we have delegated anyone to speak on our behalf." Fathi Ragab, 34, a communications engineer who told the Weekly he "virtually lives" in the square, commented in the same vein: "What's the point of wise men at this stage when our voice has been loud and clear? We want the regime to go, and Mubarak to leave." A few days after the creation of El-Meallem's committee Nobel Laureate Ahmed Zuweil announced the formation of a second group of wise men formed, the Weekly has learned, at the behest of Suleiman. His committee includes prominent lawyer and Islamist leaning intellectual Mohamed Selim El-Awwa and Magdi Yaqoub, the celebrated Egyptian surgeon, among others. The two committees appeared in the same week, leading to confusion between them, both on the part of the media and the public. The confusion over who belonged to what was exacerbated as prominent figures such as Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa joined El-Meallem's committee and then showed up -- in Moussa's case last Friday -- in Tahrir Square in their capacity as purveyors of wisdom. The Weekly has also learned that ex-judge and historian Tarek El-Bishri was invited by Zuweil to join his committee. When El-Bishri's pre- condition to join -- that the group first demand that Mubarak step down or delegate his authorities to Suleiman -- was refused, El-Bishri declined the invitation. As the revolution enters its third week and the number one demand of the demonstrators, that Mubarak step down, seems as distant as ever, many are questioning the relevance of the committees. Are they doing anything beyond making regular appearances in the media? According to Gamil Mattar, a political analyst and member of the first committee, his group's primary objective was to offer "protection" to the demonstrators and convey their demands to the authorities. He told the Weekly that they delegated Abul-Magd and El-Arabi to represent them when communicating with Suleiman, with whom they met just once. During the meeting the two men handed Suleiman the first of the four statements the committee has made so far. They have called on the military and the authorities to protect the demonstrators, demanded an end to the emergency law, a peaceful transition of power and that those responsible for the security void on 28 January and the chaos, looting and terror that followed, face prosecution. They also demanded that "symbols of the regime" be removed from power. If the public has been confused by the appearance of the committees the wise men themselves are faring no better. According to Mattar, his committee appointed Amr Hamzawy, senior researcher at the American Carnegie Endowment, as its spokesman, only for Hamzawy to resign after members made conflicting statements to the media about their role. Perhaps more tellingly, Mattar admits that "at this stage I don't know the number of people who've joined the committee." "It might still offer something meaningful," said Mattar, "but only if its membership could shrink to the original numbers." It is unclear if the two committees are now defunct, or if they will try to play a role in the coming stage. "We're not doing anything right now," Nabil El-Arabi told the Weekly. All of which begs the question of whether the youth-driven revolution, which many fear could be thwarted or quashed, is in need of the guidance of its supposedly wiser elders. Says Tarek El-Bishri: "Our generation failed to achieve what the young people have achieved thus far. We are a generation of leaders without popular following, and at this stage we must avoid becoming a burden to the revolution's youth."
