The young people that played such a prominent role in Egypt's revolution are now forming groups and coalitions to ensure that the revolution's demands continue to be met, writes Sarah Eissa New movements, political parties and coalitions have been formed at a breakneck pace over recent weeks, both during and after the demonstrations that led to the stepping down of former president Hosni Mubarak, with Khaled Tallima, 27, a member of the Coalition of the Youth Revolution (CYR) and secretary of the Union of Progressive Youth in the Tagammu Party being one of a new stripe of youthful politicians. The CYR is made up of young people from the Gabha Party associated with the El-Baradei campaign, as well as the 6 April Youth Movement, the Youth Movement for Justice and Freedom, the Youth Socialist Renewal Movement, the Muslim Brotherhood and various independents. Other organisations that have also joined include the Union of Progressive Youth and the youth wings of the Wafd, Karama and Ghad parties. According to Tallima, the CYR aims to bring together young people who participated in the revolution, serving as a forum for discussion and an umbrella movement that will try to crystallise specific demands. Thus far, the CYR has more than 50,000 members registered on its Facebook page, and suggestions made online are taken up and discussed at face-to-face meetings, both in the capital and in the governorates. However, Tallima is hardly alone in his new- found taste for political organisation and activism. Diaa El-Sawy, 30, one of the founders of the 25 January Youth Movement, said that his movement, while not claiming to represent the aspirations of the revolution as a whole, does claim to bring together young people proud of their participation in the revolution and eager to see its demands realised. The movement started spontaneously in Tahrir Square during the revolutionary days, El-Sawy said. "After 28 January, we spontaneously created different committees in the square, such as the security committee that helped protect the square from thugs." People who wanted to organise the revolution more effectively started to meet in the square and invited all the young people in the vicinity to join in discussions. They chose a name for themselves when the so-called Committee of the Wise was formed under the chairmanship of former vice president Omar Suleiman, sending young people's representatives to negotiate with their elders. The first statement made by the movement was that the protesters would not negotiate away the blood of those who had died during the protests. When the former president stepped down and the military took over and began publishing communiqués, the movement acted similarly to explain what they agreed and disagreed with in the new rulers' stance. The major threat today, El-Sawy says, is that the revolution may be stolen from beneath the noses of Egypt's young people, as has happened with many other revolutions in the past. "People who were formerly members of the former ruling National Democratic Party [NDP] are now turning up to say they support the aims of the 25 January Movement," El-Sawy says. The movement has organised the setting up of committees to try to protect the revolution in all areas of the country, adding that the revolution's aim was to overthrow the regime, not Mubarak alone, and this means remaining vigilant about targeting remnants of the regime, even creating "black lists" of names. Ramy Ebead, 32, head of the Political Awareness Committee in Tahrir Square, has similar aims, if different tactics. While Ebead has not formed a movement or party, he is trying to protect the achievements of the revolution by uniting young people. Following the ejection of the former president, certain people have been trying to hijack the revolution, Ebead explains. "These people, including elements in the military and police leftovers, are trying to divide the revolutionary young people. Fortunately, these young people do not trust the establishment parties, and therefore they are forming their own parties and coalitions," he said. Commenting on the large number of parties and movements that have sprung up, all claiming the mantle of the 25 January Revolution, Tallima said that this diversity was a good thing and that people will be able to "distinguish between what is good and what is bad. However, I'm against anyone that forms a party and gives it a name related to the revolution, but that does not necessarily have anything to do with the revolution or the young people who brought it about," he said. There is no need to unite all the revolutionary young people under a common banner, Tallima said, particularly since "we rebelled to gain freedom, and we should use this freedom to foster competition and diversity of outlooks. Competing is necessary in politics in order for the best people and ideas to emerge. Our coalition is also not a party: we are just working together to express the revolution's demands. When these demands have been met, we will then be happy to compete against each other in the elections," he said. It would be hard to unite all the parties that have sprung up in the wake of the revolution at the present time, he said. Many different projects have emerged, and these should be given a chance to compete in the arena of public opinion. "Some of the parties are very good, while others are malignant, such as the NDP's youth wing," he added. Parties have ideologies, Tallima said, but one of the features of the revolution was that it had no single ideology. Instead, it had certain aims, and when these have been met, party political life can resume and the umbrella coalition be dissolved. Ebead also believes that NDP figures have experience that others do not have and that this will help them to form new parties. "They are able to attract young people who have little political knowledge and use them to form a party," he said. "One person who resigned from the NDP went on to form a political party of his own, claiming that this was the reason he had resigned from the NDP," he added. There is a danger that the parties formed by young people will be weak ones, Ebead said, because the country's young people do not have enough political experience to help them to succeed. They are also likely to find it difficult to compete with parties that have gone into coalition with the Muslim Brotherhood. "These people have been practising politics for 30 years, while the young people's political experience started with the revolution. For this reason, we should unite and form an independent voice that Egyptians can trust. We don't need leaders, but we do need guides who can help us to channel our enthusiasm. If not, that same enthusiasm could lead us into danger and our inexperience could be a real break on our success," he said. In order to try to bring this about, Ebead attends meetings of the youth groups and always calls for unity, adding that he has been disappointed that while some groups have agreed to act together, others have disagreed, not wanting only "a piece of the cake", as he puts it. Nevertheless, various youth groups from Cairo and the governorates have agreed on the need to unite. "I will never be tired of politics now," Ebead said. "I'm doing this for the country and for my son's future. We were all ready to die in the square during the revolutionary days, and we should unite now to show that we are serious about seeing our demands met," he said. Ebead fears that activists' activities may be monitored, and he prefers face-to-face meetings to virtual discussions on Facebook, which could be monitored from abroad. Thinking along the same lines, El-Sawy said that though the 25 January Youth Movement includes six organisations, what it has in common is its support for Mohamed El-Baradei. "Our movement is open to individuals, and not only to organisations," El-Sawy said. "If people want to, they can join us as independents." Tallima also denied that his coalition was limited to specified organisations, pointing out that no one "owned" the revolution. While there have been disagreements about how wide membership of the coalition should be, with one group wanting it open to all comers and another wanting to restrict membership, its present constitution of the Union of Progressive Youth and the youth wings of the Wafd, Karama and Ghad parties, together with various other groups, was far from set in stone. Tallima is doing his best to keep the coalition open to all, adding that it was not even necessary for members to support El-Baradei. "This is not the time to quarrel about who we are going and who we are not going to support in the elections," he explained. "This is the time for us to lay down the ground rules for the country's new democratic life and peaceful transition," including the new constitution, the laws on the exercise of political rights, the law on political parties, and the laws governing the People's Assembly and Shura Council. The El-Baradei Youth Campaign was a part of the coalition, but the latter was not only working to support El-Baradei. Each member of the Coalition is free to support whichever candidate it deems most suitable. In Ebead's view, the most pressing things now are for a presidential council to be set up that would include four civilians and one member of the military, the prosecution of corrupt members of the previous regime, the restructuring of state security, and the release of all political detainees. Ebead is adamant that the country should be rid of corruption, and anyone having evidence against any official should take this to the office of the attorney general so that investigations can be made. The coalition also has demands to make of the current ruling military council and the government. "We are very upset that political detainees have not yet been released," Tallima says. "And we want investigations to be started regarding missing persons." The coalition wants an end to the security state associated with the former regime, whose aim was to suppress genuine political life in favour of one party and one person. However, another demand that Tallima makes is for parliamentary elections to be delayed, asking how new parties can be formed that can interact with people and convince them of their programmes in only three months. There was also a need for the old parties to reform themselves in order to work in the new conditions of democracy and freedom. "We can't accept parliamentary elections that result in NDP leftovers and the Muslim Brotherhood gaining power," Tallima said, "and we can't accept that NDP leftovers and the Brotherhood write the new constitution, meaning that it will be slanted towards business and a clerical state." If the parliamentary elections are hurried, Tallima feels, this may result in the loss of many of the revolution's gains. "We need a year to prepare for the elections. We want the Higher Council of the Armed Forces to form a civilian council, or to hold the presidential elections first and apply the first 137 articles of the constitution that state that the president exercises executive power. We want real parity between the president and the government, such that the government is not there just to carry out presidential orders, as was the case under the 1971 constitution." Tallima also criticised the decision to hold the referendum on the constitution on 19 March and what he described as the lack of social dialogue about the amendments proposed. "Nine articles and no social dialogue," Tallima demanded. "What if I agree with four articles and disagree with the rest? There is no reason to be in all this hurry. This is a fundamental moment: if we hurry we will only succeed in reproducing the old regime, but with a new look," he said. Tallima added that he intends to boycott the vote on the constitution and to protest in Tahrir if the referendum goes ahead. He also discussed the coalition's social and economic demands, which he said it was important that the government assign a schedule to, so that people will be satisfied that their problems are also on the government's list, thereby calming the present atmosphere of contestation. These demands include a LE1,200 minimum wage and a maximum wage that does not exceed 20 times the minimum and that is index-linked to prices. Temporary employees should be given permanent contracts, and the 2003 labour law should be reviewed. The Agricultural Development Bank should be prepared to forgive agricultural debt, and the problems of fishermen should be investigated. Companies that were privatised under the old regime should be re- examined, and deals investigated, particularly those relating to privatisation and the sale of assets. "All cases of corruption should be appropriately dealt with," Tallima said. What will happen if people continue protesting? "Everyone should do what they want, but for me, I will be in the Square," Ebead said, adding that he had already been arrested for breaking the curfew, though he had been well- treated while in custody. In Ebead's view, the military is protecting the protesters, though this does not always mean that individuals in the military treat people well. There have been reports, for example, of military police arresting and beating protesters. For his part, El-Sawy said that the military had shown its willingness to listen to the protesters through its acceptance of Ahmed Shafik's resignation as prime minister. However, until all the protesters' demands were met, groups from the movement would continue to protest in Tahrir Square, and it would continue to organise mass demonstrations on Fridays in order to demonstrate the on-going character of the revolution. Tallima stressed the prominent role played by popular committees in protecting property during the revolution, adding that these popular committees had now become "people's committees protecting the revolution." The committees should continue to play a role in making people aware of the revolution's demands, he said, and they should emphasise what was at stake in the referendum on the constitutional amendments. They should monitor corruption and fight against profiteering, Tallima added, and they should aim to be a mainstay of the revolution's popular character.
