As Gamal Mubarak, chairman of the ruling NDP's policies committee, invited young people to air their concerns via the Internet, issues of economy and succession topped the list, writes Gamal Essam El-Din In a bid to assess public perceptions of the most pressing economic and political issues facing the country Gamal Mubarak, the 46-year-old son of President Hosni Mubarak and chairman of the ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) powerful Policies Committee, invited young people to join him in an open dialogue via the website www.sharek.com.eg.. As the Weekly went to press the website hoped to air a live dialogue between Gamal Mubarak and assistant professors and lecturers from Egyptian universities and research centres, in which the president's son would answer questions posed by e-mail and video. The dialogue comes hot on the heels of the NDP's nationwide poll, the results of which were collated last week. The survey revealed that economic issues topped the concerns of young people in Egypt, with unemployment being seen as the number one dilemma. Mohamed Kamal, NDP secretary for Indoctrination and Training, stresses that the party is determined to use "nationwide polls and websites to communicate with young people". The sharek -- it means participate -- website emphasised that online participants should "focus on reviewing the most pressing economic issues facing the country" and that "young people should feel free to express their views on political reform". "We want young people to evaluate policies in a very open and free way," said a notice posted on the site. The deadline for e-mail questions and opinions closed at noon yesterday. The majority of questions received focused on the sensitive succession issue, with economic problems coming a close second. It is not the first time the NDP has targeted young people via the Internet, though previous attempts via the NDP's website www.ndp.org.eg,www.ndp.org.eg,have been limited in scope. Gamal Abdel-Gawad, the new director of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies (ACPSS), views the new initiative as evidence that the party's leadership is increasingly determined to harness the potential of cyber space to boost its support. "Websites have become a favourite venue for disaffected young people in Egypt to air their views," he says. "An increasing number of bloggers now express their views on popular websites like Facebook, which was instrumental in mobilising support for last year's 6 April textile workers' strike and protest." "There is," says Abdel-Gawad, "a serious attempt on the part of younger NDP officials, led by Gamal Mubarak, to use the Internet to reach out to the public." In 1998 Gamal Mubarak established the Future Generation Foundation, an organisation that seeks to incubate leadership qualities among young people and which has produced a cadre of rising officials within the NDP and the government. In several recent speeches he has argued that the Internet could become a major channel for assessing the priorities of the younger generation. Most recently, the NDP has become a presence on Facebook, the world's most popular social networking website, and there are plans to extend its Internet profile to other popular sites, including You Tube and Flicker.
