No-one can deny the suffering of successive generations of young people at the hands of Hosni Mubarak, who ruled this country with an iron fist for three decades, with the help of his cronies, who humiliated and subjugated them. The result is an incredible increase in unemployment among these young people. "There are 16 million job seekers in Egypt," a prominent sheikh told The Egyptian Gazette over the phone. Sheikh Ahmed Saber, a leading scholar in the Ministry of Endowments, went on to say that corruption is spreading in Egyptian society like wildfire. “In order to eradicate corruption in all fields, we need not only the co-operation of the Government but also the efforts of the opposition parties, as the bitter dispute and conflicts have distanced all of us from the essence of real problems which deserve to be resolved," he said. Sheikh Saber added that the scholars see that tackling corruption is a religious duty and the responsibility of all officials in every field, for example education and health. He cited verses from the Holy Qur'an. Allah (Glory be to Him) says: "Those [Muslim rulers] who, if We give them power in the land, they enjoin performing five compulsory congregational prayers, to pay zakat and they enjoin Islamic monotheism and all that Islam orders one to do, and forbid disbelief, polytheism and all that Islam has forbidden, {i.e. they make the Qur'an the law of their country in all spheres of life]". (Chapter of Al-Hajj). Unemployment, one of the key triggers of the mass demonstrations that toppled Hosni Mubarak, rose to 12.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 8.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2010. The rate was 11.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2011, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS). Consequently, many young people flee to European countries on deadly boats that often sink. CAPMAS says that the total workforce is around 26 million, out of a population of about 91 million. In the fourth quarter, more than 300,000 people joined the workforce. Mohamed Essam (26) is one of these young men, who thought of launching a campaign on the social networking site Facebook to help reform Egypt. He said the campaign aims to detect corruption in various State sectors, open new channels of communication with those who have grievances and complaints, and change the bad behaviour of the community. They have dubbed their campaign, ‘Tackle or Spot Corruption'. It is self-financed and does not receive any support from any governmental authority. It is supported by some young lawyers alone. This campaign has already attracted more than 600 young people from 16 different districts. These young lawyers have opened their offices to receive complaints from members of the public and try to help them. They have received countless complaints about corruption in many ministries, such as health and electricity, which goes to show that Egyptian people want to lead a life of dignity and freedom. Essam, who is the general co-ordinator for the campaign, works for a big, reputable tourism company. “The idea of launching the campaign on Facebook came to me last August, after consulting some legal experts and human rights activists. “Many young people have joined this campaign, because they really love their country and are willing to do all they can to reform it. "The Facebook campaign proved successful, so we have converted it into a non-profit organisation, called ‘Foundation of My Community'," Essam told Akher Sa'a weekly magazine. He added that they intend to adopt a number of other campaigns aimed at purging the country of various kinds of corruption, implementing political awareness campaigns and signing protocols with some companies, to help provide young people with jobs and eradicate the unemployment that is rife in this country. “All these campaigns are self-funded; we don't get any governmental support," Essam stressed. As for how the organisation functions, he said: "Young people open their doors and listen to the complaints about corruption in any institution whatsoever. They check the authenticity of these complaints, then submit them to the lawyers in the organisation who volunteer to follow up on these cases and refer them to the courts." Saad el-Ghamri, another member of the organisation, says that they have adopted the cause of the employment of young people. "We showed our solidarity with the holders of Master's and PhD degrees who demonstrated outside the Cabinet headquarters and the Ministry of Scientific Research. We supported their right to be appointed in different State institutions", he comments. Mazen el-Assiuti, a young lawyer, joined the organisation after being told about its efforts to cleanse the state of corruption, in order to help people with grievances get their rights and get rid of corrupt people, no matter how senior they are.
