“Here’s why you have my undying support and friendship: you are doing what I take for granted all the time and forget sometimes. You are carving out the space for people to breathe and express themselves in a way that I think is incredibly admirable…”
— American Satirist Jon Stewart to Egyptian Satirist Bassem Youssef, April 24, 2013
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Egypt has once again captured the world stage these past few weeks as millions of revolutionaries charged Cairo to demand President Morsi’s ouster and were supported by military intervention. As we continue to watch the events in Egypt unfold, many are resting their hopes on this revolution as a grand solution to the disappointments that lingered after January 25, 2011. In fact, in these past two years Egypt has focused primarily on fresh leadership to revive hope—a new father figure for Egypt who could keep the passions for democracy and unity burning after the streets cleared and the face paint washed away.
As Egyptians again search for a new authority, they must also address the deeper cooperative issues hindering democracy and prioritize stronger institutions to determine and stabilize the transition they seek. With strong civic and private sectors, the future of Egypt will no longer be determined by one Egyptian, but by all Egyptians.
A Brief History of Egyptian Youth Activism
As the cultural and academic hub of the Arab world, Egypt boasts one of the oldest universities in the world, Al-Azhar, which has guided Egypt and its resistance movements since the times of Napoleon. At the end of the 19th century, Europe began establishing secular educational institutions and Egypt followed suit by founding Cairo University. A complement to Al-Azhar, Cairo University pursued a knowledge-based curriculum through hiring European staff and granting Egyptians a space for more unorthodox discussion.
Egyptian universities had long been producing Egypt’s politicians and intellectuals, rendering the creation of a secular institute significant in that Egyptian society would now be shaped by a more inclusive range of citizens. Cairo University youth “were at the forefront of demonstrations in 1919, 1935, 1946, 1951, 1968, and 1972-3 […] usually criticizing government policies,” and eventually government powers caught wind of the might of the nonviolent sit-in and police began monitoring and restricting campus activities. Though President Anwar El Sadat removed police presence from universities in 1970, restrictions against political protests and freedom of speech again escalated and culminated in the University Law of 1979.
Egyptian universities still abide by the law and are closely monitored to ensure students are taught in a manner that avoids certain conversations. Deans, presidents, and rectors supervise the curriculum along “red lines” – taboo subjects commonly known to be off limits in public discourse—which include topics such as national or international political actions, religion, sexual morality, or any military decisions.
The Era of Digital Communication
Held hostage by increasing restrictions on speech, Egyptian citizens were confined to small, private discussions for 30 years under Hosni Mubarak. That is, until the digitization of Egypt brought social media to the scene. Through Facebook, Twitter, blogging, YouTube, and more, Egyptians were able to speak freely, teach each other, and learn from abroad about social and political issues in an unprecedented fashion. This accessible communication system validated the widespread outrage among youth and led to the movements that triggered the first revolution.
After their success in helping topple Mubarak, the youth continued to use their networks to expose the wrongs committed under the lingering Egyptian status quo. For example, the co-founder of the April 6th Youth movement, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Ahmed Maher, made headlines in May for being arrested for a protest that involved the waving of women’s undergarments outside Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim’s home and chanting accusations that the Interior Ministry is “prostituting” itself to the Morsi government. Maher originally established the April 6th movement on a Facebook page that secured more than 70,000 followers in just weeks and now boasts over 500,000.
Such bold activism illustrates how young people in Egypt have taken advantage of their new space to develop passionate platforms of dissonance. Unsurprisingly, this community that formed around a magnitude of dissatisfaction and succeeded in making their voice heard is continuing to test boundaries and question everything known to be immutable before 2011. As Nate Grubman pointed out last year, the Egyptian youth are continuing to seek victories of exposure to propel their voice.
However, many critics (see here and here, for example) pointed to the abundance of youth frustrations and a lack of youth answers as a failure for Egypt. Observers assumed that this unparalleled, digitally-supported revolution would also generate an unrivaled transition process, and that the youth’s ability to organize would swiftly evolve into a capacity to establish and implement viable solutions post-revolution.
The reality is that the drivers of these revolutions were surrounded by the absolutes of corruption and fear under Mubarak for the majority of their lives, threatening the little space available to imagine a different Egypt. Until Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube became popular a few years ago, Egyptian youth had never seen an example of healthy disagreement or constructive dialogue to generate alternatives and are still not witnessing this process in public spaces. The second revolution will disappoint if expectations are again placed on inexperienced shoulders.
Us vs. Them: The Technological Generation Gap
A further complication to expectations is the poor communication between youth and more seasoned Egyptians, which highlights Egypt’s inability to harness revolutionary passion into a political platform. Ahmed Maher spoke on a panel with Jawad Nabulsi, co-founder of the Nebny Foundation, in Washington, DC in May at the New America Foundation. When asked what the biggest challenge for Egypt is, Maher pointed to the generation gap. Joking that “we’ll just have to outlive them,” he more seriously discussed the issue of tradition, the stubborn elders who youth see themselves up against, and a lack of social media participation by older generations.
Though millions of Egyptians have acknowledged a united desire for change, they cannot continue to debate Egypt’s future separately. A space in society for all voices to learn how to come together and discuss policies at one round table has not been prioritized in Egypt as a fundamental part of its transition process.
In fact, the recent conviction of 43 NGO workers involved in developing Egypt’s political parties and civic institutions demonstrates just how overlooked this key to democratic transition has become. Through the development of civic institutions and business associations, policy platforms can unify the millions of voices on the streets to not only address issues of human rights and political freedoms, but to also confront obstacles such as economic policy and private sector development to stabilize and sustain the democratic system in its entirety.
As economist Hernando de Soto recently stated in his testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives, Egypt is lacking institutions, which allow for one generation to pass the country on to the next. Without a political space for free speech, the new Egypt will continue to struggle in political infancy and cannot turn the mistakes of the past into lessons for the future. If revolutionaries continue to feel that they may only safely speak their minds and feel heard through hashtags and online forums, then they will continue resorting to activities with increasing shock value to make the risk of speaking out worthwhile.
Rogan Motis is Program Assistant for the Middle East & North Africa at CIPE.
Published Date: July 08, 2013