16 - 22 August 2001
Issue No.547
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 16 - 22 August 2001 Issue No.547 |
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Fighting in so many directions
After ousting "troublemakers," Ibrahim Shoukri hopes the government will soon lift the ban on the Labour Party's activities and the publication of its mouthpiece, reports Khaled Dawoud
A week before the Political Parties Committee decided in May 2000 to ban the Islamist-oriented Labour Party and its bi-weekly mouthpiece, Al- Shaab, the party's late Secretary-General Adel Hussein told a news conference: "The people's masses and party supporters will come out onto the streets to protest against this aggression by the government." The Political Parties Committee is a semi-governmental body empowered to license political parties and oversee their activities.
Ibrahim Shoukri
This week, the party's 83-year-old leader, Ibrahim Shoukri, ended a long period of hesitation and ousted the remaining supporters of the late Hussein, led by his nephew and successor as Secretary-General, Magdi Hussein, together with 10 members of Labour's highest decision-making body, the Executive Committee.
Shoukri's supporters said his decision was aimed at resolving the ongoing crisis with the government and reaching a compromise which would allow the party and Al-Shaab to resume their activities. To Magdi Hussein and members of the party's so-called "Islamic faction," however, Shoukri's action amounted to an illegal "palace coup."
But, and unlike what happened 15 months ago, there were no angry protests by the masses or demonstrations in the streets in support of the party's "Islamists." The average citizen is probably unaware that Labour is facing a crisis.
In 1987, Adel and Magdi Hussein led their own "palace coup" within what was once known as the "Socialist Labour Party" with the aim of forging an alliance with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. With Labour and the Brotherhood running on one election ticket, Shoukri suddenly found himself leader of the largest-ever opposition bloc within parliament, made up mainly of Brotherhood MPs.
To tighten their grip on the party, Adel and Magdi Hussein and their supporters used various tricks to oust socialists from the party's leadership. A few years later, the new Labour leadership dropped the word "socialist" from the party's official title, which unofficially became the "Islamic Labour Party." After he was elected secretary-general, Adel Hussein gave up his post as Al-Shaab's editor-in-chief in favour of Magdi Hussein.
Forging an alliance between Labour and the Brotherhood was not good news for the government, especially after the late Adel Hussein, and later Magdi Hussein, used Al-Shaab to launch some of the fiercest campaigns ever against top government ministers and officials, including then Interior Minister Hassan El-Alfi and deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture Youssef Wali.
Al-Shaab also provided Brotherhood leaders with space to express their views, despite the official ban on their activities.
The straw that broke the camel's back came in April 2000, after Al-Shaab targeted Culture Minister Farouk Hosni for publishing an edition of the Syrian novel, A Banquet for Seaweed, which the newspaper labelled "blasphemous." Newspaper headlines urged jihad (holy war), and students at the Islamic University of Al-Azhar responded by clashing with police during violent demonstrations which left more than 50 injured.
In the government's book, what Al-Shaab did was incitement to violence, and the newspaper was quickly banned. Making use of internal splits within Labour, the Political Parties Committee also decided to freeze the party's activities and refer its leaders to prosecutors for investigations of alleged violations of law. Al-Shaab had no option but to fight a legal battle, and it won more than 11 court orders allowing it to stage a comeback. But the government, making use of a complicated legal system and what seems to be an endless process of appeals, has failed to implement these rulings.
In the meantime, there were reports that Wali's lawyer, Noaman Gomaa, who is leader of the liberal Wafd Party, was making a mediation effort between Shoukri and Wali. According to these reports, a "deal" was being forged to allow Al- Shaab's and the Labour Party's return. A precondition was the removal of Magdi Hussein and supporters of the Islamist faction from the party's leadership.
In a recent interview, Shoukri denied that there was a deal between him and Wali, but said that he would continue his efforts to revive the Labour Party. Shoukri also said that he personally supported the choice of Magdi Hussein as the party's secretary-general following his uncle's death.
However, Shoukri faxed a statement to newspapers last week announcing the appointment of Hamed Zeidan as Al-Shaab's new editor-in-chief. This was in total opposition to the wishes of Magdi Hussein and supporters of the Islamist faction, who wanted to have Talaat Rumeih in the post. Rumeih was deputy editor-in-chief and practically ran the newspaper before it was banned. At the time, Magdi Hussein was serving time in prison after he was convicted of libelling Wali.
Naming Zeidan, in particular, was a message to the party's Islamists that their role had come to an end. Zeidan had served as the first Al-Shaab chief editor shortly after the party was formed in 1979. He is known as a member of the "socialist camp" within Labour and for his opposition to the late Adel Hussein, his radical views and the way he ran Al-Shaab.
Magdi Hussein reacted by organising an urgent meeting of Labour's Executive Committee at his home and rejecting Shoukri's decision. According to Magdi Hussein, 30 of the 55 members of the Executive Committee met on Friday and decided to appoint Rumeih as Al-Shaab's editor and Mahfouz Azzam as Labour's deputy chairman.
Shoukri's response was equally swift. On the same day, he decided to "put on hold" the membership of 11 members of the Executive Committee, including Hussein, Rumeih, Azzam and nearly all supporters of the Islamist trend. He referred them to an internal party "investigation."
Osama El-Mua'yad, a member of the Executive Committee and one of Shoukri's supporters, accused Hussein of "making a mountain out of a molehill and trying to twist Shoukri's arm."
El-Mua'yad added that, after Hussein was elected as Labour's secretary-general a few months ago, the post of Al-Shaab's editor-in-chief became vacant. "Shoukri, as party leader and Al- Shaab's board chairman, has the right to appoint whomsoever he wants in this post," El-Mua'yad said.
El-Mua'yad told Al-Ahram Weekly that Shoukri had agreed to the formation of a committee to prepare for a new Labour Party congress to elect a new party leadership.
Zeidan, Al-Shaab's newly-appointed editor-in- chief, denied in an interview with the Weekly that his appointment meant a radical shift in Labour's policies of opposing the government. "Islam and the call for the implementation of Islamic Shari'a [law] has been an integral part of Labour's platform since 1979. But I differ with Hussein and his supporters over their confrontational policies," he said, drawing a distinction between "opposition" and "confrontation."
Asked whether he approved of Al-Shaab's campaigns against Wali and Hosni, Zeidan said: "It is true that I differ with Wali's agricultural policies, but I would never call him a traitor or an agent for Israel. I might also disagree with the minister of culture's decision to print the Syrian novel, but I would not resort to such provocative and sensational campaigns as Al-Shaab did last year."
On 25 August, the Supreme Administrative Court is expected to issue a final ruling on Al- Shaab's fate and whether it will be allowed to hit the newsstands again. "In a different form and shape," Zeidan added.
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