15 - 21 November 2001
Issue No.560
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 15 - 21 November 2001 Issue No.560 |
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Extra-curricular ruckus
All week students have been clamouring about free student union elections. Dena Rashed heads to campus to find out what the ruckus is all about
It was midday last Tuesday when I set out for Cairo University to investigate the outcry over allegations of "fixed" Student Union elections. Though it was the designated day for elections, students were not voting, they were protesting.
(from top) "Islam is the solution" - or is it?; chalked on the asphalt is the cynical "disqualification is the future of every candidate"
photos: Amr Gamal
Shouts of "Islam is the solution" could be heard at the Faculty of Science, where members of the Islamic group on campus were demonstrating against the disqualification of their members from the election. At Cairo University alone, 1,831 students sought a bid in the elections; 669 were disqualified.
"The whole electoral process is a farce," growled Haitham Abdel-Hakim, a science graduate and a former Islamist candidate at the Faculty of Science. "I have seen this scenario repeated several times. This year's events are no different than when I was a student here."
In these days of war, a tense atmosphere of frustration could easily translate itself into student dissent. University campuses have a long history as hotbeds of political protest, so student elections come at a precarious time. But the authorities running the electoral process were evidently ambivalent towards the dangers of these politically charged times. Students and would-be candidates were even confused about when the elections would take place.
"On 29 October, we heard rumours that the elections would be taking place the following week," recounts Mohamed Eweis, one of the Islamist leaders at the Faculty of Science. "When we asked the administration, they assured us this would not be the case." But Eweis and other potential candidates were taken by surprise the next day, when officials announced that the elections would take place the next week, giving candidates merely a day to prepare their bids. Even though the administration did not specify the requirements for candidacy, Eweis and his colleagues submitted their application forms and hastily prepared their campaign. When the primary list of candidates was announced on 1 November, his group printed up posters congratulating themselves for not being disqualified.
They celebrated too soon. There are two phases to nomination, the first being the preparation of a primary list of all candidates who wish to enter the elections. According to the university's by-laws -- specifically, article 265 for the year 1979 -- a committee comprised of two professors, two students and members of the youth organisation then filter the candidates to prepare a final list.
On Saturday, 3 November, this committee disqualified 120 students out of 160 potential candidates in the Faculty of Science. "The final list appeared without our names, so we filed a case in the Administrative Court on the same day," says El-Sawi Mabrouk El-Sawi, a senior student and an Islamist candidate. "The court ruled in our favour." He added: "Besides, the number of the candidates left matched the number of available seats, so in reality, there would be no elections."
Addressing accusations of silently fixing the elections, the faculty's administration announced that the students disqualified did not meet the nomination requirements as they have not been involved in extra-curricular campus activities. "We do not differentiate between students. All those who were disqualified did not have any certificates to prove that they had any activities on campus," Ahmed Abu Khadra, the vice-dean of the Faculty of Science, told Al- Ahram Weekly. "Besides, the faculty does not recognise a group that calls itself the 'Islamic group'."
Some students beg to differ. Asmaa Samir, who was disqualified from the elections, told the Weekly that the faculty had refused to receive certificates proving that the candidates are involved in extra-curricular activities.
Across the nation, disqualified candidates have taken their cases to the Administrative Court, which ruled in their favour without exception. The candidates have also been trying to mobilise their colleagues to rally around their case. "So far, we have gathered around 1,000 signatures of students calling for our inclusion in the elections," Eweis said.
The Islamists campaign is focused on the idea that Islam provides an applicable solution to all problems faced by students, but Heba, a veiled student who signed the petition, insists that she is neither for the group nor against them. She says she is simply indignant that the electoral procedure has been tampered with. "I think we should be able to decide for ourselves whether we want to elect them or not," she said. She admits that some members of the groups are very conservative, but argues that in any case, they cannot impose their ideas on anyone.
Wafaa El-Said, a junior candidate for the "Activity Students" group, believes that the Islamists cannot offer much to the students. "They are motivated by political considerations -- they are not there for the students." El-Said added angrily: "Despite the fact that we are all Muslims, some of them easily declare us apostates."
"They did pose constraints on the activities of the students last year," says Mohamed Ezzat, the rapporteur of Rouad (Pioneers), a group that represents the moderate faction of on-campus Islamists who rounded up all the seats of this year's council uncontested. "They made a fuss about giving a role to a girl in one of our plays," he explained. However, Ezzat noted, he is not happy with the fact that his group won the elections unopposed. "There was no true competition," he said.
The political map in the university mimics that of the nation beyond its borders. "Horus" is reportedly backed by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), while other marginal opposition groups -- mainly the Socialists and the Nasserists -- have their own representatives. Radical Islamists are backed by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, while there is also a new genre of "moderate" Islamists. Much like the larger Egyptian public, however, the prevalent attitude towards the election process is cynical.
At the Faculty of Arabic Studies and Religion, the elections brought into play the differences that lie within the Islamist bloc. At this faculty, and for the past 19 years, the radical Islamists have won the elections. In the past two years, however, the moderates have begun to compete and have gained unprecedented ground. "We are totally against the idea of one group calling itself 'Islamist'," said Tamer Adel, a senior student and the rapporteur of the "Activity Students" group. "We are all Muslims in this faculty."
"Although the court ruled in favour of the students, I don't know what the judge based his verdict on," said Magdy Abdel-Rasoul, head of the Youth Centre at the Faculty Arabic Studies and Religion. Universities nationwide are currently appealing against the rulings to enforce their disqualifications and hearings will be held on 15 November to decide whether elections should be repeated. "Whatever the verdict is, we will execute it," said Mahmoud El-Fashn, vice-director of the Youth Centre at Cairo University.
But Eweis is not optimistic. "We took our case to the court and it ruled in our favour, but what of it? Probably, the administration will only be capable of implementing these rulings after we graduate."
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