Aiming for change
Al-Ahram Weekly looks at the trends, people and events that dominated the local news scene in 2003
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Arab leaders meet Bush in Sharm El-Sheikh;
An intense Press Syndicate election;
One of the new bridges of Heliopolis;
Gamal Mubarak steers the NDP towards a "new way of thinking";
The masses overtake Tahrir Square;
An official protest against the war;
Saadeddin Ibrahim goes free;
"debauchery"; Reda Hilal; Zikra
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International events -- the war on Iraq foremost amongst them -- were commanded the domestic political scene. Although the government officially declared its opposition to the invasion of Iraq, for many people that stance was not nearly enough. Demonstrations involving an unprecedented number of people demanded that the government take a much more pro-active role. Shutting down the American Embassy and not allowing warships to use the Suez Canal were amongst protestors' demands. Although the demonstrations practically came to an end after Baghdad fell on 9 April, the sentiments of an angry public remained strong.
Meanwhile, the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) initiated a much-ballyhooed reform process. For the most part it was greeted with scepticism, with critics alleging that the government was merely window dressing in response to America's calls for a more democratic Middle East.
The NDP also called for a landmark national dialogue with civil society and political parties. The opposition welcomed the move, while stressing that if the dialogue was meant to be more than rhetoric, it had to result in actual legislative amendments that would facilitate more competitive politics on the ground.
Party politics as a whole remained mired in a generally restrictive climate rife with internal rifts. The real enigma of 2003 may have been the Muslim Brotherhood, the outlawed group that nonetheless represented the country's only truly active opposition bloc. As a result, and in the increasingly politicised context of the times, the Brotherhood found themselves walking a thin line between government tolerance of and fierce crackdowns on their activities.
WILL DIPLOMACY WORK: Dealing with the US-led war on Iraq dominated the Egyptian diplomatic scene in 2003. In the lead up to the war, Cairo declared its opposition to any aggression without a UN mandate, but Washington and London paid little heed to this -- or many other capitals' -- advice. Operation Shock and Awe proceeded as scheduled.
Egypt's major worry was the war's potential spill over, which was certain to further desatibilise the region, especially in light of the ongoing violence in the Palestinian territories. US and Egyptian stances on Iraq and the peace process were so far apart that President Hosni Mubarak did not take his annual trip to the US, which many saw as an indication that relations between the two nations were tense.
Official reaction to Saddam Hussein's capture on 14 December was measurably reserved. Two days after the announcement, Mubarak noted that Egypt had been calling on the Iraqi leadership to cooperate with the world community for years, but "neither Saddam nor his cronies listened to our opinion or our advice. Now we are seeing the outcome of their attitude on the ground in Iraq, for the Iraqi people and for Saddam himself." The arrest, he said, "provides a good opportunity for the transfer of power to the Iraqi people, [which] should begin based on a specific schedule."
Egypt had been urging the US to hand over power to an elected -- rather than US-appointed -- Iraqi governing body since the war's official end, and it continued to urge Washington to take this step as soon as possible.
When US President George W Bush announced the launch of the "roadmap" initiative in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh in June, Cairo felt some progress had been made in the region's other major conflict. Backed by the diplomatic Quartet -- the US, EU, Russia and the UN -- the initiative attempts to break the cycle of violence that escalated when the second Palestinian Intifada began in September 2000. Today, six months after the initiative emerged -- and despite two Palestinian Prime Ministers' (Mahmoud Abbas and Ahmed Qurei) attempts to use it as a guide for returning to the negotiating table with the Israelis -- the roadmap remains stillborn. Meanwhile, an "unofficial" initiative was also signed in Geneva in December. But few had any real hope that either document would bring progress to the scene. A lethal combination of brutal Israeli policies -- including targeted killings and the building of what has been described as an "apartheid wall" through the West Bank -- and continuing attacks by armed Palestinian groups were blamed for the continuing floundering of the peace process.
On this front, Cairo's focus was on mediating a dialogue among Palestinian factions. The goal was to reach a truce that would allow the Palestinian government to begin talks with Tel Aviv. Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman played a central role in these talks, shuttling back and forth between the Palestinian territories and Israel, as well as hosting talks between Jihad, Hamas, Fatah and other Palestinian factions in Egypt. The talks resulted in a mid-summer four- week truce, which subsequently collapsed as Israel plowed on with its policy of assassinating faction leaders. In December, Cairo tried again, doubling its efforts to move both the Israeli and Palestinian sides towards the table. Again, the goal was to disprove the Israeli pretext that it was the Palestinians who were preventing a peaceful solution via negotiations.
Dealing with these kinds of volatile regional situations, Cairo became acutely aware of the pressing need to reform the virtually ineffective 22-member Arab League. A reform plan was put on the table soon after the March Arab Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh. Along with the plans proposed by several other Arab states, the aim was to develop the regional body into a viable and effective bloc better equipped to deal with the ongoing calamities in the region.
PEOPLE POWER: As Egyptians who opposed the war in Iraq tried to align themselves with the growing global movement against the war, an interesting dynamic took place. Millions may have taken to the streets worldwide on 15 February, but the few hundred Egyptians who were surrounded by riot police in Cairo on that same day still felt their relatively tiny protest had made a difference. If anything, the climate they were working in -- marked by strict security precautions and a cautious but angry public -- won them the support and sympathy of the global anti-war movement.
The demonstrations picked up on 21 February, as thousands of students in Cairo, Beni Suef, and Ismailia held large anti-US, anti-UK and anti-Israel demonstrations. Eleven activists had already been arrested by then. They included journalist Ibrahim El-Sahhar and veteran left-wing activist Kamal Khalil.
On 20 March, just hours after the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq began, the compass unexpectedly tilted in the protestors' favour. Tahrir Square was suddenly blanketed with protesters, who blocked traffic and vastly outnumbered the completely surprised -- and clearly unprepared -- anti-riot police. Thousands of people had emerged from several areas leading into the square -- Bab Al-Louq, Talaat Harb, Garden City and the Corniche -- bringing the number of protestors to an estimated -- and unprecedented -- 40,000 strong. For 10 hours, people from all age groups and walks of life occupied the capital's most famous and strategic landmark. The somewhat festive air was complimented by hundreds of candles that lit the square once the sun had set. The next day, a harsher reality set in, as buoyant protesters attempted a repeat performance. The demonstrations ended with serious clashes between security forces and protesters, as a wide scale police clampdown ended with the arrests of political and student activists, syndicate members, passersby, and more disturbingly, two members of parliament.
According to human rights groups, some 800 people were briefly arrested on 21 March. Eighty-eight of them -- including the two MPs -- were then remanded in custody for 15 days pending investigations.
As Cairo struggled to maintain a balance between its friendship with Washington, and its own population's anger at America and the war, a rift seemed to emerge between "popular" and "official" Egypt, and political dissent began to emerge in unusually strident tones. A few days after the invasion began, a number of prominent intellectuals issued a brief statement expressing their "disagreement" with President Hosni Mubarak's position on the war. This was followed by a longer statement signed by "Egypt's judges" blaming the current crisis on "corrupt" Arab regimes, and calling on all Arab and Islamic governments to "announce their animosity" towards the coalition leading the war, and "especially the US". The statement also demanded that Arab and Islamic governments refuse to host US military bases, or offer any form of assistance to the coalition forces, while calling upon the Arab people themselves to use "all possible means to fight the current aggression".
Two weeks into the war, large-scale demonstrations continued to take place on a daily basis in various universities across the country. At one Alexandria University protest, students demanded that the Egyptian government not allow US and UK warships to cross the Suez Canal.
Meanwhile, the clampdown on anti-war activists continued. Thirty-four-year old engineer Ashraf Ibrahim turned himself in to police on 20 April after his house was raided in his absence. Ibrahim was detained without charges for 100 days until prosecutors accused him and four others (who are at large) of leading an alleged "Revolutionary Socialist Organisation", possessing documents that propagate the organisation's objectives, disseminating false information, and contacting foreign human rights organisations and providing them with reports of Egyptian human rights violations. All of these things, the prosecutors said, had the effect of "undermining Egypt's status and position". Closely watched by the global human rights and anti-war movements, Ibrahim's trial -- which began on 6 December -- is still in progress.
NDP ON REFORM ROAD: The 25-year-old ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) chose 2003 as the year to embrace a new agenda of political, economic and social reforms. At the party's first annual conference in September, "New Thinking and Citizens' Rights" were the mantras of the day. Led by Gamal Mubarak, son of the party's chairman, President Hosni Mubarak, the NDP's Policies Committee proposed a package of reforms meant to amend the political parties law and catalyse an overhaul of Egypt's notorious electoral legislation.
Conference delegates were also surprised by some of the Policies Committee's other recommendations, which included releasing 900 Islamists (out of the estimated 10,000 political prisoners held in Egyptian prisons), and abrogating some 25 military decrees that were issued under exceptional circumstances.
The party also embarked on a major project -- inviting legal opposition parties and representatives of civil associations to a national dialogue. NDP leaders said the dialogue would aim to reach a consensus with Egyptian civil society on an agenda of political reforms. Although opposition parties complained that previous NDP-initiated national dialogues had not led far, they would accept the offer this time to test the party's seriousness.
The party seemed to be responding, in many ways, to the climate that had been created by the invasion of Iraq. The large anti-war demonstrations had often shifted into anti-NDP sloganeering. A 21 March demonstration ended with a fire truck being torched in front of the party's Tahrir Square headquarters.
But it wasn't just the war and the government's lukewarm reaction to it that had people on edge. The NDP-inspired decision to suddenly float the Egyptian pound vis-à-vis the dollar on 28 January had resulted in economic hardships that were felt by every stratum of society, and especially the masses.
Political pundits said the NDP's reform initiatives were only meant to absorb rising public ire, and would serve as mere window dressing for America's calls for a more democratic Middle East, rather than the basis for real change on the ground.
Party leaders insisted that their call for a national dialogue had emerged out of a genuine belief in the necessity of introducing greater political openness, and would result in actual legislative amendments that would facilitate more competitive politics.
Widely considered the driving force behind these moves, Gamal Mubarak saw his political star rise in 2003. Observers said the younger Mubarak had taken Tony Blair's New Labour as a model, filling the party's ranks with a new generation of pragmatic and liberal-oriented cadres, in an attempt to offset the tremendous influence of the party's old guard, and usher the NDP into a new era. Critics said the reforms were merely a vehicle to usher Mubarak into the party's driver's seat. Evidence of his increasingly public profile could be seen in the two official visits Mubarak made to the United States over the course of the year.
PARTY POLITICS AS USUAL? In a year of otherwise moribund party politics, it was only in mid-December that something exceptional took place -- the leftist Tagammu Party elected a new chairman. While 71-year-old Rifaat El- Said's succession of the party's long-time boss Khaled Mohieddin, 81, was not revolutionary, political observers lauded the peaceful transition of power as 2003's most significant change in partisan and political life.
With the vast majority of political party leaders in their seventies or early eighties, pundits have long been saying that the only way to reinvigorate the political scene would be to replace the veteran leaders with fresher cadres.
Hussein Abdel-Razeq -- one of Egypt's most prominent political activists -- was also elected as the Tagammu's new secretary-general. Expectations are high that Abdel-Razeq will boost the party's role in promoting democratic reform and human rights.
Political observers continued to complain, meanwhile, about the governmental Political Parties Committee's hegemony over political life. In 2003, the committee rejected the applications of two new parties: leftist MP and journalist Hamdeen Sabahi's Karamah (Dignity) Party; and liberal-oriented MP and journalist Ayman Nour's Egypt Tomorrow Party.
Nour and fellow MP Mohamed Farid Hassanein ended up submitting a draft law in parliament proposing the abrogation of the Political Parties Committee as a prerequisite for reinvigorating political life. Over the past 25 years, the committee has blocked the formation of 61 different parties.
Meanwhile, emboldened by the anti- government demonstrations that took place during the Iraq war, the leaders of the four major opposition parties (the Wafd, Tagammu, Arab Nasserist and Islamist Labour parties) met on 8 May to announce the formation of a national front aimed at exerting pressure on the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) to introduce genuine political reform. The NDP responded by inviting these and other opposition parties to a national dialogue.
The country's most liberal-oriented political party, Al-Wafd, remained mired in internal squabbles. In May, Wafd Party Chairman No'man Gomaa dismissed MP and journalist Mahmoud El-Shazli from the party's ranks, thus bringing the number of its MPs down from seven to four. Also in May, the Social Justice Party's chairman, Mohamed Abdel-'Al, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, fined LE40,000 and dismissed from his post after a state security court found him guilty of using the party's paper -- Al-Watan Al-Arabi (The Arab world) -- to harass businessmen. "These campaigns were aimed at exhorting businessmen to pay bribes in order to stop the coverage," the court said.
CONTAINING THE BROTHERHOOD: In 2003, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood celebrated 75 years of political activism. Although the group continued to be a primary actor in Egypt's politics of dissent, their relatively high profile also brought them much woe.
The Brotherhood -- although officially outlawed -- was vocal about everything from the war on Iraq to the Sharm Al-Sheikh summit. Observers continued to regard them as Egypt's largest and most organised opposition bloc, while the government maintained its ebb and flow policy, described by observers as alternating between allowing the group to operate somewhat freely, followed by waves of arrests.
During the lead up to the US-led war on Iraq, 11 members were arrested. Observers said the arrests were meant to send a clear signal that the government would show zero tolerance for attempts to capitalise on regional conflicts to mobilise the Egyptian street against policy choices deemed appropriate by the government.
On the other hand, when the war broke out, an alliance of sorts was formed between the Brotherhood and the NDP. With the latter's supervision, the former were the key organisers of mass demonstrations protesting the war, which were held at Cairo Stadium. The alliance raised quite a few eyebrows and provided further proof of the ever- complicated relationship between the state and its strongest opposition bloc.
The group's most senior members -- including its Supreme Guide Ma'moun El- Hodeibi -- continued to offer conciliatory remarks about a dialogue with the state. At the same time, a meeting reportedly took place in late March between senior brotherhood members and some European diplomats. The meeting supposedly took place at the Swiss Club under the supervision of controversial sociologist Saadeddin Ibrahim. This was followed by the arrests of dozens of group members in Damanhour. In May, two Brotherhood MPs were stripped of their membership, based on somewhat dubious legal technicalities.
Internally, the group denied rumours that it had appointed Khayrat El-Shater, a member of the group's ruling body (Guidance Bureau), to its second-highest post. The news inspired much discussion regarding the nature of the group's leadership structure, especially in light of the fact that nearly a year after his ascension to the top position, El-Hodeibi has yet to appoint a deputy.
As usual, the group found itself targeted by the pro-government press as well. Weekly magazine Rose El-Youssef claimed that an internal Brotherhood poll revealed that a majority of group members stressed the need to resort to military training. In November, another press report claimed that the Brotherhood was set to dialogue with US officials in Doha during the annual meeting of the group's international chapters. The Brotherhood said both reports were "fabricated", and were meant to undermine their image and their relationship -- however already troubled -- with the state.
Group members said that they don't want to be seen as an alternative to the existing regime. Despite this seemingly conciliatory approach, the state seems intent on excluding them from legitimised politics. Calling them an outlawed organisation, the NDP chose to completely exclude the Brotherhood from the upcoming national dialogue.
TWISTS AND TURNS : Other than the serious politicking that took place at the Lawyers' and Journalists' Syndicates, the professional syndicate scene remained sterile in 2003.
At the Bar Association, wrangling between Nasserist Chairman Sameh Ashour and the Islamist- dominated council continued. There have been many attempts by Islamists -- ever since the group's elections in 2001 -- to marginalise Ashour's role, mainly by ignoring his decisions and deciding syndicate affairs on their own.
In October, Ashour filed a complaint with the prosecutor-general accusing the council of squandering more than LE350,000 of the syndicate's money. Ashour also asked banks not to deal with Islamist Deputy Chairman Mohamed Toson. Both moves outraged the Islamists, who vowed to defeat Ashour in the coming elections, scheduled for 2005. Many lawyers fear that divisions inside the syndicate may lead to judicial sequestration, which the syndicate endured from 1996 to 2001.
At the Press Syndicate, meanwhile, heated elections for the chairman's post and 12 council seats took place in July. Akhbar Al-Youm journalist Galal Aref, a Nasserist, defeated the government candidate, prominent Al-Ahram columnist Salah Montasser. A government candidate had occupied the post for the last two decades. Leftists and Islamists won the majority of the council seats, leading observers to claim that the two trends had agreed on some kind of deal.
Several other syndicates remained under judicial sequestration. At the Engineers' Syndicate, which was frozen in 1995 because of financial infringements by the former Islamist-controlled council, a flurry of activity meant to end the sequestration was forthcoming in the latter half of the year. Via legal appeals and intense lobbying, engineers from different political affiliations (including members of the ruling NDP) are hoping to work out a compromise with the government that will allow their syndicate to operate properly once again. Observers are predicting, however, that if the sequestration is lifted, Islamists will once again dominate, especially when and if elections are staged.
SEASONS OF GUILT: Sociologist Saadeddin Ibrahim's acquittal on 24 March represented the culmination of a legal saga heard round the world. The 64-year-old American University in Cairo sociology professor and director of the Ibn Khaldoun Centre for Developmental Studies (ICDS) had taken the legal system's longest possible ride.
Arrested in June 2000, and sentenced by a state security court in May 2001 to seven years in jail for receiving foreign funds without government permission, Ibrahim appealed to the Court of Cassation after serving almost nine months in jail. The appeal led to the overturning of the original ruling and another state security court trial, where he was again sentenced to the same term. He appealed again, but this time the Court of Cassation granted him his freedom.
In another high-profile trial, an appeals court reduced the sentences of four men convicted of debauchery in the notorious Queen Boat case to time served, and ordered them to spend a year on probation, forced to spend each night in their local police stations. Seventeen other defendants remain at large.
President Hosni Mubarak, meanwhile, ordered a retrial after the first sentences, in November 2001, caused an international outcry. He moved the case from a state security court, which allows no appeals, to a civil court, where appeals are permitted. The second trial ended in March with all 21 defendants who were convicted in the first trial ending up with even longer sentences -- three years, compared with between one and two years in the first. Of the 52 originally arrested, 50 were retried; 29 were acquitted, and the original convictions of two others upheld. Since January 2001, at least 140 Egyptian men have been arrested on vice charges ranging from "debauchery" to "inducing passersby to commit indecent acts".
Unlike in previous years, there was only one major Islamist trial in 2003. The case involves 23 Egyptians and three Britons who are being tried on charges of attempting to revive the banned Hizbul Tahrir or Liberation Party. The suspects are charged with establishing an outlawed group aimed at overthrowing governments in various Islamic countries with the aim of reviving an Islamic Caliphate.
The three Britons did not deny belonging to the group (which is legal in the United Kingdom), but insisted they were not involved in any political activity in Egypt.
The Liberation Party seeks to restore the Caliphate, an Islamic government for all Islamic states. The movement exists in several Arab countries, and was founded in Egypt in 1974 by two Palestinians, Salem Rahhal and Saleh Serrya. Egyptian authorities crushed it that same year, after an attempted coup known as "the incident of the Technical Military Academy", in which armed militants attacked the Cairo-based academy.
The state security court hearing the trial is expected to issue its verdict before the end of the year.
URBAN FACELIFTS: Two major controversial urban infrastructure projects were the focus of much attention this year. In Heliopolis and Nasr City, two tunnels and two flyovers were built at a total cost of LE350 million. Meant to streamline traffic in both suburbs by eliminating most of the intersections that cross the area's main arteries (Salah Salem/Orouba and Al-Thawra streets), the project also included the establishment of a direct route between the Autostrad and Cairo International Airport -- designed to relieve an additional 15 per cent of Al- Orouba Street's traffic.
The projects were completed in a record six months time, thus eliminating all the intersections on Al- Thawra Street -- which begins in Al-Korba and ends at the Cairo- Suez highway. At the intersection of Al-Thawra and Al-Orouba Streets, commuters now descend into a 400-metre tunnel underneath Al-Orouba. At Al-Thawra's intersections with Al-Merghani and Al- Nozha Streets, traffic flows beneath two new flyovers, each 1.3 kilometres long.
On Al-Orouba/Salah Salem Street, meanwhile, a 1.2 kilometre- long tunnel has eliminated intersections with both Al-Tayaran and Youssef Abbas Streets, both of which lead in and out of Nasr City. Those coming form Al-Tayaran use the new tunnel to get onto Salah Salem, while those on Salah Salem can exit from the tunnel onto Youssef Abbas. Those heading to the airport from the Autostrad in Nasr City can also avoid Al-Orouba Street altogether, now that a new 1.5 kilometre- long bridge connecting the Autostrad to Cairo International Airport is up and running.
Officials at the Ministry of Housing, which launched and financed the project, under the supervision of the Cairo Governorate, say the new infrastructure has relieved at least 35 per cent of East Cairo's traffic, saving up to an estimated LE27 million annually in time lost as a result of, and petrol consumed by, traffic congestion.
Not everyone, however, is happy. Many taxi drivers told Al-Ahram Weekly that the new project eased traffic jams in some areas, only to compound it in others. As such, some urban planners argue that these kinds of schemes are no more than a "waste of public funds". University Professor Samir Salah said "the new project improved the traffic flow on the part of Salah Salem that links Cairo Airport to the city centre, but has created a gridlock on the opposite direction of the same street."
Urban planner Abu Zeid Rageh says most traffic projects are "piece-meal solutions" that should be replaced with "long-term plans that must be carefully designed and prioritised".
City dwellers have also been talking about the new private waste management projects that were embarked upon by both Cairo and Giza this year. The projects involved the subcontracting of garbage collection to foreign firms. The companies wash the streets clean, collect 5,000 tonnes of garbage from Cairo alone, and make sure all public space is dirt-free.
Already working in Cairo's eastern and western districts, as well as one Giza district, the project has generated controversy because of the mandatory "cleanliness" fee that has been added to residents and shop owners' electricity bills. But despite the gripes, it has definitely provided the capital with a much-needed facelift.
BIZARRE INCIDENTS: "Where is Reda Hilal?" That question remains unanswered, nearly five months after the prominent journalist's disappearance in August. Hilal's writings had generated controversy for being "liberal", pro- American and supportive of improved Egyptian-Israeli relations.
A massive manhunt proved futile, as investigators were unable to crack the mystery. Countless theories circulated, attributing his disappearance to personal or political disputes. Many thought he had either been killed or kidnapped, although the fact that there was no sign of forced entry into his apartment led some to speculate that -- for some reason -- he had taken himself out of the picture voluntarily.
Near the end of November, a gruesome murder- suicide in the upscale Zamalek neighbourhood grabbed the headlines. Businessman Ayman El- Sweidi gunned down his wife -- the relatively famous Tunisian singer Zikra -- as well as his business manager and his wife, before shooting himself. Sweidi used three pistols and a machine gun, downing his victims with more than 60 bullets.
Compiled by Home Page staff
