Enough, reiterated

The first Kifaya (Enough) conference underlined the rejection of the political establishment but offered no strategy on how it might be countered, reports Amira Howeidy

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The podium in the Press Syndicate's conference hall where the Egyptian Movement for Change (EMC) held its first conference on Monday was busy for over two hours as almost a dozen speakers vented their anger over the political situation in Egypt. According to the invitation the conference was held to "discuss the steps that must be taken vis-ˆ-vis political developments" -- for which read President Hosni Mubarak's sudden call last month to modify the constitution to allow for multi-candidate presidential elections next September.

Precious few steps were discussed, however, during the two and a half hour long meeting. Instead speakers from across the political spectrum pontificated over the "meaninglessness" of official political reform efforts, listing countless reasons why the current regime has to go.

"Enough" was reiterated again and again as fiery speeches made their way -- thanks to very loud microphones -- across the packed conference hall and beyond. The non-stop speeches were punctuated by frenzied applause and occasional anti-Mubarak chants that appeared to fly in the face of "rules", preset by the conference's organisers, banning "any sloganeering".

Since it held its first anti-Mubarak demonstration last December, followed by two others in February, the Egyptian Movement for Change, better known as Kifaya (Enough), built up a momentum that now looks close to fizzling out following Mubarak's constitutional initiative. In the three demonstrations Kifaya had raised the slogans "no to extension, no to hereditary succession" and "yes to electing the president from more than one candidate".

Mubarak took office in 1981 following the assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat and has been re- elected -- uncontested -- every six years in a yes/no referendum. Mubarak has yet to announce his decision to contest the coming September elections though he is expected to win easily if he does.

Three weeks after Mubarak said there will be presidential elections the democratic movement remains clueless as to how to react, despite this week's well- attended conference. The organisers did, however, announce plans to stage a demonstration on 30 March in front of the People's Assembly to coincide with two other protests in Alexandria and Mansoura.

"We reject the Tunisian model of a multi-candidate presidential election show," snapped Kifaya member and head of the Press Syndicate's Freedoms Committee, Mohamed Abdel-Qudous.

Amin Iskandar cited a recent UN report on development in Egypt which states that 10.7 million Egyptians cannot afford basic foodstuffs, 24.8 per cent of Egyptians live on $2 a day or less and that Hepatitis C has proliferated to an alarming degree. "After all this, shouldn't we say enough?" Iskandar asked rhetorically.

"It is imperative for the movement to unify its objectives and slogans and to revise its strategy," said veteran communist and lawyer Nabil El-Hilali. "The people are desperate for change. When will these efforts unite in one popular democratic front?"

The conference was not attended by representatives of the opposition parties except for a single member of the Al-Ghad (Tomorrow) party.

"Egypt deserves better than this," said Mohamed El- Sayed Said, deputy director of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies and a Kifaya member. "We must put an end to torture, rigged elections, the humiliation of the people, poverty and backwardness. Egypt must not remain poor and must not beg for food from the international community. We must think of new ways to advance our cause."

The only woman who made it to the podium was Samah Abu Shitta, from Al-Arish, who gave testimony on the most notable case of mass arrests and torture in years as security forces clamped down following last October's bombing of three tourist resorts in Sinai. Samah's husband and four brothers, including a young mentally disabled teenager, have been detained for four months. She says they were tortured and that she too was arrested and abused by police. Human rights groups say 2,400 suspects are still held incommunicado in connection with the Sinai bombings.

She ended her chilling account with a long list of do'aa (prayers) against the entire political and security establishment to which the audience responded with a zealous Amen.

Samah was the star of the conference -- her suffering an illustration of the general political and security situation. Yet there was little that detracted from the dilemma facing the Kifaya movement which has yet to devise a grass root strategy.

"A young student came and asked me what she should do to be a member of Kifaya," said Wael Khalil of the Popular Movement for Change (PMC), a section of the Kifaya movement. "I didn't know what to tell her. We are searching for ways to create avenues for participation. It is taking time."

PMC will stage a demonstration in Tahrir square on 20 March to coincide with the global anti-war protests under the slogan "against the US invasion of Iraq, against despotism, against corruption in the regime and against impoverishing millions of Egyptians".