Dec19

Egypt, Morsi & the Opposition

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I was prompted to write this post after having a conversation with an expat currently working in Egypt about the current political situation. His position puts him in contact with a variety of people including western diplomats in Cairo. To my surprise he shared with me that some of those diplomats are livid with the current opposition represented by Baradei, Sabahi and Amr Moussa, claiming that they increase polirization and push Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood more towards the Salafists. That they should aim more at dialogue with Morsi rather than oppose him and that the focus should be on the next parliament and other democratic institutions. And of course that the judiciary opposing Morsi today is mostly ramnants of the old regime.

So i decided as someone who believes in the revolution and has been active in the revolution as an individual, as well as in social movmenets and a political party to try and make it clear why all the above is simply not an accurate representation of the sitution.

First of all let’s talk about dialogue:

Since Morsi came to power and throughout the process of writing the constitution, the presidency has engaged with many groups and political representatives to discuss the constitution. From women rights activists to social movmeents to political parties all agreed that they expressed themselves very freely but nothing came out of it. There was no response and no action on the ground, whether related to the composition of the assembly (as Morsi promised during his election campaign) or specific articles in question. Furthermore, in November Morsi invited previous presidential candidates for individual meetings, where Baradei, Sabahi and Moussa all accepted the invitation and attended those meetings. The result? Nothing. Or actually the result was a constitutional declaration by Morsi on 22nd November where among other decisions he gave himself absolute immunity from judicial review until a new parliament is in place!

Now nobody is contesting that Morsi is a democratically elected president, however he has not be elected God to do as he pleases without even the possibility of judicial review! If we would’ve accepted this then it would’ve meant a new dictator clear and simple, one person who has the right to do anything without being opposed. At this point in time there was no room for dialogue, the declaration had to go. So after calling the opposition agents of anything and everything from foreign nations to the NDP (notice the re-emergence of the Mubarak rhethoric), Morsi replaced that declaration with a new one that doesn’t include immunity to his decisions.

Now let’s talk about violence:

I want to talk here specifically about the clashes that took place on 5th December at the presidential palace called Al-Itihadeyya. In many cases violence broke out in Egypt over the last couple of years, things were burned, people fought, were detained etc.

However what happened at Al-Itihadeyya was not random violence, it amounted to an attack by militias. On 5th Dec there was a sit-in by the palace to protest Morsi’s latests decision. The sit-in consisted of around 15 tents and a small number of protests (in the 100s). Starting midday the social media networks were full of news that the Muslim Brotherhood were preparing to take out the sit-in (you just might wonder like I did with which authority would they do that?). The tweets of the young MB members were appaling, one religious quote kept appearing “koteba alaykom al qital”, i.e. fighting or war was written upon you! A couple of hours later the attack began. One source told me 20,000 MB members were called for this task. Regardless of the numbers, as you can watch with a simple search on youtube, the tents were taken down by the MB members who had their batons ready, chased away some protestors and captured others. As this was unfolding more and more people headed to the palace to support the protestors and as anyone with an internet connection or a TV could watch the fighting taking place till dawn of the next day. The result was several deaths, hundereds of injured and documented torture cases by the MB of anyone they could capture. Moreoever, the MB detained over 100 protestors and kept them till the next day when they handed them to the police. Of course with all of them carrying signs of beatings and no evidence against them they were mostly released by the prosecutor ( a decision he suffered professional consequences for from the new public prosecutor who demanded they be re-detained since Morsi claimed they were part of a conspiracy and this was now proving him wrong).

Let’s talk about the revolution:

Let’s get one thing straight: this is not an Islamic revolution, neither a revolution of the Muslim Brotherhood. Actually, for most if not all revolutionary forces by now the Muslim Brotherhood have long left the revolution camp. Since March 2011 the MB have worked with the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) to promote their constitutional changes that led us into the current situation. The MB sold out the revolution at various points: Mohamed Mahmoud clashes 1 and 2, Cabinet clashes, Maspero massacre and others. Their focus first and foremost was elections, not change, just elections. No position was ever taken to jeorperdize the date of elections or their ability to compete. No matter how many people died at the hands of the police or the army, how many lost their eyes or were paralyzed, the Muslim Brotherhood looked the other way if not outright attacked the protestors as aiming to sabotage….elections!

Remember the blue bra girl who was stopmed over by soldiers in tahrir square one year ago? The Islamists including the MB position on her was: it’s her fault, why was she there in the first place!! The MB have existed the revolution camp a long time ago.

And the constitution:

The constitution has many controversial issues that I’m not planning to go into. Apart from different views on sharia, which the Islamists are using as a propaganda tool, the opposition is really concerned about other items. For example the new constitition allows detention of citizens with no access to lawyers, family or prosecurtors for up to 12 hours, without even being informed of the reason of detention. The president retains vast powers and cannot be held accountable for his decisions. The salafists insisted on leaving out any mention of slavery, human trafficking or sexual exploitation as it could put practices of child marriage under prohibition, practices that they support. There is no article that mentions women rights. Forced labour is permitted within the law, and last but not least child labour is also permissable. These and other reasons related to both content and process of the constitution writing have driven the opposition to first demand delaying the referrandum to allow for a wider dialogue, but when Morsi insisted on maintaining the date, the opposition called for a “NO” vote. So far 44% of the votes refused the new constitution, which can neither be called remanents of the old regime nor unrepresentative noisy troublemakers!

And finally let’s talk about how this is all very personal:

As an Egyptian woman all the above issues are very relevant to me. I’m politically active and so I have an interest in not being threthened by arbitrary detention, where I can disappear for 12 hours without anyone knowing where I am. Also I go to marches and I refuse to accept that to this day you can lose your life while protesting peacfully in the streets of the capital.

In the private sphere, I am a woman and a feminist. I refuse to surrender to a system that turns a blind eye to harrasers in the name of religion, i’m not talking about sexual harraseement (this is another big issue in Egypt), but those who appoint themselves as “preventers of vice” (earlier this year a student was killed by 3 of them in Suez for standing on the street with a girl). I refuse to allow complete strangers (or anyone for that matter) to tell me how to dress, behave or work. I refuse to allow extremists to dictate the limits of freedom of expression and freedom of belief (google Albert Saber to learn how he received a 3 year sentence for posting on Facebook only days ago). I will not wait quietly on the sidelines while personal laws are changed to limit women rights and impose on them all kinds of restrictions. I refuse to give up my Egypt and watch it turn into another Iran.

In short, the West thinks of the situation in Egypt from a geopolitical point of view, Morsi was able to broaker a deal between Israel and Hamas and the US loved him for this. Other nations (not necessarily only western) value very much the stability of Egypt that contributes to the stability of the region. However, they are not interested in the civil liberties of egyptian citizens, in their personal rights and/or the country turning into a semi-theocracy. As long as the Egyptian administration manages to maintain stability in the region and security of the borders with Israel then that’s more than enough for most international powers.

I’m not asking for anyone to support us, I am only asking for my right to resist a fascist regime from taking over my country to be recognized. This revolution is not an Islamic revolution, this revolution was sparked by social movments who are intersted in freedom and social justice. I believe in democracy and change for Egypt, and I retain my right to fight for an Egypt where all citizens are equal and free from oppression.

Sep15

Nostalgia

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For a while now I’ve been nostalgic to a tolerant Egypt not the one pre Jan 25, no that has already fallen to ugly fundamentalism, a wave of social and cultural regression masked with a religious veil..
I’m nostalgic to an Egypt I haven’t lived in,one that was mutilated and slowly murdered in the past decades, one I only knew through my grandparents and my parents, an Egypt that holds all her children dear without discriminating among faiths, races or origin, one that values arts, literature and science, one where practicing religion is a choice not an order, one where women are partners, standing tall, strong and adding to theirs country,and where men are civilized.
An Egypt I sincerely hoped our beloved 2011 revolution will bring back. However, it looks like we’ll have to sink lower with religious rule before we finally re-emerge from the darkness…
P.S. the above is not prompted by the recent violence & protests against the “insulting” movie picturing prophet Muhammed made by individuals in the US, but the public reaction presents a case in point…
Aug15

عن ازمة الكهرباء و قطاع البترول

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العلاقة بين قطاع البترول و ازمة الكهرباء الحالية

نظام عمل قطاع البترول:

تقوم عقود التنقيب عن البترول و الغاز في مصر علي نظام مشاركة الانتاج، حيث يقوم الشريك الاجنبي بالاستكشاف و تنمية الحقول لانتاج المواد الخام من بترول و غاز طبيعي ثم يسترد التكاليف من خلال جزء محدد من الانتاج ثم مشاركة الحكومة المصرية في ما يسمي بنسبة الربح من الانتاج. في جميع الاحوال تتسلم الدولة ممثلة في الهيئة العامة للبترول الانتاج كامل و ترد للشركة المنتجة التكاليف و الارباح نقدا.

المنتجات البترولية و توليد الكهرباء:

يستخدم اكثر من نصف الانتاج المحلي من الغاز الطبيعي في توليد الطاقة في مصر، و يعتبر الغاز من ارخص و انظف المواد الخام الممكن استخدامها، و يتم سد بقية حاجات محطات الكهرباء من المنتجات البترولية الاخري. تلك المواد كالسولار او المازوت تكون جزئيا مكررة محليا و لكن في كثير من الاحيان تحتاج الدولة لاستيرادها، مما يحمل الموازنة العامة عبء متزايد لاستمرار دعم تلك السلع النهائية كالكهرباء و ثبات سعرها النهائي مع ازدياد تكلفة الانتاج بالنسبة للدولة.

أهم العوامل المؤثرة علي قطاع الطاقة:

بالطبع ازمة الطاقة عامة و الكهرباء خاصة ليست وليدة اليوم بل هي نتيجة تراكم سياسيات طولية الامد مع ظروف عالمية و محلية تؤثر علي الاقتصاد المحلي في المجمل. أهم تلك العوامل هي:

  • ارتفاع معدلات الاستهلاك المحلي:و هو ارتفاع طبيعي مع الوقت و تطور المجتمع و نمو احتياجاته سواء علي الصعيد الصناعي او الاستهلاك المنزلي او الفردي. ذلك الارتفاع لا يضاهيه بالضرورة زيادة في الموارد الطبيعية سواء باكتشافات لحقول جديدة او زيادة الانتاج من الحقول المنتجة بالفعل، مما يخلق فجوة بين معدلات الانتاج و الاستهلاك.
  • استمرار الدعم علي الطاقة و زيادة الاسعار العالمية: يمثل دعم المواد البترولية جزء اساسي من الموازنة العامة للدولة، و مع ارتفاع الاسعار العالمية و ثبات الاسعار المحلية يزداد حجم الموارد النقدية المخصصة للدعم مما يساهم في الضغط علي تلك الموارد. و بالطبع مع الارتفاع المستمر في الاستهلاك كما ذكرنا تزداد الضغوط علي الموارد المخصصة للدعم.

تأثير الحالة الاقتصادية الحالية:

مع الحالة الاقتصادية الحالية تواجه الدولة المصرية حاليا مشكلتان اساسيتان: مشكلة سيولة نقدية بالاضافة الي تخفيض التصنيف الائتماني دوليا. قلة السيولة النقدية تؤثر كلاتي:

  • تقل قدرة الدولة علي استيراد الكميات المطلوبة من المنتجات البترولية اللازمة لانتاج الكهرباء (و لقطاعات اخري) بما ان الانتاج المحلي وحده غير كافي (تتقاطع تلك المشكلة مع مشكلة التصنيف الائتماني كما سنوضح لاحقا)
  • يؤدي استمرار الدعم للطاقة مع نقص السيولة علي قدرة القطاعات الحكومية المختلفة كوزارة الكهرباء علي سداد ثمن المواد الخام لوزارة البترول، مما بالتالي يؤدي لعدم مقدرة وزارة البترول علي سداد مستحقات الشركات الاجنبية المنتجة للمواد الخام في مصر و ذلك بدوره يؤثر علي قدرتهم علي مواصلة الاستثمار و المحافظة علي مستوي الانتاج.

اما بالنسبة لتخفيض التصنيف الائتماني فتأثيره علي قطاع الطاقة كتأثيره علي بقية الاقتصاد المصري و هو كالاتي:

  • كان بوسع الهيئة العامة للبترول قبل خفض التصنيف الائتماني الحصول علي قروض من البنوك لسد احتياجات القطاع من استيراد مواد خام و سداد مستحقات الشركات المنتجة و لكن بعض خفض التصنيف اصبح ذلك اكثر صعوبة و لم تعد تلك الحلول متاحة مثل الفترة السابقة. هذه النقطة تزيد المشاكل السابق ذكرها تعقيدا فتأثر علي القدرة علي سد احتياجات الدولة من الطاقة عن طريق الاستيراد، و في نفس الوقت لا تستطيع الدولة الاقتراض لسد مستحقات الشركات المنتجة للمواد الخام.

Apr25

حبس عادل امام و تغيير التاريخ

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عادل امام تم تآييد الحكم عليه بالحبس بتهمة ازدراء الاديان بسبب افلامه النهارده! انا مش هاتكلم عن حرية التعبير و صدمة القضاء حامي الحريات و السقوط نحو الهاوية او في قول اخر نحو الوهابية! لكن هاتكلم عن السادة الارهابيين اللي فاكرين ان جرائمهم اختفت و المواطنين المصريين جالهم فقدان ذاكرة

اذا كان مع الثورة فتح الباب للجميع للمشاركة السياسية فده مش معناه ان الجميع كان مضطهد و مظلوم قبل الثورة، حقيقي كان فيه اضطهاد للتيارات السياسية المختلفة و منها الاسلامية  لكن كمان كان فيه جرائم ارهاب هزت مصر في التسعينات و اذا كان  جزء كبير من “شباب الثورة” فعلا اصغر من انه  يتذكر تفاصيلها او حدوثها فهناك من يتذكرون

افلام عادل امام المتهم بسببها وثقت لاحداث حقيقية ، وثقت لارهاب الجماعات الاسلامية اللي حللت لنفسها اموال المسحيين في مصر عن طريق سرقة محلات الدهب! الجماعات (و الافراد) اللي حرقوا محلات افلام الفيديو و اعتدوا علي المدرسات بمية نار و دبحوا السياح في الاقصر و قتلوا سياح تانيين بالنار قدام  المتحف المصري في قلب القاهرة، و في قلب القاهرة برضه اغتالوا رفعت المحجوب و فرج فودة و طعنوا نجيب محفوظ

عادل امام وثق لظاهرة التطرف الديني اللي شايفينها قدامنا في ازهي عصورها، الوافدة علي المجتمع المصري و اللي مسيرها تترد علي اللي مصدرنها لنا

و في الاخر حرية التعبير مقدسة  و التمسح في الاديان لا يمكن يغطي علي الارهاب الفكري اللي واضح انه وصل لمؤسسات الدولة المصرية

Apr24

On Arabs, misogyny and Mona El Tahawy

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As with I’m sure many Twitter users in the Middle East today my timeline exploded with comments and reactions to Mona El Tahawy’s article in the Foreign Policy titled “Why do they hate us?” on women in the region and the violations they’re subjected to. Mona bluntly says “Yes: They hate us. It must be said.”. So many attacked her for adopting an ‘orientalist’ rhetoric, generalizing, simplifying things, ignoring the real complex picture..etc.

But I don’t quite see it this way, the way I look at it is she used a strong shocking way to bring the reader’s attention to something that is very real, and when you read on you can see all the solid facts as to how misogyny  manifests itself in our region (very sadly so). Whether it is real individual hate by men towards women that is the root cause or we want to dwell into the layers of the more complex story, the historical developments, sociological, economic and political reasons is a different story, at the end of the day this is not an academic paper that is trying to study the issue…at least not from where I’m standing.

What I loved about the article is rejecting the excuse of cultural relativism straight away. We need to admit that our culture including social, religious and other aspects has come (as has been for a long time)  to be very hostile towards women as independent valuable individuals. And yes as she says it can be said of other countries but one still wonders why all Arab countries consistently occupy the bottom of any global ranking of women rights. And more importantly how essential it is to get out of that notion that it’s “relative” and how we need to “respect the culture” rhetoric. No! I will not respect the culture that treats me as a special category of minor and have my rights violated every day in the name of culture. I have no respect, none whatsoever for a culture that denies me my rights, no relativity welcome here.

I would like to go beyond the grotesque, brutal and unspeakable examples that Mona mentioned like beatings, marrying off minors (or rather selling minors), female gentile mutilation, sexual harassment and go into the “softer” more “civilized” forms of misogyny, the forms that nobody complains about.

While to many what I’ll mention won’t sound like “hate” it is far from “love”, the latter term to me essentially includes valuing the person in front of you to be an equal and supporting them in whatever they do or chose.

When it comes to women in the Arab world, how many are encouraged to pursue activities, studies or jobs that take them away from the “good girl” image? One who is not too outgoing or too daring, doesn’t challenge social norms much (let alone political conditions) and is well aware of  her “primary” role as a home keeper (I consciously stop short from saying “housekeeper”!). Let alone of course the reaction a woman would face to pursuing an alternative lifestyle (and I’m not hinting here at anything sexual, simply a choice of where to live for example and the choice of which social connections to have).

I’m talking here about the “minor” issues that I still see around me within very “lucky” highly educated middle class circles. Young women (with graduate degrees and high-powered jobs mind you) who hide in the bathroom to smoke a cigarette (yes I met one last week!), who accept their husbands opinions (aka “decisions”) as a given, who wear the veil while they detest it because they’re forced by their families or husbands, who would sacrifice their jobs and professional future for their husbands’ knowing for a fact that their husbands will never do the same for them, who would publicly  voice their conviction that the husband’s career is more important than their own, who cut-off male friends from their lives lest God forbid they be seen in public with a non-relative male and the list goes on….

This would all seem I’m sure very harmless, simply a matter of negotiating your way through social life, nothing really to complain about. But the point is: yes this may be all manageable but what are the underlying ideas behind it? Isn’t it really the same principle? The principle is: women are not equal to men and they are not to be treated as such by society. The principle is: be grateful for what you have and don’t push it too much, or do you really believe that you’re equal and dare to ask for social equality?

It’s all about women having a certain place and role in life, and while society makes “concessions” in the form of “granting” women rights (education, work, voting, and on the social level maybe even dating, choice of attire and the such) the underlying conviction is women have no right to equality, that would just corrupt society, and on the family level it would corrupt the family’s reputation and that is not to be allowed!

Women don’t “need” to have the same options and choices available to men, what they get is not a right but merely a generous grant, so be grateful! Is it not enough that you’re allowed go out to socialize? You want to travel on your own too?  Is it not enough you went to school? You want to work too?? Same logic different degrees of ‘tolerance’! It’s one and the same mentality, one that is hostile to women, one where women are far from free individuals in control of their lives.

And yes all those things as “trivial” as they might seem to many make me angry, they make me angry not because I’ve necessarily faced them but they make me angry because I know they are enforced on millions of women around me; not only that but what’s even worse millions of women accept them as a given. They don’t dare fight for their rights, no matter how minor or insignificant those rights seem. Even worse: they don’t believe in having rights. They accept the social order, they accept it and try to distance themselves from any attempt to shake that order, they accept their second class status: socially, legally and politically. And the ultimate “betrayal” is when women with patriarchical values so entrenched into them reinforce those practices – and more importantly principles upon their daughters. Yes this “bourgeois” setting I’m referring to fades against the “real” problems that women face in the region, but the underlying principle remains the same, whether a family is denying a girl in rural Egypt the right to education or enforcing a curfew on a 30-year-old single woman in Cairo, it is all the same, the underlying concept is one and the same.

So let’s call it like it is indeed! Men and women to a large extent in this region look down on women, on their value and on their role in life. Women are to be kept in their place by society making sure that as far as they go they shouldn’t disrupt the rules set out for them. Women are consistently taught to submit. And while this might not be “hate” in its raw form, it is certainly not “love” in my view.

Jan3

The Muted Gender Agenda of Post-revolution Egypt

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1.     Introduction

The Egyptian revolution at the beginning of 2011 took most political players (if not all) in and outside of Egypt by surprise. The protests were so truly grass root and in many instances spontaneous that the traditional structures, institutions and power relations didn’t matter and had no effect. One couldn’t help but notice the strong presence of women in Tahrir square and other locations of mass demonstrations all over Egypt. This presence was also not monopolized by one class or background. Tahrir saw women of all ages, all social classes, all religious affiliations and backgrounds. Women were leading chants, camping in the square, delivering supplies, you name it. Some even hoped that the revolution will change the strong patriarchal nature of the Egyptian society, its conservatism and sexism.

However, on February 11th the former President Hosni Mubarak steps down and the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) steps in as the ruler of the country. The political process begins and with it the traditional players are re-invited to the scene.

 

2.     Patriarchy, the military & the religious currents

For many the revolution was over with the toppling of Mubarak, a rhetoric asserted by almost all media outlets till this day.  The people were urged to trust the military and go back home. Women were celebrated for their role in the revolution but we began to see them sidelined by all players in post-revolution political scene.

 

a.      The assertion of patriarchal rhetoric

The two main powers on the scene today are SCAF ( or the military) and the religious parties, the latter largely represented by the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist current. The third power is the “revolutionary movements” mostly young people who’ve formed groups aimed at resisting the counter revolution and fighting for the goals of the revolution. The latter block sees the best representation of women among its ranks.

While the military don’t generally make any special references to gender issues or women representation, religious parties make those in abundance. As the Freedom and Justice party was being established as the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood group, front page headline of Al Masry Al Youm newspaper showed quoted them saying that “it would be inappropriate to put forward women or Copts as presidential candidates”.[1] The more fundamental Salafist party El Nour went so far as to replace the picture of their women candidates on the electoral lists with a picture of a flower! Moreover, various Salafist figures (who are not always members of the party) have made controversial statements on the role of women in society such as Abdel Moneim Al Shahat who said that women entering the parliament is a corrupting phenomena.[2]

While “revolutionary movements” belong mostly leftist and liberal currents they focus on fighting the regime represented by the military with little attention to issues of representation.

 

 

b.      Patriarchal practices in the political space

There have been of course many violations against women who remained defiant of this push back to the domestic domain. Mostly against activists or anyone who challenges the SCAF’s authority. While SCAF used brutal tactics against all its challengers, female protestors were subjected to humiliating measures to ensure that their future participation is suppressed if not by their own fears then by their families’ for their safety and honor. Violations against women found little traction within society at first (such as harassment of female protestors during the women day march in Tahrir), but even with the most outrageous incidents such as the virginity tests conducted in military prison or the stomping on the dragged-till-naked female protestor in Tahrir in December, we found voices that wondered what women were doing there, that it’s not their place and that it must be their fault for exposing themselves to this situation, to even accusing them of deliberately framing the army for brutality.

 

3.     The transitional period

a.      The Committee of the Wise:

With the start of the Egyptian revolution a “committee of the wise” was established by independent public figures to try and mediate between the demonstrators and the regime. This committee consisted initially of 14 members, none of which were women. Afterwards more names were added to a total of 22 members including only 3 women, a disappointing ratio especially given that most of the members lean towards non-religious political currents. [3]

 

b.      Constitutional Amendments Committee:

Shortly after the step-down of the toppled president Mubarak SCAF formed a committee for formulating constitutional amendments. This committee consisted of 8 members all of which were men, including a member of the Muslim Brotherhood but no representation of other political trends.

c.       The Executive Branch:

Since the breakout of demonstrations on the 25th of January 2011, the cabinet has been changed several times. Once by then-President Mubarak then several times by SCAF every time as a reaction to popular demonstrations against various policies. The first cabinet of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf consisted of 20 ministers with only 1 woman (Dr. Faiza Abul Naga, the minister of International cooperation, who has been in this post for almost a decade). It is worth noting that interim prime minister Essam Sharaf has announced at the beginning of his appointment of creating a ministry or at least a ministerial position for women affairs, however this announcement never materialized, and no statements were made about why it never took place. Again this is an example of how gender issues were viewed as “not a priority” after the revolution.

The Ganzory Cabinet saw reshuffling of roles, changing of figures, including new faces and increasing the number of ministers. This cabinet – the current cabinet as of December 8th 2011- includes 29 ministers, only two of which are women. [4]

Till this day there are no female governors in Egypt.

d.      The Consultative Council:

The Consultative Council was formed in December 2011 to assist SCAF in political decision-making after the latter came under increased criticism on handling the transitional period. This body was appointed by SCAF, consisting of 30 members out of whom only 10% are women.[5]

 

4.     The public agenda: deciding ‘priorities’

The public agenda in Egypt post the revolution has been dominated by two main items: the economy and security. A third element that has been constantly sliding off to a lower position is democratization. Amongst all the turmoil the public has given very little attention to the issue of representation, whether on a gender, racial or religious minority basis.  Women rights NGOs have been fighting the stigma of association with the old regime, specifically the former first lady. Initial plans by the first Cabinet post Mubarak’s step down to create a ministry for Women affairs have been shelved with no explanation. Representation of women never made it to the public agenda among economic meltdown, deteriorating security situation and recurring sectarian violence, let alone increasing confrontations with the army both over political positions and on the streets.

 

5.     The ‘women quota’ debate

From a Facebook page that calls itself “a campaign for cancelling the women quota in the Egyptian parliament” that has only 3 fans it is evident that the debate didn’t take any serious shape in post revolution Egypt. Comparing the media coverage and public debate that took place over Egyptians abroad right to vote for example, we can definitely say with confidence that there were almost no contenders for keeping the women quota in place. The quota for women in parliamentary elections was a recent development in Egypt’s history. Only in the 2010 parliamentary elections was it introduced. The law no. 149 for the year 2009 stipulated 64 out of 508 seats of the parliament were reserved for women chosen by direct secret ballot. Once new parliamentary elections were announced the “women quota” was attacked on two fronts: a) on the grounds that it’s an introduction of the previous regime, used for their ends and not really for women empowerment (most 2010 female parliament members who won through this quota were candidates of the ruling NDP), and b) with the argument that women should compete in the elections on their own merit without the help of a quota, which was labeled as discriminatory. In short there were no defenders of the women quota in the parliament. This was compounded I believe by the fear of defending something so closely associated with the previous regime, especially at a time when some of the personal status laws were being attacked on the grounds of support by the former first lady. On the other hand almost nobody focused on the fact that in most places and historical developments around the world a quota was necessary to maintain some gender balance in legislative bodies.

Although the amended parliamentary elections law cancelled the quote it stipulates that at least one woman has to be included on each elections list (qayma). Parliament law 38 for the year 1972 stipulates that for the “lists” at least one woman should be included, however the position on the list is not defined and so most women were included at the bottom half of lists which makes their chances of winning seats very slim.

 

6.     What are elections telling us so far?

a.      Unions & syndicates

If we take the doctors syndicate elections as an example of professional syndicates, the Cairo board showed exceptional results compared to all other branches with  35% of the  council won by women out of a total of 17 members.[6] In Port Said, Damietta, Monofeya Ismailia, Luxor and South Sinai one woman won a seat out of nine places, where in some cases the woman belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood candidates list. For the rest of the governorates no women won any seats. 

b.      Political parties

Few parties have had internal elections yet. If we survey political parties we’ll find that most if not all have very few or no women at all in their executive committees or as spokes people. The Islamic parties (whether Freedom and Justice or El Nour) haven’t offered women to the public as spokes people of the party, let alone as president or vice president. Their political/executive/high committee composition is not published information and there are no indications of women on those positions. The liberal and leftist parties on the other hand do offer women as spokes people for the parties, especially when those parties include women who are established public figures. They also include women as active members in above mentioned committees. Not much information is available on exact composition, but an example is Egypt Freedom party whose political office includes around to 25% women.  Another example is El Adl party (a centrist new party) where 30% of active members are women. However, it is important to note that even the liberal current has not chosen any woman as party president so far.

c.       Parliamentary elections

At the time of writing of this paper two rounds of parliament elections have been completed (with the third round being underway) where for the single or independent seats accounting for one third of all seats (i.e. not closed lists) no women have won, moreover they didn’t even feature in runoff rounds.[7]

It was disappointing to see that even liberal or secular parties have not included more than the one mandatory woman on their election lists. They have clearly made the choice to submit to the existing political and social culture that is biased against women in leadership positions instead of pushing for more women candidates that could risk their chances of winning. The only female winners of parliamentary seats so far won through their parties’ lists (the Wafd liberal party and the Muslim Brotherhood party) and even at that we only have 5 women so far.

7.     Conclusion

Egypt faced many problems regarding the gender agenda both before and after the revolution. The danger women are facing after the revolution are not only the classical patriarchal culture, but the fact that the two main powers on the scene are oblivious if not hostile to the concept of gender equality or women representation. The gender agenda is muted as those in power don’t believe in the concept, and those who work in the field are trying to protect established rights and fearing the rollback on them. The hope still remains on the grass root level of social movements and individual activists. On that front we see many names and faces that remain harsh critics of the regime, as well as newborn feminist movements that are trying to build a front for women rights.

 

[1] Al Masry Al Youm newspaper. Front page 20th February 2011 http://www.almasryalyoum.com/node/324751

[2]  El Badil online newspaper. Posted 12th December 2011. www.elbadil.net

[3] Arabic Wikipedia, accessed 1st Jan 2012. http://ar.wikipedia.org

[4] Egyptian Cabinet of Ministers Facebook page. Post on 8th December 2011 10:28am.

[5] Egyptian Cabinet of Ministers Facebook page. Post on 8th December 2011 7:52pm.

[6] Doctors syndicates results, El shorouk newspaper, 15 October 2011 http://www.shorouknews.com/news/view.aspx?id=9587fdf6-d1d2-4d3b-bf07-5a0be8ff3f52

[7] Official elections site for 2011 www.elections2011.eg

Nov27

ارجوكم انتخبوا

Posted on by
Standard

المرحلة الاولي لاول انتخابات برلمانية بعد الثورة تبتدي بكرة و التحرير في اعتصام مفتوح و المحافظات فيها ضرب و مظاهرات و لسه ما عداش علينا يوم واحد كامل من غير خبر موت في واحد من الميادين. كل دي اسباب و ظروف تقول ان الانتخابات في الوقت ده غير مجدية اصلا لكن الواقع ان الانتخابات هتتعمل و اغلبية الشعب   مستني الانتخابات دي و هيشترك فيها، حتي لو نسبة المشاركة كانت صغيرة فده مش علشان موقف ثوري لمقاطعة انتخابات علي شروط العسكر و لكن من باب يا اما الخوف من البلطجة و العنف او من باب السلبية و فقدان الامل في جدوي الانتخاب اصلا

الاحزاب الجديدة و الحركات الثورية بدآت تطرح او تناقش فكرة مقاطعة الانتخابات في ضوء اللي بيحصل في البلد بالتحديد الانتهاكات المستمرة و التسويف من ناحية المجلس العسكري في  موضوع حكومة الانقاذ الوطني و تسميتهم الجنزوري كرئيس وزراء..الخ لكن في الاخر مفيش لا وقت و لا موقف شعبي واسع لدعم المقاطعة السياسية الواسعة.

الانتخابات هتتعمل هتتعمل فبدل المقاطعة اللي هتتسوق كانها ضعف من التيارات الثورية او حتي التيارات الغير دينية عامة نروح ننتخب و نحاول ان يكون في  المجلس تمثيل للتيارات الجديدة ما نسيبش المجلس للاسلاميين و الفلول علشان يقولولنا انتوا مالكوش قيمة و هو ده صوت الاغليبة الصامتة، و الانتخاب مش معناه نسيب الميدان.

انا هاروح انتخب و ادي صوتي للي هيدافع عن الثورة و الحريات وللي هيقف ضد خطف الثورة ، هاروح انتخب الصبح و ارجع علي الميدان.

انا مؤمنة بالثورة و اهمية الاعتصام و هاعمل كل اللي اقدر عليه لاستمرار الاعتصام حتي تنحية العسكر عن الحكم لكن اكون باضحك علي نفسي لو افتكرت اننا ماسكين كل اجزاء المعادلة في ايدينا. بلاش نعزل الثورة عن الناس، خلينا نشترك معاهم و نساعد نفسنا، ايوة انا مدركة مساوء مجلس الشعب القادم معندوش ابسط الصلاحيات و هيدي شرعية للعسكر لكن الامتناع عن التصويت مش هيغير الكلام ده خلينا ندعم الناس اللي معانا في المجلس حتي لو يكونوا شوكة بسيطة في جنب النظام

و جنب ده احنا مستمرين في الشارع، الاعتصام مستمر و المسيرات مستمرة و لكن الانسحاب من اللعبة مع الحشد الاعلامي القوي للانتخاب مش هيؤدي غير لتهميش الثوار. ده رآيي و ممكن اكون غلطانة لكن انا هاروح بكره انتخب و انا مؤمنة بالثورة ١٠٠٪. ارجوكم ماترجعوناش للوقت اللي الاحزاب المعارضة كانت بتقاطع الانتخابات من غير اي تاثير…

ادعموا “الثورة مستمرة” لو عايزين تشوفوا ناس مؤمنة بالتغيير في البرلمان، ادعموا “الكتلة المصرية” لو اولويتكوا موازنة التيارات الدينية ، ادعموا المرشحين الحقوقيين اللي هيدافعوا عن الحريات، ادعموا الناس اللي هتقف معانا في المعارك الجاية، روحوا صوتوا بكره و ارجعوا علي التحرير