Egypt saw small Scale protest on Friday. In Cairo protesters were voicing various concerns ranging from the demands to clean the state media from corruption to protest against the pending law banning demonstrations and drawing attention to specific incidences of violence against copts. Even when the crowds from the two main sites of protest Midan Tahrir and Maspero, the state television building joined forces they were not more than 1400 according to The Daily News Egypt.
The Situation in Egypt: ongoing protest on a small scale
In Alexandria things got rough with secular protesters reportedly clashing with Salafists who have become increasingly outspoken and politically organized.
Arrests of protestors by military and military police continue but the good news is that (at least English) online news sources keep reporting. Yet there is fears (which I share) that the new law, banning protests that „disrupt“ order will provide the legal grounds for much harsher reactions towards protesters and eventually aims at the subduing of any public demonstrations.
Arrests continuing, new law banning protests causing irritation
The government however denies that the law was meant to inhibit any form of protest. According to Ahram Online „The new anti-strike law does not prohibit strikes and protests, Minister of Justice Ahmed El-Guindy told a press conference today.“ They cite El-Gunidy as having said „We as a government believe in the right to protest as long as it does not disrupt work, cause chaos and are held through legitimate channels“. I wonder whether any has ever told El-Gunidy and his fellows in the Ministry of Justice that disrupting work lies in the logic of strikes, which should nonetheless be considered as legitimate channels of protests. Just more evidence of how important political education is now – even on the highest levels...
Events at Cairo's universities as mirror of wider societal developments
The strange mixture of hope and disapointment, of ignorance and activism is also marking the elections for the Students Union of Cairo University, as an article by AlMasr AlYoum shows (quite extensive but makes for a good read!)
Student Union elections at Cairo University amidst military crackdown on protests
In general one could well say that the events at one of Egypt's most important universities are a mirror of what's going on in the country as a whole: strikes and protests had been going on for weeks, in an attempt to oust those who have been leading the university for years and are thus affiliated with the old regime. While those who demand the instant dismissal of high ranking university officials aspire a completely new start, others prefer a step-by-step approach, leaving more space for people to adjust to changes and pursue their business respectively studies. As happening in other spots, the army reacted with force, cracking down violently on peaceful protestors Wednesday night and arresting students as well as staff who had joined the protests. This of course was condemned by human rights groups and triggered further protests, increasing the numbers, but still not being outrageous enough to mobilize decisive amounts of people.
Head start of established parties and groups tainting fairness in elections
Elections are held, and they seem to satsify at least more or less the standards of being free – yet there's a large question mark as for fairness. The starting points for different competitors (being it parties or individuals) are simply too different to guarantee a fair race. Some of the competitors enjoy considerable advance over others, depending on their relation to the old regime.
Which way this relation plays out in the individual cases is very complicated. Take the most famous group, the MB as an example: on the one hand the regime constantly oppressed the MB and thus prevented them from registering as official political party and from gaining the adequate representation in parliament – yet on the other hand the oppression through the regime had provided the MB with the possibility to protray itself as the regime's victim, endowing it with considerable martyr-legitimacy which is now quickly vaning.
German University Cairo expelling students for protests
The GUC, German University of Cairo has become another battle ground for the confrontation of revolutionary youth and the remnants of the old regime. The students of GUC's longstanding call for a student union has been rebutted in the past with the argument that dragging the university into a political confrontation, or respectively making the university campus a political battleground must be avoided. January 25 now revived the students's claim for improved study conditions, better representation and more participation in decision making. Yet the university's leadership did not abandon their former stance and even called the military in to end students' protests. As a means of last resort the GUC eventually suspended some 30 students from university, asking their parents to refer them to a different university as the student's behavior had „violated the university’s values and norms“. I do not think any further comment is needed here....
Egyptians facing an overwhelming amount of information, problems, challenges
Al Ahram as well as Daily News Egypt have been reporting on the issue, as did Caravan, the AUC student magazin. The incidence even reached some German media – yet as we know media attention quickly shifts to new and more dramatic (if deadly) events. Also one has to admit that in Egypt too many things are going on, so one hardly knows where to start with reporting and getting activity. Yet, I am somehow optimistic that – considering how much the January 25 revolution set people here in Egypt in motion – there will be people addressing the various issues. So if everyone just gets engaged with what is most important and dear to him or her, we should be fine....inshallah.... Yet: the battles currently being waged in Egypt's universities could be considered one of the central fights for a new Egypt. Protester's at Cairo University are making this explicit: they are also fighting for a different kind of education.
Complete failure of the educational system
It is clear to a surprising number of Egyptians that their educational system is a huge failor in so far as it does not educate people to become independent and critical thinkers capable of processing information, acquiring and applying knowledge and skills. Instead what is demanded, encouraged and rewarded is the thoughtless and literal reproduction of that which is written in textbooks. In conversations with me various people have used drastic metaphors describing the final exams for example as the act of „puking the information on the paper“. To many Egyptians this kind of (non)education clearly constituted one of the headstones of the old regime's stability. And similarly many recognize the urgent need to change education in order to form responsible citizens. Thus the developments at Egypt's universities and in the cultural and educational field deserve our attention at least as much as economic and military policies do .
No comments:
Post a Comment