Understanding Kefaya: the new politics in Egypt.

• Author: Shorbagy, Manar

THE EGYPTIAN MOVEMENT FOR CHANGE (EMC) also referred to as Kefaya (enough) was announced in 2004. Almost immediately its importance to Egyptian political life was recognized, though not understood. Both Egyptian and Western analysts have mischaracterized the movement. Interpretations have been either too narrow, focusing on specific details and ignoring the movement's broad vision or too broad, mistaking Kefaya for a generic social movement in the Western mode. All such approaches fail to grasp Kefaya's real contribution. This paper argues that Kefaya's significance lies in its transformative potential as a broad political force of a new type that is uniquely suited to the needs of the moment in Egypt. It is at once a cross-ideological force that has the potential, in the long run, of creating a new mainstream and, at the same time, a movement of a new kind that is creating a distinctive and promising form of politics for Egypt.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Egypt's political system has reached a dead end. The opposition political parties are locked in their headquarters, unable to communicate with the public. Virtually acquiescing to the siege of an arsenal of restrictive laws, those political parties have for years suffered from an increasingly diminishing membership, lack of operational funds, and internecine internal feuds.

The "illegality" of the Muslim Brothers (MB) has paradoxically liberated that organization from restrictions that come with governmental licensing. However, the ideology, posture, secrecy and political tactics of the grassroots-based MB all engender the mistrust of many political forces, including some Islamists. At the same time, the secularist-Islamist polarization hinders the possibility of reaching any meaningful consensus on critical issues. This blockage is not lost on the regime, the clear beneficiary of such divisions among its adversaries, and it does not augur well for the future of the Brotherhood in a lead role in shaping Egyptian political life.

With seething political discontent on the one hand and ideologically based mistrust among oppositional political forces on the other, Egypt needs today, more than ever, a new form of politics that pulls together diverse forces from across the political spectrum to forge a new national project. Amidst this political disarray, a new generation of Egyptians holds the promise for transforming politics in Egypt. They have found a home and an instrument in Kefaya and, in the process have invented a new form of politics. Their innovations are historically grounded in the specifics of Egypt's political life in recent decades. Unique Egyptian circumstances have shaped their experiences, aspirations, and vision for the future.

Throughout more than a decade, this group of activists and intellectuals have interacted across ideological lines to reach common ground. Kefaya emerged as one manifestation of these efforts and an important illustration of the possibilities of this new politics. While such collaborative work across ideological lines is not unique in democratic experiences around the world, Kefaya represents the first successful effort of that new kind of politics in modern Egyptian history.

This essay is based on primary sources including open-ended interviews, statements, newspaper articles and reports, as well as unpublished documents, is composed of three main parts. The first part explains in more detail the reasons why Kefaya has been widely mischaracterized; the second illustrates why and how Kefaya represents a new force with the potential of creating a new mainstream; and the third explores the new politics invented by Kefaya.

In any assessment of Kefaya, analysis must proceed on two levels. The first deals with Kefaya as a protest movement and the second looks at it as a manifestation of a more important phenomenon, namely the new form of interactive politics across ideological lines that is behind it. This paper argues that only by taking into account the innovative dimensions of the Kefaya experience, highlighted by the second level of analysis, can an accurate measure of Kefaya' s real contribution be made.

MISUNDERSTANDING KEFAYA

Since its early days, there have been various critical interpretations of Kefaya by politicians and intellectuals alike, at times citing deficiencies in the movement's profile, actions and approach, while at other times dismissing the movement outright as being a "foreign puppet" or the past-time of "a bunch of kids". The most serious and widely noted critique of Kefaya is that it has been essentially an "elitist" protest movement targeting President Mubarak personally without putting forward an alternative candidate or articulating a constructive vision for political transformation. (1)

The critique along these lines has gained more momentum after the 2005 Presidential Election. Since Kefaya's main slogan was the rejection of a fifth term for Mubarak as well as the succession of his son, the argument goes, Kefaya lost its raison d'etre with the end of the election. "Except for rejecting the election results, symbolized by the slogan of "Batel" (invalid) nothing new was produced." When Kefaya played a leading role in the formation of the National Front for Change on the eve of the subsequent parliamentary elections, it was criticized as "passing the torch to the old opposition parties, the very same entities whose inaction it has been formed to face." (2) The EMC has been "dragged into sitting together with the leaders of the tamed opposition, instead of putting forward a demand for changing the electoral system." (3)

While the above-mentioned critics clearly question Kefaya's contribution to Egyptian politics, even the more positive assessments of the EMC mischaracterize it. For example, the American Left sees Kefaya as the beginning of "the process of rebuilding an Egyptian Left crushed by decades of police oppression" and a reverse of its "political marginalization caused by the rise of political Islam." Some Egyptian analysts, as well, characterize Kefaya as a "secular" protest movement and thereby implicitly expect its role to be the containment of the Islamists. (4)

OVERCOMING THE IDEOLOGICAL BARRIER

Although it was announced only in 2004, the EMC has been in the making at least since the mid 1990s. The key to understanding the Kefaya movement is to trace it to the political experience of its founders. Belonging to the famously dubbed "1970s generation," the founders of Kefaya are an ideologically diverse group of activists who were all intensely involved under a variety of banners in the student movements in Egyptian Universities throughout the 1970s.

While they ideologically come from the far right to the far left of Egypt's political spectrum, those leading figures of the "1970s generation" have been keen to extend political bridges among themselves to overcome the ideological battles that have, for so long, mired Egypt's politics. Through their political action in the 1990s they have come to realize that the ideologically-based mistrust and animosity among Egypt's older generation of political elite only serves to strengthen the ruling party's ability to maintain its monopoly of power.

The 1970s generation is in a sense the generation of Nasserism. Born in the late 1940s and early 1950s this generation's political consciousness was shaped during Nasser's high time. In their teens, they were excited about the national dream of that era. They were brought up deeply believing in the promises of achievements, national pride and Arab unity, all wrapped up in the leadership of a highly charismatic leader. In 1967 this generation was dealt a devastating wake-up blow with the crushing defeat at the hands of Israel.

Suddenly all the slogans turned out to be shallow and the dreams looked as remote as ever. "The national independence and pride were lost with the occupation of Sinai," explains Ahmed Bahaa Shaaban, a key Kefaya founder. "The slogan of the strong army was dashed in the war and the rhetoric of the new political system turned out to be a nightmare of power centers, feuds, police brutality, appalling torture in prisons and a regime eating up even its most loyalists." (5)

Confrontation with this bitter truth is perhaps behind this generation's highly critical approach to national politics ever since. The collapse of their early idealistic image of the Nasser regime left them with a conviction that the key cause to such a resounding collapse of a promising experience was despotism. Even the Nasserists among them have come to realize and admit that reality. Adding to this distinctive experience, the relative political openness of the 1970s allowed the emergence of a highly politicized youth. (6) In their maturity, those activists, whose early political experience was one of direct action, have become highly sensitized in a distinctive way to the public pulse and to the opportunities of public action. While many of them are both intellectuals and activists, it is through their street action that they approach their respective big narratives rather than letting such narratives define their political action.

"THE GENERATION OF THE SEVENTIES": A SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND

By 1971 Egypt was in political turmoil. The perpetuation of the stalemate of no war or peace with Israel aggravated economic hardships especially for the poor. (7) University students led the protest and demanded an end to the inaction against Israel.

The sit-ins and large demonstrations in Egyptian Universities across the country in 1972 and 1973 were led by the left.

Until 1975, the left remained in full control of the Students' Movement, except for some cultural groupings where the Islamists were active. During that year however, the Islamists started winning some seats in the students' unions and by 1977 they won by landslide in eight out of 12 Universities, thus replacing the left as the...