Egypt's State of Emergency Continues

According to the Daily News Egypt, The cabinet has approved the establishment of a fact-finding committee to investigate the violence occurring on June 30^th and subsequent weeks.  Egypt’s interim Prime Minister, Hazem al-Beblawi, explained that the state of emergency was extended due to security issues, and cited several acts of violence and terrorism. The cabinet has further stated that the Prosecutor General specifically carried out the startling number of arrests, and that those detained were charged with  criminal offenses. The interim cabinet has commissioned the National Council for Human Rights to collect and record data from the events that followed Morsi’s ouster, including several violent altercations.

There is growing unrest related to the extended state of emergency. The April 6 Youth Movement  called for a protest, scheduled in Talaat Harb Square in downtown Cairo on Monday evening. This is amid increasing calls for the release of what are perceived as random arrests and for stopping military trials for civilians.The Muslim Brotherhood has also issued statements condemning the extended state of emergency.

While the Presidential spokesman, Ihab Badawi, has stated that there was full support for the continuance of the state of emergency, several political figures have voiced concerns over a potential abuse of power, and human rights violations that may have occurred within this volatile timeframe. Interim President issued Presidential order 532 on Thursday stating that the state of emergency will continue for at least two months. The abolition of the law, which has been in force on and off since 1958, was one of the key demands of the 2011 Revolution. 

It remains unclear how the work of the National Council for Human Rights committee will impact this dialogue, however, their research, particularly the rehashing on several deadly clashes, may serve to further intensify this debate.

Another hot issue: Some of the latest in Egypt is related to the land dispute between Nile University and Zewail City for Science and Technology.  Former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif gave a plot of land over to Nile University in 2006 that had had been designated for the Zewail City of Science and Technology project in 2000. After the January 25^th revolution, Prime Minister Essam Sharaf granted the land back to Zewail City  and moved Nile University over to Smart Village instead. However, the Nile University campus was already built in that space and ready for use. Nile University students have hosted sit-ins at the campus, demanding use of the facilities.  A short-term solution for what has been deemed "the Nile University crisis" has been rejected. The disputed land now hosts two hotly contested buildings. Nile students have not yet been granted access to the disputed buildings. Zewail City accepted 300 students into the contested buildings at the beginning of its first academic year on Sunday.

Many thanks to my wonderful GA, Neena. 

~WMB

Election Deadline in Egypt

Today's papers are abuzz with the two-day extension granted by the High Elections Commission to prospective parliamentary candidates.  (Until October 22, 2011)

Egypt's main electoral coalitions have submitted their candidacy papers. One big coalition consists of the Egyptian Bloc (mostly liberal and leftist), which will field at least 332 candidates in the upcoming parliamentary elections. The Bloc includes the Free Egyptians party, Al-Tagammu, and the Egyptian Social Democratic Party. There are also members of the Revolutionary Youth running with the Bloc.

Amr Hamzawy (who works with me here in PPAD) belongs to the Misr Horreya party, which apparently withdrew from the Bloc and is now allied with the Popular Socialist Alliance, whom I have interviewed and the Arab Nasserists. Their group is to be called "The Revolution is On." 

The Democratic Alliance, led by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, is fielding 265 candidates. Sobhy Saleh, of the MB, says that "Egypt is an Islamic State, and nothing else." The Salafi's and the MB have had a spat, and now it seems that the Salafis (Nour and Asala parties) have allied themselves with the Jama'a al-Islamiya Construction and Development Party.

There is also a youth movement called the Coalition of Youth, which includes the April 6th Movement, the Popular Alliance, and the Youth for Freedom and Justice, as well as the Equality and Development Party.

The People's Assembly consists of 498 seats, two-thirds of which are allocated to the closed party list system, and one third to the individual candidate system.

Around 3024 people had registered as of last Monday as parliamentary candidates, most of them for the individual candidates seats. Many of those who registered as independents in the first seven days were members of the former NDP.

Selected Sources
Gamal Essam El-Din, "Little Election Wars," Al-Ahram Weekly 
"Brotherhood party: We will compete for over 50% of People's Assembly Seats," Al Masry Al Youm 
Heba Fahmy,"Egyptian bloc to field over 300 candidates, Democratic Alliance still to determine number," Daily News Egypt

First Class

Class has been significantly delayed by the Revolution. First, all universities and schools were closed. Most primary and secondary schools remain closed. American University reopened on February 13, 2011. 

I taught my first class in nonprofit management last night. It was a lot of fun. I had about six students, all women. I expect that number to increase, since no one knew what room we were in last night. We talked a lot about what a nonprofit or nongovernmental organization is, or is not. We also discussed the probability that this "third sector" will likely explode in a new, more democratic environment where significant donor money is flowing in. Finally, we discussed which NGOs or organizations were most important in the Revolution. The names that came up were the April 6 movement,  and the Revolution Union, syndicates of doctors and lawyers, including the Arab Doctors Union.

March 3, 2011 Update
According to the students in my Nonprofit Management Class, here is a partial list of groups which  participated  in the Jan. 25th revolution in Egypt:

1. April 6 movement.
2. El- Baradie campaign (National Association for Change).
3. Muslim Brotherhood.
4. Doctors syndicate.
5. Pharmacist syndicate.
6. Judges.
7. Socialist Revolutionists.
8. Labor unions.
9. lawyers syndicate.
10. Arab doctors union.
11. Freedom and justice union.
12. Kefaya ( members participated, but were not self-identifying)
13. Liberal front.
14. Ghadd party.

My student Nashwa notes, "This is for sure in addition to the other huge diversity of ordinary Egyptian people, actors, journalists and others."