Can the ‘spirit of Tahrir Square’ survive in the Egyptian transition to democracy?

The world was inspired by the sight of young Egyptians chanting “peaceful, peaceful” (Selmeyya, Selmeyya), even as confrontation escalated in Tahrir Square. This square was the beating heart of what has come to be known as the #Jan. 25 revolution, the # for its Twitter hash tag. The largely peaceful practices of the demonstrators, coming out by the millions all over Egypt, and their innovative use of social media, has been an inspiration to the world. They ousted Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s fourth president, from his 30 year rule. The question is now, can Egyptians keep the “spirit of Tahrir Square” alive and transition to a pluralistic democracy? What are the “lessons learned” from “Selmeyya, Selmeyya” that can help with that transition? What are the chief risks in this time?

I have just returned from a symposium at Cairo University on “The Nonviolent Revolution in Egypt: Learned Lessons.” The symposium was jointly sponsored by the Center for Civilization Studies and Dialogue of Cultures (CCSDC) at the Department of Political Science at Cairo University, and the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

It is very clear that Egyptians from across the political spectrum and from all age groups are proud of their revolution and its largely nonviolent process. The most positive thing that is happening now in the transition is that people do not want to be seen as “betraying the spirit of Tahrir Square,” or “dishonoring the blood of the martyrs.” Knowledgeable analysts like Dr. Pakynam Al-Shakarawi, director of the CCSDC, believe that this is the biggest factor in restraining greater conflict in the current transition, and a source of energy for finding a “third way.” Others agree. And a “third way” is considered critical for the transition. “We need to let go of our old ideologies and find a new ideology,” said Ahmed Abdul-Fattah, video journalist for the Al-Masry Alyoum newspaper.

The role of nonviolence in creating the opportunity for a “new ideology” is considered critical. Young people, trained by the Academy for Change, also called “School of the Third Option,” in concert with bloggers and Internet activists, played a large (and acknowledged) role in “overcoming fear” and “bringing the people to the streets.” Saad Bahhar, a computer engineer and a trainer for the Academy for Change, spoke at the symposium about the role of nonviolence theory and practice in the success of the Egyptian revolution. I will quote his remarks since were so helpful in understanding what happened.

“Since 2004, many attempts were made to make change but we couldn’t. We studied the Serbian model, applied in 160 countries including the U.S., and we made the Kifaya Movement that means “Enough” in English. It crossed an invisible line and criticized Mubarak himself, which was a taboo. We did many nonviolent trainings. We read Gene Sharpe’s writings, we found German scholars on the science of nonviolence, people started to translate these into Arabic, I translated Gene Sharpe. We had to change the culture of violence and the culture of fear. We learned from Sharpe you have choices, either give power your obedience, or withdraw your support for the regime, be disobedient. But, the rule is, strategies cannot be copied, they have to be adapted for the demands of the location.”

Facebook also played a key role; the young people told the symposium that all classical political parties had failed and Facebook played the role of a virtual political party. The dramatic increase in the number of subscribers to the Facebook page, “We are all Khaled Said,” the young Egyptian man whose murder by police helped spark the revolution, was a huge factor in mobilizing the formerly apolitical young people to begin to act. The one-year anniversary of the launching of this Facebook page was commemorated on June 6, while the symposium was going on.

The question is, how can this be translated into a political process that can continue the “spirit of Tahrir Square” in a pluralistic democracy? Speakers at the conference as well as attendees were most in disagreement with each other over the timing of the elections and the constitutional reform process. Some felt the referendum vote showed the “tyranny of the majority” as Egyptians “who had nothing to do with the revolution” voted for “stability.” They were called “the ‘sofa’ party,” those who stay home and just vote for instability to be over. There were contrary arguments that “democracy is democracy,” and the referendum showed the “will of the people.” Many of the young activists, the social theorists, the Christians, and labor movement members are very concerned that the elections and constitutional revisions will be driven largely by the Muslim Brotherhood, now the newly legalized “Freedom and Justice Party,” who, because they have had longer to organize, will get the majority of the seats in parliament and be able to drive the constitutional process.

A bright spot in the concluding sessions and one that seemed to provoke great interest among the Egyptians, was a presentation by Maciej Bartkowski of the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict . Bartkowski has researched the role of nonviolent revolutions and the transition to democracy, and had several very concrete observations and suggestions for the Egyptians. Chief among these is that nonviolent civil resistance movements often produce democratic transitions when the “lessons learned” are to keep up public mobilization and build up new civil institutions that can keep reform going. Of special interest to the symposium was the history of Solidarity in Poland, and how the Polish did small constitutional reforms for more than decade.

In the last session it was said, “We must fight for the civic freedoms that we paid for in blood. Our work is just starting. We still need our activists to help us create a civic space that represents us. We need a new Social Contract. We should learn lessons from Poland. We need to build up civil society and keep pressuring our political leaders.”

This was an extraordinary symposium and it was a privilege to attend. The Egyptians taught the world a lesson about how to use nonviolent direct action to effect massive societal change. The Middle East, and indeed the world, need them to succeed with their transition to democracy.

Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite  | Jun 10, 2011 10:42 AM