Popular committees from around Egypt met in a demonstration in Tahrir Square on Friday afternoon in an attempt to inaugurate a prolonged coordinated effort.
The 25 January revolution encouraged and sometimes forced a new sense of volunteerism and local activism in many parts of the country.
During the 18-day Tahrir sit-in the rest of Egypt was dealing with a precarious security situation due to the withdrawal of security forces around the country. Popular committees sprang up in this vacuum primarily to ensure the security of their neighborhoods.
After Mubarak stepped down on 11 February these committees took on a different shape. “We decided to take advantage of the groups we formed to dedicate ourselves to protecting the gains of the revolution… The goal is to work solely in our neighborhoods,” said Ihab Ali, who runs a popular committee in Cairo's Imbaba neighborhood.
His group dedicates itself to social and political activism, while taking it upon themselves to engage in oversight over of government committees and municipalities — which a majority on the square yesterday said should be dissolved.
The demonstration yesterday — named the Inaugural Conference of Popular Committees for the Protection of the Revolution — was a modest affair, with fewer than 5000 in attendance. However, it managed to gather representatives from at least 10 governorates from around Egypt. Most committees claim to have met during the early days of the revolution and have been working since.
“Popular committees saved the revolution by mobilizing local communities. The old system bet on chaos when they withdrew the police, and are betting on it now in the absence of its iron first,” said Sherif Mekawi, one of the event organizers.
Organizers and individuals felt that coordinating efforts for groups that claim to protect the revolution is an important step, for the political cohesion of the revolution. “Locally, we all organize independently, but we feel that is important to coordinate our efforts, especially for the political demands,” said Ali, who is part of the organizing committee for the coordinated efforts.
Others see it as an important preventative measure in the face of a counter-revolution by beneficiaries of the old regime.
Representatives from different groups say that pro-Mubarak individuals are deceiving many by pretending to be a part of the revolution in order to escape punishment, or to maintain their power. “The former NDP representative in our governorate, Mohamed El-Minyawy, is starting a party using the revolution in its name,” said Ihab El-Wassifi, 25, a member of one of the Port Said popular committees.
Representatives from Suez, a city that saw some of the fiercest battles between protesters and government forces during the revolution, say that they are in place to counter the continued presence of corrupt officials in office.
“Popular committees have always been important in Suez since the 1973 Israeli blockade. Today we must stay formed, because all of Suez’s money is still being robbed by those running the public company’s in the city,” said Atta Seleem, 38.
Cairo popular committees have been meeting once a week to this effect, while according to Ali, other groups from across the country send a representative twice a month — for a month now. However, as evidenced by the relatively modest crowd, it is an effort that would need more widespread organization, beyond Facebook pages.
Military Police cornered the demonstration in the square in order to keep traffic flowing. Many of the speakers on the makeshift stage spoke of the same demands that the last few Friday demonstrations brought up — albeit tweaked slightly since the Mubaraks’ indictment.
The relatively few who attended and organized Friday’s sit-in at the square consider the continuation of these demonstrations as a vital component in the continuation of the revolution. "We also need the square to continue as a form of popular assembly,” Mekawi said.
Those at the square on Saturday reiterated the calls for speedy trials for the corrupt figures of the old regime, purging public institutions from corrupt figures still in power, and calling for the end of military tribunals as well as the release of detained activists.
As the attendance from the event on Friday suggests, building such a coalition for the sustenance of the revolution on a popular level will take some work, especially in the absence of a consolidated and directed effort.
The event on Friday lacked a unified theme, and besides the banners that indicate the presence of popular committee members from different governorates, the speakers did not announce a clear way forward for national coordination.
Similar efforts have sprung up across the country, this being the first effort to announce such an effort.
“We are just making it known that we exist and are working together, most people joined us after hearing by word of mouth,” Ali said.
The belief in the need for popular pressure, and continued public assembly for those farthest from the political process creates an able outlet for their fears and frustrations regarding the direction Egypt has been taking since the revolution. It also provides a continued vehicle for popular mobilization whenever the need arises.
“The revolution’s main address is Tahrir,” Mekawi said. “People need to know it will always be here for that, so they are never far from the ongoing revolution.”
