Kefaya ( arz, كفاية ''kefāya'', , "enough") is the unofficial
moniker of the Egyptian Movement for Change ( ar, الحركة المصرية من أجل التغيير ''el-Haraka el-Masreyya men agl el-Taghyeer''), a
grassroots coalition which prior to the 2011 revolution drew its support from across
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
's political spectrum. It was a platform for protest against
Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.
Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in ...
's presidency and the possibility he might seek to transfer power directly to his son
Gamal Gamal ( ar, جمال) is an Arabic surname and male given name. Notable people with this name إبراهيم ابومياله:
Surname
* Amr Gamal, (born 1991) Egyptian footballer
* Mazen Gamal (born 1986), Egyptian squash player
* Raghda Gamal, ...
; political corruption and stagnation; "the blurring of the lines between power and wealth; and the regime's cruelty, coercion and disregard for human rights."
While it first came to public attention in the summer of 2004, and achieved a much greater profile during the 2005 constitutional referendum and presidential election campaigns, it subsequently lost momentum, suffering from internal dissent, leadership change, and a more general frustration at the apparent inability of Egypt's political opposition to force the pace of reform.
Origins
While Kefaya first emerged in 2004, its origins can be found in earlier strands of political protest, beginning with the solidarity committees that spread throughout
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
following the start of the
Second Intifada in October 2000.
[baheyya.blogspot.com, Kefaya: Asking the Right Questions, 30 April 2005] The pro-Intifada demonstrations were particularly notable as they involved a new generation of previously non-politicised youth and, as a direct consequence, resulted in a revival of Egyptian street politics.
Following the US-led invasion of
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
in March 2003, these protesters formed the backbone of Egypt's highly vocal
anti-war movement
An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to p ...
,
[Hossam El Hamalawy, "Comrades and Brothers," ''Middle East Report'' No. 242, Spring 2007] and their protests in turn developed into the first public demonstrations against President Mubarak since he had taken office.
[Khalil Al-Anany, "Egypt's democratisation: reality or mirage?" OpenDemocracy.net, 10 May 2005] The anti-war protest of 20 March 2003 – from which the anti-war movement ''20 March'' derived its name – was one of the biggest spontaneous demonstrations in Egypt's history.
[Negar Azimi, "Egypt's youth have had enough," OpenDemocracy.net, 1 September 2005]
The evolution of this protest movement into Kefaya occurred during the summer of 2004. Speculation, fuelled by state-controlled media, had been mounting that major changes in top-level political personnel were to be announced. The much-anticipated cabinet reshuffle in July resulted in only cosmetic changes, however, and saw the installation of a number of supporters of the President's son,
Gamal Mubarak
Gamal Al Din Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak ( ar, جمال الدين محمد حسنى سيد مبارك, ; born 27 December 1963) is the younger of the two sons of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and former First Lady Suzanne Mubarak ...
, in important government posts.
[Mona El-Ghobashy, "Egypt looks ahead to a portentous year," ''Middle East Report'', 2 February 2005]
Fearing a
hereditary transfer of power similar to that which had occurred in
Syria, opposition activists and intellectuals were galvanised into action. In August, a petition was circulated which demanded fundamental constitutional and economic reforms, but most importantly direct presidential elections with competing candidates.
The 300 signatories of what became Kefaya's founding declaration called for "democracy and reform to take root in Egypt."
[Sarah Korshid, "A Cry of Distress," IslamOnline.net, 25 August 2005] Then in October 2004,
Tarek El-Bishry
Tarek El-Bishry ( ar, طارق عبد الفتاح سليم البشري, ; 1 November 1933 – 26 February 2021) was an Egyptian judge. On 15 February 2011, El-Bishry was appointed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to head the committee ...
, one of Egypt's most respected judges, presented what soon came to be regarded as the movement's first
manifesto in which he exhorted his fellow citizens to "withdraw their long-abused consent to be governed" – in effect, a call for civil disobedience.
Kefaya's first rally, held on 12 December, was an historic event, being the first occasion a protest had been organised solely to demand that the President step down. Surrounded by
riot police
Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots.
Riot police may be regular police who act in the role of riot police in particular situations or they may be separate units organize ...
, between 500 and 1,000 activists gathered on the steps of the High Court in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
. They "remained mostly silent and taped over their mouths a large yellow sticker emblazoned with 'Kefaya'."
Support-base
Described as a "loose knit umbrella of diverse political trends,"
Kefaya represents a "new style" of opposition in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
, with parallels to
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
's
Orange Revolution
The Orange Revolution ( uk, Помаранчева революція, translit=Pomarancheva revoliutsiia) was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate afterm ...
and
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
's
Solidarity movement.
[Benjamin Rey, "Will the Kefaya movement be enough to change Egypt?" CafeBabel, 29 March 2005] It draws its support from a cosmopolitan range of sources including
Nasserists,
Islamists
Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism) is a political ideology which posits that modern states and regions should be reconstituted in constitutional, economic and judicial terms, in accordance with what is c ...
,
Liberals,
Marxists,
Secularists
Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations.
Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...
etc., some of which have deep-rooted ideological differences, and have even clashed in the past. Activists frequently stress that it is not a political party aiming to achieve power, but a "national coalition movement" united by the common goal of seeking an end to President Mubarak's rule.
Abdel-Halim Qandil, the editor of the
Nasserist newspaper ''Al-Arabi'' who was spokesman for the movement until the beginning of 2007, emphasised that the use of the word "Kefaya" was designed to connect with the general public: "Our movement targets
Egyptians. We want them to put away their fears, and demand their political and economic rights."
[Shaden Shehab, "That's Enough," ''Al-Ahram Weekly'', 29 December 2005] Another member, Dr Mohamed Al-Saed Idris, an academic, called it "a national cry against the status quo."
Key events
Kefaya came of age in 2005, a year which saw two events of great significance in Egyptian politics. The first was a
referendum
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
on 25 May to approve changes to the constitution that would allow the first ever direct, multi-candidate elections for the presidency. The second was the Presidential election itself, held on 7 September.
Constitutional amendments
Kefaya had continued its campaign for political reform since its December demonstration, attracting increasing attention from the government. A rally planned for 18 January was banned, while in the same month political scientist and leading activist Mohamed El-Sayed Said, was removed from a panel discussion at
Cairo's Book Fair.
Then on 26 February 2005,
President Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.
Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...
caused consternation when he announced a proposal to amend Article 76 of the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
to enable multiple candidates to contest presidential elections directly for the first time. Under the old system, the election process was indirect: the candidate was nominated and confirmed by the
People's Assembly (''Majlis al-Sha'b''), controlled by the
National Democratic Party (NDP), before being approved in a nationwide "yes" or "no" referendum.
[Jeremy M Sharp, Egypt: 2005 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, Report for Congress, Congressional Research Service, 21 September 2005]
The immediate repercussion to this announcement was the decision by
US Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
Condoleezza Rice to cancel a proposed visit to the country in protest at the arrest and imprisonment of opposition politician
Ayman Nour
Ayman Abd El Aziz Nour ( arz, أيمن عبد العزيز نور, ; born 5 December 1964) is an Egyptian politician, a former member of the Egyptian Parliament, founder and chairman of the El Ghad party. Nour was the first man to ever compet ...
, leader of the
al-Ghad (Tomorrow) Party.
[Joshua Muravchik, Among Arab Reformers, Commentary, Vol. 120, No. 2, September 2005] More generally,
American President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
had been putting pressure on key regional allies, especially Egypt and
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
, to introduce some form of
electoral reform
Electoral reform is a change in electoral systems which alters how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:
* Voting systems, such as proportional representation, a two-round system (runoff voting), instant-r ...
as part of efforts to spread democracy – the so-called "forward strategy for freedom."
[Youssef M Ibrahim, 'Kefaya': A Word, A Movement, ''USA Today'', 28 March 2005] ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' described President Mubarak's plans as "an act of minimalism intended to deflect domestic and international pressure."
['Kefaya' in Egypt, Washington Post, 15 March 2005] Kefaya immediately denounced the proposals as "theatrics" and a "fake reform" designed merely as a "reformulation of the dictatorship".
The timing of the President's announcement was significant, coming only a few weeks after the close of the annual
voter registration
In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote.
The r ...
period (1 November to 31 January) specified under Article 5 of Egypt's constitution.
[Mona El-Ghobashy, Egypt's Paradoxical Elections, Middle east Report, Spring 2006] When the specifics of the
constitutional amendment were presented by lawmakers, the opposition's fears seemed justified. Under the new rules, each
candidate
A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example:
* to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs.
* ...
would require the support of at least 250 elected officials from national or local bodies. As these were controlled by the NDP, it would be virtually impossible for signatures to be collected.
In addition,
political parties that wished to put their candidates on the
ballot
A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in secret voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16 ...
would need to have been licensed for a minimum of 5 years and have at least 5% of seats in the lower and upper house.
This move seemed designed to place even greater pressure on established opposition parties, in particular the already-proscribed
Muslim Brotherhood.
The opposition were scathing in their criticism of the NDP. Hussein Abderazzek of the left-wing Tagammu party declared: "The NDP will not only choose its own candidate but also his competitors,"
while Kefaya accused the party of "aborting people's hopes for freedom and democracy."
[Chris Toensing, US Stays with Egyptian Dictator, Middle East Report, 30 June 2005]
The referendum campaign
The run-up to the referendum saw popular demands for reform "skyrocket."
[Kareem M Kamel, Simmering Discontent – The Persistence of Popular Protest in Egypt, IslamOnline.Net, 23 May 2005] Kefaya held regular protests, calling for the "cancellation of the state of emergency law and all special laws that restrict freedoms" (''ilgha'halat al-tawari'wa kafat al-qawanin al-istithna 'iyya al-muqayyada lil-hurriyat'').
[ Joshua Stacher, "Rhetorical Acrobatics and Reputations: Egypt's National Council for Human Rights," ''Middle East Report'', Summer 2005] In addition, they attacked the government for its record on
social welfare
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
, job creation and education.
In April, simultaneous demonstrations were planned in 13 cities under a banner of "No Constitution Without Freedom".
Kefaya's activities served as a catalyst for other opposition groups.
Egypt's largest opposition party, the
Muslim Brotherhood, held its own demonstrations calling for political reform, while university professors held a silent protest on 19 April calling for an end to state control of campuses.
[Amira Howeidy, "A Chronology of Dissent," ''Al-Ahram Weekly'', 2005] The previous month Misr Digital, the country's first independent digital newspaper, was launched quickly becoming the main source of information on Kefaya's activities.
Egypt's judiciary, regarded as having almost replaced the opposition in the past,
[ Mona Makram-Ebeid, "Egypt's 2000 Parliamentary Elections," ''Middle East Policy'', Vol. VIII, No. 2, June 2001] put additional pressure on the government over the issue of the domestic monitoring of elections. At a meeting on 15 April of the Alexandria
Judges Club, 1,200 judges threatened to withdraw their supervision of presidential and parliamentary elections unless they were guaranteed independence and control of all stages of elections.
Throughout this period, while police and security forces continued to harass Kefaya and other opposition activists, there was no full-scale crackdown. In effect, a stand-off had developed: while the opposition was not strong enough to topple the government, the government was equally unable to stamp-out the opposition, at least partly in fear of the international outcry that would follow. Egyptians described the situation as "political congestion".
[Magdi Abdelhadi, "Winds of Change Blow Through Egypt Politics," BBC News, 20 May 2005]
25 May 2005
On 25 May, the day of the referendum, demonstrations organised by Kefaya in front of the Press Syndicate headquarters and Sa'd Zaghlul Shrine in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
were attacked by
Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.
Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...
supporters and plain-clothes policemen, whilst
riot police
Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots.
Riot police may be regular police who act in the role of riot police in particular situations or they may be separate units organize ...
looked on. A reporter gave an eyewitness account of what happened in front of the press building:
"The steps were full of Kefaya people and I was on the edge of the crowd. There was a cordon of security and riot policemen on the street. I saw a group of NDP people come down the streets – they had Mubarak posters – and there were at least 20 riot police walking with them, looking like they were protecting them. The police at the bottom of the steps opened the cordon to let the NDP gang through to the demonstrators. The next thing I knew a gang of about 20 or 30 NDP guys came at us from the left."
[Egypt: Calls for reform met with brutality, Human Rights Watch, 26 May 2005]
Amongst the victims of the brutality were two women who were beaten and sexually molested.
The opposition were unified in their condemnation and demanded the resignation of the
interior minister, Habib al-'Adli. In addition, Kefaya held protests every Wednesday for the rest of the summer.
Despite these incidents, there was no serious violence on voting day, which
George Ishak, Kefaya's co-ordinator at the time, attributed to international attention on Egypt: "There are 1,800 foreign correspondents watching the elections; do you think the regime would should show its hideous face to the world? They behaved the way they did because of the huge media presence."
The referendum approved the proposed
constitutional amendments
A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, t ...
, but Egyptian judges challenged a government turnout figure of 52%, saying it was closer to 5%.
The Presidential election
Despite the setback of the constitutional referendum, Kefaya sought to maintain the pressure on the government ahead of the presidential poll on 7 September. On 8 June, 2,000 people representing a cross-section of the Egyptian opposition took part in a candle-lit vigil in front of the
mausoleum of Saad Zaghoul, one of Egypt's
national heroes. It was described as "the most organised and impressive demonstration by the reform movement to date."
Throughout the summer, inspired by Kefaya's example, a series of opposition groups sprang up, all seeking to expand freedoms in specific areas of society. They included Journalists for Change, Doctors for Change, Workers for Change and Youth for Change, which had been founded on the eve of the referendum and became Kefaya's unofficial youth arm.
However, the government was emboldened by its May success, and increased its pressure on Kefaya and the other opposition parties. At a rally held in Cairo on 30 July to protest against President Mubarak's intention to seek a fifth term, 200 activists were attacked by uniformed and plain clothed police wielding truncheons.
[Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in 2005, Congressional Research Service, 8 March 2006] The decision to do this was described by
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
as "not just to prevent a demonstration, but also to physically punish those daring to protest President Mubarak's candidacy."
The tactics seemed to have an effect when Kefaya was forced to abandon its plan of inviting several prominent figures to run against the President when no names were forthcoming.
Instead, it adopted a strategy of
boycotting the elections.
[Ahmed Fathy & Hamdy Al Husseini, Egypt's Kefaya Holds "Swear-In" Demo, IslamOnline.Net, 28 September 2005] One of Kefaya's founding members, Hany Anan, declared:
"We are showing Egyptians that we can challenge the ruler, we can tell him we don't want you, that's enough, you go, and we can do this in public and still go back to our homes, maybe with some wounds or some bruises, but we still go home."
[Heba Saleh, "Re-Birth of Egyptian Politics," BBC News, 5 September 2005]
Although ten candidates stood for the presidency, the election results came as little surprise. President Mubarak won with 88.6% of the vote. However, of 32 million eligible voters, only seven million cast their ballot, meaning just six million had voted to re-elect the President for a further six years. Most of the defeated candidates challenged these results on the grounds of
fraud and other irregularities.
Following the elections, it was predicted in some quarters that Kefaya would disappear from the political scene.
In response to this, a huge rally was organised in Cairo to coincide with the President's swearing-in ceremony on 27 September which organisers claimed was attended by over 5,000 people. They carried banners and chanted slogans attacking the President and his regime, including "6 millions voted yes, 70 millions say no." The rally culminated in a mass oath by Kefaya members, promising to continue their opposition to the President and his plans to pass power to his son.
In the autumn, Kefaya joined a group of other opposition parties to form the National Front for Change to fight parliamentary elections that took place between November and December. The joint effort resulted in only 12 seats, however.
While the NDP dominated Assembly with 388 seats, the big opposition winners were the
Muslim Brotherhood whose candidates, running as independents because of the ban on the party, won 88 seats.
[Samer Shehata & Joshua Stacher, The Brotherhood Goes to Parliament, Middle East Report, No. 240, Fall 2006] Talking about the coalition's disappointing showing, Kefaya spokesman Abdel-Halim Qandil said "it will take time and effort for the public to believe in its effectiveness."
Criticism
Despite its importance in becoming a "model of dissent",
Kefaya has been criticised on a number of levels. It promised both mass "
civil disobedience" and a strong opposition network to press the regime, neither of which have materialised.
Moreover, in the aftermath of the 2005 Presidential elections, the
International Crisis Group stated: "Kefaya has remained essentially a protest movement, targeting Mubarak personally and articulating a bitter rejection of the
status quo rather than a constructive vision of how it might be transformed."
["Reforming Egypt: In Search of a Strategy," International Crisis Group. Middle East/North Africa Report No. 46, 4 October 2005]
It has also been criticised for failing to reach beyond "an exclusive, Cairo-based intellectual crowd," offering a "lofty discourse on human rights and democracy" but no practical solutions to the problems Egyptians face on a daily basis, such as poverty, unemployment, poor access to education and public services, etc.
Thus, according to Abdel Fattah, an academic at
Cairo University
Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...
, Kefaya "are not effective among the masses and they will not reach the point where we see millions of Egyptians take to the streets … instead of slogans I want practical solutions to problems."
[Noha El-Hennawy, "Business as Usual," Egypt Today, February 2006] Unless they can broaden their base of support into key urban and rural areas, they may indeed remain "a group of intellectuals screaming and shouting in political forums and magazines."
[Tarek Osman, Egypt's phantom messiah, OpenDemocracy.net, 12 July 2006]
Future prospects
After the high-profile campaigns of 2005, Kefaya has found itself in the political doldrums. Its challenge became how to operate in what had apparently become a largely "apolitical society".
A
culture of fear
Culture of fear (or climate of fear) is the concept that people may incite fear in the general public to achieve political or workplace goals through emotional bias; it was developed as a sociological framework by Frank Furedi and has been mor ...
remained among ordinary Egyptian people as a result of 53 years of bans on protests, along with crackdowns on and detentions of opposition activists.
Mohammed El-Sayed Said described Kefaya's problem thus: "Ordinary Egyptians want democracy but will not fight for it."
Moreover, recently Kefaya has been described as suffering from an "
identity crisis
In psychology, identity crisis is a stage theory of identity development where it involves resolution of a conflict over the 8 stages of the lifespan.(Schultz, 216) The term was coined by German psychologist Erik Erikson.
The stage of psychosoci ...
".
[Mohamed El-Sayed, "Divided They Stand," ''Al-Ahram Weekly'', 21–27 December 2006] There have been disputes over tactics between the movement and Youth for Change, particularly over what have been termed the latter's "
vigilante
Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority.
A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...
street tactics."
Then, at the end of 2006, a more serious split occurred after an anonymous article was posted on Kefaya's website apparently supporting an anti-veil stance advocated by
Farouk Hosni, the Minister of Culture. Although the article was subsequently removed, seven key figures, all pro-
Islamist, announced their intention to quit the movement. One, Magdi Ahmed Hussein, declared that Kefaya had "failed to find the middle ground between the
Islamists
Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism) is a political ideology which posits that modern states and regions should be reconstituted in constitutional, economic and judicial terms, in accordance with what is c ...
and
liberals…"
The movement's co-ordinator since 2004,
George Ishak, stepped down in January 2007 to be replaced by Abdel-Wahab El-Messiri, a renowned anti-
zionist
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
scholar and former member of both the Egyptian Communist Party and
Muslim Brotherhood. He faces the difficult task of renewing the movement following further constitutional changes approved by a referendum in March 2007. The changes, which make it even harder for political parties to operate and extend the state's security powers, are described by
Amnesty International as the "greatest erosion of human rights" since the introduction of
emergency powers
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
in 1981.
[Frederick Deknatel, US skirts the issue of Egypt's constitutional referendum, The Daily Star, 22 March 2007]
Having successfully broken the
taboo
A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
on directly criticising and challenging the President, it remains to be seen whether unity within such a disparate movement can be maintained long enough for it to broaden its appeal beyond its urban roots and become a genuine popular movement.
At the time of the
2011 Egyptian protests
The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...
the movement joined the protests that had been initiated by younger internet-savvy agitators via
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
, and were described by international media interviewers as the 'opposition'.
Egypt's opposition pushes demands as protests continue
BBC News, 1 Feb 2011
See also
* Ayman Nour
Ayman Abd El Aziz Nour ( arz, أيمن عبد العزيز نور, ; born 5 December 1964) is an Egyptian politician, a former member of the Egyptian Parliament, founder and chairman of the El Ghad party. Nour was the first man to ever compet ...
an Egyptian opposition
Opposition may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars
* The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band
* '' The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Com ...
leader, formerly head of the Tomorrow Party and currently leading the Ghad El-Thawra Party
* Asmaa Mahfouz
* Saad Eddin Ibrahim
Saad Eddin Ibrahim ( arz, سعد الدين إبراهيم, ) (born 31 December 1938) is an Egyptian sociologist and author. He is one of Egypt's leading human rights and democracy activists, and a strong critic of former Egyptian President Hosni ...
* Nonviolent resistance
* April 6 Youth Movement
The April 6 Youth Movement ( ar, حركة شباب 6 أبريل) is an Egyptian activist group established in Spring 2008 to support the workers in El-Mahalla El-Kubra, an industrial town, who were planning to strike on 6 April.
Activists calle ...
* Wafd Party
The Wafd Party (; ar, حزب الوفد, ''Ḥizb al-Wafd'') was a nationalist liberal political party in Egypt. It was said to be Egypt's most popular and influential political party for a period from the end of World War I through the 1930 ...
* New Wafd Party
The New Wafd Party ( ar, حزب الوفد الجديد, , New Delegation Party), officially the Egyptian Wafd Party and also known as the Al-Wafd Party, is a nationalist liberal party in Egypt.
It is the extension of one of the oldest and his ...
References
External links
Kefaya Website
Middle East Report Online
Al-Ahram English Edition
openDemocracy
Cafebabel
Daily Star
International Crisis Group
Human Rights Watch
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
in ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''
Op-ed discussing 'kifaya'
in the ''Washington Post''
from the ''Christian Science Monitor
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...
''
Baheyya Blogspot
about recent Kifaya demonstrations in Egypt.
An unofficial "Kefaya, Kifaya" song and video on Youtube. Does not contain Explicit Content or Foul language. Related links might contain explicit content.
{{Authority control
Egyptian democracy movements
Egyptian revolution of 2011
Nonviolent resistance movements
Politics of Egypt
2011 in Egypt
2011 riots
Organizations of the Arab Spring
Organisations of the Egyptian Crisis (2011–2014)
2004 establishments in Egypt
Political opposition organizations