My name is Mahmoud Salem. I started being in the Egyptian opposition by the end– by 2005. I started blogging at the end of 2004. My story is fairly– actually, it´s very reminiscent, I mean– to the Egyptian revolution in the sense that it´s a generational war between us and the generation that came before us. It highlights itself mainly due to the fact that my mother is in the NDP– or was in the NDP– and– National Democratic Party, which is Mubarak´s party. And she was one of the Mubarak´s appointees in the Parliament at some point. My opposition to the NDP has always been– how I´ve seen them– you know, manage to change– certain aspects of anybody who works with them’s personality. It was a party of power, and a party of power that has no actual values or morals, ideological leanings. They didn´t really believe in right and wrong; they used to believe in– what you can get away with and what you can´t get away with. Which is not a way to run a country at all. I joined the anti-Mubarak opposition actually squarely.
I was a commentator. And then, I actually became a street activist after the Sharm el-Sheikh bombings in 2005. I tried to create– I tried to start an anti-terrorism demonstration, which, at the time, I thought was very relevant because the mood was very poisonous and there was very much linking between Islam and terrorism and the world. So the idea was to send a message to the world that, you know, not everybody in Egypt is pro-suicide bombings, that we get killed by this too, and stuff like that. So we had decided to do an impromptu demonstration on top of the 6th October Bridge, which got shut down by the police who demanded that we get a permit and stuff.
So I actually went through the legal channels and got a permit for the demonstration. And I was going to have it at Al-Azhar Park. And, you know, it was going to be a good anti-terrorist demonstration at Al-Azhar Park, sounded nice. And the night before, the State Security apparatus called me, and they told me that I had to shut it down. Why? Well, because they´re not sure they can secure the demonstration. So I´m just like, “Well, you know, just you can secure it. And it´s not a problem.” “Well, we´re afraid the anti-terrorism demonstration will turn into an anti-Mubarak demonstration.” I´m like, “This is an anti-terrorist demonstration. What are you trying to tell me?” And they decided– they told me that if I don´t shut it down, they will come and arrest me. And I told them, “The invite´s already out. Everybody knows. Tough luck, come and arrest me.” And the demonstration took place, actually.
After that, I decided those people are too stupid to continue ruling us, and there is no justification for it. So I became part of the opposition, squarely and firmly. However, I have kept an anonymous identity because I did not want to affect my mother´s political career. I disagree with everything that she´s done, but, at the same time, I didn´t want her– I don´t want to be used by her enemy against her– her enemies against her. And we´re not talking enemies in the opposition; we´re talking about enemies inside the National Democratic Party.
Mahmoud Salem is a blogger, activist, writer and a business development consultant. His blog is the most prominent English-language Egyptian blog, entitled: “Rantings of a Sandmonkey” it won the best Middle East and Africa blog awards in 2006 and 2007, and Best English Blog in the Deutsche Welle Best of Blogs award in 2011 and has over 6 million unique views and his Twitter account has over 87,000 followers. His human rights activism areas have been in freedom of speech, human rights, religious rights, and women’s’ rights.
In 2005, he started the first anti-terrorism demonstration in Cairo, and participated in monitoring the Egyptian parliamentary and presidential elections.
In 2006, he was the principal organizer of the first Egyptian anti-sexual harassment demonstration and marsh after the Eid sexual harassment incidents. Incensed by Police torturing Egyptian people on videos and sparing them, he and friends collected the videos, posted them online and pushed for a public persecution of the police officers who committed those acts, leading to the unprecedented convictions of two police officers.
In 2007, he was a stage speaker at the Atlas Foundation’s 25th anniversary conference, head of the new media panel in the Qatar Foundation democracy conference and started the Tafkir project, an Arabic language blogging website to facilitate and promote ideas and online dialogue.
In 2008, he was an organizer and a team leader of 8 Egyptian bloggers for the “Egypt blogs America” project, which monitored the US elections and created a documentary film about it.
In 2009, he was picked for the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow conference and the US Islamic Forum conference, and started the IRIS social campaign company.
In 2011, he was one of the leading voices of the January 25 revolution that brought down Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, ran for Egyptian Parliament, started the Tweetback initiative which developed two impoverished communities in Egypt with a population over 700,000 and raised millions of pounds for social entrepreneurship projects. He also initiated the “Egyptian Bill of Rights Project,” which was later on sponsored by Mohamed El Baradei.
He co-authored two books – “Tweets from Tahrir” and “18 Days” and founded “7etan,” the first Graffiti School in Egypt. His writings have appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, the New York Times, The Daily Beast, The Guardian and various online websites.
With a history dating back to the 10th millennium B.C., Egypt has long played a central role in the Middle East. Egypt is the largest Arab nation and has an influential voice in Arabic and Middle Eastern culture. Egypt has a diverse economy, but has struggled to create sustained economic growth and opportunities for its population of 84 million people.
The country has little experience with representative democracy. From 1956 to 1970, President Gamal Abdel Nasser ruled Egypt with a strong hand, nationalizing the Suez Canal and taking the country into conflict with the new state of Israel. Upon his death, Anwar al-Sadat became president. Together with other Arab nations, Sadat launched the October War against Israel in 1973. In 1979, Sadat signed a groundbreaking peace treaty with Israel.
From Sadat’s assassination in 1981 until the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, Egypt was governed by President Hosni Mubarak. For all of Mubarak’s time in office, and for much of the time since his resignation, Egypt has been under “Emergency Law,” which allows the government to suspend constitutional rights, including limiting political activity and restricting free speech. Emergency Law also allows the government to use summary arrests against political opponents.
For four successive terms, Mubarak was reelected in referenda without an opponent. In 2005, under domestic and international pressure, Mubarak proposed a constitutional amendment to allow Egypt’s first multicandidate presidential elections. Because the amendment would have imposed severe restrictions on the eligibility of opposition candidates, opposition groups boycotted the vote. Mubarak claimed to have won the September 2005 presidential election with an official 88 percent of the vote, amid widespread allegations of fraud and vote rigging. The main opposition leader, Ayman Nour, was subsequently prosecuted by the government for forging signatures on petitions and was sentenced to five years in prison, provoking protests from the United States and other democratic countries.
Following the example of the Tunisian Revolution, large protests swept Egypt in early 2011. The military, led by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), withdrew its support of Mubarak. On February 11, 2011, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had resigned. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) headed by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi then assumed power in Egypt. SCAF dissolved the parliament and suspended the constitution.
In November 2011, Egypt held parliamentary elections that were reportedly fair and democratic. In June 2012, Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi was elected President, in part because liberal and secular forces failed to coalesce around a single candidate. Morsi’s popularity declined as he declared his orders immune from challenge, removed judicial review processes, and was accused of taking steps towards the implementation of Islamist policies. Conflict arose between those supporting Islamist policies and those seeking a more liberal and secular government. Protests occurred throughout his presidency until Morsi was ousted by the military in July 2013. Muslim Brotherhood leaders were arrested and their camps and offices raided. Until new elections are held, a SCAF-installed provisional government led by acting President Adly Mansour is in control.
In its most recent report, the independent watchdog group Freedom House classifies Egypt as “partly free.” On its scale where 1 is the most free and 7is the least free, Egypt earned scores of 5 in both the civil liberties and political rights categories.
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