It’s 5:00 PM at the Agricultural Engineering Metro Station in Shubra El-Kheima and a group of students and middle class employees gather around a twenty-year-old man carrying a stack of papers marked with Rebel Campaign’s logo. The campaign was launched to collect signed petitions calling fora withdrawal of confidence of President Mohammed Morsi. The initiative was originally started by a group of activists from the Kefaya Movement who later founded the ‘Youth for Change’ movement.
It’s 5:00 PM at the Agricultural Engineering Metro Station in Shubra El-Kheima and a group of students and middle class employees gather around a twenty-year-old man carrying a stack of papers marked with Rebel Campaign’s logo. The campaign was launched to collect signed petitions calling fora withdrawal of confidence of President Mohammed Morsi. The initiative was originally started by a group of activists from the Kefaya Movement who later founded the ‘Youth for Change’ movement.
In a calm but confident voice, Micheal Marzouk, one of the Constitution Party members participating in the Rebel Campaign, said the revolution broke out to achieve freedom and social justice, but neither has yet been achieved. Marzouk’s premise fueled an argument with a forty-something man passing by who refused to sign the petition; their exchange escalated into widespread debate among Morsi’s proponents and opponents.
Narrating the details of his signature-collecting campaign and the obstacles he faced performing this voluntary mission, Marzouk said since ‘Rebel’ was launched last April, he attends gathering points in order to collect the largest possible number of signatures that would achieve the campaign’s target of 15 million signatures in support of a vote of no confidence for President Morsi. The number of signatures collected is intended to be declared on Friday, June 30th within the context of protest activities scheduled on that same day.
Three million signatures
Marzouk claimed that the government attempted to detain many of the campaign’s members, which he believed is proof of the campaign’s ability to challenge the huge organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, as it was able to collect over three million signatures by its second week. According to Marzouk, the campaign’s importance does not only come from the number of signatures it has collected until now, but from its ability to reach popular areas, rural areas and villages as well as Upper Egypt, the stronghold of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Marzouk stressed that the campaign is of a popular nature originally launched by Kefaya Movement and was joined by thousands of Egyptians encouraging political powers for their involvement.
Sideline disagreements
Some people refused to sign the petition, like Muhammad Salah, an employee in Gas-Shobra El-Kheima Firm, on the pretext that such activities threaten the legitimacy acquired by the polls and the elections people have participated in. Some also add that President Morsi has not been in power long enough and that judging him too soon will result in nothing but more chaos. “The serious crisis lies in the absence of a real alternative among the opposition during the current period which sank Egypt into total chaos,” Salah said.
On the other hand, May Husain, a student at the Philosophy Department at the Faculty of Letters in Ain Shams University, who trotted towards Marzouk to sign the petition with the same early revolution inspiring enthusiasm, offered, “Some might fear the absence of the alternative, but is it reasonable that a country with a population of 85 million does not have a single person eligible enough to be president and achieve the revolution’s goals, attain the martyrs’ rights, provide living and dignity and return Egypt’s prestige?”
Salah disagreed with Husain and said the elected president after all was appointed by the Egyptians’ will to which Husain replied, “Other considerations are there when it comes to polls including poverty and ignorance and in the Egyptian case, the choices were limited in addition to the absence of security and job opportunities.” She then addressed a question to Salah about whether he feels that it is safe for his wife to go out after 09:00 PM to which he reluctantly answered by “No”, but stressed that political conflicts is the reason of streets’ insecurity. Michel ended the dispute by affirming that he respects both opinions and went to new comers.
Rebel versus partiality
In response to Rebel’s signature-seeking campaign, a counter campaign named ‘Impartiality’ was launched by Sheikh Assem Abdel Maged. Impartiality Coordinator Ahmad Sharaf stressed that attempts to create chaos in modern Egypt exists and includes the Rebel campaign, which aims at withdrawing the legitimacy of President Morsi though he is the first civil president elected by the people. “Egyptians, as a result, have to either resort to silence before such activities or firmly face them by adopting similar methods and collecting signatures to keep the legitimately elected president in his post,” he said.
Sharaf denied rumors that the regime fears these signatures, which is evident in the fact that the government has not taken a single official action against the campaign, but rather launched a similar one to collect signatures.
Sharaf pointed out that the impartiality campaign was able collect more than six million signatures. “The campaign will be popularly activated in the coming period to stress that legitimacy is only gained by presidential elections that will be held on time. Only then the Egyptians may express their free choice,” he added.
Sharaf concluded that the political stage is open before all participants and many indicators demonstrate that numbers claimed by Rebel Campaign are untrue, according to Sharaf, pointing out that attendees of million-strong rallies organized by Rebel have not exceeded dozens.
Alarm blast
Marzouk denied Sharaf ‘s allegations, insisting that the authority is shivering over the campaign, evident by the fact that the campaign coordinator was referred to the State Security Supreme Court where the Brotherhood’s militias attacked Rebel members at universities. Marzouk concluded that June 30th will be the conclusive date as only then the Egyptians’ will to withdraw confidence and topple the regime is materialized.
On the other hand, considering the small number of the campaign’s members especially that the number of Kefaya members at its flourishing time has not exceed 15,000 and their lack of organization, Dr. Mustapha Kamel Al-Sayed, Professor of Political Sciences in Cairo University, finds it unlikely that the number of signatures Rebel Campaign could collect would exceed four million especially since the gathering centers for collecting signatures have not reached Upper Egypt.
Though doubts have surrounded the campaign’s ability to collect 15 million signatures, it is also intended to be an alarm blast for Morsi’s regime to reconsider the mechanisms of dealing with the political forces and the Egyptian citizen, according to Al-Sayed.
“Conducting premature elections is unlikely to have any chance, as the Muslim Brotherhood has strengthened its grip over many central areas eligible to overturn the existing regime.”
