Besides being a well-known Egyptian activist, Laila Soueif is a math professor at Cairo University and co-founded the Universities’ Autonomy Movement in 2003, which was re-named 9 March Movement by the media. Soueif contributed significantly to many other political movements and also notably co-founded the Anti-Torture Egyptian Association, which played a major role in revealing abuse by the police under former President Hosni Mubarak.
Besides being a well-known Egyptian activist, Laila Soueif is a math professor at Cairo University and co-founded the Universities’ Autonomy Movement in 2003, which was re-named 9 March Movement by the media. Soueif contributed significantly to many other political movements and also notably co-founded the Anti-Torture Egyptian Association, which played a major role in revealing abuse by the police under former President Hosni Mubarak.
Her father is Mustafa Soueif, renowned psychologist and Arabic translator of Sigmund Freud, her mother is Fatima Musa, professor of English literature at Cairo University and her sister is Ahdaf Sweif, a well-known novelist. Soueif has been involved in the public sphere politically, economically and socially since she was very young. She took part in her first protest when she was 16 years old. Her husband is the pioneer lawyer Ahmed Saif al-Islam (January 1951 – August 2014) who was imprisoned for five years under Mubarak.
Soueif has three children: Alaa, an activist and blogger who is serving a three-year sentence for staging a protests against the Demonstration Law, which is also known as the ‘Shura Council Incident’; another child, Sanaa, is also serving a three-year sentence for protesting against Mohamed Morsi when he was in power in the ‘Itahidia Incident’; Muna, her middle child, is the founder of the ‘No to Court-Martialing Civilians’. Soueif however, says she does not get frustrated because dynamics of history reveal a constant rise and fall.
Laila Soueif, how would you evaluate the current situation in Egypt?
It is at an ebb which we have already gone through. However, if the current ruling regime does not realize that there is a grave danger and that it must put an end to the security barbarity and the absence of social security, there will be an inevitable explosion.
Are you seeing the signs of an imminent explosion?
Definitely, because the Egyptian people, after three revolutionary waves, were only rewarded with poverty and oppression. The current regime represents the worst part of Mubarak’s regime. Its approach is based solely on force and it does not negotiate at all, which will make its years in power much shorter than Mubarak’s.
Are there any alternatives for the coming explosion?
There are two options: One is that we have an endless explosion which makes us like many other African countries that suffer non-stop conflicts. The other is that the youth will find an alternative for themselves and only then we can say that the revolution is a success.
As a student, you took part in the university struggle in the 1990s and co-founded the Universities’ Autonomy Movement. However, nothing has changed. Does that frustrate you?
I do not get frustrated as victory and defeat have become a normal part of our lives and those who read history and understand the concept of revolution do not get frustrated, as it consists of an ebb and flow. It is enough to see university students, their awareness and the way they respond to the attempts to compromise their rights or those of other people.
You belong to the 1970s generation at which the youth level several accusations. Do you agree with them?
I strongly agree. The 1970s generation was taught to adapt to reality rather than revolt against it through, for example, educating children at foreign schools. The political reality and the revolution, revealed that most people are opportunists, with very few exceptions. It revealed how the political elite was unable to face the regime to maintain its personal interests. Thirty years of corruption under Mubarak were more than enough to paralyze people over 40 years.
The political horizon is almost deadlocked and there are concerns that there will be coordination with currents of Political Islam. Do you have any vision for political work in the current situation?
I believe that resolving the issues of liberties and social and economic rights is more important than any arguments related to making alliances with the Muslim Brotherhood.
How do you see the Egyptian youth on whom you rely for the revolution’s success?
They are incredible. They have the capacity to do a lot of great things but they do not know how. They do not know that in order to resolve this crisis, they themselves should rule and not the older generation. Instead of looking for a prominent figure to support, they should choose their leaders amongst themselves and stay away from the older generations.
Among these youth is your eldest son Alaa and youngest daughter Sanaa who are both in prison, does that affect your future vision?
This battle is not easy at all. It is a life or death battle between a regime which is willing to control everything and the youth who reject to acquiesce. The imprisonment of my children will not change that as they know their way very well.
Have you made any attempts to secure their release?
I will never go to the regime and beg it to release my children, as they are like many thousands of Egyptian young men who are oppressed by the regime.
You have co-founded many political movements and been an activist with your late husband for many years, do you have any regrets?
As I get older, I only regret not doing more scientific research. I was occupied by politics and other issues which prevented me from doing more research in my domain.
When did you feel that you badly needed your late husband?
On many occasions, once when Sanaa and Alaa were released from prison for the first time and I struggled to finish the endless complicated procedures, which Saif could have finished easily. Another time, which is the most moving, is on the day of his burial as all people were mourning and I had a strong sense of loss and need.
How do you spend your days nowadays?
I go to university three days a week and visit Alaa and Sanaa in prison for two days a week and I spend the remaining two days with Khalid, Alaa’s son, and I visit my family.
