It is half a decade since Egypt’s revolution first erupted, promising something more than a binary choice between Islamism and military authoritarianism. Yet since the unrest began we have seen the Muslim Brotherhood rise to power, only to be overthrown by an army strongman – but is this just the start?

What has become of the big ideas at the root of the uprising – about democracy, sovereignty, social justice and resistance? How can a country so divided between two irreconcilable political orders continue its revolution? Join us to discuss where the Arab World’s most populous nation stands today, as well as its possibilities for the future.

Chaired by Rasha Qandeel, BBC Arabic journalist and presenter on NewsNight and HARDtalk. She joined the BBC in 2003 and since 2011 has covered the Arab uprisings, with a focus on events in Egypt.

The panel:

Jack Shenker is a journalist based in London and Cairo, whose reporting has spanned the globe. He is the former Egypt correspondent for the Guardian and author of The Egyptians – A Radical Story.

Dr Omar Ashour is a senior lecturer in Security Studies in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter. He is an associate fellow at Chatham House and was involved in the process of security sector reform in Egypt and Libya between 2011 and 2013.

Sherif Azer is an Egyptian human rights defender and an expert in online activism in Egypt. He has worked in the field of human rights for eleven years – for organisations including Front Line Defenders and the International Network for Freedom of Expression (IFEX) – and is currently the assistant secretary general for the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights.

Hossam Abdalla is a leading fertility specialist, heading Britain’s largest fertility clinic. He is also a political activist and was one of leaders of the student movements in the seventies. He is a supporter of the 25th January revolution in Egypt and has been a contributor to many programs debating the revolution.

On Monday 26 October, renowned Egyptian writer, feminist and activist Nawal El Saadawi joined journalist Wendell Steavenson and a packed audience at the Frontline Club for a discussion that spanned the topics of linguistic philosophy, feminism and globalisation – all of which were explored in the context of El Saadawi‘s own life experiences and recent developments in Egyptian politics.

Sitting in same room as legend #NawalElSaadaei @frontlineclub pic.twitter.com/93hzphE6My

— Nahla Al-Ageli (@NahlaInk) October 26, 2015

The discussion began with a focus on the United States’ continued military aid to Egypt. This was something El Saadawi felt passionately against, not just in Egypt’s case but on a global level. “Fair trade, not aid,” she said.

“The 2011 revolution was hijacked by the United States working with Egyptian politicians. Hilary Clinton came to Tahrir Square as soon as the revolution began. Why?”

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The conversation then moved onto the subject of globalisation, and how colonising powers have always played the game of “divide and rule.”

El Saadawi expanded: “When Sadat and Reagan came, they brought the Muslim Brothers. Why? They wanted to fragment the country by religion. They wanted to fragment the country by class. They wanted to fragment the army. What is the difference between Syria and Egypt now? Syria is completely fragmented, because the army is fragmented. And this is why we are unified in comparison. This is why the Americans are against Sisi.”

When Steavenson questioned her about the way the Egyptian government has been punishing members of the Muslim Brotherhood with imprisonment and death sentencing, El Saadawi said: “I am against the death penalty. I am against putting anybody in prison. I am against all that. But I am also against a religious state. Whether Islamic, Jewish, or Christian. We cannot have true equality in any religious state, because all religions oppress women.”

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She continued by explaining the extent to which gender inequality has been rooted in religion: “In the three major monotheistic religions, Adam was set free as an innocent, while Eve was a sinner because she ate from the tree of knowledge. Women are not expected to be equal. Why do you think I’ve had three husbands? Because they hated my intelligence. They wanted a stupid woman.”

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Even though El Saadawi‘s main work and research focus revolves around injustice, she revealed her enduring optimism in the face of adversity. “I am always optimistic. I learned very much about this in the experience of prison. The women I was with were very pessimistic, because Sadat told us he will kill us. So every day they woke up crying, and I started dancing. I told them we will live and be free; just to have that idea gave me hope. When you have hope, you inspire people with hope, and hope is power. In the worst situations, I am hopeful.”

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Steavenson asked about the moment when her sense of justice came into being, and why she initially became motivated to challenge injustice.

El Saadawi explained that when she was 7 and 8 years old, she felt something was not right in the way that she was treated in comparison with her brother. Her older brother was lazy and spoilt, whereas she was hardworking and neglected.

“During Eid, I received half the money that my brother received in gifts. I asked my parents why. They said because God said so. They thought they would shut me up by saying ‘God’. So my first letter ever when I was 8 years old was to God, but I still haven’t got an answer!”

From 29-31 October, the Frontline Club is hosting screenings as part of the Green Caravan Film Festival, a travelling festival of environmental and socially conscious films. The full lineup can be found here.

This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Anna Roussillon via Skype.

January 2011 in Egypt was marked by anti-government demonstrations. While tens of thousands of protestors gathered in Cairo, poor villagers in the country’s south followed the tense situation in Tahrir Square on their TV screens and in the daily newspapers. It is from their perspective that this documentary captures the political changes in Egypt, from the toppling of President Mubarak to the election of Mohamed Morsi. I Am the People reveals the villagers’ hopes and disappointments and shows that, despite the wild events, very little has actually changed in their lives.

The film presents a charming, funny and fascinating portrait of one family in Egypt’s rural South, as they follow the Tahrir uprising, charting their progression from amused distant observers of the events in Cairo through their increasing engagement and politicisation. Beautifully filmed, I Am The People offers a refreshing perspective on the Arab Spring and its aftermath, and shows with great intimacy the ways in which the events have touched ordinary lives away from the square.

Directed by: Anna Roussillon
Produced by: Thomas Micoulet, Karim Aitouna, Malik Menaï
Runtime: 110′
Year: 2014
Country: France

Four and a half years ago Egypt dominated headlines globally with scenes of hope and change in Tahrir Square, yet now the country garners attention for a very different reason – the imprisonment of journalists.

Much has changed in Egypt since Nawal El Saadawi last spoke at the Frontline Club four years ago, and we are pleased to welcome her again to reflect on the situation today in Egypt. She will be joined in conversation with journalist Wendell Steavenson, who was in Tahrir four years ago and has covered the change that has taken place in subsequent years.

With Abdul Fattah al-Sisi due to visit Britain before the end of the year, we look at the track record of his government and how he is viewed by Egyptians across the board. We will be asking what democracy means in Egypt today.

Nawal El Saadawi is a renowned Egyptian writer, feminist and activist. She has published over 40 books, which have been translated into over 30 languages. New editions of three of her books have just been published: Woman at Point Zero, first released in 1975, The Hidden Face of Eve, and God Dies by the Nile and Other Novels.

Wendell Steavenson has lived in and reported from Georgia, Iran, Iraq and Lebanon. She is the author of a number of books, including most recently Circling the Square: Stories from the Egyptian Revolution. Her work has appeared in the Guardian, The Telegraph, Granta, Slate.com, Time, The New Yorker and other publications.

PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT WILL BE FILMED AND STREAMED LIVE ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL

“Creativity always wins out over power.”

– Srdja Popovic

To mark the release of his new book, Blueprint for Revolution: How to use rice pudding, Lego men, and other non-violent techniques to galvanise communities, overthrow dictators, or simply change the world, the Frontline Club hosted a conversation with Serbian author and activist Srdja Popovic chaired by Steve Crawshaw from Amnesty International.

Popovic, who consults with political activists across the world in his role as executive director of the Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS), began by underlining the motivations behind the book.

“There are many fascinating stories you learn from working with activists across the world. And one of the things you feel is the first thing in any revolution happens in your head. People imagine these revolutionaries as heroes in the Che Guevara mould… but hanging out with these people you come to realize that they are like you and me.”

Pushed by Crawshaw over whether the use of non-violent strategies worked for so-called ‘soft’ power but failed in more extreme cases, such as Russia and Syria where power has become more entrenched, Popovic referred to the phrase often repeated by local activists.

“There are always reasons why it can never happen here, (either in Syria because the state is too repressive or in the UK because people are too apathetic). And they are right. Every single context is different. Even the title of the book is cynical; there is no such thing as a blueprint for revolution. People need to dream their own country, you need creativity, you need numbers and you can’t really borrow this from somebody else… but what we are talking about is a set of tools that are the same.”

Popovic countered claims of internationalising activism, often levelled at organisations such as CANVAS and used by governments to re-define national non-violent protests, by re-asserting that all these struggles must be indigenous but that each can learn from a basic tool-kit. Most importantly, Popovic cited the most common failures of a revolution – the inability to follow up a successful revolution with a vocabulary of democratic transition.

From experiencing the disunity of the opposition in Serbia under Milosevic right through to the disparate opposition groups in Syria, Popovic emphasised the need for organisation, planning and discipline within political protest movements, claiming that despite the popular perception that revolutions are spontaneous acts, “there are in the end only two types of non-violent revolution: the spontaneous and the successful. You can’t have both.”

Charting the evolution of protests during the Arab Spring from non-violent to violence, Popovic stressed the need to objectively look at previous revolutions to determine the most effective strategy.

“Out of 323 struggles in the last century, 52% of non-violent struggles were effective as opposed to 26% of violent struggles. Simply speaking you want to go back to Sun Tzu who said that if you want to win a war you need to put your strong points against your opponent’s weak points.”

From Tienanmen to the protests in Tahrir Square, the most successful revolutions build from small victories, in what he termed ‘dilemma actions’ – doing something everybody can do – picking the battles that you can win and recognising the moment when momentum turns in a movement.

“The easiest way to imagine this type of struggle is as a video game which works on multiple levels. Non-violent struggle is like stairs and the problem is that we only see the goal of ‘game over’. Like going to the theatre and only seeing the last act we do not see what has preceded it.”

Specifically analysing the problems of Occupy, Popovic criticised the movements’ inability to articulate clear objectives and translate public anger into hope. Secondly, the problem lay in the decision making process that Occupy adopted, in “the thought that somehow getting organised would harm the cause of their struggle”. Thirdly was a question of branding. By terming the movement Occupy you made a movement out of a tactic and limited it to a small group of people who already think the same. Instead, Popovic suggested that by terming the protest the 99% it becomes an inclusive social inequality movement.

When asked about the tendency or desire to define a protest as a binary Good vs. Evil struggle, Popovic said that “too often people get excited about demonizing the person, political party or system as the centre of evil and build their own reality around it.” Instead, what he learned and what he tries to teach groups is to think in a different way.

“The main difference between violent and non-violent struggle is in the direction. In violent struggle you push, whether you are throwing stones or sending in tanks, in non-violent struggle you pull. If you want to pull people out of the system you can’t convert someone you are trying to kill.”

From his own experience in Serbia where the tactic of protesting police barricades shifted from howls of dissent to giving them cakes and flowers, Popovic concluded by discussing how and why humour works as a fundamental strategy for non-violent protest: through attracting participation in activism by increasing the ‘cool factor’ of protests, through the intentionally teasing authorities through mockery and by utilising humour as a fear breaker.

“If you get back to the idea of the video game and you look at the status quo force in society, these are either fear or apathy. Whereas if you look at game-changing factors it is enthusiasm, social mobilisation and commitment and so if you see one going up and the other going down you can predict and affect the outcome.”

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief who ousted Egypt’s first freely elected leader, has won the country’s second democratic presidential election. In a speech after being sworn in he said that “defeating terrorism and achieving security is the top priority in our coming phase”.

Despite much celebration from his supporters, who believe he will bring political and economic calm after years of turmoil, the country remains divided with judicial figures showing that only 46 per cent of voters cast ballots.

As Abdel Fattah al-Sisi takes his place as Egypt’s second democratically elected leader, we will be looking at his roadmap for the country. Are we seeing a return to military dominance of politics and what does that signal for Egypt?

Chaired by Rasha Qandeel, presenter and journalist at BBC Arabic.

The panel:

Rana Allam is the editor-in-chief of the Daily News Egypt, a ​newspaper based in Cairo, Egypt.

Mohamed Yehia is the head of multimedia output at BBC Arabic Service.

Tarek Osman is a political-economist focused on the Arab world and the author of the internationally acclaimed Egypt on the Brink. He is author and presenter of the BBC’s The Making of the Modern Arab World.

Dalia Abd Elhameed is the head of the gender program at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).

On the day the 2014 Academy Awards Nominations were announced, the Frontline Club hosted a screening of The Square. After winning the Audience Award at both Sundance and the Toronto International Film Festival, the film is now in the run-up for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.

The Square portrays the Egyptian revolution and some of its passionate activists, including British–Egyptian actor and filmmaker Khalid Abdalla (The Kite Runner, 2007), who was present for a Q&A together with cinematographer Cressida Trew.

Documenting from the early days of Egypt’s uprising against Hosni Mubarak to the aftermath of Mohamed Morsi’s ousting by the military, American–Egyptian director Jehane Noujaim’s film follows ‘revolutionaries’ Abdalla, Ahmed Hassan and Magdy Ashour as they live, and fight, through three years of revolution.

Coming from three generations that have been fighting for political reform in Egypt, and with his father in the audience, Abdalla explained he finds it problematic to answer questions about “what does now tell us about where we are going”. In response to a question about the current situation, he said he would rather look at what is moving people and what this can “tell us about where we come from and where we are headed”.

The film’s delivery was almost as problematic as its production. According to Abdalla and Trew, the documentary had several cuts because of the tumultuous and constantly changing events taking place. On her way to the film’s premiere at Sundance, director Noujaim realised events were unfolding in Egypt, that had to be included. The Square is now in its third cut.

“We had terabytes of footage,” said Trew, who said she joined the production team when she met Noujaim in Tahrir Square.

“It’s textbook on how you should never film a documentary.”

She explained filming the documentary was a very collaborative effort, with only little direction because of the constantly shifting and unpredictable events.

“We were bobbing around on this massive tide, this sea change. All you could do is follow your guts,” she said.

She added that it was the first time she had seen that version of the film.

Abdalla said that despite the struggle and unpredictable nature of Egypt’s revolution he was determined to continue the fight for change.

“At no point of the story did we know what the story was,” he said.

“We’re going through a massive shift. It’s possible that things will die down, but for this kind of stability that is fetishised you need the circumstances that ignited this revolution to go away.”

 

“As long as I’m not certain that in six to eight months time the balance of power won’t be the same as it is today, then we’ll be living in a revolution.”

“The Oscar [nomination] is great, it’s great that it might be able to be seen in Egypt,” said Abdalla, referring to the fact that that the film has yet to have a public showing in the north African country. The 2014 Academy Award winners will be announced on Sunday 2 March.

The film is now available to view on NetFlix. To stay up to date on the developments on the film, follow them on twitter, find the film on facebook or go to the film’s website.

Since 2011 Cairo’s Tahrir Square has repeatedly been occupied by Egyptians demanding change. Director Jehane Noujaim captured what happened in the square through the eyes of several young revolutionaries.

She followed Ahmed Hassan, a charismatic example of Egypt’s disenfranchised youth; Magdy Ashour, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood; and Khalid Abdalla, an accomplished actor who put his career on hold to document the revolution.

Noujaim documents key events during these turbulent years: the euphoria of bringing an end to the corrupt thirty-year regime of President Hosni Mubarak and later the shifting of alliances among the power centres of the military, the Muslim Brotherhood and secularist revolutionaries. The result is an immersive film, that goes deeply into the emotional drama and personal stories behind the news.

Khalid Abdalla
British-Egyptian actor and filmmaker (The Kite Runner, United 93 and Green Zone), leaves his life in London to join the revolution inspired by the activism of his father who was jailed in Egypt in the 70s. In Cairo, he discovers a profound sense of his Egyptian identity. He co-founded Mosireen, a collective of individuals turning their cameras towards those in authority to hold them accountable for their actions in the square and beyond.

Directed by Jehane Noujaim
Duration: 99′
Year: 2013

The Square will be released by Netflix UK on 17 January.

The 2011 revolution in Egypt raised hopes that democratic institutions would replace Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship.  The recent removal of President Morsi by the Egyptian military and the violence on the streets that followed has instead left Egypt facing an uncertain future.

Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle East Editor and renowned Egyptian journalist Yosri Fouda met at the Frontline Club on 12 August to attempt to shed some light on recent events and on Egypt’s political future.

Yosri Fouda (Left) and Jeremy Bowen (Right). Photo Wotienke Vermeer

Fouda explained that the Muslim Brotherhood, whom many had seen as the most well-organised political faction in Egypt had overreached, causing their administration to quickly lose popularity:

“I think the legacy of more than 80 years of working underground; they were subjected – and we have to always remember this – to all sorts of oppression and exclusion, and torture in some cases, got them a little bit ahead of themselves and they wanted to not only form the government but to actually reshape the state.”

Fouda also claimed that while the Army had chosen to remove Morsi following massive street protests, it was not done out of pure economic self-interest, as many had claimed, noting that:

“The army had more privileges under Morsi compared to even what they had under Mubarak.”

He also explained that the army had found the year-and-a-half period of directly administrating the country after the fall of Mubarak unpleasant and did not want a return to martial law.

I went to a celebration with some military people and some civilian people… to my left was the Commander of the Artillery. There were some young officers with their families, every now and then shouting the famous slogan… “The army and people are one hand“. And every time they shouted this the Commander of the Artillery said, “Never again!… What did we have in the end? We were shaving in the street, going to the toilet in the street and we were called names by kids!”… So they too had a very bad experience with us and they too have been trying to learn something from it.”

Responding to an audience question on how the Muslim Brotherhood could be included in any future liberal democratic form of government if they subscribe to an Islamic ideology, Fouda emphasised the dangers of excluding them again:

“In my opinion what we do not want to have is going back to the time when many forces… particularly Islamic, had to work underground… you really need to accommodate and it’s not going to be perfect, it’s going to be painful and it’s going to take time but it is much better than driving anyone underground.”

Bowen fielded a similar question on why Western governments had chosen to deal with the Muslim Brotherhood despite their alleged ties to terrorist groups and why Western media had chosen to frame Morsi’s removal almost exclusively as a coup d’etat.

“The Americans and other Western countries attach a lot of great importance to elections. They believe that the way of establishing a new Egypt was through a democratic process, so well there’s an election… it produced the result it produced. I think they felt obliged to say, “Well alright. Go ahead. See what you can do.””

Fouda received a round of applause from many of those in attendance, by stressing the importance of building genuine democratic institutions if Egypt is to move forward through its current political turmoil:

“What you are really after is the rule of law… if we manage together to lay the foundations for a healthy society that goes by the rule of law, then the revolution will have succeeded.”

Daniel is a freelance journalist and researcher specialising in foreign affairs, with an emphasis on Russia and the former Soviet Union. Twitter: @danielabkennedy

Watch and listen to the event here:

https://soundcloud.com/frontlineclub/egypt-crisis-yosri-fouda-in

As political instability continues in Egypt, renowned Arab journalist Yosri Fouda will be joining the BBC’s Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen in conversation, to give some insight into how this situation will develop.

They will be looking at the role played by the military, the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups, how deep the divisions are in Egypt and what will shape the country’s political future.

Image credit: George Nazmi Bebawi / Shutterstock.com