Tamarod Movement
Four years ago, then General and now President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi made his first debut on television to announce the removal of the country's first democratically elected president, just two years into his term. Following the removal, the military suspended the recently approved constitution and dismantled the parliament, constituting mainly of Muslim brotherhood officials. Weeks earlier, on June 05, 2013, large amount of street protests called for re-elections. One of the instigators of such protests was the Tamarod movement, a grass root campaign that was essentially founded to act in opposition to the government of Mohamed Morsi. The movement started out to collect a target of signatures around 15 million on June 30, 2013, and actually ended up collecting around 22 million signatures, according to its sources. Initially, there were a lot of questions raised about the actual relevance of the signatures, especially since, there was a drastic rise in signature numbers in just a few days. With that said, this paper will focus on the Tamarod movement, highlighting the group’s motive for its establishment as a political opponent and its rise and falls along the years.
The Tamarod movement, founded in 2013, inclined to pursue the case of Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim brotherhood through the Tamarod form, one of the many campaigns the movement used to address issues such as the sale of the Suez canal, the issues of hunger, security, the convenience of the new revised constitution to the muslim brotherhood, the status of the economy, among many others. According to the organization, on the eve of Morsi's inauguration, the group was able to collect 22 million signatures, titled “Correcting the pathway”. Ironically, many of the Tamarod officials were not keen on labeling their organization as a political movement. In fact, seven of the group’s members have been referred to investigation on grounds of labeling the social campaign into a political one.
The movement was founded by members of the Mubarak-era called the Kefaya. During the protests, the group blocked traffic to hand out petitions highlighting multiple issues. The group was highly dedicated to the resolve the government at the time, rejecting multiple dialogue calls from the brotherhood. In an interview with BBC, the group stated, “ “There is no alternative other than the peaceful end of power of the Muslim Brotherhood and its representative, Mohammed Morsi.” The signature movement ignited nationwide protests in which ,eventually, the army intervened in favor of the protests. Then after, the government of Mohamed Morsi was toppled within a few days. As such, the movement’s ultimate plan of organizing demonstrations, particularly on June 30, instigated enough unrest for the military to stage a coup de tat.
The group’s motive is highly controversial, as many perceive it as an anti-Islamist organization due to its adamant opposition to the muslim brotherhood. During the reign of the brotherhood, understanding of Islamism was interpreted through the brotherhood’s behavior in office. It is evident that multiple regular practicing muslims were offended by the actions of the brotherhood, hence they were part of the protests. If Islamism is , indeed, opposed in Egypt, then it will signal a symbolic crackdown on Egypt being perceived as one of the major Islamist brands among the Arab world. Understandably, the initial stage of the Arab spring has been a confrontation, for the most part, against archaic political systems as well as evolving manifestations of political Islam. In that sense, the demands from Tamarod can generally be perceived as anti-islamist questions towards the brotherhood. However, in reality, the group was responsible in mobilizing wide range public attitudes towards nationwide protests demanding change in the status quo of the government.
The success of the movement, much like the success of most revolutions in the Arab spring, has been mainly driven by technology and social networking. The group was highly strategic in utilizing social media sites such as Instagram and twitter in updating its followers on its day to day progress. Essentially, the movement always claimed not to have big-financial backers. However, after the success of the protests, the group was able to acquire logistical support from mainstream parties from both sides, who realized such grass root movements constituted an effective form of addressing the public as well as the media.
The unstated objective of the movement was to gain enough support to precipitate military intervention to remove the incumbent at the time, Mohamed Morsi. As a result, the rebel movement, initially, faced a myriad of criticism for its alarmingly close relationship with the military. Such allegations were perpetuated as a result of reports leaked from the media indicating officials from the rebel movement were having closed meetings with military officials. Thereafter, when the protests, at June 30, gathered large number of protests, the military was able to swoop in and remove Mohamed Morsi from power through a Coup-d’état.
Following the overthrow of the government, the organization, reportedly, has been in shambles following its divide between the nature of its relationship with the Egyptian military and debates over whether it should continue as a social organization or transform into a political party. Moreover, the different parties the group consists of have made it rather difficult to reach a common consensus among the group.
Although, Mahmud Badr, claimed to be the leader of the group, Tamarod had no visible leaders, no political agenda, and no future plans to shift its support into electoral votes. In fact, the group, on multiple occasions, adamantly asserted that it labeled itself as social organization fighting for causes that the affect the daily lives of average Egyptians. As such, the group was just an extension of civic disengagement. Due to its unique status in Egyptian politics, the group created attention from both sides of Egypt’s political divide. Then opposition leader, Mohamed Elbaradei was the first to hold official meetings with the group. After numerous meetings and negotiations, Elbaradei expressed “strong admiration for the campaign” and a strong belief that “ an integral part of the national opposition” to the government. Subsequently, Elbaradei rallied behind Tamaroid’s call for elections, representing a political voice for the group. Contrarily, supporters of the Muslim brotherhood were quick to respond and belittle the movement. This was followed by multiple legal actions against the entirety of the group with the State supreme court, accusing the movement of “ attempting to overthrow the government.”
Two years later, activists and opposition groups that demanded Morsi’s removal seem to exert mixed feelings about the movement. Furthermore, the call for government support from Abdel Fattah Al-sisi from then leader Mahmoud Badr exacerbated the whole situation. As a result, members of the group including Hassan Shahen, Khaled al-Qadi, Mohamed Abdul-Aziz, among many others, were revoked of their membership for their support of Hamdeen Sabahi. Sabahi, at the time, was an elite political figure who ran against Abdel Fattah Al-sisi during the post-revolution election in 2014. Such support for Sabahi went against the whole objective of the movement, in which the movement considered it as a divergence from the direction the group was following. Furthermore, the continued divisions among the founders over candidates in the 2014 presidential elections further disintegrated the group. While some of its founders, mainly the youth, supported Sabahi, the rest, majority, backed Abdel Fattah Al-sisi for the position. Moreover, allegations from multiple domestic and international media outlets about the conspiracies behind the creation of the Tamarod and whether or not the group was, essentially, established by Egyptian intelligence to oppose the brotherhood further ruined the credibility of the movement. Tamaroid also failed to establish itself as a political figure in the parliament. This was due to multiple views that existed in the group. On one hand, members wanted to keep Tamarod as a social organization addressing the lives of average Egyptians. On another, especially the youth, figured it was time the group established a political party, following the widespread support it had acquired throughout the revolution. Doua Khalifa, one of the founders of the movement, stated with an interview with Al-Arabiya, “ The movement represented different political groups, and people from different factions and it was difficult to get all to support one particular group.”. As a result, the movement that was able to rally and mobilize large nationwide protests and overthrow Mohamed Morsi from power, has now disappeared from both the social and political scene.
Keep in mind, the Tamarod initially tried to establish a political party name “the Arab movement party”, which still exists today. However, extreme allegations of corruption and military support discredited the organization among the Egyptian population.
The accusations of corruption emerged when the group officials, allegedly, received foreign funding from countries such as the UAE and other gulf nations. Such accusations gained wide public support when Shaheen, main figure that propose conversion of the group to a political party, said in an interview, “These accusations are not worth responding to, and they are made by the Brotherhood, which is working on tarnishing the image of the movement.”. Moreover, he added, “ The Tamarod movement is a popular movement that played a profound role on June 30, and we are proud to have been among its founders.” . not long after the interview, Shaheen defected from the organization claiming the difference in views between the group was a reason for his departure. As a result, charges of foreign funding, alongside political divide within the group, resulted in mobilization of public anger towards the group, negatively affecting its popularity.
The other contributing factor for the fall of the organization is the vicious crackdown on opposition figures carried out by General Abdel Fattah Al sisi. The government’s crackdown on the opposition is considered to be far worse than even the Mubarak regime. According to recent reports from multiple Human rights groups, almost 60,000 political prisoners currently reside in Egypt’s prison system. In comparison, during the Mubarak era, the number ranged between 5000 to 15,000. As a result, the government has constructed 15 more prison systems to handle the overflow of political prisoners. Hence, the name “generation jail” was given to the youth. Ironically, during the revolution, the youth was applauded by many international organization and had a nickname of “generation protest.”
Overall, the tamarod movement, once considered as the main ignitor of change and progress and considered by many as the voice of the people, is now in the ashes trying to rebuild its name among the public. The group is still active both socially and politically, represented in the parliament as the Arab movement party. However, the sheer underground influence the group had once among the public is long gone and is hard to imagine to group will resurface as a social magnate once again. For now, the path to democracy, aimed by the group, has taken a step back as the current government is exhibiting multiple democratic and human right violations. With such reality, it is hard to see Egypt progressing to the objective it once set out during the revolution. Egypt will continue to be a mystery as the political landscape is unpredictable for the future to come. Although, it is not utopian to expect the government to be committed to the values of the revolution, there needs to be an open forum where negotiations and reconciliations can take place shaping the political structure of the country. If such platforms do not exist, it is hard to imagine Egypt becoming a democratic powerhouse in the Arab world.