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Social Movements and the Question of Organisation: Egypt and everywhere
Abstract
The protest against police brutality on the 'day of anger', 25 January 2011, which developed into a nation-wide uprising that ended with the ousting of Mubarak, was the culmination of a long struggle which had mobilised millions of Egyptians across class, age and gender for over a decade. Since 2000, a myriad of informal political groups, activist forums,political coalitions and protest activities has altered the face of Egyptian opposition politics and mobilised wide sectors of the population. Critical analysis of these protests has often examined them within a framework of New Social Movements under authoritarian regimes. The study of protests within this framework emphasises a number of features which characterise NSMs including decentralised, loose organisational structures, rejection of traditional leadership and interchangeable membership between different groups. This paper examines the dilemmas which groups and members of protest movements and activist networks, working on these principles, face when the context in which they operate is dramatically changed. The case of Egypt is pertinent in addressing the question of how some features of new social movements have posed a challenge for the mobilised millions in the aftermath of Mubarak's downfall and explain the ease with which counter revolutionary forces have been able to subvert the work of these millions towards a more radical project of transformation. I will focus on one main characteristic of these networks of activism in this regard; namely, their organisational structures. This will be examined through situating the debate on organisation and its role in revolutionary process both historically and in a comparative perspective with other forms of global networks of activism.
Discipline
Sociology
Geographic Area
Egypt
Sub Area
19th-21st Centuries