April 6 Youth Movement

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April 6 Youth Movement
Harket Shabab 6 April
حركة شباب 6 أبريل
April 6 Youth Movement.jpg
Type Pressure group
Political group
Founded 2008
Key people Mohammed Adel Amr Ali
Area served  Egypt
Focus Democracy
Social justice
Free and fair election
Civil resistance
Secularism
Anarchism
Website 6april.org

The April 6 Youth Movement (Arabic: حركة شباب 6 أبريل‎) is an Egyptian Activists group established in Spring 2008 to support the workers in El-Mahalla El-Kubra, an industrial town, who were planning to strike on April 6.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Activists called on participants to wear black and stay home on the day of the strike. Bloggers and citizen journalists used Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, blogs and other new media tools to report on the strike, alert their networks about police activity, organize legal protection and draw attention to their efforts.[7]

The New York Times has identified the movement as the political Facebook group in Egypt with the most dynamic debates.[8] As of January 2009, it had 70,000 predominantly young and educated members, most of whom had not been politically active before; their core concerns include free speech, nepotism in government and the country's stagnant economy.[8] Their discussion forum on Facebook features intense and heated discussions, and is constantly updated with new postings.

The April 6 movement is using the same raised fist symbol as the Otpor! movement from Serbia, that helped bring down the regime of Slobodan Milošević and whose nonviolent tactics were later used in Ukraine and Georgia.

Contents

Founders [edit]

  • Mohammed Adel worked with Kefaya movement since 2005, and one of activist who called for general strike in 6 April 2008, and then started working with Media committee in April 6 Youth Movement, and in 2009 he was the spokesman of movement and political office member.
  • Waleed Rashed (born 15 November 1983, El Sharkia, Egypt) is one of the co-founders of the April 6 Youth Movement and he was a banker in the UAE and Qatar. He completed his 2004 bachelor of arts degree at the Faculty of Commerce from Accounting Department at Banha University, Egypt, and is currently doing his master study in political science.

Public activism and arrests [edit]

Aside from discussing the state of the nation online, members of the group have organized public rallies to free imprisoned journalists and engaged in protests concerning the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict.[8] In its official pronouncements, the group stresses that it is not a political party. Ahmed Maher, one of the founders of the group, was arrested by the Egyptian authorities in May 2008 in an attempt to shut it down.[12]

In July 2008, Maher was again arrested, along with 14 other members of the group, and charged with "incitement against the regime". He also claimed that Egyptian state security officers threatened to rape him in custody.[13]

On 6 April 2009, the group was subjected to attacks, suspected to have been orchestrated by the Egyptian government. Several websites supporting the group were hacked simultaneously, and protests in Cairo were confronted by plain clothed Egyptian policemen and numerous arrests.[14]

On 29 January 2011, a WikiLeaks document was revealed which showed that the United States considered the movement to be "outside (the) mainstream of opposition politicians and activists" and described the goals of the movement for democracy as "unrealistic" yet still supported it in various ways, including pressing "the MFA for the release of April 6 activists".[15] On 31 January 2011, the movement promoted participation of at least a million in a march on 1 February 2011.[16]

On 3 February 2011, the Hisham Mubarak Law Center which was providing meeting space for the April 6 Youth Movement as well as providing medical and legal aid to the protesters was raided by security forces who arrested Amal Sharaf and other members of April 6.[17]

In October 2011, the group launched a “black circle, white circle” political awareness campaign. Aiming to prevent former members of Mubarak's regime from winning seats in the post-revolution parliament, the group compiled a list of candidates with ties to the dissolved National Democratic Party or with histories of corruption, which comprised the “black circle.” Meanwhile, in the “white circle,” the group listed a set of qualifications and characteristics they hope to see in elected officials.[18]

On 29th March 2013, the Movement organized an extraordinary demonstration in front of the house of the Egyptian Minister of Interior: General Mohamed Ibrahim.[19] The activists carried women's lingerie and a banner describing the Ministry of Interior as the "prostitute of the regime".[20] [21] Three of the movement activists were arrested: Abdel Azim Fahmy (Known by Zizo), Mohamed Mustapha and Hamdouh Hassan ( Known by Abou Adam). Later on a fouth activist was arrested and detained, Sayed Mounir. April 6 Movement called for a "Rage Day" against President Mohamed Mursi on the fifth anniversary of its establishment 6th April 2013. [22]

See also [edit]

Portal icon Egypt portal
Portal icon Human rights portal

References [edit]

  1. ^ Wolman, David (20 October 2008). "Cairo Activists Use Facebook to Rattle Regime". Wired (Condé Nast Publications). Retrieved 15 February 2008. 
  2. ^ Ghafour, Hamida (25 August 2008). "Parliament is burning, and the watching crowd is laughing". The National (Martin Newland). Retrieved 15 February 2008. 
  3. ^ Hussein, Abdel-Rahman (27 July 2008). "Protestors say Agrium plant is like Nazi gas chambers". Daily News Egypt (Egyptian Media Services). Retrieved 15 February 2008. 
  4. ^ Carr, Sarah (July 30, 2008). "April 6 youth detainees still in custody despite release order". Daily News Egypt (Egyptian Media Services). Retrieved 15 February 2008. 
  5. ^ Hussein, Abdel Rahman (18 September 2008). "Emaar accused of culpability in Duweiqa rockslide". Daily News Egypt (Egyptian Media Services). Retrieved 15 February 2008. 
  6. ^ Al-Anani, Khalil (2 September 2008). "In Focus: The Dilemma of Egypt’s Liberals". Daily News Egypt (Egyptian Media Services). Retrieved 15 February 2008. 
  7. ^ Radsch, Courtney (Fall 2008). "Core to Commonplace: The evolution of Egypt's blogosphere". Arab Media & Society (American University of Cairo). Retrieved 15 February 2008. 
  8. ^ a b c Shapiro, Samantha M. (22 January 2009). "Revolution, Facebook-Style". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). Retrieved 15 February 2008. 
  9. ^ "Asharq Al Awsat". 
  10. ^ Esam Al-Amin, From Counter-Attack to Departure Day, Counterpunch, 4 February 2011
  11. ^ Wolman, David (2 February 2011). "Did Egypt Detain a Top Facebook Activist?". Wired. 
  12. ^ Ellen Knickmeyer (18 May 2008). "Fledgling Rebellion on Facebook Is Struck Down by Force in Egypt". Washington Post. Retrieved 16 February 2009. 
  13. ^ Liam Stack (30 July 2008). "Egypt detains Facebook activists – again". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 16 February 2009. 
  14. ^ Egyptian Chronicles. Egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com. Retrieved on 12 March 2011
  15. ^ Egypt protests: secret US document discloses support for protesters. Telegraph (28 January 2011). Retrieved on 12 March 2011
  16. ^ anon., "Egypt protesters increase pressure: Opposition movement calls for "march of millions" on Tuesday in a bid to topple president Hosni Mubarak." (31 January 2011)
  17. ^ "Investigate Arrests of Activists, Journalists". UNHCR. 9 February 2011. 
  18. ^ "Anti-Military Movement Emerges in Tahrir". Pulitzer Center. 
  19. ^ "The April 6 five-year anniversary: How peaceful protests turned violent". Ahram Online. 
  20. ^ "The April 6 Activists Carrying Women Lingerie". Twitter account: @Mad_Darsh. 
  21. ^ "The April 6 Activists Carrying Women Lingerie in front of the Interior Minster's House". Kelmati "My Word" News. 
  22. ^ "“April 6” calls anti-regime protest on anniversary". Aswat Mariya. 

Further reading [edit]

External links [edit]

Egypt topics
History
Geography
Governance
Economy
Society
Culture
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