By Heba Fahmy
CAIRO: The Children of Egypt group withdrew from what was dubbed an “open dialogue” meeting between youth coalitions and members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) on Wednesday, which was boycotted by the main coalitions and several political forces.
“The first thing [an army official] told us was that this was a meeting not an open dialogue,” Dalia Hussein, member of the group, told Daily News Egypt.
“The army doesn’t want to hear or discuss anything with us,” she said. “They just want us to obey their orders.”
The eight items on the meeting’s agenda included the role of the armed forces in the January 25 Revolution, the achievements made so far, the army’s vision about the country’s future and the role of the youth, with the open discussion placed at the bottom of the list.
“The program they distributed demonstrates that we were going to be merely recipients [not participants] in this meeting,” member of the group, Nermine Rifaat, told DNE
“They asked us to write our questions on a piece of paper so they could answer some of them at the end of the meeting,” she said.
“That’s the kind of discussion they were referring to.”
A pamphlet about the army’s role and achievements during the January 25 Revolution was also distributed.
The SCAF generals boasted about the army’s role in protecting the revolution during the conference.
“What would have happened if the military … did not take the right decision?” asked the general during the conference, referring to its decision not to crack down on protesters who led popular protests that ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February.
“Libya! Syria!” yelled approving crowd members who packed the auditorium.
When someone shouted back: “It would not have been your right to attack us!” others then stood up and started chanting: “We want a constitution, now!”
The generals were reduced to pleading with the crowd to remain quiet.
Even as they promised a transition to civilian rule, one general lost his temper and shouted: “When I speak, you listen!”
Some officers expressed their shock at seeing the generals being heckled.
“They are shouting at generals,” said one lieutenant, in disbelief. “What do they want, a (Libyan leader Moammar) Qaddafi?”
The event was billed as the first public meeting between members of the Egypt’s ruling body and the youth of the revolution.
While some of the participants were disenchanted and repeatedly heckled the generals over alleged human rights abuses, the majority offered profuse applause.
The Children of Egypt group described the meeting as very unorganized and chaotic, adding that many of those who attended did not represent the youth.
“I saw people attending the conference who were between the ages of 60 and 80,” group member Ahmed Orabi said.
Outside the gates of El-Galaa Theater, around 100 protesters gathered to condemn the meeting and called on SCAF to end its human rights violations.
Political activist Gigi Ibrahim criticized the fact that the army’s meeting with the youth wasn’t broadcast live. She speculated that the remnants of the former regime and members of the Muslim Brotherhood dominated the meeting.
“Most of the activists involved in the January revolution are not attending the meeting,” she said.
Ibrahim condemned the military for not investigating allegations that women, arrested in Tahrir during a protest on March 9, were forced to undergo virginity checks.
“This is a red line which should not have been crossed,” she said.
The American broadcaster CNN reported that a general, under condition of anonymity, admitted that the assault did take place, but the military denied the report.
An employee at an insurance company, Sarah Aal said, “This is not why we had the revolution.”
Protesters condemned referring civilians to military courts, while members of the former regime are being tried in civilian courts in “slow motion.”
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Inside El-Galaa Theater, SCAF generals began with a moment of silence for the martyrs killed during the revolution.
The conference was attended by 1,200 people representing 153 youth groups, according to the state-run Middle East News Agency.
During the conference, participants were asked to answer a survey titled “Egypt First”, which included 23 questions evaluating the performance of the SCAF.
The army council had invited youth coalitions of the revolution to an open dialogue on Monday through in a statement issued on its Facebook page.
Twenty-two groups, including the Coalition of the Youth of the Revolution and the April 6 Youth Movement, boycotted the conference.
Member of the Youth Coalition and the Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed El-Qassass said that it was more of a symposium than an open dialogue.
“The army talked but didn’t listen to the youth,” he said. –Additional reporting by AFP and Abdus Shuman.
People hold placards as they take part with dozens of Egyptian youth in a demonstration in front of the building where the high military council held a meeting with other youth groups of the revolution in Cairo on June 1. (AFP Photo/ Khaled Desouki)
