The Egyptian Popular Current ( ') is a movement in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, created after the 2012 presidential elections by former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi. The movement was formed on 21 September 2012. The movement formed the Popular Current Party on 21 September 2014.

Formation and structure

The formation of the Popular Current movement by Nasserist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, the third-place candidate during 2012 presidential elections, was announced in late September 2012 during a conference in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

's Abdeen Square. Its establishment aimed to consolidate and institutionalize Sabahi's unexpected support during the elections. The conference was moderated by journalist Hussein Abdel Ghani and featured as guest speakers the prominent journalist Hamdi Qandil, Federation of Independent Trade Unions head Kamal Abu Eita, Sharqiyah pastor Yoannes Ishak, late president

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

's son Abdel Hakim, and public figures from the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai ( ; ; ; ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a land bridge between Asia and Afri ...

and the southern region of

Nubia Nubia (, Nobiin language, Nobiin: , ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the confluence of the Blue Nile, Blue and White Nile, White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), and the Cataracts of the Nile, first cataract ...

, among other personalities. While the Popular Current's members were generally leftists, nationalists and revolutionary youth supportive of Sabahi's adoption of the "

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

" platform, Sabahi called for the newly formed party to attract all Egyptians, including the "workers, farmers, craftsmen, fishermen, producers, middle class, Muslims, Copts, Sinai residents, Nubians, country folk, city dwellers, men, women, old and young." The structure of the movement is essentially decentralized. As of 2013, there are two principal bodies that the movement consists of: the 17-member executive bureau and the 60-70-member council of trustees. The former serves as the administrative core of the Popular Current and consists of youth leaders and activists who were either heavily involved in Sabahi's presidential campaign or leading members of left-leaning groupings such as the

Egyptian Social Democratic Party The Egyptian Social Democratic Party (, ) is a social liberal and social democratic party in Egypt. It was founded after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution by the merger of two minor liberal parties, the Liberal Egyptian Party, and the Egyptian D ...

and the Youth for Freedom and Justice. The executive bureau is responsible for coordinating and managing major activities. The council of trustees plays an advisory role and is particularly responsible with advising executive members on certain documents. Its members are largely drawn from contributors to Sabahi's presidential campaign and are primarily specialists in various fields relating to the movement's political platform. Members and leaders of other political parties are able to join while still operating with their respective factions. The purpose of this flexibility is to foster the expansion of

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

support throughout Egypt's urban and rural areas. Unlike most Egyptian political parties, the Popular Current's stated objectives were intended to reach beyond Egypt's political sphere, encompassing the fields of development, the

economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

and

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

. There was initial debate among the leadership on whether the Popular Current should become a political party or a movement, with the latter option being preferred. However, the lack of financial resources has hindered the geographic reach of the Popular Current. Its members have generally focused on organizing anti-government demonstrations, while neglecting to work on the party's internal organization. According to Nadine Abdallah, the absence of sustainable funding and the lack of internal management has "reduced the Popular Current to a protest movement."

Views

The Popular Current's stances are virtually identical to Sabahi's: the achievement of social justice by instituting minimum and maximum wages in the public sector, the guarantee of personal and political freedoms, the establishment of a strong democratic system, the adoption of an independent foreign policy including the re-establishment of Egypt's historical role as a leading regional power and stringent opposition to interference in Egypt's domestic affairs by various world powers.

Incidents involving supporters

On 5 December, members of the Popular Current Mohamed Essam and Karam Gergis were murdered in the clashes surrounding Heliopolis Palace between protestors against the new Constitution and

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

members, which attacked the demonstrators with

Molotov cocktail A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see '') is a hand-thrown incendiary weapon consisting of a frangible container filled with flammable substances and equipped with a Fuse (explosives), fuse (typically a glass bottle filled wit ...

s. On 4 February 2013, Mohamed el-Gendy, a member of the Popular Current allegedly tortured by the police following his arrest at Tahrir Square on 27 January, died in the Helal hospital due to his grave injuries.

Popular Current Party

On 21 September 2014 the movement formed a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

, the Popular Current Party. Sabahi will not lead the party. A spokesman of the party, Hossam Moanes, has criticized the Egyptian protest law. It boycotted the Egyptian parliamentary election, 2015. It merged with the Dignity Party in March 2016.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

References

External links

Facebook Page

Website (Archived)
{{Egyptian political parties 2012 establishments in Egypt Arab nationalism in Egypt Egyptian democracy movements Nasserist political parties Nationalist parties in Egypt Organisations of the Egyptian Crisis (2011–2014) Organizations established in 2012 Political parties established in 2014 Secularism in Egypt Social democratic parties in Egypt