Have Egyptian Youth Reached Point of Political Frustration?

 
“Despair is accompanied by weakness. Weakness is a proof on ignorance. Ignorance should never defeat us. We are exerting our utmost efforts seeking a better life for us and for others as much as possible. We should not allow feelings of frustration turn into a despair”, said Dr. Moataz by Abd Al-Fattah”s Allah in words that make us inquire whether Egyptian young men have reached the point of political frustration.
 
We asked this question to some young men across the political spectrum in Egypt .
 
Loving homeland is momentum for a better future
 
Islam Tawfik, a Muslim Brotherhood (MB) young men and administrator of weblog  islam-tawfeek.blogspot.com , said :” We hear so much that there is freedom in the country and that government demands people to express their views. However, when we speak out, we face repression, interrogations, detentions and dismissals from university dormitory and dismissal from faculties, actions which naturally spawn feelings of frustration”.
 
“Our love to our country is the momentum that pushes young men to work for a better future. I love my country very much, I love my university very much and I will continue loving it and sacrificing for it. Dismissals or detentions won”t stop me from loving it”, said Islam.
 
Islam said there are others who- due to bad conditions- hate themselves and hate their country due to the psychological pressures. They may even forget serving their country and working for coming generations .
 
When frustration attacks the youth, it makes them think of only of nothing, like clips, girls and kinds of mobiles and fashion and nothing else.
 
Islam added that the state of frustration continue overwhelming students for long periods because they are always frustrated as everything comes in contradiction with what they wish, adding insult to injury.
 
A mixture of frustration and boredom
 
Anas Al Feqi, a Muslim Brotherhood young man, saw that most Egyptian people, specially young men, are currently suffering from from a mixture of frustration and boredom. He attributed the cause of this feeling of boredom to the repetition of incidents and the bad conditions while there is no expected return of hope.
 
Anas saw that one of the most notorious fallouts from this frustration- that increases everyday among the youth- is losing patriotism. He added that it is very serious that Egyptian young men reach such a degree. This means that they don”t care for homeland interests or concerns and that they don”t have the desire to change bad things. This frustration may drive some to even spy on their country for moneys due to lacking patriotism.
 
 
Anas sees that the feeling of frustration among young men may continue until they face a shock, an incident that may shock them and make them leave this state of frustration. However, Anas says he is always showing a feeling of permanent optimism and hope and he tries to spread these positive feelings among his friends and family members.
 
“If every one gets frustrated, how will the country be improved? We must cling to hope”, says Anas.
 
Frustration emerges from not finding keys to change
 
Mostafa Mahmud, a young man affiliated to the socialist movement, sees that Kifaya Movement is one of the most important democratic movements in Egypt . He attributed its failure to not adopting sufficient social demands that concern the Egyptian people. There are other substitutes for it and have proven to be a success, the various social movements like workers every where, taxmen and students and others.”
 
Such movements, Mahmoud sees- have created a new atmosphere of optimism and created an atmosphere of cooperation and solidarity among various sections of the society.
 
Mahmoud added that the feeling of frustration emerges when people can”t find the keys of change in society. Change will not come from mere talk and statements of intellectuals. Change will not come from these leaders. It will come from social movements emerging from all sections of the society.
 
Mahmoud expressed his optimism towards the future, saying:” Since the experience of protests against the constitutional amendments in 2005, frustrations are piling on people- specially the political frustration. However, there is another new wave of events this year 2007. All sections of the society take part in this wave with no need for support from political parties or movements, according to him.
 
Mostafa added that frustration is the main reason for what happened to Egyptians illegally migrating to Italy : As a result of unemployment and losing hope that salaries may be raised and many other reasons that send people to the unknown.
 
 
MB young men best youth to shrug off state of frustration
 
Mona Mohamed, a member of Al-Ghad Party, saw that the feeling of frustration is widespread and is lurking among young men. She said that it is a natural result of the political events which spawn a state of recklessness among young men. This state doesn”t easily or quickly leave the youth. They continue as there is no positive political events, leading to an endlessly increasing state of frustration.
 
She added that that she noticed that MB young men are more able to get out of the state of frustration faster than other youth affiliated to other political movements. This is due to several reasons-she said- including the fact that there are leaders who encourage them to work and urge them to go on and provide activities with a material support. Young men in other movements lack these supporting factors.
 
 
Bilal Ziad, a young member of the liberal movement, 21 years old, saw that Egyptian young men should only think about how to plant seeds of fruit in their homeland, because they are growing good and reform of coming generations.
 
Also, he saw that change and hope will not take shape during the current generation whose only role is restricted to planting seeds and sacrificing a little for the coming generation that will reap fruits and efforts of this generation. He added that the young men should be have hope and patience to reach a better future for them and for those coming in the future.
 
Frustration spawns terrorism
 
Bilal added that the wide spread state of frustration among young men may cause many social problems, the most serious of which may be terrorism.. intellectual or militant terrorism or any other kind of this. This will also lead to a rising unemployment and consequently the spread of crimes in the Egyptian society.”
 
Bilal attributed the current state of frustration to the current policy adopted and practiced by our governments. No change or economic development can take place without democracy, according to him.
 
Being a member of Al-Ghad Party, Bilal ” added that Gamila Ismail decision of resigning from the party is a fully personal decision, but it doesn”t represent most young men. ” There is still a considerable part of the society who is fully frustrated from every thing in Egypt . However, there are many young men who still hope that something better will happen. Such optimistic young men still move in the Egyptian street and they are still effective. Take for example the performance of the university students who move across the political spectrum. Without hope among the youth, we wouldn”t have seen such vitality and continuous movement every where”, he said.