But, it seems the overall political stir in the country is finally making its way to our engineers. Last year my inbox received several statements signed by Mohandessoun Ded el-Herassa, which translates awkwardly into “Engineers Against Custodianship,” in reference to the government-imposed group of custodians who run the syndicate. And if I’m not mistaken, there was a demonstration organized at some point in front of the syndicate this year, but my memory betrays me so as to when exactly.
It’s worth noting several prominent leaders in the anti-Mubarak movement come from the ranks of the engineers, like Kamal Khalil. But leftist engineers, seemingly, have tended to be active politically in circles other than their own syndicate. I don’t necessarily know why, but may be because of the strong dominance of the Islamists that had left a tiny room for secular activism? (If any of you dear Arabist readers are following the engineers’ beat, you are more than welcome to share info with us.)
Since last February, my inbox has been receiving statements signed by the “Democratic Engineers.� Now a petition is being circulated calling for the end of government control on the syndicate. I thought of sharing their (Arabic) website with you. The site includes their manifesto, statements, updates on activism issues, and the petition.
I had a similar questioning about the involvement and the role of engineers in the “democratic movement”. Thank you for sharing this info about this engineers’ movement, I didn’t know it. I would just like to share another remark. Engineers are the first profession within Hizb al-Wasat, with 32 of them among the 117 founding members (or 203, if we count ‘umal we fellahin). I know that Abu el Ala Mâdi, the party’s president, was a leading member of the syndicate.
It would be interesting to compare the namelists of kifâya-engineers, wasat engineers and mohandessoun ded el herassa, and to see the links between leftists and islamists engineers, etc.
I don’t know who has recently initiated the struggle against government control (probably the MB ?). Remember that at the beginning of last february, around 5000 members voted to lift the judicial sequestration (without success) during a general assembly. Read http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/782/eg9.htm
What is mohandessoun ded el herassa ? Are they the same ?
Thanks for your contribution Ben. Very useful info indeed. I think “Engineers against Custodianship” are the same group as “Engineers for Change,” and “Democratic engineers.” And they all seem to be MB-sponsored intiatives.
There are plenty of secular activist engineers around, but for some reason they are NOT active within their own syndicate. Lefy engineers are among the leaders of umbrella organizations like Kefaya, Hamla Sha3biya, as well as radical leftist groups like the Revolutionary Socialists. Still, I can’t recall a socialist initiative at the syndicate.
Also check this website: http://www.eng4change.com/
[…] Mohamed Saleh, Engineers against Custodianship […]
Ben, It seems I was wrong about something. I was going thru 3amr 3ezzat’s blog, Mabadali, and I found his account of the Engineers’ meeting last Feb where they voted to lift the freeze off their syndicate. It seems from 3amr’s account:
-Engineers against Custodianship (Mohandessoun ded el-Herrassa) are MB
-The Democratic Engineers (Al-Mohandessoun al-Demoqratiyoun) represent the left, which is smaller in number than the above menioned.
-The Nationalist Engineers (Al-Mohandessoun al-Qawmeyoun), represents the Nasserists.
Check his (Arabic) account: http://mabadali.blogspot.com/2006/02/blog-post_18.html