![]() |
|
Brendan Halloran
|
Background
As I sit down to write about the role of social movements and grassroots organizations for state accountability, I’m drawn to reflect on the significance of today, Janu-ary 25, 2016. Five years ago, thousands, and eventually millions, of Egyptians took to the street to protest a corrupt and illegitimate regime. Tahrir Square became the epicenter of this movement, and in a few short weeks Egypt’s strong-man resigned and a democratic opening began. If only the story ended there. Un-fortunately, it did not, and Egypt is today under another military government, one that has learned the lessons of the past and has sup-pressed civil society with renewed vigor. What lessons should we draw from this experience? In my own reflection on the Tahrir Square movement, I highlight the need to build grassroots organiza-tions, not just bring people into the streets with social media-enabled mobilizing. The broader point is that we need to have a more sophisticated un-derstanding of the role of mobiliza-tions, social movements, and mem-bership-based organizations in pro-moting more democratic and ac-countable governance. |
Participants deliberating in a group exercise in TALEARN and COPASAH collaborative roundtable
|
|