Berkley Center

Background: This conversation (by Skype) between Barbara Ibrahim and Katherine Marshall focused on an ongoing review of religious roots and dimensions of philanthropy. Ibrahim describes the current focus of the Gerhart Center on documenting trends in philanthropy since the start of the Arab uprising. She stresses the rising importance of citizen engagement, and the obstacles to youth participation. This is one route to overcome the acute polarization between secular and Islamist factions that characterizes the region at present. Much is happening at the community level, especially with new players. That applies also to corporations and new foundations.

Our focus is on how religion and philanthropy intersect. How far is that a theme for the Gerhart Center?

Let me start with a story and an observation.

Not long after the fall of the Mubarak family in October 2011, there was a large march of mainly Coptic citizens in Cairo. There were people from many walks of life, including priests. They were peacefully protesting negative media images of Copts. Suddenly there was a violent attack on the marchers, including by police, and many were killed, more injured. On live state television Egyptians were told to come out and defend the police from Christian demonstrators, a blatant falsehood. This came to be known as the Maspero Massacre.

I have a diverse staff in our office and the next morning they were devastated and frightened. Emotions ran high. Several knew both marchers killed and those injured. One person had spent the night at the morgue trying to recover the body of someone he knew. I decided to suspend work and we spent the day in reflection. What should and could be our response to what was happening? What could a university-based center like ours do?

At the end of a long conversation we emerged with a framework that reflects how we believe that a country like Egypt can get beyond the tensions we are seeing: it is the concept of citizenship, the commitment to an Egypt that is for all Egyptians. All of us want to reclaim our rights back from arbitrary injustice, and for me to have my rights I have to agree to give you your rights. That must apply to all citizens. All families in Egypt were touched in one fashion or another by the brutality and repression of the Mubarak regime. That means that there is a common ground, at least potentially. So what I want for my family and myself I have to be ready to want and give to you and yours. We have therefore sought to weave this theme of citizenship through all the work that we do. It goes beyond our studies to our work with students. As an example we are establishing debate clubs in public universities to promote the skills of dialogue and reasoned argument. This approach is helping our young staff to have a sense that they have some hand in what is happening, so that they do not succumb to depression about the many things that they cannot change. They can help to build something, and work to overcome the current malaise. This is something that applies in Egypt but also in Tunisia and Libya.

The other observation is about polarization. Many in Egypt have moved from a wary position of willingness to give the new Islamist government a chance to complete opposition. We are in a moment where there seems to be no middle ground, little or no leadership, and weak, non-functional institutions. We are not sleeping much.

Can you bring us up to date on the work of the Gerhart Center more broadly? There is much information on the website but it leaves some gaps on recent developments.

The center finds itself in a position where we offer something (in our work on civic engagement) that many are seeking now, so we have more work and challenges than we can handle. We have a young, idealistic, and motivated staff who are emotionally charged and engaged. It’s an exciting but troubling time for us.

One main focus of our current work is to document how the events of the Arab Revolution are changing philanthropy in North Africa (especially Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya). In such turbulent times, often the traditional philanthropists, people of wealth and influence under prior regimes, find themselves in a position where they cannot react quickly. They were often associated with the ancient regime, so they keep their heads down now. So what we are seeing is a flowering of philanthropy by ordinary citizens. They are showing a collective interest in funding community projects, for example, transforming neighborhood defense committees into community development projects. This is leading to the emergence of community foundation-like entities where citizens pool their funds for the common good. It’s an exciting development and we are working to help institutionalize it and sustain the impetus.

Social media is playing important roles. We are seeing more initiatives based on crowd-sourcing to raise funds, for example to keep a small newspaper from going under, and to sustain efforts in arts and culture. Texting is used to mobilize popular demonstrations and to meet practical demands like field hospitals and medical supply needs.

We are also seeing initiatives to fund long term care for activists who were injured and disabled.

All these are citizen efforts, organized by professionals and others from the middle and upper middle classes—by people who had not thought of themselves as activists or philanthropists before.

The situation in Libya is rather different, because there were no civil society institutions allowed whatsoever under Gaddafi. This is changing, for example with the return of Libyans from the diaspora who are setting up institutions and launching new efforts. Women’s groups are a prominent example. But it is still quite thin.

In Tunisia also, controls on civil society were very tight and institutions and initiatives were focused on culture and science. There were no human rights or development institutions. Again we are seeing a flowering of change.

The Gerhart Center is engaged in a project to document what is happening. We also have projects aimed at building capacity. The British Council is supporting an effort to document youth voices in these countries: to hear what they are saying and analyze what they envision for their countries. The focus is on social and political activists. That report will be published soon, and we’ll be lobbying to get youth voices to be more present because, for all the talk of the importance of youth, they are simply not there in any policy space, national or international.

Another effort is a seven country study of what corporations are contributing, especially their social investing. This extends beyond the transitioning countries to the Gulf. There, governments are providing subsidies to their populations in an effort to stave off precipitous change.

The topic of civic engagement opens many windows of opportunity, especially in Egypt. We are supporting policy dialogue. As an example there are efforts to change the laws of association (this is not going in the right direction now). We recently organized a round table on civic education. Some 28 organizations came together to discuss curricula they offer, geographic spread, and so forth. This has generated an ongoing network. We have looked especially at the experience of South Africa and other countries that have experienced transitions. One reflection (and it is exemplified in Mamphela Rampele’s recent book and her launching of a new party) is that too little attention was paid to building citizen skills and awareness—it is an important missing link. Our civic education group seek to talk with the Ministry of Education about ways in which citizenship can be taught more effectively. What has happened until now is terrible—the focus is on wars and loyalty to nation, with nothing on what citizens can do to actively contribute.

We are also focusing on how to transform the way courses are taught in universities in terms of a pedagogy of community-based learning. This is in the context of the Ma’an Alliance of Arab universities that includes the Georgetown Doha campus. This is a time when money for construction and faculty salaries is in short supply but there is ample room for low cost ideas. Our focus is on getting students outside of the classroom and the library, to places where they can learn experientially and hone new skills. All disciplines can be engaged: literature students can write and publish stories of refugees while engineering students can work to build safe drinking water systems and philosophy classes can help to define ethical codes of conduct for NGOs.

And I personally am researching a guidebook for philanthropy in transitions, with a focus on how private funding can respond to these moments of opportunity with flexibility. The theme is that private individuals and institutions can do a lot by investing in key professions like law and independent media, and building up indigenous modes of giving.

How do you see the impact of recent events on more traditional religious giving?

That is not an area where we focus directly. My sense, from talking to others and anecdotal accounts, is that not much is known about what is happening and especially what is changing. But there are clearly important changes taking place.

I have one personal observation. In urban areas there is a common feeling among those involved in demonstrations that “their revolution” has been hijacked by the current ruling parties. It is hard to point to demands of the revolution that they are resolving, and so political protests have continued, especially in major urban areas. In the villages it seems to be a quite different story. People there were not in the streets demonstrating but they nonetheless felt and feel part of the revolution. Young people are organizing services and demanding action from local leaders, for better sewage systems, local schools, and they are working to mobilize community resources. In short, there is a lot going on outside Cairo and Alexandria that the media does not cover, with a practical mood to get things done.

There is a strong narrative that explains the popularity and hold of Islamist political parties by their attention to and effectiveness in providing social services (in stark contrast to the failures of governments). Are you seeing this playing out? Is it well documented?

Yes, this is the narrative, and yes, it is absolutely happening. There is some building of schools and clinics, but what you see mostly is traditional charitable handouts: during Ramadan, at election times, and when there is a family crisis. This is something that Egyptians understand well and appreciate.

But this kind of charity really does little to solve root causes of social problems and it can be a way of winning political loyalty.

To give an example, my husband inherited some land in his village and is donating it to build a secondary school for girls whose families will not allow them to walk four miles to the nearest existing school. We are also seeking local contributions toward the building costs so there is participation and ownership. However, the Muslim Brotherhood groups are doing all they can to block the project. They argue that the priority is donations to finish a mosque (there are already several mosques in a small village) and that the school should come later. It is not really about the high school. It is about control. They are using charity to preserve their monopoly of power.

This is a more general tendency. The Muslim Brotherhood groups are showing no interest in or capacity for collaboration and sharing power. They are taking all the oxygen, at district, governorate, and national levels. There are no coalitions. And this is what is creating the extreme polarization of political views that we are seeing today.

A fascinating religious figure who promotes citizen activism and giving is the immensely popular televangelist, Amr Khaled. What role is he playing in current events in Egypt and the region?

He is a remarkable figure. Some 10 years ago, he was essentially a preacher, who drew huge crowds of young people. He was described a promoting an “Islam Lite,” a modernized view of Islam that did not need to be burdensome or restrictive. He was forced out of Egypt when the Mubarak regime became wary of his popularity, and spent time in London. He was exposed there to European Islam, and moved towards more of a civic engagement position. He works primarily with young people, and his message is that they can and should be involved in building more humane societies. That message is a large part of why he has so much traction. He preaches that there is much that young Muslims can do to make their lives meaningful. I do not believe that he has much direct connection with the Muslim Brotherhood.

In some countries women and women’s groups are arguing forcefully to “reclaim” their Muslim faith. Are you seeing that much in Egypt or is the traditional polarization between secular and religious women the dominant current?

This is an important trend but not one where I have detailed information. Heba Raouf would be a good person to speak to this as she has written and spoken out often and forcefully on the topic.

My sense is that this determination to reclaim a faith that has been hijacked by extremism and extremists is very widely held, especially among women, but rarely does it have a strong theological or academic root. The sense is that women and moderate Muslim men as well do not want political Islamists to define their faith for them.

A point that is often overlooked is that in general, and across the region, none of the political parties, whether Salafi Islamists and Brotherhood or the opposition secular groups have been especially friendly to women. There are no strong political movements yet built around principles of gender equality. The February twentieth movement in Morocco is interesting in that regard. It is a youth initiative predicated on the need to overcome overt gender conflicts by building alliances among men and women who share a common cause—alleviating poverty or improving education. By explicitly requiring task leaders to include both men and women, they hope to build a ‘post-feminist’ consciousness and avoid the polarizing debates over women’s roles.