Banning university students from becoming involved in political activity on campus is a sign of the "undemocratic" nature of Egypt’s regime, said Osama el-Ghazali Harb, president of the Democratic Front Party. According to el-Ghazali, the Egyptian regime made a terrible mistake by imposing such a ban.
El-Ghazali’s statement came during a seminar titled "Political Parties and Education Issues in Egypt," organized by the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University.
"If we want to assert our rights, we must participate in the formulation of those rights," el-Ghazali said about political involvement. "A young man cannot go on about not involving himself in politics and then complain about the spread of unemployment."
El-Ghazali said that Egypt’s political parties were originally established to fight the British occupation, and not King Farouk. He described the period between 1922-1952 as one of the most democratic in Egypt’s history, one which witnessed pluralism and several political struggles.
El-Ghazali added that the current political climate doesn’t allow political parties to work freely.
"You will, God willing, see a party other than the National Democratic Party (NDP) in a few years’ time, or maybe in ten years," he said to the younger members of his audience. "Since you were born you haven’t seen any party other than the NDP!"
Students attending the seminar responded crying out, "Pray to God!"
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
