The Kifaya Generation: Politics of change among youth in Egypt

In this paper, I aim to shed light on the lived experiences of young opposition activists in today’s Egypt. I discuss the emergence of youth-based action groups, such as Youth for Change, since the beginning of 2000s and argue that much of their grievances have to do with wider predicaments and uncertainties that Egyptian youth face in their everyday lives. The activists’ main political assets, however, pertain to a simultaneous engagement on the street—as the physical realm for public dissidence—and the internet—as the primary means and compensation for political communication in authoritarian settings. I suggest, although with reservations, that the activists’ collective actions are better viewed as ‘submerged networks’ rather than through the conventional analytical prisms of civil society and social movement. Furthermore, I argue that while the young activists assume a degree of autonomous political action from the various structures of the existing political establishment, they operate on the margins of larger processes of contentious politics and, at the same time, their social interactions continue to be structured by the prevailing social norms. Keywords: youth, social movements, political agency, generation, Egyp

Being a young activist in the late Mubarak era : An ethnography of political engagement in Egypt

This is an ethnographic study of the lived experiences of young activists during the last years of Mubarak s presidency in Egypt. Its general aim is to provide an understanding of what it was like to be involved in opposition politics during a period when the eventual end of Mubarak s rule in 2011 was little more than a collective aspiration. Drawing on different strands of qualitative social science, including anthropology, sociology and youth research, the study is based on 12 months of fieldwork in Cairo, conducted between 2007 and 2011. It makes use of political engagement as an open analytic that enables the examination of different activities that were oriented towards, but not exclusive to, public political processes and formal avenues to political participation. In this vein, the study explores the activities that the young activists regarded as meaningful in terms of challenging the status quo, and how being young in itself shaped their ways of participating in public political life. While it focuses on the experiences of young Cairenes who were predominantly male and aged in their 20s, it is acknowledged that important differences existed among them that conditioned their efforts to acquire new visibilities and political roles, including social differences such as class, gender and global connectedness. In order to explore the diversity of their political experiences, the study discusses four principal areas of analysis and related topics: namely, generational consciousness, tactical practice, friendship relations and ethical reflections. It is demonstrated that, firstly, the new forms of youth activism in the 2000s promoted a critical generational consciousness as a disenfranchised social location in the intergenerational order, while also providing reinvigorated meanings to youth as a subversive political category, and in some ways a privileged experiential realm, ready to conduct public political dissent on its own terms. The new youth movements, such as Youth for Change and April 6 Youth that emerged on the fringes of larger processes of contentious politics, assumed new roles in public political life and merged, at least temporarily, young Egyptians from different backgrounds and affiliations into collective actions: forging alliances, largely beyond the formal political institutions. Secondly, the young activists resorted to a number of tactical practices in order to reach out to wider publics via both offline and online avenues. Their operating preferences lay in organizing unlicensed street protests in the popular, lower-class residential areas and tapping into the subversive potential of the new information and communication technologies, including blogs and social media. Although these forms of public dissent expanded their otherwise narrow political opportunities, their adoption was not, however, equally available to everyone. Some either had the necessary social networks in place, including family support, or the available time and the economic means to do so, while those, who were less equipped for public dissent, could nonetheless acquire new combinations of practical skills, knowledge and social connections that enabled them to enact their sense of meaningful political action. At the same time, the efforts to build youth coalitions faced a number of challenges, one of which was internal factionalism, which, coupled with the growing use of social media, diversified the scope of youth activism in the run-up period to the 2011 uprisings. Thirdly, being a young activist in the late 2000s provided much more varied everyday experiences than merely the acts of public political dissent. It also involved absorbing pre-existing oppositional culture and adopting dissident lifestyles that were filled with shared moments of being and doing things with others on a daily basis. In the absence of representative political institutions, the experiences of having friends and being a friend to others offered intimate avenues to public political life that stretched beyond kin ties and formal organizations. Although oppositional youth activism was divided along lines of class, gender and political affiliation, the young could forge mutual grounds for friendship relations on the basis of their shared experiences and stories of contention, while frequenting downtown Cairo as the main hub of their everyday trajectories. Although friendship relations were at times volatile in the contested field of politics, safeguarding the bonds of trust, belonging and everyday solidarity represented highly relevant everyday activities. Fourthly, the young Cairenes were faced with a number of ethical reflections on the meaningfulness of their own dissent practices, not the least due to the personals risks that opposition politics involved in authoritarian settings. While the prospect of impoverishment did not generally motivate their political engagements, they shared a sense of injured patriotism that prevailed in the wider prodemocracy movement, and aspired to greater recognition as rightful citizens. At the same time, they operated on an ambivalent moral terrain that required positioning one s self and others in relation to normative claims to the common good; furthermore, they had to contend with popular suspicion about the impact of their public political dissent and about possible motives for their activism, such as the pursuit of social status and personal wellbeing. Despite the differences that existed among the activist youth in terms of class and gender, however, they could in part challenge these types of speculations by enacting the prevailing ideals of personhood in terms of bravery, righteousness and self-sacrifice. Meanwhile, although the young Cairenes were embedded in the moral worlds of prodemocracy mobilization, they were also compelled to balance their political engagements in terms of multiple life transitions, especially in terms of balancing their activism with the requirements of gaining a livelihood. While there were multiple ways of being or becoming an activist in the late Mubarak era, the young Cairenes political engagements were connected to their collective pursuit of playing a meaningful role in what happened in the present, while acknowledging that Egypt s future was intimately tied to their own life trajectories.Väitöstutkimus tarkastelee aktivistinuorten kokemuksia presidentti Hosni Mubarakin toimikauden loppupuolella Egyptissä. Se tutkii nuorten poliittista osallistumista sanan laajassa merkityksessä ja tarkastelee poliittisen vastarinnan muotoja ja arkipäivän tekoja, joita aktivistit pitivät tärkeinä vallitsevien olojen muuttamiseksi. Samalla on tutkittu, kuinka nuoruus määritti heidän kokemuksiaan politiikasta aikana, jolloin Mubarakin hallinnon päättyminen vuoden 2011 kansannousun myötä ei ollut vielä heidän näköpiirissään. Tutkimus perustuu yhteensä 12 kuukauden mittaiseen etnografiseen kenttätyöhön vuosien 2007 ja 2011 välillä. Se keskittyy kairolaisnuoriin, joista valtaosa oli 20-30-vuotiaita miehiä. Samalla huomioidaan, että 2000-luvun nuorisoaktivismi oli hyvin monialainen ilmiö ja että nuorten väliset sosiaaliset erot kuten luokka, sukupuoli ja kosmopoliittisuus määrittivät heidän pyrkimyksiään omaksua uusia rooleja Mubarakin hallinnon vastaisessa liikehdinnässä. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan nuorten kokemusten monimuotoisuutta neljästä näkökulmasta: ensin käsitellään sukupolvitietoisuuden rakentumista ja rakentamista, ja seuraavaksi nuorten vastarinnan taktisia käytäntöjä sekä ystävyyssuhteiden ja eettisten pohdintojen merkitystä heidän arkielämässään. Tutkimus osoittaa, että 2000-luvun nuorisoaktivismi ja uudet nuorisoliikkeet kokosivat yhteen eri taustaisia nuoria, jotka toimivat virallisen puoluepolitiikan ulkopuolella ja edesauttoivat sukupolvitietoisuuden rakentumista ja nuoruuden uudelleenmäärittelyä oppositioliikkeiden piirissä. Tässä yhteydessä tarkastellaan erityisesti Nuoret Muutoksen Puolesta- ja Huhtikuun 6. Päivän Nuoret-liikkeitä, jotka kehittyivät laajemman demokratialiikkeen ja työläisten lakkoliikkeiden yhteydessä. Kairolaisnuoret turvautuivat kekseliäisiin poliittisen vaikuttamisen käytäntöihin, ja suosivat katuprotestien järjestämistä pääkaupungin köyhemmillä asuinalueilla ja tieto- ja viestintäteknologioiden valjastamista poliittisen toimintansa välineiksi. Aktivismin uudet muodot täydensivät nuorten poliittisen osallistumisen rajallisia mahdollisuuksia, mutta ne eivät olleet yhtälailla kaikkien ulottuvilla. Osa nuorista omaksui niitä taloudellisen asemansa, perheensä tuen sekä sosiaalisten verkostojensa turvin. Toiset toteuttivat merkityksellisinä pitämiään poliittisia tekoja omaksumalla käytännön tietoja ja taitoja sekä solmimalla suhteita poliittisen opposition piirissä. Nuorisoliikkeiden sisäinen jakautuminen sekä sosiaalisen median käytön kasvu myös monipuolistivat nuorisoaktivismin alaa vuoden 2011 kansannousua edeltävinä vuosina. Samalla julkisen vastarinnan eri muodot, kuten mielenosoitukset, edustivat suhteellisen yksittäisiä tapahtumia aktivistinuorten arkielämässä. He viettivät suuren osan ajastaan Kairon keskustassa ja solmivat ystävyyssuhteita, jotka perustuivat yhteisiin vastarintakokemuksiin ja -kertomuksiin sekä heidän vaihtoehtoiseen elämäntapaansa. Ystävyyssuhteet olivat nuorille hyvin merkittäviä epävirallisia verkostoja sukulaisuussuhteiden ja muodollisten organisaatioiden ohessa. Ne olivat kuitenkin epävakaita jakautuneessa poliittisessa ympäristössä, jossa keskinäistä luottamusta, yhteenkuuluvuutta ja arjen solidaarisuutta ylläpitävien suhteiden ylläpidon merkitys korostui entisestään. Kairolaisnuoret myös kohtasivat lukuisia eettisiä kysymyksiä osallistuessaan riskialttiiseen oppositiotoimintaan. Toisaalta heitä yhdisti demokratialiikkeen piirissä jaettu patriotismi, joka perustui näkemykseen, että Mubarakin hallinto ajoi yhteisen hyvän nimissä omia etujaan, eikä turvannut heille kuuluvia oikeuksia. Toisaalta he kohtasivat julkisessa elämässä samankaltaisia epäluuloja heidän henkilökohtaisista motiiveistaan, mutta pystyivät torjumaan niitä toimimalla rohkeuden, oikeudenmukaisuuden ja uhrautumisen ihanteiden mukaisesti. Mubarakin hallinnon vastainen toiminta sijoittui heidän elämänsä eri osa-alueille kuitenkin ristiriitaisilla tavoilla, etenkin suhteessa työelämään siirtymiseen tulevaisuudessa. Nuorten poliittista sitoutumista ja osallisuutta määritti yhteinen pyrkimys vaikuttaa yhteiskuntaan nykyhetkessä, ja ymmärrys siitä, että heidän elämänpolkunsa ja maan tulevaisuus olivat kiinteästi toisiinsa sidoksissa

Evasive Youth, Oblique Politics

Peer reviewe

Genetic determinants of heel bone properties: genome-wide association meta-analysis and replication in the GEFOS/GENOMOS consortium

Quantitative ultrasound of the heel captures heel bone properties that independently predict fracture risk and, with bone mineral density (BMD) assessed by X-ray (DXA), may be convenient alternatives for evaluating osteoporosis and fracture risk. We performed a meta-analysis of genome-wide association (GWA) studies to assess the genetic determinants of heel broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA; n = 14 260), velocity of sound (VOS; n = 15 514) and BMD (n = 4566) in 13 discovery cohorts. Independent replication involved seven cohorts with GWA data (in silico n = 11 452) and new genotyping in 15 cohorts (de novo n = 24 902). In combined random effects, meta-analysis of the discovery and replication cohorts, nine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) had genome-wide significant (P < 5 × 10(-8)) associations with heel bone properties. Alongside SNPs within or near previously identified osteoporosis susceptibility genes including ESR1 (6q25.1: rs4869739, rs3020331, rs2982552), SPTBN1 (2p16.2: rs11898505), RSPO3 (6q22.33: rs7741021), WNT16 (7q31.31: rs2908007), DKK1 (10q21.1: rs7902708) and GPATCH1 (19q13.11: rs10416265), we identified a new locus on chromosome 11q14.2 (rs597319 close to TMEM135, a gene recently linked to osteoblastogenesis and longevity) significantly associated with both BUA and VOS (P < 8.23 × 10(-14)). In meta-analyses involving 25 cohorts with up to 14 985 fracture cases, six of 10 SNPs associated with heel bone properties at P < 5 × 10(-6) also had the expected direction of association with any fracture (P < 0.05), including three SNPs with P < 0.005: 6q22.33 (rs7741021), 7q31.31 (rs2908007) and 10q21.1 (rs7902708). In conclusion, this GWA study reveals the effect of several genes common to central DXA-derived BMD and heel ultrasound/DXA measures and points to a new genetic locus with potential implications for better understanding of osteoporosis pathophysiology

Dynamics of engagement among youth in Arab Mediterranean countries

Faced with the general period of political demobilisation since 2011, there is a need to look beyond the manifest forms of political participation and to better understand the dynamics of engagement among today’s Arab Mediterranean youth. In this article, we inquire into the life experiences of young people and, especially, explore the agentic dimensions of their apparent disengagement. What societal processes shape their negative attitudes toward engaging in public political life? What prospects are there for further politicisation of youth in the post-2011 era? In order to address these questions, we adopt a processual view of engagement, indicating that young people’s agencies are geared towards the goals of livelihood, employment, and attaining personal advancement and markers of social adulthood. These in turn represent spheres of life that may aggregate instances of felt injustices and thresholds of politicisation processes.Peer reviewe

“How on Earth does one find a job in Finland?” : Reflections on using documentary film as a research method to study young asylum seekers' employment prospects

Peer reviewe

36-month clinical outcomes of patients with venous thromboembolism: GARFIELD-VTE

Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE), encompassing both deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide.Methods: GARFIELD-VTE is a prospective, non-interventional observational study of real-world treatment practices. We aimed to capture the 36-month clinical outcomes of 10,679 patients with objectively confirmed VTE enrolled between May 2014 and January 2017 from 415 sites in 28 countries.Findings: A total of 6582 (61.6 %) patients had DVT alone, 4097 (38.4 %) had PE +/- DVT. At baseline, 98.1 % of patients received anticoagulation (AC) with or without other modalities of therapy. The proportion of patients on AC therapy decreased over time: 87.6 % at 3 months, 73.0 % at 6 months, 54.2 % at 12 months and 42.0 % at 36 months. At 12-months follow-up, the incidences (95 % confidence interval [CI]) of all-cause mortality, recurrent VTE and major bleeding were 6.5 (7.0-8.1), 5.4 (4.9-5.9) and 2.7 (2.4-3.0) per 100 person-years, respectively. At 36-months, these decreased to 4.4 (4.2-4.7), 3.5 (3.2-2.7) and 1.4 (1.3-1.6) per 100 person-years, respectively. Over 36-months, the rate of all-cause mortality and major bleeds were highest in patients treated with parenteral therapy (PAR) versus oral anti-coagulants (OAC) and no OAC, and the rate of recurrent VTE was highest in patients on no OAC versus those on PAR and OAC. The most frequent cause of death after 36-month follow-up was cancer (n = 565, 48.6 %), followed by cardiac (n = 94, 8.1 %), and VTE (n = 38, 3.2 %). Most recurrent VTE events were DVT alone (n = 564, 63.3 %), with the remainder PE, (n = 236, 27.3 %), or PE in combination with DVT (n = 63, 7.3 %).Interpretation: GARFIELD-VTE provides a global perspective of anticoagulation patterns and highlights the accumulation of events within the first 12 months after diagnosis. These findings may help identify treatment gaps for subsequent interventions to improve patient outcomes in this patient population