The Cairo derby: Politics vs. repression
By James M. Dorsey
This month’s premier league final between Cairo’s two
storied clubs, Al Ahli SC and Al Zamalek SC, once the world’s most violent
derby, was more than a clash between two soccer giants. It was a clash between
management styles and diametrically opposed approaches towards militant, highly
politicized, street battle-hardened soccer fans. The clash highlighted the
advantages of engagement as opposed to the risk of radicalization and
escalating political violence.
On the pitch like on the streets and university campuses of
Egypt, Zamalek’s emergence as this year’s Egyptian champion despite Ahli having
won the derby itself would seem to legitimize the club’s aggressive effort to
criminalize its fan base.
The facts on the ground, however, suggest that Al Ahli’s
engagement with its supporters has produced far better results, including greater
cooperation with a group that like its Zamalek counterpart played a key role in
the toppling in 2011 of President Hosni Mubarak and protests against all his
successors in the past four years.
Members of Ultras Ahlawy, the Al Ahli support group, and
Ultras White Knights (UWK), the
Zamalek fan group, form the core of prominent student
and youth groups that have been targeted by the government of general-turned-president
Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, who in 2013 toppled Egypt’s only democratically elected
president, Mohammed Morsi, in a military coup. More than a thousand protesters
have been killed on Mr. Al Sisi’s watch while tens of thousands have been
incarcerated and thousands expelled from universities.
Zamalek president Mortada Mansour, a larger than life
figure, whose at times comical outbursts often persuade the government to
maintain a distance even though they support Mr. Al Sisi’s policies, charged
that Al Ahli’s victory on the pitch was due to “ghosts and jinns" and that
his assertions are “written in the holy Quran.”
More seriously, Mr. Mortada has identified the UWK and other
militant fans or ultras as enemies of the state aligned with the outlawed
Muslim Brotherhood. He succeeded earlier this year in persuading a court to ban
ultras as terrorists on par with the Muslim Brothers. In February, Mr. Mortada
took pride in taking responsibility for a confrontation at a Cairo stadium between
security forces and fans in which at least 20 supporters were killed.
Mr. Mortada, whose hard line mirrors the government’s tough
approach towards its opponents, took his battle earlier this month to Al Ahli
after thousands of Ultras Ahlawy were allowed to attend a training of their
team in preparation for the derby.
UWK, whom Mr. Mortada accuses of having tried to assassinate
him, are barred from Zamalek events. The Ahli fans reportedly used the training
to mock Mr. Mortada in chants and hurl abuse at him not only because he heads
their arch rival but as a result of his hard-line anti-ultras, pro-government
stance. They also demanded a lifting of the ban on spectators attending soccer
matches that has been in place for much of the four years since the fall of Mr.
Mubarak.
In response, Mr. Mortada accused Al Ahli president Mahmoud
Taha of allowing fans to “terrorise citizens” and of displaying a lack of
respect for the ministries of defense and interior that controls the security
forces. The interior ministry has been the main driver behind the ban. Mr.
Mortada said he had filed charges against Al Ahli president Mahmoud Taher for
hosting a terrorist organization.
Mr. Taha refused to be drawn by Mr. Mortada, noting in a
veiled criticism of the ban on spectators that the ultras had “set an example
to follow in terms of discipline, given how they had entered and left the
stadium despite their large numbers. Ahli, the leader of Arab and African
sports with its titles and trophies, refuses to be drawn into such matters …
while stressing its respect for different opinions and views,” Mr. Taha said.
While Mr. Mortada’s hard line reflects government policy,
Mr. Taha’s approach proved its value in December when Ahlawy fans stormed a
stadium hours before it was to host an African championship final in support of
their demand that they be allowed to attend the match.
In an unprecedented move, Mr. Taha stopped security forces
from violently evicting the fans and negotiated their peaceful departure in
exchange for interior ministry agreement to allow them into the stadium during
the match. The fans agreed as part of the deal to subject themselves to
security checks and not to disrupt the match, a promise they kept.
For a brief moment, the incident held out hope that the government
may be persuaded that engagement rather than brutal repression is more likely
to reduce tension and prevent radicalization among frustrated and angry youth
who lack social and economic prospects.
Ultimately, the government’s willingness to work with Mr.
Taha did not indicate a change of heart but a desire to ensure that the match
from which Al Ahli emerged as the continent’s champion went off without a
hitch.
If Mr. Taha’s soccer-focused approach has proven that
engagement produces results, Mr. Mortada and the government’s insistence on
brutal confrontation risks further escalation in a country that is fighting an
armed insurgency in the Sinai and is witnessing the sprouting of militant urban
groups that target security and judicial authorities.
“We had high hopes. We staged the revolution in 2011. The new
generation has nothing to lose. We recognize that football is political. That’s
why we are involved not only in football but also in politics. We oppose the
brutality of this regime and its pawns. Neither Sisi nor Mortada are interested
in politics. Their language is exclusively the language of repression,” said an
ultra who is also a student leader.
James M.
Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
as Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, co-director of the Institute
of Fan Culture of the University of Würzburg and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer, and a forthcoming book with the
same title.
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