Bothaina Kamel

With the train delays, the trip to El-Minya has taken five hours. It is Bothaina Kamel’s fourth stop on her country-wide campaign to become the nation’s first female presidential candidate. She is supposed to be at El-Minya University to participate in a public forum with a workshop and lecture discussing post-revolution challenges and politics. As the train finally approaches the platform in El-Minya, it’s already 11 pm and Kamel looks tired. After a week of interviews, meetings and the sectarian violence in Imbaba, her weekend is not really promising much rest. Talking to her, it’s easy to figure out that she has a lot on her mind. Campaigning for president is a challenging job as it is. Moreover, Kamel has been having a difficult time carrying out her work as a television presenter, not because she’s unable to balance her time, but because there are efforts to stop her from appearing on air. “You know, they took me off air again,” she says unemotionally as she lines up to get off the train. “In the middle of the interview, they stopped us. The presenter told me after that, ‘I can’t work here anymore.’” During the second week of May, after the Imbaba clashes, Kamel was speaking about the events on the state-run channel Nile Culture TV when midway through the interview, the management of the channel decided to cut her off. It wasn’t the first time it happened. Just a few days earlier, she was taken off the air as a news presenter on the state-run Channel 1. Her other employer, Orbit TV, also didn’t want her in the studio anymore. Orbit started replaying old episodes of her show Argouk Ifhamni (I Beg You to Understand Me) after management informed her she couldn’t discuss the repatriation of funds allegedly stolen by the former regime 30 minutes before going on air with her guest Dr. Hossam Eissa. All these experiences have made Kamel a bit skeptical about the media. “I was invited by the National Radio [for an interview] and I can’t believe they did it,” she says. “I won’t believe it until I go there and do it.” Kamel doesn’t perceive her recent professional misfortunes as a campaign against her; instead she sees it more as part of a pervasive problem with Egyptian media after the revolution. For her, it just didn’t make sense that after the revolution, someone like her, bint el-thawra (a daughter of the revolution), was being censored. “After the revolution, they banned me,” she says indignantly. “Can you imagine [that]? I am part of the revolution and they stopped my program on Orbit and they stopped me on the Egyptian state TV.” The recent efforts to censor her have taught her to expect just about anything. So when Nashwa Amr, one of the student organizers of the lecture series at El-Minya University, informs her that there is a problem with her scheduled lecture, Kamel is unperturbed. The president of the university, a former member of the now disbanded National Democratic Party (NDP), had cancelled the event without informing the organizers, so attendance was lower than expected since most participants didn’t know it was still taking place. She is unfazed; on the contrary, Kamel is just as enthusiastic. The large lecture hall that could hold several hundred students has only 40 or 50 students. After all, it is Friday morning. Upon taking the stage, Kamel organizes the attendees into two groups and starts a conversation. “We want to get to know each other,” she tells them. “I want each of you to tell us why you are attending the workshop today and what your ambitions are. What will you gain from this? My name is Bothaina Kamel.” She then turns on a small camera to film the session. “My name is Ahmed. I study English literature,” recited the first student. “I’m here today because I want everyone to start moving after the revolution, and I will be the first to move in order to change Egypt.” “I learn from you guys, so speak [up],” Kamel urges. “You will [boost] my morale, and I need that because I’m the first Egyptian woman in history to run for the presidency of Egypt. We’re making history — we did it through the revolution and we’re doing it again by telling the whole world that Egypt, like every other country, has a real chance for change. I will use all your words while I’m touring Egypt for my campaign.” As the discussions continue, it becomes apparent that Kamel does not shy away from sensitive topics: the unchecked power, attacks over demonstrations in support of the revolution, arrests, thugs controlling the streets, sectarian violence, etc. While the students seem to enjoy her openness and get involved in lively discussions, her tendency to speak her mind wherever she goes doesn’t always win her supporters. In fact, in recent weeks it has gotten her in trouble. Just one month into her presidential campaign, Kamel is already jobless and under investigation. Nevertheless, she is defiant. She is frustrated with people and groups, even those in official positions, who still throw around theories that the people in Tahrir Square were on the take from foreign governments or that all non-government organizations are corrupt and therefore can’t be trusted. This has driven her to share her concerns publicly on Twitter and Facebook. Her outspokenness got her into hot water with the transitional government. In fact, the day after her lecture in El-Minya, she was summoned for questioning for several hours after she published details of her conversation with government officials on Twitter and Facebook. Her critical comments on the handling of the Imbaba sectarian clashes only made matters worse for her, and there is currently a case pending against her. “From the day I joined the revolution, I haven’t been afraid,” she says tersely. Kamel is also facing two other legal actions against her — the first by national television Channel 1, alleging she brought her iPad into the studio against the instructions of the program director. Nile Television editor Hany Hagras, on the other hand, is suing Kamel because she aired remarks that he allegedly made about protesters getting paid in dollars, speaking in English and being altogether foreign. “They try to [shut me up], but I will find another way,” she says. “That’s our revolution and that’s our country and we must revolt for a new Egypt that accepts a woman as a presidential candidate [and] accepts freedom of speech. I will go to the very end.” Kamel is a fighter who vows that she will continue until she sees “Egypt free, independent, modern, civil and democratic.” And she’s not alone in that fight. It might look like quite a few people are interested in seeing her fail, but there are also many who want her to succeed. “I asked a lot of people and they encouraged me, a lot of intellectuals like the brilliant journalist Ibrahim Eissa. He told me, ‘This is a good decision — a woman must be a candidate,’” Kamel says. “I asked Judge Zakaria Abdel Aziz as well and he told me that this is a good idea.” Her family is also particularly supportive, which is very important to her. “My daughter was the first one to push me for the candidacy,” she says. “When I asked her, she said, ‘Why not?’ My husband [and I] are separated, but he also supports me. He is very busy, but if I need his advice, he’s always there.” Nevertheless, Kamel doesn’t talk about her daughter during the campaign because her daughter has other priorities. “My daughter is trying to be indifferent [to my campaign] because her priority is her independence, and she doesn’t want to be behind me or her father. She doesn’t want to appear within our frame. […] I think it’s very healthy that she doesn’t want to be a copy of me. I am very proud of her.” Campaigning Without Promises  During the workshop and the lecture in El-Minya, Kamel talks a lot about the revolution, the courage of the protesters, the previous regime and its crimes and the various problems Egypt is facing. But surprisingly, she makes no campaign promises and doesn’t mention the issue of gender equality at all. To her, this is not the priority. Instead, she argues that the aim right now is to focus on the demands of the youth who carried out this revolution. “I am the front for the youth,” she says. “I carry the demands of the revolution. My slogan is ‘Bread, Freedom and Human Dignity!’ My campaign is based on fighting poverty and corruption. There can be no democracy under poverty. And we can’t get a democratic, modern, civil and open Egypt and we can’t fight poverty unless we fight corruption,” Kamel continues. “All the donations for the Egyptian people were taken by Suzanne Mubarak, whether for women or for culture. We got a lot of money to support us, but because of corruption we can’t [distribute it].” As for gender equality, she admits that it is an issue but, in light of everything that has been happening in the country, now is just not the time to bring that up. “It was very difficult [to talk about gender equality] because we were in a corrupt political system,” Kamel says. “The Constitution wouldn’t allow for anything; it was tailored around Mubarak and his son. If it weren’t for the revolution, anyone who didn’t belong to the NDP had no chance in running, be it man or woman.” As far as she’s concerned, Kamel has no intention of playing the gender card. In fact, if it were up to her, the fact that she’s a woman wouldn’t even matter. “In the end, I’m not running for the presidency of women in the Republic of Egypt, I’m running for the president of the Republic of Egypt! My campaign is not aimed at women, it’s aimed at the Egyptian people.” “I will be working for the entire society, not just for women. However, there’s constant communication with the civil feminist groups. We have to sit and brainstorm together, and the part that caters to women in my campaign has to be laid out with their assistance,” she explains. “There are many things that we are putting off because there are a lot of problems that take precedence. For example, I don’t know if I will talk about abortion rights, if it is appropriate to discuss it at this time. We have to decide together what goes in my campaign and what doesn’t,” she says. Like many Egyptians, Kamel thinks that it is not the time yet to discuss some socially sensitive issues. But if there’s one thing she’s adamant about, it’s the fact that it is time for a woman to be president of Egypt. “We are in the beginning of the campaign. That’s the fight. I’m the first woman. It is the time because we are in a revolution. Some people tell you that it’s not the time for a confrontation; some people tell you it’s not the time for a lot of things,” she says. “But in my point of view, it is the time. If we lose this opportunity, we’ll lose for a long time. Why is it not the time? That’s fear. That’s the traditional way of thinking, but that should not be the revolutionary spirit.” On the train back to Cairo, Kamel contemplates her day, deciding that it has been a success despite everything. She says she is happy with the results of her visit. “It was good because from the discussions I learned [that there are] a lot of dangers surrounding our revolution. But I feel good after the gathering with the people,” Kamel says. “[The students] are very smart and they understand the whole situation. The most importantthing for me was that Egyptian people are still open and courageous, because the situation before the revolution was a hopeless case. Despite that, Kamel has doubts about whether or not the revolution will actually survive and yield the results so many are dreaming of. Figuring out how to make it work is, in fact, the role of every Egyptian. “That’s our homework. If we do our homework, there will be democracy,” she says. “We have to be alert because it’s possible that there will be danger. The important thing is to know that this stage is not easy and that we are still in the beginning.” As the train creeps towards Cairo, Kamel settles in her seat, preparing herself for her hearings scheduled for the next day. For a beleaguered woman plowing through desert land to sow the seed of female political leadership in Egypt, she looks quite fresh.