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Ammon News - By Taylor Luck

AMMAN/MAFRAQ - Fed up with suspected corruption in Mafraq Governorate and an inability to gain access to decision makers, Tareq Oweidat and his friends knew just where to turn: Facebook.

With a click of a mouse, the young men formed the basis of the now 2,000-strong Mafraq Youth Popular Movement, joining the growing legions of young Jordanians across the Kingdom taking cues from Egypt and Tunisia by forming movements to take up causes ranging from constitutional reform to municipal services.

Despite grabbing headlines with Friday marches and strongly worded statements, the true nature and independence of the dozens of youth movements and coalitions that have emerged in recent months remain in question, according to observers.

Experts remain split whether the rise in youth movements represent a fundamental change in the Jordanian society, or a fad which will wilt with the passing of the Arab Spring.

Ahead of the trend

Before the Arab Spring came into full bloom, one of the first so-called popular movements was taking shape some 50 kilometres south of the capital.

While Egyptian youths prepared their Facebook revolution, the Kingdom’s first pro-reform protests were launched on January 7 in the town of Theeban by a coalition of independent and leftist activists that would later coalesce into the Theeban Popular Movement for Change.

The protest, which called for the resignation of the Samir Rifai government and fighting corruption, also witnessed the birth of Jayeen - a grouping of leftist and independent youths who would later go on to spearhead protests in the capital.

Some six months and dozens of protests later, Jordan is now home to tens of pro-reform and so-called loyalist popular movements, stretching from Aqaba to Irbid, Mafraq to the Jordan Valley, making it at times difficult to distinguish the various movements and their calls for change, according to analysts.

A more challenging task is determining who exactly is behind the rapidly growing movements, according to Oraib Rentawi of Al Quds Centre for Political Studies.

“When we talk about these movements, we are talking about different entities,” Rentawi said.

“Some movements are loose coalitions of youth branches of different Jordanian political parties while others are truly independent.”

Many so-called popular movements are in fact an eclectic mix; activists from across the political spectrum - Baathists, leftists, Islamists - converge with independent individuals over a universal cause such as an end to corruption and a movement is born.

According to Al Quds Centre, some 40 popular youth movements are currently active in Jordan, working both at the local and national levels to bring about change they believe decision makers are unable, or unwilling, to carry out.

The increasing number in popular movements stems from a growing feeling of empowerment among young Jordanians, according to columnist Hassan Barrari.

“The feeling that they can bring about change is a new thing. The political scene is no longer dominated by old people who used to march in the street raising anti-Israeli and anti-American slogans,” Barrari said.

Marriage of convenience

According to analysts, many of the popular movements are caught in a love-hate relationship of dependence with traditional opposition parties and professional associations.

Although traditional political parties have largely failed to build on the Arab Spring to push for reform in Jordan, they have the organisational structure and grass-roots networks to bring thousands of people to the streets, a networking capability that the vast majority of the Kingdom’s youth movements currently lack.

The Karak Popular Youth Movement is a typical popular movement, which was started by a group of Karak youths inspired by Egyptian revolution and emboldened by the March 24 Movement.

Due to the need for the experience of political veterans, Karak activists chose a hybrid organisational structure, merging their grouping of independent youths with members of the Baath Party, Baath Popular Party, Wihda, the Jordan Communist Party, the Islamic Action Front (IAF) and the Professional Associations.

The movement’s 16-member steering committee, which includes five representatives of political parties, three from the professional associations and eight independents, focuses on practical measures to sustain the pro-reform drive, rather than the divisive issue of ideologies, according to activists.

“We don’t take any orders from outside. Once we gather, we leave our politics at the door,” said movement spokesman Muath Btoush.

For the Free Tafileh Movement, which boasts the presence of the Baath Party and Jordan Communist Party on its 20-member steering committee, political parties come out in full force on the street, not in the decision-making process.

The so-called southern movements have partnered with political parties as a matter of practicality rather than ideology, according to movement organiser Saed Ouran. The ability to bring thousands to the streets to demand reform makes the opposition an attractive partner on Friday afternoons, he said.

“If we go on our own, we will have hundreds of participants,” Ouran explained.

“If we have political parties, which are a large part of the general public, we have thousands.”

Aside from protests and sit-ins, movements develop strategies with the cooperation of the opposition as part of an ongoing dialogue between the nascent coalitions and traditional political parties.

“We have discussions and we listen to what the opposition has to say. But that doesn’t mean we follow them,” said Mohammad Sneid of the Theeban Popular Movement.

‘We let them follow us’

The need to partner with more established organisations has resulted in unlikely pairings such as in Maan, where youth activists have paired up with Jihadist Salafists to pressure the government to release Maan citizens who are currently behind bars.

“At the end of the day we are representing Maan. We can’t discriminate and then claim we represent the street,” said Akram Kreishan of the Maan Popular Youth Movement.

Co-opted?

The Kingdom’s most well-known youth movement remains the most controversial - the March 24 Movement. The group, which held an open-ended sit-in at the Interior Ministry Circle that ended in violence some four months ago, overnight became a polarising symbol of the pro-reform movement and, according to many, a tool of the opposition.

Fakher Daas, whose Wihda Party student movement Thabahtoona initially took part in the open-ended sit-in, claimed that political parties and independent citizens withdrew from the movement after realising how deep ties between the movement and Islamists ran.

“March 24 and July 15 are part of the Islamist movement, plain and simple,” Daas said.

Sceptics contend that only the IAF, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, has the organisational capacity, financial power and social base to fuel the movement.

Analysts, however, say that March 24 has been the target of a government-led “smear campaign” aiming to depict the youth movement as an outside force rather than a reflection of the Jordanian society.

“To say these movements are a puppet of the Islamist movement serving a ‘foreign agenda’ is part of the lobbying game,” Rentawi said.

According to Barrari, Islamists’ involvement in the March 24 movement is a sign of the Muslim Brotherhood attempting to “jump on the bandwagon” and ride the tide of the Arab Spring.

Not restricted to March 24, several activists claimed that Islamists have approached their movements offering partnerships and, according to some, a wholesale takeover.

Sneid claimed that his movement has rejected the Muslim Brotherhood’s overtures on multiple occasions in recent months.

“There have been attempts to take over our movement, but we refused them because Theeban is a tribal area committed to change,” Sneid said.

The Islamist movement has repeatedly refuted allegations that it is the major force behind the March 24 Movement and a host of other popular movements across the country.

Nihad Zuhair, March 24 and July 15 organiser, defended the movement’s independence, stressing that the group has faced similar allegations since it emerged some four months ago.

According to the self-proclaimed leftist, the movement’s 14-member steering committee includes representatives from each governorate who keep their political affiliations private.

“We are all working for the common goal of a democratic Jordan. Any outside political agenda is not welcomed and is not discussed,” Zuhair said.

Zuhair denied that the group takes directives from the Islamist movement, chalking up the “baseless rumours” to the government and competing youth movements.

According to activists, competition for media attention and members among the ever-growing list of movements has become fierce, creating an atmosphere where a rumour linking a movement to a political party can irreparably damage its reputation.

When a Kuwaiti newspaper ran an article earlier this month quoting IAF political officer Zaki Bani Rsheid as stating that the Muslim Brotherhood is behind the so-called southern movement, both sides quickly denounced the article and distanced themselves from each other, denying any official ties.

IAF Secretary General Hamzah Mansour stressed the movement has little interest in riding the coat-tails of independent and at times unpredictable youth movements.

“We have not attempted to control or take over any youth movement in Jordan,” Mansour said, adding that any involvement of the Muslim Brotherhood comes at an individual level.

“These groups are a reflection of the Jordanian society, and like it or not, we are a large part of Jordanian civil society.”

While the senior leadership may keep its distance, the IAF youth branch has been active in providing logistical support for popular movements in their push for reform over the last few months.

“For any group that works towards political reform, we are with them and we offer our full support,” said Ghaith Qudah, head of the IAF youth wing.

According to Qudah, the IAF youth wing is in contact with the youth branches of political parties and various popular movements in order to mobilise at the grass-roots level at a moment’s notice should movements request their participation.

“We know who are the heads of August 15, March 24, leftist and rightist youth parties, but that does not mean we are leading them.”

Despite the talk of the Muslim Brotherhood’s role behind the scenes, on the streets the Islamists have taken part in youth movement events when convenient.

On July 22, when the March 24 Movement held the first protest following a failed open-ended sit-in the previous Friday, Islamists were nowhere to be found, preoccupied with planned events in Zarqa and Madaba.

The end result was a protest numbering in the hundreds, well short of the thousands which came out in force on March 24 and subsequent rallies held by the movement in cooperation with Islamists.

“We all know that without the Islamists, March 24 couldn’t fill a wedding hall,” said one activist close to the movement who preferred to remain unnamed.

Uncertain future

Despite being a few months old, the future of the dozens of popular movements that have sprouted up across the country remain far from certain.

Some believe that a number of popular movements will emerge from the pack in a political “survival of the fittest”.

“We are in a state of flux due to the political transition period we are passing through, and we will witness more of these movements in the future before we see less,” Rentawi said.

Daas, whose Thabahtoona movement was a trailblazer when it took up university students’ causes four years ago, said he has yet to see independent political movements of the likes of Egypt or Tunisia.

“There have been a lot of movements that appear overnight on Facebook, but do not exist on the ground,” Daas said.

“Any person can go on the Internet and team up with their friends and start a movement, but they have no ability to pressure for reform.”

Should they develop common ideologies and programmes, movements that were once relegated to Facebook may mature into full-fledged political forces, according to Fahed Kheitan, Al Arab Al Yawm’s chief editor and political observer.

“We have yet to see whether these movements can make the transition from the streets to the political kitchen, but some of them have the potential to be around for a long time,” Kheitan said.

Rather than maturing into political entities, movements may witness a “devolution”, becoming loose coalitions focusing strictly on issues at the local level and mobilising only when the need arises, according to observers.

The country is already witnessing a trend of decentralisation among movements, with the Karak Popular Youth Movement concentrating its efforts on the impact of the privatisation programme in the governorate and the Mafraq movement mobilising against the Kingdom’s nuclear programme.

In addition to calling for political reform, Maan activists have focused on the release of citizens arrested for their role in clashes in 2002, while members of the Jerash Popular Youth Movement have taken on the issue of the governorate’s water shortages.

For activists such as Oweidat, at least for the near-future, popular youth movements will continue to make their presence known.

“For the last 60 years, political parties have done nothing to achieve change,” Oweidat said.

“Jordan’s youths have awakened, and we aren’t going to wait any longer.”

But for now, he and his friends in the group still need the structures and expertise of traditional political parties; otherwise, they will remain a virtual group, or just a few hundreds protesting after Friday prayers downtown Mafraq.


*Jordan Times