Young people say little has changed
CAIRO, Egypt — Six years ago, millions filled Tahrir Square in central Cairo, demanding that then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resign after decades of autocratic rule. They chanted slogans in favor of freedom and democracy, and there was great hope when a few weeks later Mubarak did resign.
During that time, the liberal daily Al-Masry Al Youm was the leading vehicle in print calling for a new, democratic Egypt.
The newspaper provided critical coverage of Mubarak’s moves to position his son Gamal as a successor, investigated official corruption and reported on a stagnating economy- the core causes of popular dissatisfaction leading to the 2011 Tahrir Square uprising seen worldwide as the start of the Arab Spring challenge to authoritarian regimes across the Middle East.
On Tuesday that same paper called for Mubarak’s pardon and release from a military hospital where he has been detained as Egypt’s courts consider the charges against him. They range from the premeditated murder of peaceful protesters to skimming millions from defense contractors and real estate developers illicitly profiting from nearly thirty years of one-man rule.
“Releasing him is the least we can offer to a man who dedicated his life to serve his homeland, relinquished power voluntarily and did not escape abroad,” declared the unsigned editorial.
The sixth anniversary of the January 25 revolution coincides with the 65th anniversary of Police Day, a state holiday with bitter overtones for Egyptians who remember the excesses of the country’s security services in quashing dissent during the administrations of every single ruler since the 1952 abdication of King Farouk.
“It does not matter what you decide to do or how many sacrifices you make,” said Omar Khedr, a 24-year-old engineer from Obour City, a new town built during the first decade of Mubarak’s rule about 35 kilometers north-east of Cairo told The Media Line. “Our choices are limited to Muslim Brotherhood and the military.”
President Abdel Fatah el Sisi is set to give a speech marking Police Day honoring the families of police recruits killed by Islamists since his assumption to power in June 2014.
This week, Egypt’s parliament approved the extension of a state of emergency in North Sinai for another three months, and police in Alexandria detained fourteen people including labor organizer Mohamed Othman on charges of belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and calling for demonstrations of the sixth anniversary of the January 25 Revolution.
“Sisi has sent more than forty thousand persons to prison for joining political groups, allowed the army to control more than one third of the national economy, and he’s failed to take back control from the terrorists in Sinai Peninsula,” said the unemployed Khedr.
“Those days in Tahrir Square calling for a change in Egypt’s politics now feel more like a dream than an actual event I witnessed with my eyes.”
Sisi’s supporters say the president’s focus on security, restoration of parliament and success in securing a massive $12 billion loan to jump-start the economy are just what Egypt needs after years of political turbulence.
“I think President Sisi has a competent team of ministers and advisors,” Ahmed Gamal, a 27-year-old accountant at a construction firm in suburban Giza told The Media Line.
“I was not protesting during 2011 but studying for my [accounting] certificate. Today I have a job and that is what matters to me, not politics,” said Gamal.
Last year Egypt’s Interior Ministry warned citizens to stay off the streets during the combined Police Day holiday and fifth anniversary of Mubarak’s toppling.
That call was largely heeded with the exception of Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old Italian graduate student and labor activist who was abducted and killed just blocks from Tahrir Square.
Italian authorities are convinced that Egypt’s secret police tortured and murdered the doctoral researcher fluent in Arabic and enamored with the possibilities for democratization in the Middle East.
Police surveillance video of Regeni meeting a union organizer aired on Cairo television stations this week and his death has become a symbol of what dissidents see as the victory of the counter-revolution in Egypt.
“Regini was the same age as me and a foreigner. I feel bad for him that he thought change was possible here, but honestly he chose to come to Egypt but I was born here,” Waleed Abou Haddid 29-year-old who sells wallets and belts from a small stand inside the Mosqi Street market near Al Azhar University told The Media Line.
“Six years ago I was expecting living in liberty and to see social equality become a real part of government policy,” said Abou Haddid. “Mubarak is gone but nothing has changed.”