Enjoy the Revolution - Egypt Then & Now

"Enjoy the Revolution":  In May I had the opportunity to go to Egypt.  I took this picture of a wall adjacent to Tahrir Square in Cairo, the capital of Egypt.  

Today marks the one year anniversary of thousands of Egyptians storming Tahrir and demanding the resignation of their then dictator-president Mubarak.

Their success was shocking and it was celebrated world-wide.  It inspired the uprise of many other oppressed peoples in the area.

It was the beginning of what is now known as the Arab Spring.

Being there several months after the revolution was an amazing experience.  To walk among the people and feel their excitement and anticipation, I can still remember it vividly.  They were still strongly organized and fighting for their freedom and the freedom of all people throughout the Middle East.

My friend/traveling companion, Abraham Raigoso Beach, and I were actually able to attend a pro-Palestine demonstration in Tahrir Square.  This was a picture of me on a media platform in the middle of the square on May 12, 2012.  The whole rally was in Arabic, which neither of us speak so we could not understand it.  Nonetheless we could feel their passion and desire for change.

The city was scattered with flags, shirts, and scarfs all celebrating the victory.  They gave lots of credit to their ability to use Facebook and Twitter to organize the movement.  At the beginning they were able to use these mediums to voice their opinions.  Then they were able to use them to organize protests and marches.

The Egptian revolution was born and carried out through the tools that have emerged from  the digital revolution.

One year later the people are not satisfied with the outcome.  It took almost a year to hold elections and the newly elected parliament just barely met for the first time.  The military's hold on the population is fierce and it does not feel like a democracy at all.  When we were there the strong military presence was alarming.  Tanks lined the streets and traveling through the country on bus required several checkpoints where they inspected everyone and their bags.  It does not seem to have let up at all.

My brother showed me the blog of an Egyptian street artist from Cairo who was an active member of the revolution.  He designed and printed little pamphlets, called zines, that showed how to deal with the repression of the police and the military during the revolt such as gas attacks, physical abuse, etc.  This is the link to a recent blog post he wrote Ganzeer Blog Post (Weird title but good post).  In it he says how the military "has unleashed a brutal crackdown on peaceful protests by the Egyptian people."  This image is a piece of his artwork depicting the abuse of the military.

 I hope one day the Egyptian people will be able to celebrate the anniversary of their revolution with true joy.

(Note: I took all these pictures in Egypt in May except the last one I got from http://ganzeer.blogspot.com/ and am using it with permission.)