The Egyptian people toppled Hosni Mubarak in eighteen days, but it would be a mistake to describe the revolution in Egypt as a spontaneous event propelled by the magnifying forces of Internet and satellite TV. Many in the west were shocked by the speed with which the regime crumbled, after all Mubarak’s Egypt had long been considered one of the most stable states in the region. Analysts, journalists and foreign governments were all taken by surprise and many struggled to develop an explanation for what came to be considered as Egypt’s sudden awakening. Many looked to nearby Tunisia, itself in the midst of a popular uprising, as providing inspiration and strength for Egypt’s protest movement. Others highlighted the role of new technologies such as social media platforms, cell phone video and satellite TV as providing the necessary tools for the protests to gather momentum. Most commentators were quick to pinpoint the underlying causes for the protest – inequality, unemployment, corruption, political repression and the lack of socio-economic opportunities – but few picked up on those recurring signs of popular agitation that could have foreshadowed the events that took place in the streets of Egypt between 25 January and 11 February 2011.
Nine months after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, and as the Egyptian people continued to express their dissatisfaction with Egypt’s military rulers, celebrated blogger and activist, Hossam el-Hamalawy, spoke about the roots of his country’s spring revolution. During a fresh October evening in Rome, Hossam began by dispelling the notion that Egypt’s was a “social media revolution”. Facebook, twitter and al-Jazeera undoubtedly played a part, but the extent in which many in the west hailed these new technologies was to overshadow the decisive role played by ordinary men and women, activists and factory workers, whose courage and commitment were rarely captured on film. Hossam continued by elegantly laying out his interpretation of events that paved the way for Mubarak’s fall, all the time reminding himself and his audience that the revolution had just begun. “Now the hard part begins”, he said while recounting how the revolution in Egypt could be “traced back to the year 2000”.
That year, following the outbreak of the second Palestinian Intifada, Egypt witnessed its biggest popular demonstration since 1977. Slowly, people began to overcome the “wall of fear”, breaking taboos and venturing out into the streets to express support for their Palestinian brothers. Public demonstrations had been banned during much of the 1990s when the Egyptian state was battling a growing number of Islamist militia groups in what Hossam called Egypt’s “dirty war, Latin America style”. Solidarity soon turned into anger, and this was increasingly directed towards a regime widely perceived as Israel’s “best friend” in the region. Hossam recalls how in 2002, one of the bloodiest years of the second Intifada, was the first time he heard protesters directly attacking Mubarak. Thousands had gathered outside Cairo University chanting in chorus, “Hosni Mubarak is just like [Ariel] Sharon”.
Hossam, who graduated from the American University in Cairo (AUC) and has since militated in Egypt’s socialist movement, described the process by which Egypt’s popular opposition gradually gathered courage. As a journalist, activist and photographer he has dedicated years to the goal of raising awareness among Egyptian’s and because of his activities in 2000 Hossam was arrested and tortured by Mubarak’s infamous State Security Investigation Services (SSIS). He has since written for The Guardian newspaper and various regional and international blogs while meticulously collecting images and testimonies from Egypt’s revolution. “In a dictatorship”, reeds a caption on his blog arabawy.org, “independent journalism by default becomes a form of activism, and the spread of information is essentially an act of agitation”.
A second turning point came in 2003, with the US-led invasion of Iraq. As tanks rolled into Baghdad, Egypt’s protest movement organized a massive demonstration in downtown Cairo. 30,000 people battled with the police before “briefly” occupying Tahrir Square where a billboard picturing Mubarak was burnt to the ground. Distracted by the Iraq invasion, mainstream media paid little attention. Between 2004 and 2006 many western observers were captivated by the rise of the Kifaya movement (literally “enough”). Kifaya organized many rallies in protest against Mubarak’s succession plans and the fraudulent 2005 presidential elections which gave him a fifth consecutive six-year term in office. According to Hossam, however, Kifaya never managed to “break out of its middle-class ghetto” and a majority of Egypt’s lower classes never truly identified with the movement. By 2006, Egypt’s security services had harshly repressed the movement, arresting many of its leaders and thus ensuring its gradual decline and fragmentation. Kifaya’s legacy survived, however, as did the example set by its media tactics which succeeded, perhaps for the first time, in piercing the veil of stability the Mubarak regime had been promoting for decades.
Such tactics were to prove decisive during the next phase of Egypt’s protest movement, which Hossam called Egypt’s “winter of labour discontent”. Beginning in December 2006, Egypt was hit by a wave of labour strikes with thousands of workers from various sectors demonstrating for better rights and wages. Images and video recordings emerged from some of the major strikes, such as that which occurred in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla where about 27,000 men and women refused to work in Egypt’s largest state-owned textile factory. Following three days of demonstrations and sit-ins at the Ghazl el-Mahalla plant, the authorities bowed to popular pressure promising wage increases and a series of other measures. News of this victory spread like wild fire and soon other factories went on strike. Over the next ten months more than 650 workers’ protests were recoded throughout Egypt, but again western media failed to give adequate coverage to these events, thus prolonging the fanciful image of an Egyptian regime solidly in control of a weak and uncoordinated opposition.
These strikes cannot be explained as simple ‘bread riots’, as all too often is the case when reading media coverage of such events. Economics were not the sole motivating factor and political grievances, especially calls for a lifting of the state’s emergency laws (in place since 1981), featured prominently among the demands of the protesters.
In mid February 2008, Mahalla was again the site of a major labour strike. This time the worker’s demands assumed national overtones, with 10,000 workers staging a sit-in to demand an increase in the minimum wage “for the entire nation”. Factory strikes and popular sit-ins continued almost on a regular basis right up until the end of 2010, when the world’s attention was captivated by the initial outburst of pro-democracy protests in Tunisia.
On 25 January 2011, the first day of the Egyptian protests, Hossam recalled how “no one expected a revolution, only another mass protest”. Then, after seeing the sheer numbers of people gathering in the streets, Hossam realized that this was going to be something “far bigger than expected”. During the ensuring eighteen days, Egypt’s unrecognized trade unions, student groups and activists all drew on their past experiences, displaying an extraordinary level of coordination and commitment in order to “take advantage of this historic moment”. While international media outlets overwhelmingly described the revolution as “non-violent and peaceful”, Hossam reminded his audience that more than 850 people actually died during the protests and that in Cairo alone about 190 police stations were burn to the ground. “We fought”, he said, “we were forced to fight”.
“We in Tahrir did not bring down the regime”, Hossam then added soberly, “it was the workers’ strikes” that ultimately caused the army to force Mubarak out of office. During the month of February Hossam documented 1,500 strikes and sit-ins throughout Egypt, and these are continuing today in every sector apart from the army and police. More than 90 independent trade unions have now been founded and these, according to Hossam, will be the “true guardians of the revolution”.A
s the meeting drew to a close a hint of tiredness was visible in Hossam’s expressions. “Any revolution will last two, three, four or even five years”, he said, “but what is worrying me today is who is administrating this transition period in Egypt”. “Whether the army is in the barracks or in the streets, it is always the army who controls society”. “That is why the revolution must continue, and labour strikes will be our weapon of choice”, Hossam added with a glimmer in his eyes.
As Tunisian’s grapple with the results of their country’s first free elections, concern over the pace of reform in Egypt is quickly growing. Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has recently announced that it plans on retaining power well into 2013, thus exacerbating fears among Egypt’s populace that the army will ‘manage’ the transition phase in such a way as to limit any possible encroachment on its extensive interests in the country.
While exiting the building I approached Hossam shook his hand and expressed my appreciation for his work. Perhaps naively I then asked how long he was planning to stay in Rome. “I leave on the next flight out, tomorrow morning”, he replied as we emerged onto the street. He then turned back and with a smile added; “I have a revolution to get back to”.