EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION

Introduction:-

This revolution marked the end of thirty long years of dictatorship and autocratic rule
of Hosni Mubarak. This was not something that initiated just with a single incident or
spark of the moment but with was outcome of years of suppression. The revolution
combines key political dimensions of all the uprisings in the Arab Spring;
corruption, dictatorship, regime change, military power, censorship, human rights
abuses, religious tensions and political oppression. The main reason he was able to
maintain control over the system was because of the elections, which have resulted in
what Noor Khan has called a musical chairs effect in Egyptian politics: rotating the
same people through government over and over again. The people were reaching the
point of saturation due to the corruption, emergency laws, faulty constitution,
economic distress, etc. being the main reasons for the outbreak of the revolution.
More than 40% of the population was below international poverty line and recently
the forging of the elections has also resulted in the spark. The revolution has resulted
in sense of determination, confidence, national pride and solidarity. Mubarak regime
has run a notoriously brutal police state. Tight Internet controls, kidnappings, torture,
police beatings, and bribery run rampant nationally under Mubarak. Phrases such as
sent behind the sun (referring to pervasive kidnappings by the police and army as
well the disappearance of citizens) and walk near the wall (meaning, keep your
head down and stay out of trouble to avoid being interrogated by the police) have
become commonplace in Egypt.1
We can see the Domino effect; in this case the successful Tunisian revolution helped
people to gain confidence the power of mass. Even if not for the Tunisian revolution
they would have revolted, Tunisian revolution was just a spark and not the reason for
the revolution as such. Social media played a major role in the revolution. The
revolution is also called the January 25th revolution, the particular day was selected as
they first agenda was to over throw the police forces as they were one of the most
brutal and corrupted in the state, symbolically this day January 25th was chosen as it
was national police holiday, this day was circulated in the social media like twitter
and Facebook. Many were actually skeptical about the seriousness of the decision but
then today we see that as the beginning of a successful revolution. The revolution
lasted for a period of 17 days till February 11th the day Mubarak resigned from the
post of presidency and left Cairo. He was later tried in court for ordering mass killing
of demonstrators.
The protest was initially peaceful but later turned violent when the mob marched
downtown with Egyptian and Tunisian flags, as the police had changed their strategy
and resorted to water cannons and tear gas shells. The protest was then followed by
shutdown of Internet and intervention by various states and widespread labor protests.
This revolution changed the Arab scenario as the Domino effect continued leading to
revolutions in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan and Syria. It increased the unity
between Muslims and Coptic Christians. People recollect the revolution was led by
majorly by youngsters and would never want to go back how it was before January
25th.

1 https://mashrabiyya.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/egypt-three-factors-that-led-to-revolution/
 CAUSE OF REVOLUTION
Tunisian revolution: -
Tunisian revolution can be held as the beginning of the revolution. Uprising in
Tunisia that protested against corruption, poverty, and political repression and forced
Pres. Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to step down in January 2011. The success of the
uprising, which came to be known in the media as the Jasmine Revolution, inspired
a wave of similar protests throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Were the
fight was similar in nature, against corruption and police force against the civilians
resulting in a revolution when a Mohammed Bouazizi, an unemployed 26-year-old,
protested government corruption by setting fire to himself outside a municipal office
in the town of Sidi Bouzid in central Tunisia on December 17. Bouazizi, who had
been supporting his family by selling fruit from a cart, was enraged when local
officials repeatedly demanded bribes and confiscated his merchandise. His plight,
which came to symbolize the injustice and economic hardship afflicting many
Tunisians under the Ben Ali regime, inspired street protests throughout the country
against high unemployment, poverty, and political repression. 2 This influenced the
people of Egypt to raise voice against the autocratic rule of Hosni Mubarak, for the
past 30 years. It gave a sense of confidence to the people that such rule could be
ended when on January 14th emergency was declared in Tunisia followed by Ben Ali
stepping down from his post and fleeing the country with his family. Finally in
December 12,2011 Moncef Marzouki, a human rights activist and opposition leader
under the Ben Ali regime, was elected as president of Tunisia by the Constituent
Assembly.
Political reason: -
Mubaraks government resorted to high level of corruption and police under him were
very brutal towards the citizens resulting in forcing the citizens to resort to revolution.
The between the rich and the poor eventually widened as the government officials
became rich exploiting reaching a situation where multi million dollar houses were
built next to the slums. The new problem for the citizens now is that they have started
to rig the election, there were complains on how the elections were manipulated, in
the last elections they allowed only 20 members of the Muslim brotherhood
community to take part in the election resulting in them boycotting the elections, next
being the parliamentary election, the government was alleged of such bad rigging that
the brotherhood did not even a single vote though they constituted a fifth of the house
previously and won 20% of the votes when they candidates stood independently 3,
creating a hue and cry in the public. Mubarak's authoritarian measures, which
included torture and rampant incarceration, paralyzed the Egyptian population with
fear. But ended in becoming fuel for revolutionary fire.
Economic reasons: -
During Mubaraks rule their had been stagnation on employment initially but later
slowly the economy started to grow and he tried to liberalize the economy. Which
was worst hit due to the financial crisis of 2008. The FDIs had decreased by almost 4
billion dollars, the total GDP growth had reduced from around 7% to 4.5% creating
lots of unemployment in nation.4 A report of the Information Centre of the Cabinet of
Ministers confirmed that seven thousand were laid off until March 2009. Information
from the Ministry of Manpower confirmed the return of thirty thousand workers

2 http://www.britannica.com/event/Jasmine-Revolution
3 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13315719
4 http://www.emuni.si/press/ISSN/1855-3362/2_007-025.pdf
during the last ten days of last month. The number of workers travelling to work
abroad was almost halved because Libya imposed a financial fine for failure to
observe residency rules; a procedure claimed by Libyan authorities to be due to the
financial crisis. Misr-Qena and Misr Edfu paper mills, which are responsible for 93%
of the domestic consumption of paper, stopped production because they became
unable to compete with imported paper. 5 This led to higher unemployment in the
nation and was the wrong time for the leader to opt for liberalizing and opening up the
market, further pressurizing them to compete with the global competition. Failure on
his part to create employment and further involve in corruption with other nations led
the younger generation mainly the unemployed to look forward to a revolt. They
gained the confidence from the Tunisian revolution, which was started by the death of
a fruit vendor by burning himself due to the distress caused by the corruption of the
system. They tried to bring about similar kind of revolution and seek energy from a
persons death in this case too, here from a person killed by the police for a similar
kind or reason, to overthrow the autocratic rule through revolution.
Social gravity: -
The theory of revolutionary process in Marxs owns thought was a sort of political
rationalism. Its egalitarianism came from the shared exposure of the proletariat to the
rationale of their social situation. The disparity between rich and poor in Egypt is
seen as one of the causes for the revolution. Goldstone (2011) argues, Mubarak and
his family reportedly built up a fortune of between $40 billion and $70 billion, and 39
officials and businessmen close to Mubaraks son Gamal are alleged to have made
fortunes averaging more that $1 billion each. 6 According to UNICEFs 2010
statistics, an estimated two million Egyptians live below the international poverty line
of $1.25 a day. The disparity grew largely between the rich and the poor being one of
the main reason for agitation and cause for the revolution.

18 DAYS OF REVOLUTION

The protest resulted in unification of all kinds of people in Egypt against the common
autocratic ruler, from different levels of socio-economic and religious backgrounds
having the main aim, to overthrow the ruler Hosni Mubarak. Many held it
ideologically the strong regime has met with the strong society. The chronic stage
began in the first minutes of January 28, when each of Egypts five major Internet
Service Providers had shut off their services entirely within half an hour. Only one
ISP, Noor, maintained service for another two days due to its important role in the
Egyptian economy. These developments led to international confusion and fears of a
massacre. As fragments of information escaped, Internet activist groups like
Anonymous published and distributed lists of strategies to circumvent the Internet
block.7 While some clashes broke out on the January 28 Day of Departure, no
extensive violence marred the movement. On this day, Mubarak fired his government,
promising reforms and appointing Omar Suleiman as Vice President. While this was
intended as a concession, Suleiman was a well-known security advisor and strongly
disliked by protesters. As anti-Mubarak demonstrations intensified, the Egyptian
military intervened to provide security, serving mainly to deter violence in Tahrir
Square. On February 1, organizers called for a March of a Million that was intended

5 http://www.ituc-csi.org/ctuws-impact-of-the-global?lang=en
6 http://www.e-ir.info/2012/10/14/the-2011-egyptian-revolution/
7 http://www.gaurdian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/27/egypt-riot-secutiry-force-action
to force Mubarak from office. Masses of protesters spilled into Tahrir Square, only to
hear Mubarak announce his intention to step down after overseeing a transition of
power.

The momentum shifted away from protesters on February 2, when violent clashes
broke out across the country. Internet service was restored throughout the day on
February 1st, Vodafone reported that its services had been forced to send pro-Mubarak
messages. These messages reportedly called for a final assault on the anti-Mubarak
demonstrators in Tahrir. Later on February 2nd , heavily-armed pro-Mubarak activists,
some on camel and horseback, fought with opposing protesters as the military
watched.foriegnn journts were attacked as the regime blamed external influences for
the violence. The seemingly organized violence did not last, and the Tahrir movement
was not defeated. Vice President Suleiman began negotiations with opposition
representatives on February 6, resulting in several concessions including a 15% wage
increase for public sector employees. A final momentum shift occurred with the
February 7 release of Wael Ghonim, who had been detained during the first days of
the revolution. Pressure continued to build on Mubarak as he continued to concede
minor political reforms to the protesters. On February 10, rumors spread that Mubarak
would step down after U.S. President Barack Obamas call for an immediate transfer
of power to a democratic regime. However, Mubaraks much-anticipated speech
stubbornly repeated his intention to step down at the end of his term. With the
momentum on the side of the protests, the resolution of the crisis was near. Which he
had to step down on 11th eventually giving up to the pressure.

US had a comparitively vested intrest in Hosni Mubarak continuing his reign in egypt
bacause they were able to influence his actions resulting in the end of the military
intrution in Israel by the Arab nations, leading to downfall of the previous leader,
resulting in raise of Mubarak, since then US has been giving aid to Egypt and Israel of
almost about 1.3 billion dollors for miiltary advancment alone exculding aid for
economic and devolepment assistance.8

Media played a key role in the revotlution. Media here includes social media, the
protest was initiated by the help of social media, mainly through facebook. Facebook
and twitter were major players in the revolution. Governments efforts to increase or
expand the capabilities of information technology in the nation, they had given rise,
access to citizens to the social media. Accordint to stats more than 20 million people
had access to internet(20% roughly) but more than 70% of the population had access
to mobile subscription, the date january 25th was initaily decided and propogated
thorugh facebook and twitter, unabling the government to realise the seriousness of
the uprising.

A number of young social media activists who, for almost two years, exchanged
information via Facebook and Twitter also helped to initiate the revolution. Egypts
youth, like their Tunisian counterparts, offered guidance on everything from using
technology to escape government surveillance to facing rubber bullets and setting up
barricades (Kirkpatrick & Sanger, 2011). In Egypt, the April 6 Movement, a group
that largely depended on Facebook and social media to gain support, was one of the
primary organizational resources of the January 25 protests. Two years prior, leaders

8 http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5309.htm#relations
of the April 6 Movement had begun researching nonviolent struggles, and even
designing the Serbian youth movement Otpor, which helped topple Slobodan
Milosevics dictatorship. Members of the group also traveled to Serbia to meet with
Otpor activists. The Internet was clearly a chief tool for these activists to gain and
exchange knowledge to better prepare for the launch of the January 25 protest.

This can be explained The Basics of Resource Mobilization Theory

The resource mobilization theory of social movements holds that a social movement
arises from long-term changes in a group's organization, available resources, and
opportunities for group action. Resource mobilization theory has five main principles
(Jenkins, 1983):
The actions of social movement's members and participants are rational.
A social movement's actions are strongly influenced by institutionalized
power imbalances and conflicts of interest.
These power imbalances and conflicts of interest are sufficient to generate
grievances that lead to the mobilization of social movement's intent on
changing the distribution of resources and organization.
Centralized and formally structured social movements more effectively
mobilize resources and achieve goals of change than decentralized and
informal social movements.
The success of social movements is heavily influenced by group strategy and
the political climate.9

A major advantage of social media in the Egyptian revolution was its capacity for
swiftly exchanging and disseminating information to millions of people inside and
outside of Egypt. For instance, as Egyptians were carefully watching events unfold in
Tunisia while also planning their own movement, activists from both countries were
exchanging information, ideas, and words of encouragement online. During the
Tunisian revolution, Egyptian bloggers were on Twitter, Facebook, and personal
blogs posting updates and uploading images and videos of the Tunisian protests. On
January 17, 2011, Egyptian female activist and blogger Nawara Negm posted a video
message from an Egyptian actress with words of encouragement for Tunisians. Negm
also posted information and cell phone numbers, urging Egyptians to send text
messages to encourage Tunisians during the protests (Negm, 2011). 10

On January 21, Negm posted an entry titled Be noble and demonstrate on January
25, calling on her followers to join activists in the street. She posted a YouTube
video of a young Egyptian activist who was joining the movement, saying, Do you
see this girl? She is going to demonstrate. Negm encouraged people to invite friends
or other Egyptians they would meet in the street to join as well. At one point, she
wrote: walk . . . walk in the street. Walk walk walk . . . and talk talk talk . . . and sing
sing national songs, sing Beladi Beladi [my country my country]. In concluding her
entry, Negm wrote:

9 http://www.enotes.com/research-starters/social-movement-theory-resource-mobilization
10 Social Media in the Egyptian Revolution: Reconsidering Resource Mobilization Theory,
International Journal of Communication 5 (2011)
If you can take pictures, take pictures . . . if you can use Twitter, send tweets . . . if
you can blog, blog from the street. There are people demonstrating for our cause in
Tunisia and Jordan, and I just found out that there are people demonstrating in Paris
too. All of these people have faith in us.

The government has then cut off internet almost completely in the nation in order to
control the situation and supress the revolution, but was to late as the damage has
already been done and was now not revertable. On jan 27th "At 22:34 UTC (00:34am
local time), Renesys observed the virtually simultaneous withdrawal of all routes to
Egyptian networks in the internet's global routing table. 11 Approximately 3,500
individual BGP [Border Gateway Protocol] routes were withdrawn, leaving no valid
paths by which the rest of the world could continue to exchange internet traffic with
Egypt's service providers. Virtually all of Egypt's internet addresses are now
unreachable, worldwide." 12 Vodafone has claimed the Egyptian authorities forced it
to send pro-government text messages during this week's protests. A text message
received on Sunday by an Associated Press reporter in Egypt appealed to the
country's "honest and loyal men to confront the traitors and criminals and protect our
people and honour". Another urged Egyptians to attend a pro-Mubarak rally in Cairo
on Wednesday. The first was marked as coming from "Vodafone". The other was
signed: "Egypt Lovers."13

POST FEBRUARY 11TH

Domino Effect: -

11 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/30/egypt-revolution-
2011_n_816026.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in
12 http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/jan/28/egypt-cuts-off-internet-access
13 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/feb/03/vodafone-mubarak-text-messages