Egypt ten years after the Arab Spring

Egypt marks a decade since Tahrir Square became the main stage for a series of popular uprisings that brought an end to the dictatorial regime of Hosni Mubarak. Influenced by the Tunisian proposals, Egyptians rallied in Cairo demanding an end to dictatorship, social rights and freedom.

The popular uprisings achieved something historic: they brought about Mubarak's resignation. With his overthrow, Mubarak became the second leader to be overthrown after Tunisia's Ben Ali. The jubilation erupted in the heart of Cairo and Egyptians prepared to usher in a new political era in the country in which democracy was expected to be the basis of the new system. 

Although the riots were characterised by pacifism on the part of the population, Mubarak's army cracked down hard on the demonstrators, causing injuries and deaths, which fuelled public unrest and sparked global outrage. On its first anniversary, a year after the outbreak, a number of Egyptian activists managed to move an obelisk, carved out of wood, on which all the names of the martyrs had been engraved as a symbol of the revolution, to Tahrir. Now the square is home to another obelisk, made of stone and taller, which is almost impossible to reach due to the incessant Egyptian traffic and which awaits a small commemoration dedicated to those martyrs.

With Mubarak out of power, the seed of revolution was beginning to echo its emptiness as, despite idealism, Egypt had no concrete plan or new roadmap that would lead the country to emerge as a democratic country. Many Egyptians wanted elections while others advocated the adoption of an imminent constitution. However, three decades of dictatorship is too long a period to erase its traces and remove all political figures from power. 

The Egyptians succeeded in ousting Mubarak, but the army remained in the upper echelons of power. Egyptians took to the streets again and, while the army promised the population that they would never go against them, Tahrir Square became a pitched battle through which the armed forces flaunted their power by stifling popular demands.

Without a constitution and with the military in power, the population did not give up and, once again, the demonstrations managed to mark a turning point in the country through the holding of supposedly democratic elections. The legislative results gave victory to the first civilian president, the Islamist Mohamed Morsi, with 51% of the vote. 

After coming to power and making a deal with the military, anti-Islamist Egyptians felt betrayed. For many of them, the popular uprisings were a symbol of no distinction between one or the other, regardless of political views. They all agreed to end the regime and their differences were forgotten for a while until the Islamists began to take Shari'a as a political formula. The Islamists failed to respond to the social demands that Egypt yearned for, or even to enact the creation of a decent Magna Carta, and many of them felt that overthrowing Mubarak had served no purpose.

With the feeling of betrayal behind them, Egyptians who did not want the Islamists in power once again rallied in Tahrir calling for new elections and an end to Mubarak's rule. 

If the army managed to undermine the population, but not silence it, in these new riots the police committed brutal acts against civilians. The population began to photograph and disseminate through the networks images of bodies being run over, corpses and a multitude of people wounded by bullets. Official figures put the death toll in the hundreds, while Egyptians who were there during the uprisings say there were more than a thousand.

The popular uprising led the then president of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Abdul Fatah al-Sisi, to lead a coup d'état that succeeded in ousting Morsi and initiating a new political era. His mandate, which began in 2013, has sought to position Egypt as a stable and secure country. But despite the measures adopted to this end, the country remains essentially poor. 

Many of them live from day to day in an exercise they call survival. In a country where the main source of income is still agriculture and trade, Al Sisi is trying to flaunt its imposing historical past by rescuing its pharaonic history to keep tourists coming to the country, which has become the main source of foreign exchange.

Egypt has a captivating history and the country ultimately attracts tourists from all walks of life. The problem is that the tourists have a return ticket, while Egyptians are trying to move forward in a country that has its wounds deep in its heart. The economy continues to go through abrupt crises and, in his attempt to modernise the country, Al-Sisi keeps passing new measures and reforms that further impoverish its population. Many Egyptians see al-Sisi's policies as costly, pointing out that they are paying for the new measures through taxes, and they are becoming more and more expensive. 

In addition, in 2019, the Egyptian parliament approved a constitutional reform that grants power to Al-Sisi until 2030. The president's supporters argue that it is necessary for Al-Sisi to stay in power for this period in order to fulfil his political programme, which aims to bring stability to the country.

"Egypt is still poor, but it has only been a short time since Al-Sisi has been in power," argues an Egyptian woman. On the other hand, others believe that the popular uprisings were a failure because political freedom has not been achieved. Meanwhile, more than a few countries in the West are giving their approval to al-Sisi under the umbrella of "his struggle for stability". However, there is also no shortage of Egyptians who believe that the West is being "hypocritical" by perpetuating a regime that increasingly conforms to an enlightened despotism rather than a democratic project.