Inside Egypt's Uprising
Few imagined such a scene, such defiance: in Tahrir Square,
a million Egyptians protested with a huge banner that read “PEOPLE DEMAND
REMOVAL OF THE REGIME.” Young activists used social media tools such as
Facebook to organize the first protest on January 25, the country’s Police Day.
Eighteen days of mounting demonstrations later, with the country
increasingly paralyzed, President Hosni Mubarak resigned after a thirty-year
rule.
Mohammed Bouazizi, a twenty-six-year-old street vendor in
the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, is the one who lit the match that ignited the
revolts against dictators throughout the Arab world. His self-immolation last
December 17—after a government inspector confiscated his fruit and slapped him
for trying to resist her authority—set off protests all over Tunisia and drove
President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali from power on January 14. Before long,
uprisings also posed threats to longstanding regimes in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain,
and Syria.
The Arab revolutions of 2011 are a turning point in Middle
East history. Why did they occur? Why now? What comes next? In the Cairo Review
Interviews, nine key figures give an inside look at the causes and effects of
Egypt’s uprising and discuss the challenges now facing the country and the
region.
Amr Khaled: How to rebuild Egypt
Esraa Abdel Fattah: The
new youth activism
Hossam Badrawi: Revolution
viewed from inside the regime
Alaa Al Aswany: Artists
and protests
Essam El-Erian: Future
of the Muslim Brotherhood
Nabil Fahmy: Arab
foreign policy shift
Amr Hamzawy: Challenge of Transition
Aida Seif El-Dawla: Ongoing
human rights abuses
Rami G. Khouri: Middle East Awakening