Essay on Growing Up During the Egyptian Revolution

There is a place where not far from my hometown, which, since my childhood, still holds the secrets to life. It was a place where we were free. Free to do whatever we wanted to do, say whatever we wanted to say, it was our place, our river. It was a simple place, no paved or asphalt roads for the commotion of busy traffic, no tall buildings to block out the sunlight, no sense of time to feel rushed or anxious, no effects from the outside world. It was a beach on the coast of Lake Sakakawea called “Little Egypt.”

The psychological effects, the mentality of fighting and killing another human, and the sheer decimation of human values is what makes war atrocious. War is not only fought on the battlefield though. This book also describes the feelings of a soldier fighting his own demons that war has brought on. The battle that the soldier has with himself, is almost if not more damaging than the physical battle of war. He will never forget his experience with battle, no matter how hard he tries the memories of artillery, blood, and death cannot be erased. “I prayed like you to survive, but look at me now. It is over for us who are dead, but you must struggle, and will carry the memories all your life. People back home will wonder why you can't forget.” (Sledge). This struggle still happens to soldiers today. Sledge’s words of the struggles still captures the effects of warfare that lingers today. The other effects that war has on the men is the instability that surrounds them at every hour of the day. They are either engaged in battle having bullets and artillery fired at them, or waiting for battle just so they can be deposited back in the pressure cooker of survival. “Lying in a foxhole sweating out an enemy artillery or mortar barrage or waiting to dash across open ground under machine-gun or artillery fire defied any concept of time.”

Almost a year ago, Egypt broke into civil unrest when protesters flooded Tahrir Square, demanding the end of Hosnia Mubarak’s regime. Although Mubarak stepped down within two weeks, Egypt is worse off today than it was last January. The Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), which played a vital role in the January revolution, has now become a violent and oppressive force. On the twenty-ninth of December 2011, the SCAF raided seventeen Egyptian, German, and US run NGOs in search of proof of illegal foreign funding.1 In a statement (A/HRC/18/NGO/77) submitted by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), and the Center for Egyptian Women’s

Your memoir, Night, drastically changed my view on the world; more specifically, I now sympathize more with individuals who are experiencing a struggle of any kind. This is a result of the brutal details that forced you to create a vivid image of the situation at hand. Before reading Night, I never truly took the time to imagine what it would be like to be in these tragic situations. Therefore, I would like to thank you for bringing this inhumane flaw I possessed to light. The first account of me realizing this flaw, occurred because of the Nazis’ brutality.

Consequently, as a fifteen year old boy, he had to see the excruciating realities of the world by receiving physical and mental torture. Night also represented the loss

Egyptians began to settle along the banks of the Nile River, Starting as far north as to the city of Alexandria all the way down south to Aswan. They developed into a well-structured society as Far East to the Red Sea and west to Dakhia, Oasis among many (Figure 1.). The Nile River reached far lending a hand in creating a well-known civilization that consisted of building pyramids and producing crops for their pharaoh. Evolving from hunters and gatherers into agriculturalists throughout history, Egypt has claimed to be one of the earliest and most spectacular civilizations of ancient times. One could wonder if, what led to the collapse of this great society resulted from the Egyptians interaction with the environment by overusing

To begin, the documentary “The Square” provided in depth insight on the protestors’ lives and their journeys through Egypt presidents’ problematic rise of power. During the beginning of the documentary, Ahmed Hassan, Magdy Ashour, Khalid Abdalla and Ramy Essam as well as various protestors are followed throughout the demonstrations to show viewers the atrocities that Egypt underwent in 2011 and the years following. As well, the documentary provides different points of views by interviewing military officials and people in higher political power. Not only did the documentary provide insight in the revolution but, it provided an insight on Egypt’s culture and society through the views of Christian and Muslim followers.

Within the society of ancient Egypt, having a good Pharaoh was considered to be absolutely vital for the functioning of the country; and it was for this reason that Egypt had been ruled by these supposedly half gods half humans for over three thousand years. The position of the Pharaoh was auspiciously passed down through the royal family and traditionally to the eldest son when his father died. Hatshepsut was a significant individual who thwarted this convention by depicting herself as a male so that after her husband/brother Thutmosis II died suddenly she could become Pharaoh instead of the rightful successor, who was Thutmosis III. Because of the male-governed society of which she had lived in, Hatshepsut had to indeed subvert the

The Egyptian Revolution of 1919 was a countrywide non-violent revolution against the British occupation of Egypt. It was carried out by Egyptians from different walks of life in the wake of the British-ordered exile of revolutionary leader Saad Zaghlul and other members of the Wafd Party in 1919. The event led to Egyptian independence in 1922 and the implementation of a new constitution in 1923

Under that ‘state of emergency’, the government has the right to imprison individuals for any period of time, and for virtually no reason, thus keeping them in prisons without trials for any period. The political police may use intimidation, arbitrary arrest, torture and execution. It infiltrates other coercive agencies of the state, such as the regular police and the armed forces, to ensure their compliance. ” this state of emergency causing strong dissatisfaction of Egyptian, the citizens live under monitoring and political terror, human rights and political rights could not be gained.

Egypt today can be a viable market for the foreign investor, especially the investor who has the ability to see the rewards of in investing in the region for the long haul. The world and Egypt both realize that the region is the gateway to the Middle East. Egypt is leading the way for Arabic countries to embrace a new way of doing business and opening their borders to the ‘global village’ concept.

In Bruce K. Rutherford’s writing “Egypt: The Origins and Consequences of the January 25 Uprising” Rutherford identifies the five key political actors/entities that are important in contemporary Egyptian politics. He recognizes the liberals, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafis, the military and remnants of the old regime as being some of the primary instigators in Egypt today. (Rutherford)

Egyptians in a solidarity move demonstrated for 18 consecutive days of protest until the former president Hosni Mubarak was forced to resign and the military took over the government suspending the constitution. At the moment, the military can either run the transitional government for a period of a year or less or run the country by committee. On taking over the power, the military promised to deliver a new constitution and organize a free and fair election.

In recent months we have seen political unrest in Tunisia, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries. In each of these countries the political leadership had amassed immense power and was using these powers to restrain and limit their countrymen from development. The ruling class clearly had formed a political structure with a clear agenda to inhibit the growth of their fellow citizens. In the past few decades, people from these countries have endured structural violence due to political hegemony. Exposure to western media has made the people realize the advantage of distributed power. Hence these countries are witnessing a surge of protest, with people fighting against the system. Parsons emphasizes on the distribution of political power and its effects throughout his

Revolutions have taken place over history around the whole world and varied greatly according to their causes, objectives, and results. They all occur in order to make a kind of change, either by attempting to modify regimes or completely overthrow them. Their results incorporate material changes in political, economic, cultural, and social life. In Egypt, two of the most crucial revolutions that have occurred are the 1952 and 2011 revolutions. Even though the gap of years between them is quite wide, they share similarities in their causes and goals.