Revolution continues
July 19, 2011
It is oppressively hot on Tahrir Square in the heart of Cairo where the sun burns down mercilessly on the tent camp that demonstrators set up 10 days ago. Tents large and small haphazardly dot the area with large white sheets stretched between them to provide shade.
A family from upper Egypt has sat down there to get a reprieve from the sun and next to them a barber cuts the hair of the revolutionaries. Young people distribute water and leaflets, and in the middle of the crowd stand the cameras of television journalists from the major Arab networks as well as the numerous small broadcasters.
Hadir, Hiba and Islam sit in a large white tent with their friends. They are young Egyptians who have been participating in the recent demonstrations against the military council.
"We are going to stay here until our demands are met," Hadir , a young woman with a serious face underneath her blue head scarf, told Deutsche Welle
"Our wishes are the wishes of the revolution that began on the 25th of January," she continues. "Up until now only two of our demands have been met: the resignation of Mubarak and the dissolution of the parliament."
The fact that Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has reshufflled his cabinet and fired some ministers finds little resonance with the demonstrators. Their demands have not been fulfilled, says Hadir. They want the police officers responsible for the deaths of scores of protestors to be punished. Members of the Mubarak regime should also be brought to court. And resources must be better distributed and civilians should no longer be brought before military tribunals.
Elections or new constitution?
The other young activists in the tent excitedly jump into the conversation. They all want the military to abdicate the power that it assumed after Mubarak's ouster. The generals, they say, are trying to divide the people in order to cement their power.
In a prepared statement that General Mohsen el Fangary read to the public a few days ago, he warned the demonstrators not to disturb the public peace. At the same time, he rejected demands that the military tribunals be abolished.
Fangary added that the military leadership is not ready to hand over power. It wants to stick to the plan to hold parliamentary elections first, then create a new constitution and afterwards finalize presidential elections.
But many human rights organizations demand that the process be reversed as in Tunisia, according to Bahey el din-Hass with the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies.
"It is in our interest to begin with the constitution, because the constitution would draw a red line for the parliament and the newly elected president," he told Deutsche Welle.
Hassan pleads for a constitutional assembly to be called and to decide later about electoral laws. The postponement of the elections from September to November does not cut it, he says.
Tantawi has to go
Regardless of when the elections take place, the demonstrators want General Tantawi - the head of the governing military council - to step down immediately.
"Tantawi served Mubarak loyally for decades," says Hadir with outrage. "Should the thief's accomplice judge the thief?"
The Interior Ministry's decision to let around 600 police officers go has not pacified the young demonstrators. Those officers would have gone into retirement shortly anyway, they say. The fact that they were forced out earlier than planned is not enough. They should be tried in a court and punished for their actions.
"Everyone who was corrupt in the past 30 years has to be brought before a court," Hiba says. "We want to have a civil state, not a police state."
The people in Tahrir Square are demanding an end to military rule. And they are not alone in the Arab world, according to the Jordanian journalist Rami Khoury, the director of a research institute in Beirut.
"The Egyptian military has actually been in power uninterrupted since 1952," Khoury told Deutsche Welle. "That's the case for the entire Arab world. There is discontent everywhere and there are many reasons. One reason is the long rule of the political elites, who are supported by the military."
How does it end?
The young revolutionaries of Tahrir Square are bitter. With a courage that came from desperation, they faced attacks and persecution. Around 1,000 demonstrators were killed during the uprising while thousands more were injured, imprisoned, mistreated and tortured. Months after Mubarak's ouster, many still sit in prison.
Don't the activists fear that the security forces will take action against them? Islam points to his upper body and mouth and says, "Here is my chest, and here is my tongue. I do not have anything else. I don't have any weapons."
The women are not intimidated either. They are furious over what the security forces did to women after arresting them. After being detained, they were inspected by female doctors in order to find out if they were still virgins. Hadir has tears in eyes as she talks about it.
As the sun goes down and a small breeze starts blowing, Tahrir Square fills with people. A steadily growing number of demonstrators are staying overnight in the tent village. The revolution in Egypt is far from over.
Author: Bettina Marx and Diana Hodali / sk
Editor: Rob Mudge