We had wide activity in the streets through our groups. We were trying to organize awareness campaigns almost everywhere, at the university, in factories, in public squares, and we were trying to gather public opinion against the regime itself.
We used to organize demonstrations, we weren’t convinced with many laws, besides that there was also a general hatred for the regime. Thus, we used to conduct demonstrations at different times against the regime, or a particular decision, or a particular law. We used to gather through demonstrations, sit-ins, and through our presence in the middle of the street yelling “Step Down, Hosni Mubarak “[Hosni Mubarak was the former Egyptian President who was deposed during the Arab Spring uprising].
We were trying to make it snowball so that the day comes when all the people come out in the streets and say “Step Down, Hosni Mubarak” without fear and without having any problem. We were trying to make a large snowball and break the barrier of fear that people have through, for example, standing in front of the Office of the General Attorney, or at the stairs of the Union of Journalists yelling “Step Down, Hosni Mubarak .” We were a group of 50 or 100 people at most, so people used to look at us surprised that few number of youth in their 20’s or 30’s are yelling “Step Down, Hosni Mubarak” but we aimed to break the fear in people.
Sometimes, we used to work on the demonstrations surprise strategy in popular areas and lower-class areas. We used to make it in a day without announcing any details, a group of our members gather, for example, 100 or 150 and go to lower-class areas and make a demonstration against high prices, unemployment, and low wages. We used to shout slogans against the regime and stir up public discontent in populous areas.
This was of course, in addition to organizing awareness campaigns, fairs in the university, focusing on the crimes committed by the regime, so that we show the extent of the brutality of this regime. For instance, the crime of torture committed against Khaled Saeed and Sayed Belal [separate incidents of young Egyptians who were beaten to death by Egyptian security forces].
We used to participate in all the stands that were called for by other political forces through coordinating with them so that we make political crowds and general discontent on the regime and to break the barrier of fear that people had.
Mahmoud Afifi is an Egyptian democracy activist with the April 6th Youth Movement, a group formed in 2008 to support striking workers; afterwards, it transformed into a nationwide opposition network against Hosni Mubarak’s regime. Today, Afifi serves as the Director of the April 6th Youth Movement’s Information Office. He is a lawyer by profession and graduated from Banha University in 2006.
Afifi joined the April 6th Youth Movement in 2009 and founded the group’s chapter in Egypt’s Qalyubia governorate. There he rallied youth to take part in various awareness campaigns and street protests against the government. As part of this strategy, he engaged the poorest segments of the population and strengthened their voice in the political arena. Following his success in Qalyubia, Afifi worked to organize April 6th Youth Movement campaigns at the national level. As the government cracked down on these demonstrations, Afifi was arrested several times and even abandoned in the desert.
Prior to the Egyptian Revolution that unseated President Hosni Mubarak, Afifi coordinated with other organizations encouraging citizens to participate in a January 25, 2011 demonstration in Cairo. On that day, Afifi marched to Tahrir Square with thousands of others demanding Mubarak’s resignation and a free Egypt. The protests intensified and expanded nationwide. Almost three weeks later, on February 11, 2011, Hosni Mubarak stepped down from power ending his 30 year reign.
With a history dating back to the 10th millennium B.C., Egypt has long played a central role in the Middle East. Egypt is the largest Arab nation and has an influential voice in Arabic and Middle Eastern culture. Egypt has a diverse economy, but has struggled to create sustained economic growth and opportunities for its population of 84 million people.
The country has little experience with representative democracy. From 1956 to 1970, President Gamal Abdel Nasser ruled Egypt with a strong hand, nationalizing the Suez Canal and taking the country into conflict with the new state of Israel. Upon his death, Anwar al-Sadat became president. Together with other Arab nations, Sadat launched the October War against Israel in 1973. In 1979, Sadat signed a groundbreaking peace treaty with Israel.
From Sadat’s assassination in 1981 until the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, Egypt was governed by President Hosni Mubarak. For all of Mubarak’s time in office, and for much of the time since his resignation, Egypt has been under “Emergency Law,” which allows the government to suspend constitutional rights, including limiting political activity and restricting free speech. Emergency Law also allows the government to use summary arrests against political opponents.
For four successive terms, Mubarak was reelected in referenda without an opponent. In 2005, under domestic and international pressure, Mubarak proposed a constitutional amendment to allow Egypt’s first multicandidate presidential elections. Because the amendment would have imposed severe restrictions on the eligibility of opposition candidates, opposition groups boycotted the vote. Mubarak claimed to have won the September 2005 presidential election with an official 88 percent of the vote, amid widespread allegations of fraud and vote rigging. The main opposition leader, Ayman Nour, was subsequently prosecuted by the government for forging signatures on petitions and was sentenced to five years in prison, provoking protests from the United States and other democratic countries.
Following the example of the Tunisian Revolution, large protests swept Egypt in early 2011. The military, led by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), withdrew its support of Mubarak. On February 11, 2011, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had resigned. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) headed by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi then assumed power in Egypt. SCAF dissolved the parliament and suspended the constitution.
In November 2011, Egypt held parliamentary elections that were reportedly fair and democratic. In June 2012, Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi was elected President, in part because liberal and secular forces failed to coalesce around a single candidate. Morsi’s popularity declined as he declared his orders immune from challenge, removed judicial review processes, and was accused of taking steps towards the implementation of Islamist policies. Conflict arose between those supporting Islamist policies and those seeking a more liberal and secular government. Protests occurred throughout his presidency until Morsi was ousted by the military in July 2013. Muslim Brotherhood leaders were arrested and their camps and offices raided. Until new elections are held, a SCAF-installed provisional government led by acting President Adly Mansour is in control.
In its most recent report, the independent watchdog group Freedom House classifies Egypt as “partly free.” On its scale where 1 is the most free and 7is the least free, Egypt earned scores of 5 in both the civil liberties and political rights categories.
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