Erstellt am: 24. 1. 2014 - 17:49 Uhr

Twisting the Knife

Cairo burns and Egypt is torn on the third anniversary of the popular uprising meant to bring democracy.

I figured something was going to happen around the third anniversary of The Original Revolution, the popular uprising in Egypt which started on January 25th, 2011.

apa

Egyptian supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood clash with local residents and security forces in Giza, near Cairo, Egypt, 24 January 2014

I figured it was probably going to be something bad and all day today, my not particularly brilliant hunch kept getting confirmed as the news wire services kept feeding new reports of bombings in Cairo.
Just as I was trying to get my head around the three bombs detonated at Cairo's police headquarters, a metro station, and a small police station, another report came through about the bombing of a cinema.
When I called Sammy Khamis last week and asked him what happened to the revolution of 2011, he sighed, left a little pause, and in the most gentle manner said something that struck me as not just real but also violent. He said, "Talking about the revolution is like twisting the knife that's in the back of Egyptians."

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Egyptian students hold a small poster denouncing the death of their comrade about one week earlier as they protest in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, 01 December 2013

The Egyptian revolution marking its third year anniversary has had jubilant highs and more than tragic lows. Two presidents have been toppled in three years in Egypt--an achievement made, to an enormously large percent, by the will of millions of revolutionaries.
Many revolutionaries were detained, beaten, tortured, killed and when I write revolutionaries, I mean Muslims, Christians, rich, poor, men, women, the people from all walks of life united in their intent to topple the dictator back in 2011.

The rollercoaster ride may be in a low dip at the moment but every revolutionary I spoke to, as I was producing the Saturday Reality Check Special for the 25th of January, said the revolution is not over.

I hope the bombing of today in Egypt is but I have a sinking, sick feeling, that it's not.

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Egyptian police and civilians gather at the site of a car bomb explosion outside police headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, 24 January 2014

"What Happened to the Revolution?"

January 25th marks the third anniversary of what many Egyptians now refer to as The Original Revolution. Driven by the unrelenting voice of its youth, Egypt was overtaken by a movement that not only toppled a dictator but two years later, during ‘Revolution 2.0’, an elected president too.

Young demonstrating protagonists of Tahrir Square-- bloggers, journalists, and political analysts, are featured in this Saturday Reality Check Special called "What Happened to the Revolution?":