Egypt’s Revolution

The Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) at Shepherd University, led by student Robby Glenn, gave an overview of recent events in Egypt and how media coverage has portrayed it.

The group started by giving background information about what had led up to the riots in Egypt. There was concern that people were having a hard time finding information on how this revolution began.  

On October 6^th 1981 Anwar Al Sadat, President of Egypt, was assassinated and power passed to Hosni Mubarak. Under Mubarak, Egypt has been under a constant "Emergency Rule Law," similar to Marshal Law. Constitutional rights have been denied, news is censored, and Habeas Corpus has been suspended, leading to approximately 30,000 people being forced into prison. Since Mubarak took power there has been four elections, all rigged to prevent anyone else from running. One opponent who tried to run against Mubarak during an election was put in jail for fraud. Mubarak has retained power for over 30 years, allowing himself special privileges that have equated him to little more than a dictator. 

The rise by the people of Egypt has been called the Facebook Revolution, due to it being fueled by a majority of young people and its first move toward rebellion being inspired by a Facebook Group called the April 6 Youth Movement.

On January 25^th 2011, the group inspired thousands of Egyptians to take to the streets in a peaceful protest towards the center of Cairo. Walking through the streets the people cried for the resignation of Mubarak.

The next day, January 26^th, the government moved to ban demonstrations. These orders and a 6 p.m. curfew are ignored by protestors. The people make a firm stand at Tahrir Square, an Arabic word that is translated as liberation.

On January 28^th the Egyptian government took unprecedented action by effectively shutting down the internet and all mobile phone services across the nation. The protests at this point turned purposely violent, leading to 55 dead civilians and 15 police officers. Around Egypt protests began in various cities, one of which happened in Luxor, a city on the southern borders of Egypt with 15,000 people.

Mubarak's Presidential cabinet resigns on January 29 and Mubarak appoints Omar Suleiman as Vice President, the first in the regime's history.

On January 31 the military made a bold decision not to fire on protestors, leading the people to believe that victory is within their grasp.  

On February 1 Mubarak claims that he will step down when his term is done in September, but until then he will try to work issues out with the people. The people respond with stronger protests, calling for his dismissal immediately.

Protests continue to February 9 when rumors of Mubarak stepping down are confirmed by President Obama.

Almost in retaliation though Mubarak during a televised program hours later said "I cannot and will not accept to be dictated orders from outside, no matter what the source is."

Mubarak instead has stated that he will hand over some power to the Vice President but would not step down to "foreign pressure".

On Fri., February 11 the unthinkable happened; President Mubarak stepped down and handed his power over to the military. 18 days into Egypt's revolution the people succeeded in bringing down the dictator who had given their country so much grief and pain over the last 30 years. Their revolution did not come without the blood though. Over 300 people gave their lives for the revolution, in hope that one day they would be free from the tyranny of Mubarak. Those "martyrs" as the Egyptians have thought of them, had helped Egyptians continue to fight, even if the cost was death. With power in the hands of the military Egypt sets its sights on creating a new government.

After an overview of the situation, the group went on to show various clips from different sources of media to compare how Egypt has been perceived. After watching a few news segments the group discussed how they felt. Some believed that the news outlets gave information in a way that "related to Americans" and not necessarily how events would affect Egypt.

Some students said that the media had been theorizing what the state would look like after change rather than actual coverage of Egypt. Sources such as Fox and CNN made American audiences view through a lens, focusing on how events would "affect the U.S". Students said the news networks had been bringing in analysts that mostly talked about "what we (U.S.) should do" "or "what kind of regime we want in there" rather than looking at what Egypt wanted.  

Independent sources such has Democracy Now and Al Jazeera received different reactions as being "in the action" by portraying what was happening in Egypt more accurately.

The discussion then changed direction from media coverage to how people actually felt about the Egypt situation. There seemed to be a general agreement that for anything to change Mubarak needed to step down. The main problem the group found however was what would be done after Mubarak stepped down. People questioned what kind of change would come. At this point the only focal point the masses had demanded was a "transition without Mubarak".

One student made the point that Egypt would be able to find a way themselves. The people had been trying to show that they could embrace Democracy by cleaning up their own riots as a sign of responsibility and keeping each other out of trouble with the military as if they were "oh I don't know, governing themselves".

Robert Glenn of SEAC, the event sponsor, said "We see this as a big part of our environment,"

Glenn was pleased with the group's first event and said that they would try to do more despite a low turnout. The small amount of people was probably do to how fast the event had to be put together with everything happening so rapidly in Egypt.