The revolution of the Youth

At the beginning, they were only few thousands around the country, of those young Egyptians involved in small and repressed opposition movements. Caught in the middle of a wide and silent majority, they allowed themselves the wild dream of revolution. But in January 2011, the awaken youths succeeded in challenging not only a three decades-long regime, but the entire Egyptian society, calling them to take to the streets. For one crucial moment in time, the message was united: Say NO to police torture, to corruption, to oppression, to injustice. At first, Halim, Soleyfa, Hind or Imen could not believe it: an unprecedented uprising was unfolding. The fear walls had crumbled and the heavy weight of accumulated frustrations broke apart political apathy, social and political foundations. They succeeded in what could have been a utopia: they gathered and mobilized all kind of Egyptians behind them. In only 18 days, the unchallenged ‘Rais’ Hosni Mubarak, was gone. Owning to a matrix of vicious state control of the political space, pro-democracy mobilization was previously impossible. People within and outside Egypt were stunned by the speed, scope and size of the protests.