Abstract
This paper is intended to explore whether the 2011 revolution in Egypt which brough down the regime of Hosni Mubarak brought about democracy to the region, and if not then what factors caused this to stall for Egypt. It will explore whether or not Egypt is headed on the road of democracy and whether it is fair yet to judge Egypt as their revolution may not be complete yet. The paper will explore the causes keeping them from yet achieving democracy and will ask whether Egypt will now see a power struggle directed at the SCAF to realize their dreams of democracy that they thought they had won in the revolution of 2011.
Keywords: SCAF- Supreme Council of the Armed Forces
Did the 2011 Egyptian Revolution bring Democracy?
In 2011 the whole world watched as broadcast on their television sets was a revolution, and one unlike they had ever seen before. The regime of Hosni Mubarak was brought down by the people of Egypt in a way that was done by a complete seizure of the streets by the population and an indignant uprising of weeks that eventually led to the dissolution of the current regime in power in Egypt. This takedown of the regime of the oppressors was meant to liberate Egypt, and bring democracy to the nation. Instead Egypt has experienced many setbacks since the revolution ended in February of 2011 that would make some say that the events in Cairo led to a situation that was far worse than what Egypt had before and maybe they were better off before the revolution occurred in their country. Since the revolution, street fights, pogroms, and fighting with the police remain commonplace on the streets of Cairo and other major cities throughout Egypt. The brutal regime of the SCAF, which is the armed forces of Egypt, has taken over the power vacuum that was left after the revolution occurred an imposed their own brutal repressive dictatorship upon the Egyptian people. This has led many to feel that the revolution was a failure as the initial goal of democracy was not achieved, but some call it a success still since the revolution continues to grow, though total liberation hasn’t been achieved. The revolution in Egypt was still a success despite the setbacks that have occurred there, and is in fact still an ongoing struggle that the Egyptian people are harnessed with. The Egyptian revolution has not yet brought out democracy, but ultimately will in the nation.
The Egyptian revolution occurred in January of 2011 and ended in February of 2011 in what was a mass protest wave against the Mubarak regime for rampant poverty, inequality, and worsening conditions in the country of Egypt. The revolution was won by taking the streets, and stopping the country economically until the regime came down and the people thought themselves to be free of the tyranny that it represented. Since then, fighting with the police, riots, and seizing of the streets has still become a common thing within Egypt and dominated headlines coming out of the country. Egypt failed to achieve the kind of equality and democracy that they intended to once they brought down their past, brutal regime. Democracy is a system in which power is to be fully exercised directly from the people, and they are to have their will realized on a national scale. (US State dept. 2008) This didn’t happen as now they are confronted with a much better armed enemy in the SCAF and one that will be much harder to put under control like the regime of Mubarak was.
Egypt is seen by some not to be a success anymore and to have been a country that was better off before the revolution occurred early last year. That is disagreed on, however. Egypt was a country with massive inequality before the revolution, socially and economically, and still has it but the revolution is not complete. After the government of 2011 dissolved, it was replaced by the military called the SCAF. It is this entity that is now denying Egyptians their basic rights that is causing all of the fighting in the streets of Egypt. It is their lack of support that has caused democracy to stall in Egypt and denied basic rights tot heir citizens. (Rizzuto, 2011) It is said by many that the new revolution will now take place against the SCAF and not any organized governments as they have been seen as rigging elections and keeping norms in place to benefit themselves. This betrayal of democracy by the SCAF may give the Egyptians a reason to now go after them, and signals that the revolution did not fail more so that it never ended in Egypt. The revolution in Egypt could not have failed because it is still an ongoing struggle that needs to still be won and see its revolution play through in order to achieve the democratic results that the Egyptians felt they are entitled to after winning their first revolution, or perhaps the first part of their revolution.
Though the conditions for Egypt at this moment are not ideal, they are not bound by those conditions. The revolution in Egypt must still enter its final phase which would be getting rid of SCAF. Already, leaders of the revolution of 2011 against the Mubarak regime are asking for the military to return to their bases and to leave the country up to democracy. (Al-thani, 2012) Egypt has already made great strides since their revolution to become a nation to stand on its own feet and be successful in its own right. A good example of this was the seizure of foreign property and the nationalization of foreign investments to better help Egypt. Much of the efforts by the radicals and activists inside Egypt has been hampered by the existence of the SCAF regime so if Egypt is to move for total liberation, they must crush this regime as well and it is already becoming common to fight against them, as well. The anniversary of the revolution in Egypt saw fighting between protestors and SCAF members, which show the general next phase in the revolution of the Egyptian people. (Daher, 2012) Egypt must fight the revolution all the way and take on the military institution of the SCAF in order to declare it a successful fight against the regime that is oppressing them and stealing the freedoms that they had won for themselves by taking down the last regime. The SCAF is now seemingly up on deck as the next one to be overthrown by the people of Egypt so they can see themselves as totally liberated in a country that has seen many broken promises and empty predictions in the past year. This new movement may just be the one that brings democracy to the region that has been stalled by a new dictatorship.
In conclusion, Egypt is a nation that is now on the cusp of another revolution after just having one, this time to fully liberate themselves from their domestic enemies which have oppressed them for far too long, in that the SCAF. The talk about how democracy never occurred in Egypt is unfair as the process to get there is a lengthy one and has not yet been fully realized by the people of Egypt in their struggle against tyrannical and oppressive forces from within. Though fighting does take place in Egypt on a regular basis between protestors and the security forces that are supposedly there to help them, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for Egypt in getting real progress from their revolution that they undertook by overthrowing the first regime in the cold month of January of 2011. It is a year in the making, but the revolution did not end in Egypt and it will not end until the regime of the SCAF Is overthrown and Egypt achieves its full independence and democratic that they were promised when abolishing the first regime, though time must be given to fully decide whether it will be successful or not. (Jones, 2011) Egypt will assert for themselves peoples rule over their territory and eventually bring forth democracy in their nation, at the end of a long lengthy process of fighting and struggle to fully be free and in control of their own affairs.