One year on, protesters are still demanding freedoms in the square that became a byword for the Arab Spring. Shahira Amin reports
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It started as a day of celebration, with tens of thousands of Egyptians converging on Tahrir Square to mark the first anniversary of Egypt’s revolution, 25 January. The morning crowd — dominated by bearded Islamists — waved flags and strolled peacefully in the Square — flashpoint of the eighteen day uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak last year.
One year to the day pro-democracy activists held mass protests, and the mood in Tahrir yesterday was one of jubilation and fanfare. Two days earlier, Egypt’s first democratically elected parliament convened for the first time, pledging to work to fulfil the goals of the revolution — including securing justice for the families of those killed and victims of violence during last year’s mass uprising; a key demand of the revolutionary movements. The Islamist-dominated People’s Assembly, the lower house of the parliament, also made it clear that the military council running Egypt in the transitional period would face close scrutiny from the newly elected lawmakers.
Meanwhile, in an effort to appease a disgruntled public ahead of protests marking the anniversary of the Revolution, the military council announced the release of 1,959 political detainees, most of them pro-democracy activists who had faced military trials . Prominent blogger Maikel Nabil, Egypt’s first prisoner of conscience in the post-revolutionary era, was among the convicts to be set free. The military authority also said it would lift the state of emergency in place since 1981. It added however that the law would continue to apply in cases of ‘thuggery’. Skeptics worry that the exception may be a pretext for continuing arbitrary arrests and detention of civilians without charge, especially as peaceful protesters have been previously described by military generals as “trouble-makers” and “paid agents carrying out foreign agendas.”
Uncertainty about the future failed to dampen the mood in Tahrir Square, as Islamists celebrated the achievements of the past year, relishing their newfound freedom and leadership role. The Muslim Brotherhood — a long time banned group in Egypt won 38 per cent of parliamentary seats for their Freedom and Justice Party in the recent election. The ultra-conservative Salafist Nour Party meanwhile secured 29 per cent of the list seats.
“We voted them in and now they will take care of our demands,” Manal Hassan , a veiled housewife and mother of three said confidently.
It wasn’t until early afternoon when thousands more protesters — mostly secularists and liberals — converged on Tahrir after marching through the streets from various focal points in the city — that the mood began to shift from celebratory to rebellious. Seeking a new revolt against military rule, the activists began to chant “Down with military rule!”
“We did not come to Tahrir earlier in the day so as to give the Islamists space to celebrate. But it is too early for us to celebrate. We must continue our struggle. Very few of our goals have been met,” said Amr Taher, a student of commerce. His friends nodded in agreement.
“We have walked all the way from Mostafa Mahmoud in Mohandeseen to make our demands clear. We want the military to handover power to a civilian government now,” said advertising agency employee Amina Mansour, 28.
Many liberals feel that little has changed since Mubarak was toppled and say the old regime is still intact. Listing rights violations including military trials for more than 12,000 civilians in the past year, torture in prisons, virginity checks performed on female protesters and intimidation of journalists. Reem Dawoud, activist and member of the “Kazeboon” campaign, launched “to expose the lies of the ruling military council” noted, “A year on, we are still waiting for a free press and an independent judiciary!”
“El Qassas! El Qassas! Justice for the martyrs and their families! ” shouted an elderly activist from the podium, his cries met with cheers and clapping from the crowd below. Before nightfall, an estimated 150,000 protesters had gathered in the Square, sending a strong message to the military authority that “the fear barrier has been broken” and “the rulers are now accountable to their people for the first time ,” as expressed by some Facebook-users in their posts later in the day.
As Egyptians start their second post-revolution year, they are optimistic about the future. “The power is now in the hands of the people for the first time,” author Alaa Aswani said in a televised interview. Confident in their ability to create change, they know it is a matter of time before the military is pushed back to the barracks and power is transferred to a civilian government. And they are hoping for a faster pace of reforms and successful transition to democracy.
“We went off-course for a while this past year because of lack of unity among liberal movements and their inability to reach consensus on the way forward. But now, we seem to have found our way again and are moving on the right track,” said 35 year-old activist Hazem Mahmoud , with a broad smile on his face.
Journalist and television anchor Shahira Amin resigned her post as deputy head of state-run Nile TV on February 2011
Egyptian state TV— for decades the mouthpiece of the authoritarian regime — is an ugly towering block of concrete and steel overlooking the River Nile at Maspero in downtown Cairo. In the post-revolutionary era, it is a heavily fortified fortress surrounded by barbed wire and stone barricades. Snipers can be spotted on the rooftop and terraces, and uniformed soldiers with machine guns stand guard outside the main entrances and exits. Corrugated iron gates have replaced the once-glass façade adding gloom to an already tense and inhospitable atmosphere inside the building which houses some 45,000 employees.
Upstairs on the fifth floor, a storm is brewing. Outside the main news studio, scores of employees of the main Arabic Nile News Channel are staging a sit-in, which they vow will continue until their demands are met. The demands include an immediate end to censorship and a set of reforms, which they say, are long overdue.
“Etman! Lift your hands off the media!” chant the angry protesters. Their message is addressed to Ismail Etman, the senior military general who currently heads the Armed Forces Morale Affairs Department.
‘‘We are also telling the station managers to keep their hands off. We are tired of censorship and interference in our editorial work,” complains Aly El Attar, a director at the channel.
The protest was triggered by the banning of a documentary on the 25 January revolution, produced by fellow director Aly El Geheny. Titled Tahrir Square, the documentary includes footage of the brutal treatment of peaceful protesters by security forces against during the mass uprising early last year. The decision by the Head of the News Sector not to broadcast the film enraged staff at the channel prompting them to take action. They vowed to show the film “with or without his consent.”
“We had a revolution a year ago but nothing has changed,” laments newscaster Iman Mansour. “We still work in a stifling and restrictive atmosphere. We are still waiting for the restructuring of editorial policies and the purging of state TV. ”
She insists that the red lines remain in place: the ruling military council having now replaced Hosni Mubarak as the new line that cannot be crossed.
“If a guest starts criticising the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the atmosphere in the studio becomes tense and I’m instructed by the show producers to cut the program short,” Mansour says.
“On the other hand, if the guest is pro-SCAF, he or she is allowed to ramble on for as long as they like.”
But this maybe about to change.
Mansour affirms that in the past many of her co-workers practiced self- censorship because they were afraid of losing their jobs or worse still, of facing an investigation by a military court. These fears have been reinforced by recent media reports of fellow journalists and bloggers being summoned for interrogation by the Military Prosecutor — a trend, which according to the protesting journalists has become “all too common” in the post-revolutionary era.
Mahmoud El Azaly, a news editor at the channel complains that the station management had recently handed them an updated list of the guests they were permitted to host on their live shows. “This is unacceptable. In a free media, all voices are heard. No one is excluded,” he argues affirming that the channel has also extended its boycott of outspoken critics of the military rulers such as former Presidential-hopeful Mohamed El Baradei and author Alaa El Aswany.
Just days before Egypt’s Second Revolution, a protest planned by activists demanding an end to military rule, the Nile News journalists say they are adamant about covering events as they unfold. “Last year, we were confined to our studios and were not authorised to report from Tahrir. Now we are being told to cover the pro-military rally in Abbassiya instead. But we are not going to repeat the mistakes of the past. Our cameras will be in Tahrir too. We share the aspirations of the pro democracy activists,” El Attar asserts.
While a number of talk show hosts working for independent channels have taken a stand in recent months threatening to quit if their shows were censored, state television’s critics allege it is still biased in favour of the authorities. The journalists’ chants of “Down with military rule!” and “Thowar! Ahrar! We are free revolutionaries and we shall continue our revolution!” outside the Maspero office of the new Minister of Information mark a turning point and perhaps, a break from a repressive past.
A year on from the uprising which ousted Hosni Mubarak, Egyptians are still waiting for media reforms. Shahira Amin reports