#550 | The Egyptian Revolution

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to English Learning for Curious Minds by Leonardo English, the show where you can listen to fascinating stories and learn weird and wonderful things about the world at the same time. as improving your English. I'm Alastair Baj and today is the start of another three-part mini-series, this time on Modern Egypt.

In part one, this episode, we are going to be talking about the Egyptian revolution. In part two, the next episode, we are going to be looking at the huge new city Egypt is trying to build in the desert. and ask ourselves whether it is a much needed modernization of the country or a sign of something more sinister. And in part 3, we are going to talk about the case of Giulio Reggiani.

the Italian PhD student who was abducted from the streets of Cairo, tortured and brutally murdered, almost certainly by the Egyptian police. As with all of our mini-series now, parts 2 and 3 will be member-only episodes, so here is your customary reminder that if you'd like to listen to those, as well as learn with our interactive transcripts with translations in 12 languages study packs and more i'd love for you to check out our membership we have members from all over the world

including Egypt, I should add. And if you're ready to start improving your English in a more interesting way, well, the place to go is LeonardoEnglish.com.

Okay then, let's get right into it and talk about the Egyptian revolution. With the benefit of hindsight, most revolutions look obvious. whether it is an autocratic leader an unsympathetic elite widespread famine police brutality systemic corruption high unemployment runaway inflation the lack of political freedom or some combination of any or all of these it's easy for historians to look back and say the conditions were ripe for revolution egypt in

would have had a tick in the box for practically all of those things. High unemployment, inflation, police brutality, lack of civic freedoms, corruption,

and of course an autocratic leader in the form of Hosni Mubarak. But Egypt had had all of these, including Mubarak, for three decades. The majority of living Egyptians had known nothing else on the 6th of october 1981 egypt's third president anwar sadat was assassinated during a military parade his assassins were islamists who did not agree with egypt's increasingly close relationship with israel and held president sadat wholly responsible with sadat dead

blown up by grenades, his vice-president, the then 53-year-old Hosni Mubarak, was sworn in eight days later, becoming president of the Middle East's most populous country. Mubarak used the threat of Islamic extremism to continue the country's state of emergency, which gave the state heightened powers to arrest, detain, and question if there was even the tiniest

inkling of wrongdoing, and, in many cases, even if there wasn't. Protests were banned, political opponents were jailed, and the secret police kept a watchful eye on anyone who dared to whisper a complaint for three decades mubarak ruled the country with an iron fist using the military

and security forces to suppress opposition and maintain control over the population to the outside world mubarak sold himself as a steady hand a stable and strong leader in a volatile region better a friendly dictator than well the unknown and for a while it worked the west especially the United States, propped him up with billions in aid, happy to have a reliable ally who kept the peace with Israel and the oil flowing through the Suez Canal.

for moubac and his cronies his family and his allies life was good very good one estimate put his wealth at as much as seventy billion dollars on the president's official salary of seventy thousand dollars a year it would have taken him a million years to save that much money but perhaps he was just a canny investor no He was egregiously corrupt, and he and his allies siphoned off huge amounts of the country's wealth and stashed it in Swiss banks and foreign property. Of course,

This was at the expense of the average Egyptian. Like in any highly corrupt regime, the loss isn't just the direct loss of money flowing out of the country to offshore bank accounts. It's the fact that

Business is harder. Foreign companies don't want to invest in the country. The corruption drags everything down. And beneath this international facade of stability, the Egyptian people were suffocating in 2011 nearly forty percent of the population still lived below the poverty line scraping by on less than two dollars a day young people

who made up a huge chunk of egypt's 100 million strong population faced a grim future university graduates full of hope ambition and qualifications found themselves driving taxis or selling fruit on street corners because there simply weren't enough jobs. Inflation was eating away at what little money people had. The bread, a staple of the Egyptian diet, became a luxury for some families. And if you dared to speak out about it?

well the police were more than happy to remind you who was in charge often with a baton or worse the tipping point or at least what most commentators

see as the first domino to fall, came in late 2010, 2,000 kilometres to the west in Tunisia. A 26-year-old street vendor called Mohamed Bouazizi had been a regular target for tunisian police he was frequently hassled and shaken down for bribes forced to pay money to the police

the police came up to him again. It's not clear exactly what happened, and there are varying accounts, but most reports suggest that the police knocked over his fruit cart and took his weighing scales with no way to make money and still needing to pay his supplier for the produce that he was planning on selling that day he went to the local governor's office to explain what happened and demand the return of his scales he had borrowed money to pay for the goods

and now the police had destroyed his only way of earning enough to pay back his debt the governor wouldn't listen boozizi then went to a petrol station bought a can of petrol and returned to the governor's office. He stood outside in the street, lifted the petrol can up above his head, emptied it all over himself, shouting How do you expect me to live? He then lit a match, engulfing his body in flames. Watchers on rushed to him and were able to put out the flames.

He was rushed to hospital, but he didn't make it. He died 18 days later. The story of Mohammed Bouazizi spread like wildfire. Social media posts, videos, and news reports captured the attention of millions. In Tunisia, protests erupted almost immediately, and soon the streets were filled with people calling for change. Within a month, Tunisia's president, Zine El Abedin Bin Ali, had fled the country. A dictator

who had ruled for 23 years, brought down by the power of a single act of defiance. And as the news spread, so did the spirit of protest.

In Egypt, the frustration and anger that had been simmering for decades were finally ready to boil over. Bouazizi was just like millions of other young people all over the Arab world. struggling every day to make ends meet, with seemingly no way out of the situation, and at the mercy of a corrupt police state. Add to the fire social media, Facebook,

Twitter and YouTube. These became powerful tools for mobilising protesters, bringing people together and sharing information. Facebook pages sprang up, calling for demonstrations. and videos of the Tunisian protests were shared widely. One page in particular, named We Are All Khaled Said, became a focal point for activists. said was a young egyptian man who had been beaten to death by the police and his story had sparked outrage across the country then came january the twenty-fifth

2011. It's National Police Day in Egypt, a day that commemorates the more than 50 Egyptian police officers who were killed by the British Army in 1952. in theory it's a day where the egyptian people remember and honour the police but this day in twenty eleven would be marked for a different reason Through social media, people were encouraged to take to the streets, not to support the police, but to protest against them. This was very much a grassroots protest.

people who organized Facebook pages, people encouraging others on Twitter. It was not led by any one individual or group. Still, people came out in their droves. Thousands of people gathered in Cairo, Alexandria and cities across the country. Their demands, initially, were more about living conditions and social justice than anything else. the right to live a decent life free from police harassment it was about fairness the ability for ordinary egyptians to feed their family

and live without the fear of being extorted or murdered by the police. They chanted for bread, freedom and justice.

At first, the government's response was predictable. Tear gas, rubber bullets, arrests, the textbook response of an authoritarian regime in the face of public protests. But unlike previous protests, the demonstrators didn't disperse. They stood their ground, buoyed by the sense that this time something was different. Tahir Square. right in the heart of cairo became the epicentre of the uprising day and night people occupied the square camping out despite the threat of violence then

Two days later, the country went dark. The largest internet service providers were turned off, as were telephone lines. Mubarak and his cronies had seen that this movement was being partially facilitated through social media and clearly thought that simply blocking this, switching it off, would bring about an end to it. It did not work and only served to light a greater fire in the belly of the Egyptians on the street. As the days went on, the protests only grew larger.

with some outlets reporting that a million people had gathered in Tahir Square. The government began to panic. Mubarak tried to placate the crowds by promising reforms and shuffling his cabinet but it wasn't enough the army was deployed but in a twist they refused to fire on the protesters. Soldiers and demonstrators mingled, and some soldiers even showed solidarity with the people.

Mubarak's position was becoming increasingly untenable. The United States, which had supported him for decades, was now calling for restraint and even reform. Finally, On February 11, 2011, after 18 days of relentless protest, Mubarak stepped down. The announcement was made by his vice-president, and the crowds erupted in jubilation. The crowds in Taiya Square danced and cheered. The dictator was gone.

the egyptians had done it they had overthrown a man who had ruled their country for thirty years but the joy would prove to be short-lived toppling mubarak was one thing

Figuring out what came next was a whole different beast. For several months in the immediate aftermath, the military stepped in to run things, promising elections. Meanwhile, political groups that had been crushed under Mubarak, from secular activists to youth movements, trade unions to fledgling political parties. They all scrambled to organize, sensing their opportunity.

But the problem was that Mubarak had spent decades rigging the game, leaving only token opposition. And the main opposition... or rather the main apparent opposition, was the Muslim Brotherhood. This wasn't exactly a new player on the scene. It was founded in 1928. and had grown into Egypt's largest and best organized Islamist movement, preaching social justice through a large network of charities, schools and mosques.

For years, Mubarak had banned it outright, jailing its leaders and branding it a threat, yet letting it linger in the backgrounds as something of a bogeyman. mubarak had always framed it as a simple choice me the tough military man you know or the islamists in other words better the devil you know

than the devil you don't. Now, with Mubarak out of the picture, the Muslim Brotherhood saw its moment. It had a tremendous head start. Unlike other political parties, It wasn't starting from scratch. It's decades underground had built a machine no other group could match. While secularists and youth rallied in Tahir Square with passion, but little structure. The Brotherhood had members, money, and a plan. Still, initially, it lacked mass appeal.

egypt might be a muslim majority country but that didn't mean the majority of egyptians wanted to be ruled by an islamic group to try to appeal to a broader population The group softened its more radical edges, talking more about jobs and fairness than Sharia law, and launched a new political party, the Freedom and Justice Party.

this wasn't the muslim brotherhood it was something new refreshing and idealistic not everyone bought it to some especially the urban middle class and coptic christians it smelled like a power grab dressed up as reform to others people who'd grown weary of corruption and poverty it offered hope of a new dawn. Polls from late 2011 showed a mixed picture. About 30% of Egyptians backed them, far ahead of any rival, but trust was shaky.

with many fearing an islamist agenda was hidden behind these smiles and promises of prosperity then in may of twenty twenty twelve fourteen months after the fall of mubarak Egypt held its first democratic presidential election. The Egyptian people faced a stark choice. On one side was Ahmed Shafiq. a former air force officer and mubarak's last prime minister who promised continuity and stability a safe pair of hands albeit

not so different from those the people had just overthrown. On the other was Mohamed Morsi, a softly spoken former engineering professor. and the brotherhood's pick to lead its freedom and justice party it was close but morsy scraped it with fifty one point seven per cent of the vote to shafiq's forty eight point three turnout was just over fifty per cent so morsi won the votes of around a quarter of the country's population the brotherhood

had seized its chance. For the first time, Egypt had a democratically elected president, and Morsi promised a new era of openness and reform. he'd inherited a country on its knees tourism was practically dead foreign investors had bolted and bread lines were sparking riots like many political leaders, found that governing the country was a lot harder than winning the election. The Muslim Brotherhood had spent decades as an underground movement.

organising charity networks and building grassroots support. But it had precious little experience in the business of actually administering a country. And it showed.

to make matters worse the military wasn't exactly thrilled to see an islamist calling the shots yes mubarak was gone but the police and the military were just as powerful as before and they were circling like vultures then morsi made a fatal miscalculation he overreached in november of twenty twelve he issued a decree giving himself near absolute power, claiming it was temporary to protect the revolution from the judiciary, which he believed was still loyal to the old regime.

Then came a new constitution rushed through by his allies. Secular and Christian groups walked out, calling it an Islamist takeover. And when it passed in a referendum, barely a third of egyptians voted to many morsi wasn't building a new egypt he was turning it into an islamic state protests erupted once again but This time they were directed at the new president. The sense of unity that had characterised the anti-Mubarak protests was gone, replaced by deep political polarisation.

all this optimism had within twelve months really given way to disappointment and the army which had craftily positioned itself as a kind of neutral protector began to reassert its influence. By mid 2013, the discontent with Morsi had reached boiling point. Some polls pegged his approval rating as low as 30%. Millions took to the streets, demanding his resignation. But this wouldn't prove to be a people's revolution. The military saw their chance.

on july the first they issued an ultimatum sort this out in forty eight hours or we step in morsy dug his heels insisting he was the legitimate president, elected by the people, which, of course, technically he was. But legitimacy doesn't mean much when the country's against you and the army is itching to act.

on july the third twenty thirteen general abdel fatah el sisi the head of the armed forces went on tv and announced that morsi was out morsi it seems did not have much of a say in the matter tanks rolled into cairo president morsi was arrested and an interim government was set up sisi this stern-faced military man with a knack for staying in the shadows, suddenly became the face of Egypt's next chapter. To Morsi's supporters, this was a coup, plain and simple.

a betrayal of the democratic dream they'd fought for the muslin brotherhood and its supporters organised sit-ins demanding morsy's return for weeks they held out but On August 14, 2013, the military cracked down. What happened next was called by Human Rights Watch a crime against humanity. Security forces stormed the camps, firing live rounds into the crowds. It was one of the bloodiest days in modern Egyptian history.

with some reports saying that more than a thousand peaceful protesters were killed by the army the brotherhood was outlawed again its leaders jailed or executed Sisi didn't stop there. Tens of thousands, activists, bloggers, even students, were rounded up in a sweeping crackdown that made Mubarak's repression look mild by comparison. in twenty fourteen cc ran for president winning in a landslide against a token opponent the world watched on with mixed feelings the u s

wary of losing an ally, avoided calling it a coup, while Gulf states like Saudi Arabia cheered, glad to see the brotherhood crushed. Sisi had done it, and he has remained Egypt's president to this very day. To his fans, he was a saviour, the strongman Egypt needed to stop the chaos. To his critics, he was Mubarak 2.0. Same military playbook, same authoritarian tendencies, just a new face. Protests were crushed, journalists locked up. And that state of emergency Mubarak loved so much?

Sisi brought it back with a vengeance. The revolution's dreams of bread, freedom and social justice faded into the background as stability, however harsh, took centre stage. So, after Egypt's rollercoaster ride from Mubarak to Morsi to Sisi, the country is stuck with another military dictator. Is he any better than the last one? That's a debate Egyptians are still wrestling with today. Okay then, that is it for today's episode on the Egyptian revolution. As a reminder...

This was part one of a three part mini series on the theme of modern Egypt. Next up will be an episode on this bold new project to build a capital city in the Egyptian desert. And in part three, we will look at the gruesome but important case of the murder of Giulio Reggiani. As I mentioned at the start, those will both be member-only episodes, so if you like the sound of those, as well as more than 250 other member-only episodes,

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are super helpful and each one brings a smile to my face. You've been listening to English Learning for Curious Minds by Leonardo English. I'm Alastair Budge. You stay safe. and I'll catch you in the next episode.