The Egyptian Revolution Redux, November 2011

Thousands of Egyptians gather at Tahrir Square in Cairo, on Friday, November 18, 2011 to pressure the military government to transfer power to elected civilian rule, after the cabinet tried to enshrine the army's role in a constitutional proposal. (Reuters/Mohamed Abd El-Ghany)

Here I am, back again after a hiatus since the summer. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge. I spent the period from June to September in Cairo and have been too overwhelmed to put my thoughts together in a meaningful way. I have participated in protests that took place during that time. None were deadly, except for the June 28-29 and the July 23rd ones. The period was marked by a three-week sit-in in Tahrir starting on July 8 and violently evacuated by the army and the police. The month of Ramadan imposed a quasi-hiatus on street activism, and politics took the steering wheel for a while.

Ahmed Abu Duma, an activist and opposition writer, flashes a peace sign front of Egyptian riot police during clashes at Tahrir Square in Cairo, on November 19, 2011. (Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)

My mood and outlook have seen ups and downs. Optimism remained my strategic choice, because I simply believe that injustice in not sustainable and that the status quo is too fragile to maintain. I predicted to those I saw and met that a second wave of the revolution was inevitable and that it was likely to be bloodier than the first. This I believed in wholeheartedly. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) was stalling for time and it was becoming clearer and clearer as time passed by that the military does not think in light of its enlightened self-interest, but that they think that they can squeeze their interests and hegemony into the new order with carrot and stick (well, with more stick than carrot for that matter). They are in complete disconnect from the new reality and in complete denial of the facts on the ground which can simply be summed as follows: those who took to the streets in January (estimated to be around 20 million) and who sacrificed their blood, their dear ones, their eyes and their limbs are those who matter and that they will never back down. The other 60 million were out of the equation and are likely to remain so, and any attempts to woo them into the "stability" camp or into SCAF's agenda through direct action on their part or to use them against the other 20 million are simply futile, and that's how revolutions simply work: an active minority decides to take the steering wheel and succeeds or fails. Well, that the SCAF didn't and still doesn't get.

A protester, with spent ammunition casings on his fingers, flashes the victory sign in front of a burning building during clashes with police near Tahrir Square, on November 21, 2011. (Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)

So here we are after a million-man march on Friday, November 18 calling for the handing of power to civilans. A few hundred protesters staged a sit-in into the following day and got brutally attacked by the police, which triggered thousands of protesters to take to the streets. The brutal attacks have continued nonstop since early Saturday, November 19, until now, with at least 30 dead, hundreds injured and scores arrested. Activists have lost their eyes. A video circulated on the internet shows a police officer bragging about shooting protesters in the eye and being cheered by his subordinates.

An Egyptian protester holds canisters during clashes with the Egyptian riot police in Tahrir Square, on November 21, 2011.(AP Photo/Mohammed Abu Zaid)

This second wave must not recede before the complete handing down of power to a crisis cabinet. In my opinion, the way to go forward is the Tunisian way. We must forget about parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held next week, and call for the election of a constitutive council, with legislative power, to draft a constitution that is to be put to a referendum and to shape our desired political system and regulate the holding of parliamentary and presidential elections. This we will have to face soon, but not before this bloodbath stops and those responsible for it, and above all Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi, are held accountable for it before courts of justice.