The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January Revolution (Arabic: ثورة ٢٥ يناير, romanized: Thawrat khamsa wa-ʿišrūn yanāyir), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with National Police Day as a statement against increasing police brutality during the later years of Hosni Mubarak's presidency. It consisted of demonstrations, marches, occupations of plazas, non-violent civil resistance, acts of civil disobedience and strikes. Millions of protesters from a range of socio-economic and religious backgrounds demanded Mubarak's removal from the office of president of Egypt. Violent clashes between security forces and protesters resulted in at least 846 people killed and over 6,000 injured. Protesters retaliated by burning over 90 police stations across the country.
The Egyptian protesters' grievances focused on legal and political issues, including police brutality, state-of-emergency laws, lack of political freedom, civil liberty, freedom of speech, corruption, high unemployment, food-price inflation and low wages. The protesters' primary demands were the end of the Mubarak regime. Strikes by labour unions added to the pressure on government officials. During the uprising, the capital, Cairo, was described as "a war zone" and the port city of Suez saw frequent violent clashes. Protesters defied a government-imposed curfew, which the police and military could not enforce in any case. Egypt's Central Security Forces, loyal to Mubarak, were gradually replaced by military troops. In the chaos, there was looting by rioters which was instigated (according to opposition sources) by plainclothes police officers. In response, watch groups were organised by civilian vigilantes to protect their neighborhoods.
On 11 February 2011, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak resigned as president, turning power over to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). The military junta, chaired by defense minister Muhammad Hussein Tantawy, announced on 13 February that the constitution was suspended, both houses of parliament dissolved and the military would govern for six months (until elections could be held). The previous cabinet, including Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik, would serve as a caretaker government until a new one was formed.
After the revolution against Mubarak and a period of rule by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the Muslim Brotherhood took power in Egypt through a series of popular elections, with Egyptians electing Islamist Mohamed Morsi to the presidency in June 2012, after winning the election over Ahmed Shafik. However, the Morsi government encountered fierce opposition after his attempt to pass an Islamic-leaning constitution. Morsi also issued a temporary presidential decree that raised his decisions over judicial review to enable the passing of the constitution. It sparked general outrage from secularists and members of the military, and a revolution broke out against his rule on 28 June 2013. On 3 July 2013, Morsi was deposed by the minister of defence, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, as millions of Egyptians took to the streets in support of early elections. Sisi went on to become Egypt's president after an election in 2014 which was boycotted by opposition parties.
Other names
In Egypt and other parts of the Arab world, the protests and governmental changes are also known as the 25 January Revolution (ثورة 25 يناير Thawrat 25 Yanāyir), Revolution of Freedom (ثورة حرية Thawrat Horeya) or Revolution of Rage (ثورة الغضب Thawrat al-Ġaḍab), and, less frequently, the Youth Revolution (ثورة الشباب Thawrat al-Shabāb), Lotus Revolution (ثورة اللوتس) or White Revolution (الثورة البيضاء al-Thawrah al-bayḍāʾ).
Background
Hosni Mubarak became President of Egypt after the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981. He inherited an authoritarian system from Sadat which was imposed in 1952 following the coup against King Farouk. The coup in 1952 led to the abolishment of the monarchy and Egypt became a military dominated one-party state. Gamal Abdel Nasser, who was a member of the Free Officers, became the second President of Egypt following the resignation of Muhammad Naguib, and under his rule, the Arab Socialist Union operated as the sole political party in Egypt. Under Sadat, the multi-party system during the monarchy was reintroduced but the National Democratic Party (which evolved from Nasser's Arab Socialist Union) remained dominant in Egypt's politics and there were restrictions on opposition parties. Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP) maintained one-party rule. His government received support from the West and aid from the United States by its suppression of Islamic militants and maintaining the peace treaty with Israel. Mubarak was often compared to an Egyptian pharaoh by the media and some critics due to his authoritarian rule. He was in the 30th year of his regime when the 2011 uprising began.
According to political economist Adam Hanieh (2011), Mubarak's rule further deepened neoliberal reforms under Sadat creating close alliances between state institutions and business elites. These continued reforms intensified wealth disparities and fostered widespread corruption. Similarly, Angela Joya (2011) links two decades of privatization and corruption to rising youth unemployment and inequality, which spurred waves of labour protests in industrial centres like Mahalla al-Kubra in the early 2000s. The clear economic and social grievances became key sources of political mobilization leading up to the 2011 uprising.
Most causes of the revolution against Mubarak—inherited power, corruption, under-development, unemployment, unfair distribution of wealth and the presence of Israel—also existed in 1952, when the Free Officers ousted King Farouk. A new cause of the 2011 revolution was the increase in population, which aggravated unemployment.
During his presidency, Anwar Sadat neglected the modernisation of Egypt in contrast to his predecessor, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and his cronyism cost the country infrastructure industries which could generate new jobs. Communications media such as the internet, cell phones and satellite TV channels augmented mosques and Friday prayers, traditional means of mass communication. The mosques brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power, and the Brotherhood pressured all governments from 1928 through 2011 (as it had also done in neighbouring countries).
Inheritance of power
Mubarak's younger son, Gamal Mubarak, was rumoured in 2000 to succeed his father as the next president of Egypt. Gamal began receiving attention from the Egyptian media, since there were apparently no other heirs to the presidency. Bashar al-Assad's rise to power in Syria in June 2000, after the death of his father Hafez, sparked debate in the Egyptian press about the prospects for a similar scenario in Cairo.
During the years after Mubarak's 2005 re-election, several left- and right-wing (primarily unofficial) political groups expressed opposition to the inheritance of power, demanded reforms and asked for a multi-candidate election. In 2006, with opposition increasing, Daily News Egypt reported an online campaign initiative (the National Initiative against Power Inheritance) demanding that Gamal reduce his power. The campaign said that "President Mubarak and his son constantly denied even the possibility of [succession]. However, in reality they did the opposite, including amending the constitution to make sure that Gamal will be the only unchallenged candidate."
During the decade, public perception that Gamal would succeed his father grew. He wielded increasing power as NDP deputy secretary general and chair of the party's policy committee. Analysts described Mubarak's last decade in power as "the age of Gamal Mubarak". With his father's health declining and no appointed vice-president, Gamal was considered Egypt's de facto president by some. Although Gamal and his father denied an inheritance of power, he was speculated as likely to be chosen as the NDP candidate in the presidential election scheduled for 2011, when Hosni Mubarak's presidential term was set to expire. Gamal ultimately declined to run following the 2011 protests.
State-of-emergency law
Egypt was under a state of emergency since the assassination of Sadat in 1981, pursuant to Law No. 162 of 1958. A previous state of emergency was enacted in the 1967 Six-Day War before being lifted in 1980. Police powers were extended, constitutional rights and habeas corpus were effectively suspended and censorship was legalised as a result. The emergency law limited non-governmental political activity, including demonstrations, unapproved political organisations and unregistered financial donations. The Mubarak government cited the threat of terrorism in extending the state of emergency, claiming that opposition groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood could gain power in Egypt if the government did not forge parliamentary elections and suppress the group through emergency law. This led to the imprisonment of activists without trial, illegal, undocumented and hidden detention facilities and the rejection of university, mosque and newspaper staff based on their political affiliation. A December 2010 parliamentary election was preceded by a media crackdown, arrests, candidate bans (particularly Muslim Brotherhood candidates) and allegations of fraud due to the near-unanimous victory by the NDP in parliament. Human rights organizations estimated that in 2010, between 5,000 and 10,000 people were in long-term detention without charge or trial.
Police brutality
According to a US Embassy report, police brutality had been widespread in Egypt. In the five years before the revolution, the Mubarak regime denied the existence of torture or abuse by police. However, claims by domestic and international groups provided cellphone videos or first-hand accounts of hundreds of cases of police brutality. According to the 2009 Human Rights Report from the US State Department, "Domestic and international human rights groups reported that the Ministry of Interior (MOI) State Security Investigative Service (SSIS), police, and other government entities continued to employ torture to extract information or force confessions. The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights documented 30 cases of torture during the year 2009. In numerous trials defendants alleged that police tortured them during questioning. During the year activists and observers circulated some amateur cellphone videos documenting the alleged abuse of citizens by security officials. For example, on 8 February, a blogger posted a video of two police officers, identified by their first names and last initials, sodomizing a bound naked man named Ahmed Abdel Fattah Ali with a bottle. On 12 August, the same blogger posted two videos of alleged police torture of a man in a Port Said police station by the head of investigations, Mohammed Abu Ghazala. There was no indication that the government investigated either case."
The deployment of Baltageya (Arabic: بلطجية)—plainclothes agitators—by the NDP was a hallmark of the Mubarak government. The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights documented 567 cases of torture, including 167 deaths, by police from 1993 to 2007. Excessive force was often used by law enforcement agencies against popular uprisings.
On 6 June 2010, a twenty-eight-year-old Egyptian, Khaled Mohamed Saeed, died under disputed circumstances in the Sidi Gaber area of Alexandria, with witnesses testifying that he was beaten to death by police – an event which galvanised Egyptians around the issue of police brutality. Authorities stated that Khaled died choking on hashish while being chased by police officers. Pictures which were released of Khaled's disfigured corpse from the morgue showed signs of torture. A Facebook page, "We are all Khaled Said", helped attract nationwide attention to the case. Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, led a 2010 rally in Alexandria against police abuse, and visited Saeed's family to offer condolences.
During the January–February 2011 protests, police brutality was common. Jack Shenker, a reporter for The Guardian, was arrested during the Cairo protests on 26 January. He witnessed fellow Egyptian protesters being tortured, assaulted, and taken to undisclosed locations by police officers. Shenker and other detainees were released after covert intervention by Ayman Nour, the father of a fellow detainee.
Election corruption
Corruption, coercion not to vote and manipulation of election results occurred during many elections over Mubarak's 30-year rule. Until 2005, Mubarak was the only presidential candidate (with a yes-or-no vote). Mubarak won five consecutive presidential elections with a sweeping majority. Although opposition groups and international election-monitoring agencies charged that the elections were rigged, those agencies were not allowed to monitor elections. The only opposition presidential candidate in recent Egyptian history, Ayman Nour, was imprisoned before the 2005 elections. According to a 2007 UN survey, voter turnout was extremely low (about 25 per cent) because of a lack of trust in the political system.
Demographic and economic challenges
Unemployment and reliance on subsidised goods
The population of Egypt grew from 30,083,419 in 1966 to roughly 79,000,000 by 2008. The vast majority of Egyptians live near the banks of the Nile, in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi) where the only arable land is found. In late 2010, about 40 per cent of Egypt's population lived on the equivalent of roughly US$2 per day, with a large portion relying on subsidised goods.
According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics and other proponents of demographic structural approach (cliodynamics), a basic problem in Egypt is unemployment driven by a demographic youth bulge; with the number of new people entering the workforce at about four per cent a year, unemployment in Egypt is almost 10 times as high for college graduates as for those who finished elementary school (particularly educated urban youth—the people who were in the streets during the revolution).
Economy and poor living conditions
Egypt's economy was highly centralised during the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser, becoming more market-driven under Anwar Sadat and Mubarak. From 2004 to 2008 the Mubarak government pursued economic reform to attract foreign investment and increase GDP, later postponing further reforms because of the Great Recession. The international economic downturn slowed Egypt's GDP growth to 4.5 per cent in 2009. In 2010, analysts said that the government of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif would need to resume economic reform to attract foreign investment, increase growth and improve economic conditions. Despite recent high national economic growth, living conditions for the average Egyptian remained relatively poor (albeit better than other African nations with no significant social upheavals).