The 25th January phobia

Fear and panic gripped the Egyptian authorities on the anniversary of the 25th January Revolution. This led them to engender a sense of fear in the public mind through campaigns in compliant media. The security forces also conducted a series of raids on more than 5,000 apartments close to Cairo’s city centre. The police went on to arrest a large number of youth who did not belong to any specific political party but were known for their human rights activities in general. The authorities have also petitioned for the closure of several community and cultural centres.

What is interesting is that there have been no real calls for protests, nor have any political parties — up to the time of writing — issued any statements calling on people to head to the squares. This reflects and explains the authorities’ concerns when it comes to the anniversary of the 25th January Revolution, which in reality speaks to a bigger political phobia in Egypt. The regime, which has succeeded in temporarily disintegrating the revolutionary movement, has arrested most of the members of leading youth movements. It has also sought to “cool down” the revolutionary movement that the Muslim Brotherhood has mobilised over the past few months.

The truth of the matter is that the current regime in Cairo has a fear of the revolution and considers it to be a distinct historic moment in time, not only because it led to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak and the old regime but also because it opened up the public domain for all citizens to express themselves and become active sources of political power. The revolution demonstrated that all Egyptians, especially the politically non-partisans amongst them, to reach ideological agreement. The regime is undoubtedly afraid that the 25th January anniversary continues to bring together people from different ideological platforms, as evidenced by the hashtag “#I participated in the January 25th Revolution”. The Sisi regime is also afraid that the socio-economic sphere will become angry and erupt. He and his cohorts are well aware that such an outcome will have negative repercussions for the state and government.

The political stupidity of the Egyptian regime does not stop at oppressing society, its blanket arrests or prevention of people commemorating the revolution’s anniversary. This stupidity is embodied in the fact that it has instilled a sense of fear in the people surrounding the anniversary of the revolution. Hence, it loses more and more legitimacy with each incremental increase in state oppression. What is ironic, though, is that with each increase, more and more people are beginning to lose their confidence in the government, which suggests that the authorities are far weaker than they appear and claim to be.

The state phobia surrounding the 25th January Revolution shows how much the people in Egypt fear change and how much the authorities fear that they will not be able to bury the revolution. It looks as though the revolution is going to haunt us forever.

Translated from Al-Araby Al-Jadid, 22 January, 2016.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.