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On the anniversary of the January 25 uprising Egyptians continue to ask Sisi to leave

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January 25, 2022 at 11:26 am

Protesters in Cairo, Egypt [Kuni Takahashi/Getty Images]

Protesters in Cairo, Egypt [Kuni Takahashi/Getty Images]

On the eleventh anniversary of the Egyptian uprising Twitter users continue to call on President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to stand down.

For years the president has tried to whitewash human rights criticism and called on Egyptians to be patient with him, with the promise that they will see a different country.

2013 I will not run for president

 2014 I have to make people better off

 2015 Be patient for two years then hold me to account

 2016 be patient with me 6 months only

 2017 be patient and you will see the most amazing wonders

 2018 you will see another country in 2020

 2019 I don’t promise you ghee and honey

 2020 I don’t sell you illusion

 2021 I have always been honest and trustworthy with you

 2022 This country cannot find food and is backward

Yet more than a decade on from toppling Hosni Mubarak and the hope of a new democratic era, Egypt is not only one of the most repressive regimes in the world, but the soaring price of basic goods, widespread unemployment and corruption has left the country’s population struggling to survive.

Many social media users are drawing attention to the 65,000 political prisoners in the country who are detained simply for opposing the government and systematically tortured.

And the unresolved case of Italian PhD student Giulio Regeni who was likely tortured and killed by Egyptian security officers in 2016 whilst conducting research into independent trade unions in Egypt.

Political analyst Abukar Arman highlighted French support for Egypt as the two countries consolidate relations through arms sales and economic deals.

READ: 18 days

The government’s recent announcement that it will raise the minimum monthly wage by 300 Egyptian pounds ($19) is the latest attempt to quell potential demonstrations as frustration soars. Egyptian political asylee living in Chicago, Aly Hussin Mahdy, asks why, if the salary raise is going to be implemented in July, was it announced before the anniversary of the revolution?

Sisi’s recent decision to increase the minimum wage and appoint 30,000 teachers is nothing more than a way to absorb the people’s anger and distract them from the anniversary of the January 25 Revolution.

I remember that after the revolution and the fall of Mubarak, when the military council took over, jobs were announced in the Ministry of Justice and application were by mail. 

Despite erasing the murals of the uprising from downtown Cairo and removing references to the January revolution in the school syllabus, security forces are still terrified of the memory of the protests, comments Amnesty’s Egypt and Libya researcher.

Others are sharing their memories of the protests:

 

And of the people who died.

 

One Egyptian says that the revolution is not a failure, it’s an unfinished success.

Others believe it is an uncompleted dream.

And that the revolution continues.

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