It is unravelling because it wasn't a real revolution. It was managed by US interests just as it was during the introduction of Mubarak...And the people are startgin to wake up to it...
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As Egyptians return to Tahrir Square, the Obama administration sides with the military
Sitting across from me in a downtown cafe, disgruntled democracy activist Ismail Wahby looks defeated. “Everything is failing,” he says.
In many ways, Wahby personifies the Western stereotypes about the mislabeled “Facebook Revolution”: He is an upper-middle-class 20-something who blogs in English, French and Arabic. After the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, he worked as community organizer with the Union of Progressive Youth, one of the many revolutionary coalitions formed after the dictator’s fall. But as Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) became more oppressive in the months that followed, Wahby grew discouraged and withdrew from political activism. “I didn’t do a revolution for this shit,” he explains.
Wahby has a long list of grievances about the aftermath of Egypt’s largely peaceful revolution last January, including the persistence of the State of Emergency — which was supposed to have expired months ago — and the failure of the opposition to present a unified front. But mostly Wahby is concerned with the dominance of the military in post-Mubarak Egypt.
Wahby’s pessimism is widespread. Since taking power last February, the military has perpetrated major human rights abuses and seems more interested in consolidating its own power than ensuring a democratic transition. Protesters have begun to set up tents in Tahrir Square in preparation for massive anti-SCAF demonstrations this Friday. A broad coalition of political parties and activists have threatened a prolonged sit-in protesting the military’s increasingly authoritarian ruling style and its unwillingness to share power with civilians. “The SCAF must step aside and respect the will of the people,” 45-year-old electronic engineer Mohammad Sayyid tells me from inside a tent he shares with half a dozen other men. Sayyid has been sleeping in the tent for over a week and promises that he will not leave the square until the military steps aside.
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