In the beginning of January 2011, Egyptians started taking to the streets to protest the government. The Egyptian people wanted a change and to end corruption, injustice, poor economic conditions, and a 30 year old regime of their president Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak realizes what is happening in his country and decides to appoint Omar Suleiman as his vice- president on January 29th 2011. He then vowed to not run again after his term and that his sons would never run. This did not please the people so on February 11th he was forced to resign.
The first protests started on January 25th 2011 and turned Cairo into a 'War Zone' as the protests call for Mubarak to resign nationwide. This is when Egyptian government shuts down the internet. Then the next day January 26th security uses tear gas and beatings and hundreds are arrested including foreign journalists. Even hackers threaten cyber-attacks if the Egyptian government doesn't stop censoring the media.
Mubarak was convicted of complicity in the deaths of 846 people killed during the uprising, but the verdict was overturned on appeal. After his resignation the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) took power, they are a statutory body of between 20 and 25 senior Egyptian military officers and is headed by Field Marshal Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and Lt. Gen. Sedki Sobhi. On February 13th 2011 the military rejects protesters' demands for shift in power to civilians. The military then appoints a new Prime Minister, Essam Sharat, in March 2011. Sharat asks protesters to start rebuilding and says he will step down if he doesn't meet demands. SCAF puts itself on a collision course with Egypt's new Muslim Brotherhood- dominated Parliament by saying MP's will not have final say on new Constitution.
In June 2012, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi was elected as president. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Ismalia, Egypt by Hassan al-Banna in March 1928 as an Islamist religious, political, and social movement. After Morsi is elected he revoked SCAF decree that limited his powers, dissolved the House of Representatives, and changed the military's leadership. He then issued a decree granting him a lot of power. Morsi was deposed by the military in June of 2013 after protesters once again took to the streets to protest. They replaced him with an interim government. This gave a bad name to the Muslim Brotherhood and security launched a crackdown on them and killed almost 1,000 people at two pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo.
Egypt's current president is former SCAF Field Marshal Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. Egypt is a very oppressed country and seems like it will always be. As of right now their economy is hitting it hard due to lack of tourism and the crime rate. Since Sisi was elected on the 28th of May 2014 protests have gone down but many think he has been oppressing those who do not agree with him and electing people who are close to him for his own safety as president.
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Citations
Videos
TestTube "Was The Arab Spring Bad For Egypt?" YouTube. January 28, 2015. Accessed March 12, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r175U_wSI84.
Watchmojo.com "Arab Spring: Protests in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and More." YouTube. December 22, 2011. Accessed March 12, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOaX62C_uRE.
Pictures
Epatko, Larisa. "Timeline: Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s President for Three Decades, Resigns." PBS. February 11, 2011. Accessed March 12, 2015. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/egypts--resigns/Hom,
Greg. "War Times." Arab Spring & Middle East Analysis. May 3, 2013. Accessed March 12, 2015. http://www.war-times.org/topics/arab-spring-middle-east-analysis.
K., Ngugi. "Tag Archives: Arab Spring." Open Eco Source. June 17, 2013. Accessed March 12, 2015. http://www.openecosource.org/tag/arab-spring/.
Author Unknown "Egypt Arab Spring." Npr.org. Accessed March 12, 2015. http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/07/03/egypt-arab-summer_wide-43cab27e92023551f4fcc96b89eab2bb16ed5950.jpg.
Author Unknown "Egyptian Flag." Accessed March 12, 2015. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Egyptian_Flag.png.
Author Unknown. Npr.org. August 17, 2012. Accessed March 12, 2015. http://www.npr.org/assets/img/2012/08/17/morsi_wide-d8bda5f69801d90e8cda9e0302f913dfddd00966.jpg.
Information
Author Unknown "Arab Spring: A Research & Study Guide * الربيع العربي: Home." Home. Accessed March 12, 2015. http://guides.library.cornell.edu/c.php?g=31688&p=200748.
Author Unknown "Arab Uprising: Country by Country." BBC News. January 1, 2015. Accessed March 12, 2015. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-12482291.
Blight, Garry, Sheila Pulham, and Paul Torpey. "Arab Spring: And Interactive Timeline." Theguardian.com. January 5, 2012. Accessed March 12, 2015. http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2011/mar/22/middle-east-protest-interactive-timeline.
Lewis, Renee. "Violence Mars Fourth Anniversary of Egypt's Arab Spring Revolution | Al Jazeera America." Anniversary of Egypt's Revolution Turns Violent. January 25, 2015. Accessed March 12, 2015. http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/1/25/egypt-protesters-killed.html.