Tahrir’s 11/11: All Fizzle and No Sizzle

By: Caravan Staff
@Caravan_AUC

At 4:30pm, Tahrir Square and the arteries leading to it were largely quiet except for the heavy presence of security and police forces.

A few shoppers frequented the shops which had been open on this Friday mid-afternoon.

A security officer who was reading a book as he waited for the protests which never happened was startled by the loud honking of a convoy of cars which had passed through Talaat Harb Square.

He jumped up only to find the convoy made up of pro-government families waving Egyptian flags and chanting nationalist slogans.

A few shoppers gathered to see what all the fuss was about, but quickly dispersed.

With such few people on the streets The Caravan crew headed to the El-Abd sweet shop for some of its famed ice cream.

The shop is usually thronged by dozens of patrons, with long queues of people waiting to get at the various fruit flavored ice delights.

Today, there were no queues and we got our order in about a minute.

What happened?

For weeks leading up to November 11, many Egyptians wondered whether protests called for on social media would amount to a demonstration in reaction to skyrocketing prices and deteriorating living standards, or grow into an anti-government movement, or fizzle out.

The Facebook social media campaign called “Haraket el Ghalaba” (The Poor Man’s Movement) had been calling on Egyptians to voice their frustrations over the economic downturn and the alleged general government mismanagement.

A survey conducted by The Caravan revealed that nearly 100 percent of students had heard some kind of rumor regarding November 11 and that 88 percent of them said they would not participate.

The poll revealed that 47 percent of students believe that any kind of protests will destabilize the country even more.

While calls for a November 11 mass protest circulated Egyptian streets, Mostafa Abdelrahman, a political science student, said any idea of another protest leading to a revolution is ridiculous.

“The current situation in Egypt, whether it being the social, political, or economic crises, should be reason enough to steer clear of a third revolution.”

Political Science professor Ashraf El Sherif, however, believes that a lack of ‘revolutionary actors’ meant that nothing would materialize on the streets.

“I don’t think there can be another revolution because the revolutionary actors still lack credible organization, leadership, and discourse,” El Sherif said.

The mismanagement of the economy could lead to passive cynicism or violent politics, which “don’t qualify as a revolution.”

Additional reporting by Yasmeen Shaheen and Merna Sakr