As a proud Egyptian, I would like to write on this forum a neutral analysis of what happened in Egypt.

Note: This is not a summary of what's going on (Refer to this topic for a summary: Link).

BACKGROUND:

After the former Egyptian president, Sadat, got assassinated in 1981, Mubarak who was the vice president of Egypt took power. Initially, he was a popular person in Egypt since he was the soldier who destroyed israeli tanks during the 1973 war. Indeed that means he was in the army. He also came from a economically poor family. He is the 4th president of modern Egypt.

During Mubarak's rule he didn't have a vice president.

Mubarak ruled for 30 years and still rules. During his rule Egypt witnessed much corruption. There was economic and political corruption. Political corruption was seen during the elections. Mubarak would never allow international bodies to keep an eye on the elections. And supposedly, he also won the election 5 times, thus far (A term in Egypt is 6 years).

Economic corruption was what bothered people the most. Prices would always get raised and never go down. Wages would always stay the same even though the prices of commodities increased. Many of the country's facilities got soled to private foreign companies who often exploited them. A joke was said that the only thing left for the government to sell was the pyramids. No TRUE, economic development was made in Egypt, and for example while int eh past Egypt used to feed the ancient world, today Egypt is the biggest wheat importer in the world! Mubarak put business men into his government, and they never gave up on their companies. As a result they often led corrupt agendas to support their business. There were very few noble ministers during Mubarak's time. Furthermore, during Mubarak's reign people's morals steadily deteriorated as rape crimes increased in a scary way. People also got many horrible diseases from the lack of food and living style. The gap between the rich and the poor become massive that there was no true middle class in Egypt. The rich got richer and the poor got poorer.

Also there was monopolies made by some people in the country, most notably Ahmed Ezz also known as the "Steel Guy". He has a monopoly on Egypt's steel. He was also a prominent icon of corruptions and he was in the People's Parliament. He was known for a strong friendship with the president's son, Gamal Mubarak.

Also people continued to think to think that Egypt would be like Syria, and the president son would be his father's successor after he dies. What sparked this assumption was that president Mubarak has no vice president and he put his son as the ruling National Party's secretary.

In Egypt there was no true opposition party, even though Egypt has a couple of opposition political parties. The ruling party was in control of everything.

But things were not all black during Mubarak's reign. Egypt witnessed the biggest freedoms than any other time. The press could freely attack the government's policies and corrupt people (though you couldn't say much about the president). Egypt was the most open and free than any other Arab country. It still is.

If anyone is reading this please post and I will continue.

Anyone?

i read it.

Thanks!
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Egypt witnessed a couple of protests against corruption in 2007. However, it was a one day protest and it was nothing major.

But that all changed when the Tunisian Revolution happened in Early January. The whole Arab world, that (all of it) lives under dictators and corruption (no exception (Egypt had the most freedoms, but had the most problems)) was awed that their fellow Arab, Tunisian people were able to make their president, who ruled for 23 years, to leave!

Soon after, an unknown person made a FB page called "Kolina Khaled Said" (En: We are all Khaled Said). Khaled Saeed was an Egyptian youngster who was tortured by the always feared Egyptian police to the point that he died. He was arrested for simply expressing his right to protest (Link to Story) The page called for, an increase in wages, and political reform (The event got deleted, now that I try to find it).

Quickly many Egyptians liked the page and declared that they would attend the protest, which was intended to be a peaceful 1 day protest.

The government shrugged off the idea, that what happened in Tunis could happen in Egypt, as "nonsense", as the Foreign Minister said.

What charged people more was the clear cheating that happened in the last parliament elections in December. The people's parliament is important in Egypt because they nominate the president runners according to the Constitution. It was empty of any opposition group.

When 25 of January came, as planned, the people went out to the streets to protests. It was a couple thousands in the different Egyptian cities. The police was thanked by the protesters that day for not doing anything. As planned the protests were very civilized and were peaceful. But the protests continued towards night time, and that's when the problems started. The police started attacking the protesters a bit, with tear gas and sticks. It continued and in the city of Suez, the first martyr fell. This enraged the people of Suez, who are known for being a bit aggressive than other Egyptians. They retaliated and soon 5 more fell. That's when the city and soon all of Egypt started to burn. The protesters in Egypt got enraged and started retaliating at the police. Many people got injured and lots of people got killed. The US during this time said that "Mubarak's regime is stable".

Continue?