Issue and Opponent: In 2011, President Hosni Mubarak had been the head of state in Egypt for 30 years. Since coming to power in 1981, Mubarak had been accused multiple times of rigging elections, coercing potential opponents, and controlling the people of Egypt with intimidation and fear. Protests in 2000 were the first time the public began to demonstrate publicly, voicing their dissatisfaction with the Mubarak regime. After another decade of authoritarian and repressive rule with no economic or democratic reform, the people reached their limit. The catalyst for the demonstration beginning on January 25 was the murder of young Khaled Said, who was beaten to death by police who demanded money from him before killing him. The police lied after the report and claimed he died from consuming a bag of drugs. The drugs belonged to the policemen, and they targeted Said because he videoed the interaction. The younger generation in Egypt was outraged by this treatment from the police, so they began to rally and initiated a revolution to overthrow Mubarak’s corrupt government and police.
Dilemma Action: On January 25, hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in the streets in and around Tahir Square in Cairo, Egypt to demand the fall of Mubarak’s regime. January 25 was Police Day in Egypt, so the date was symbolic of the revolution. For 18 consecutive days, they chanted, “isqat al-nizam” which translates to “the fall of the regime”. The people were protesting the “increasing corruption and economic exclusion, the alienation of the youth, and the 2010 elections and divisions among the Egyptian elites over questions of succession” (D. Shehata, Foreign Affairs) Mubarak attempted to make concessions a few days after the protests began by electing a vice president to “share” his power, but the people refused to back down. Two days before Mubarak’s resignation, civil disobedience in Egypt reached an all-time high in Egypt. There were mass worker strikes and a handful of more protests starting across Egypt. Outcomes: Mubarak made more concessions by firing his known corrupt Secretary General and business associates. This appeased much of the public, but soon after, security forces shot and killed at least 11 demonstrators in Tahir Square. The revolution once again gained momentum, and the public called for Mubarak’s immediate resignation. Once the military joined the protester’s call for Mubarak’s resignation, he stepped down from power on February 11. This mass protest was the final stage of a 10-year struggle to oust Hosni Mubarak from power and put an end to his authoritarian rule.