Egypt: Why July 8?

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.

Egyptians are back in full force in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of their revolution, once again today. But why are they still demonstrating now that their revolution is over, Mubarak is not in power any more, and many pillars of his regime are behind bars? Well, it's not that simple, and many bloggers elaborated on why the millions who went to Tahrir in January should return to the streets.

Let's put toppling Mubarak aside, but many of the demands of January have not been fulfilled yet. Sama Singer (@Sama_Singer) summarized what she believes are the demands of the 8th of July in a blog post.

حد ادنى للأجور 1200 جنيه ، وحد اقصى للأجور ، مع مراقبة الاسعار حتى تتوافق مع محدودى الدخل
المحاكمات العلنية والسريعة لمبارك واولاده ووزراءه وحاشيته الفاسدة ، وكل من افسدوا علينا الحياة السياسية
تكريم الشهداء وتعويض اهالى الشهداء ، وسرعة محاكمة قتلة الشهداء
تكريم المصابين ، وعلاجهم على نفقة الدولة ، وتعويضهم
حرمان أعضاء الحزب الوطني السابق من حق الممارسة السياسية لمدة 5 سنوات على الأقل
الافراج الفورى و التام عن كل المعتقلين السياسيين واصحاب الرأي من يوم 25 يناير وما قبلها الى يومنا هذا
الوقف الفوري للمحاكمات العسكرية للمدنيين ، واعادة محاكمة من تم محاكمتهم عسكريا من المدنيين امام محاكم مدنية

L.E. 1200 as minimum wage, as well as a maximum wage, while monitoring the process to make sure they get to the pockets of the poor.
Public and immediate trials for Mubarak, his sons, his corrupt regime, and all those who corrupted our political scene.
Honouring the martyrs, compensating their families, and immediate trials for the ones responsible for their murders.
Honouring the wounded, compensating them, and treating them at the expense of the state.
Prohibiting the members of the National Democratic Party from participating in any political process for at least five years.
The immediate release of political prisoners and those jailed for their thoughts since the 25th of January and before it till today.
The immediate cease of military trials, and retrying those who were tried in front of them to stand trial in front of civil courts instead.

She also wrote about the cleansing of “corrupt organizations” such as the police, the media, and the judicial system.

Mina Naguib (@MinaNaguib90) wrote about some recent news he heard that made him eager more to participate.

صحيت أول إمبارح و كالعادة بشوف الأخبار و كانت الأخبار كالآتى … سوزان مبارك بتشتكى حراس قصر شرم الشيخ عشان موقفوش لجناب حرم المخلوع و هى داخلة القصر!! و تم تغيير الحرس … ثم خبر تأجيل محاكمة المتهمين بقتل الثوار و رجوعهم لوظايفهم حتى 3 سبتمبر … مبقتش عارف أعمل إيه!!

I was watching the news a couple of days ago, and it was as follows: Suzan Mubarak complained that the guards of her palace in Sharm do not stand when she was entering the palace, and they were changed. Then came the news of postponing the trials of those who are accused of murdering the revolutionaries and they are back to their positions now till the 3th of September. So I was so confused not sure what to do or say!

He then continued:

ثم جاء اليوم خبر عن النائب العام إنه طعن على الحكم ببرائة المغربى و الفقى و غالى و فضلى …. بقيت مش عارف أتكلم خالص عشان مش فاهم هم إزاى أخدوا برائة و هل إنه طعن يبقى دة حاجة كويسة ولا دة إيه دة؟؟ يعنى هو إزاى أصلاً ياخدوا برائة من الأول؟؟ لو دول معملوش حاجة يبقى مين اللى عمل؟ أمى؟
كله كوم طبعاً و والدة الشهيد اللى إبنها التانى اللى باقلها إتحاكم عسكرى بعد القبض عليه عند مسرح البالون!

Then came news of the General Prosecuter's appeal against the ruling that acquitted El-Maghraby and El-Fiki Ghali and Foudly. This left me speechless and not able to understand how they were acquitted in the first place, and if that appeal is a good or bad thing! How come they were acquitted!? If those people did nothing, so who is responsible for all this? My mum?
All this comes after the mother of one of the martyrs whose other and only left son is having a military trial because of the events at El-Balloon Theatre a few days ago.

Mohamed El-Sarty [Ar] and Ahmad Taha [Ar] on the other hand preferred to use irony and wondered why should people go back to Tahrir while the police are acting perfectly and peaceful, the justice for the martyrs had been served, and the Supreme Council of Armed Forces just tries the civilians in front of military courts and the police and military personnel of the old regime are being tried in front of civil courts. Taha also shared a photo of a policeman showing the middle-finger to the protesters a few days ago.

And finally Assemism has a different point of view, and he wrote how despite all this some political forces are – from his point of view – making use of the martyrs without a sense of patriotism. He quoted a friend of his called Kareem Mounir saying:

” أنا النهاردة كنت باتكلم مع أم لشهيد و كنت حاعيط ! و اللي ضايقني اكتر اني عارف انها صادقة و كل حاجة لكن للأسف الناس اللي حواليها بيستغلوها “

“Today I was talking to the mother of one of the martyrs, and I was about to cry. I was sure that she is honest in what she says, but unfortunately people around here are using her.”

He then commented on what his friend was saying.

طبعاً الناس اللي حواليها .. هي بكل أسف قوى سياسية المفروض انها مسؤوله لكنها للأسف بتقوم بدور الزبالين حاليأً .. بتلم أكبر قدر من الوطنية من على الأرض و أحياناً استغلال للشهداء كمان

For sure those around her are unfortunately political forces who are supposed to be responsible yet they play the role of garbage collectors, they collect the sense of patriotism off the ground and make use of it as well as the martyrs for their own sake.

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.

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