On 2 June 2012, Hosni Mubarak and his Minister of Interior were both convicted and given life sentences. This comes fifteen months after the spark of the 2011 revolution that marked a great moment of history, though it aggravated many of the suppressed problems associated with the disorientation towards democracy and the confusion about what to do next.
This sweet moment revived the notion of “street politics”,1 where grassroots movements of young people, workers and the most downtrodden succeeded to get rid of the autocratic regime, but it brought back the notion of ballots and bullets that kept no one really knowing when or if the bitter fruits can ever sweeten.
The Egyptian revolution has stalled causing an escalation of anger and disappointment felt by the majority of Egyptians regarding their continuous subjection to the bullets of police forces; even ballots did not serve the initial goal of the revolution of establishing a new secular and democratic Egypt. Instead, anarchism, conflicts of interests, and fragmented public opinion were reflected in the ballots giving way to Islamic fascism. As stated by a revolutionary activists in the socialist party news paper: “Egypt is like a house where the curtains have been changed but everything else is the same”.
This perplexing situation was marked with a continuous swing between revolution and counter-revolution, often with movements in both directions taking place at the same time leading to bloody, unsettled and confusing scenarios. However, it only emphasized the weakness of the Egyptian capitalist class and its inability to stabilise a democratic and inclusive rule.
