Revisiting a rebirth in Egypt
An Egyptian demonstrator waves a national flag on top of a street light in downtown Cairo’s Tahrir Square on July 29, 2011. Tens of thousands of people packed the square, with Islamist groups dominating the protest held to show unity during a fragile transition from ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s regime.
WASHINGTON – It was back in Cairo on February 11, the night that President Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down, that I saw an image that will always stay with me, a searing memory of revolution and the will of the people.
It was a green tent with flashlights flickering inside it and a dozen or so members of the Revolutionary Youth Council huddled around writing a document they titled, "Birth Certificate of a New Egypt." It was like being in Philadelphia circa 1776 with history in the air and all the chaos and celebrations and fireworks as Egypt celebrated its new, albeit uncertain future.
In the tent were the young people whom we had gotten to know in reporting those 18 days of tumult that came to be known as the January 25 Revolution. They were from all walks of Egyptian life, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood youth movement, Coptic Christian leftists, secular members of the April 6 Movement, Nasserists and young, educated Cairene elites who were intent on forming new political parties in Egypt's new democracy.
The document they produced that night was written on the back of a piece of a cardboard, and it was stirring. This summer I returned to Tahrir Square with FRONTLINE's ace cameraman Tim Grucza to meet up with those same young protesters who were gathered in the tent that night making history. We wanted to see where they are now.
The reporting was a partnership between GlobalPost and PBS FRONTLINE and it is titled "Tahrir Revisited: Egypt's Unfinished Revolution." The project is an experiment in combining long-form writing on the web with well-produced video vignettes. FRONTLINE is in the vanguard on this and we're proud to be partnering with them on it.
You can view the project for yourself on GlobalPost and on FRONTLINE's website. We look forward to your feedback on it. And tonight the project is scheduled to be featured on the PBS NewsHour. Check local listings.