2011 Egyptian revolution

"On February 9, hundreds of thousands of workers struck around the country. In response to the popular uprisings, the Egyptian military forced Mubarak to resign on February 11. Millions of Egyptians celebrated. But despite the euphoria, little had changed except a few faces at the top of the regime. The basic power structure remained in place. Mubarak, a former military officer, was replaced by a council of military commanders publicly promising to restore civilian rule and allow the establishment of democracy. The armed forces, rather than simply being an organization of professional soldiers, also controlled a large section of the economy. High-ranking officers had their own economic interests to protect from any future elected government and might intervene if they felt those interests were threatened. The government bureaucracy and the high courts were dominated by people appointed by the Mubarak regime. They were unlikely to cooperate willingly with an anti-Mubarak government. And the old structure of economic power remained in place. Essentially the revolution up to that point had succeeded only in removing Mubarak and a few of his cronies, temporarily restraining the violence-prone security forces, and winning a questionable commitment of military leaders to democratization. The new “democratic” future was very uncertain."

"We the people have legitimate demands and we would like to tell the government what to do. Our freedom is not up for negotiation. Secondly how can you negotiate with a regime that is killing its people? When the regime tries to counter a peaceful demonstration by using thugs, some of whom are police officers in plain clothes – weve seen their IDs – there are few words that do justice to this villainy and I think it can only hasten that regimes departure."

"Egypt pulls off a revolution in two weeks. Meanwhile, 20 years in, we’ve gotten nowhere on the whole “Kraft Cheese and Macaroni” thing."