Egyptian Revolution of 2011

The Egyptian Revolution in January 25 of 2011 is one of the most recent revolutions regarding government corruption in the modern world. The protest was originally meant to be a peaceful movement requiring the end of government corruption and liberation of human political rights. There were various labor strikes and some violent demonstrations as security forces and the protestors clashed. The causes of the uprisings varied as the protestors required freedom of speech, the resigning of the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak and the improvement of the Egyptian economy that was greatly hindered by the government’s uncontrollable corruption.

The picture above took place in Cairo’s Tahrir Square where approximately two million protestors gathered and required the president to step down. Police brutality among this peaceful protest was an issue that sparked more citizens to rely on violence to go against the government. The police shot rubber bullets to people and threw gas bombs to haze the protestors. As this caught international attention, the government tried to block internet and all forms of communication to disallow any information from going out of the country. However, the protestors somehow found a way to catch international attention and as the protests grew, President Hosni Mubarak stepped down from the pressures and the military took over claiming that it will hold control until the next election day arrived.

The photographer has purposefully taken the photo from above to give the viewer a sense of how grand in scale two million people are. Although it is nighttime, this photographer has incorporated the lights in a way that it conveys energy among the crowds and he/she effectively show the liveliness of the protest. Although the viewer cannot see individual action within the photo, it tells in a general sense of how the Egyptian people protested. Also there is a sense of perspective in which as the viewer looks on to the middle of the painting, the roads and the people seem to converge which gives a sense of endless depth. The bright lights seem to illuminate the whole sky which might symbolize the bright future of Egypt against the gloomy darkness that is looming over Egypt currently. The fact that the light is coming out from the citizens, may represent unity as a whole and that two million protestors gathered in this square tells the viewers that there is something that they are all dissatisfied with the government unanimously.

The success of the Egyptian revolution served as an inspiration for protests in other Arab countries such as Yemen, Bahrain and Libya. Through this picture, it seems that more and more countries are seeking liberty and freedom from the corrupted governments and bring a positive change in their respective countries.