The Revolution of Change in Egypt

For the longest time, people in Egypt have been afraid to let their voices be heard. The reason being is because the government will crack down on them and punish them. They aren’t allowed the freedoms we are here in the United States where we can voice our opinion almost whenever and wherever we want. But, when Wael Abbas used his blog to post a video of two police officers attacking a bus driver with a broomstick, the video went viral, which was a weird thing to happen in Egypt. Because the video went viral, the two police officers were arrested and this started something, almost hope, in the hearts of Egyptians. For years, the regime had always gone after people who had blogged on the internet or tried to get information out there that should not be. Also, it made sure that college graduates would take lower paying jobs and maybe even make them want to leave the country to find a decent job. The government is always abusing the Egyptian people and not helping them obtain higher paying jobs and making their jobs now still as low paying as they were years ago. Because of this, most people are living in poverty and can barely supply for their families. The people of Egypt want this stopped so they try and stick their necks out to get the word out that they aren’t happy. Over the years, the people have become more brave in getting out there and trying to protest the government. One way that has been shown is when a photographer and blogger named, Hossam el Hamalawy, took pictures overtime of workers that have confronted their employers about how they are treated and their forms of protest. Even with all these positive messages and people being able to get their word out there, the war with the government and their freedom of speech isn’t over. A writer named Alaa al Aswany was trying for years to get stories out about how corrupt the government is and how they could care less for the poor, but state censors made sure that his books about this topic never got published. But one book did get published and it ended up setting sales records and even becoming a movie. Overall, it is hard for the Egyptian people to get their stories out there and to want to protest, especially when it comes to using the internet and blogging. Hopefully one day they can loosen their grip on their people and want to help them more than hurt them.