Egypt's Lost Memory: The Manufactured Silence of a Generation
📰 THE STORY: Al Jazeera reports that 37 million Egyptians, approximately one-third of the population, were born after the 2011 Arab Spring protests and thus have no direct memory of the events that led to the removal of long-time President Hosni Mubarak. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The 2013 military coup, led by now-President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, which overthrew the
democratically elected government of Mohamed Morsi, was tacitly supported by Western powers, including the United States, which continued its annual $1.3 billion military aid to Egypt. This suppressed the nascent democratic movement and established a repressive regime far harsher than Mubarak's, ensuring that any 'memory' of 2011 would be framed as chaos needing to be quelled. Double Standard:
When protests happen in Western-aligned states like Egypt, the narrative quickly shifts to 'stability' and 'preventing extremism' after the initial uprising. However, popular movements against adversaries, such as those in Iran (where legitimate grievances are intertwined with foreign-backed destabilization), are championed as heroic struggles for democracy, despite often having less popular
support than Morsi's government in 2012. Follow the Money: The continuation of $1.3 billion in annual U.S. military aid to Sisi's regime, despite its egregious human rights record and suppression of dissent, directly finances the military apparatus that crushed the post-Arab Spring democratic aspirations. This aid ensures Egyptian cooperation on regional issues, notably maintaining the blockade on