The incident went by without much interest from government circles or even the opposition, and was mentioned by some websites as “funny" news despite the significance that it carried. Yesterday, a citizen set up his own “gallows" on the iron fence of the government's headquarters, then set about to carry out his own execution. The guards and a few citizens ran over to save him and convince him not to do it, or perhaps some of them suggested that he commit suicide somewhere else. The point is that the man yelled: “I cannot get any food and I want to die quickly. I cannot bear the hunger". Of course, news like this before the Revolution would have been exploited and promoted by all political forces, which are now struggling against one another, and would have turned into the main topic of every talk show. In short, the situation of this one citizen, despite the unacceptable and “extremist" nature of his behavior, reflects the extent of the despair reached by some, not at the failure of the Revolution, but rather at the lack of hope of emerging from this dark tunnel into which it has brought the Egyptian people. The incident is also evidence to the fact that what the elite, both in power and in the opposition, keeps reiterating, as well as the ongoing “chatter" between the two sides, no longer fool those who only want to lead a decent life. And certainly the scene in Tahrir Square and in all of Egypt's public squares next Friday, on the two-year anniversary of the start of the Revolution, will be quite different from the scene that remained in people's minds for quite some time, during the Revolution and until the moment Mubarak stepped down. This is not just because a single faction has “succeeded", obtained what it sought and won the “cake" through elections and referendums in which it managed to gather voters in its favor. It is also because all of the other factions and political forces have become enemies, rather than competitors, in the eyes of that faction. Meanwhile, this faction has become, in the eyes of those who oppose it, one that has hijacked the Revolution, capitalized on it, exploited it and conspired against those who made it happen. It has thus become logical for some to seek to “topple" the Muslim Brotherhood on the second anniversary of the Revolution, imagining that the 25th of January has become the day to “topple" any regime that does not achieve the goals called for by the Revolution, for which the masses marched and for the sake of which young men and women were martyred. On the other hand, all those in power believe that the opposition is plotting to undermine their legitimacy, going as far as to promote the scenario of “the President being kidnapped"! By this logic, the Revolution would obviously become a “mantle" each party seeks to wear and to tear away from the others. Thus, the Muslim Brotherhood, which is in power, and the Islamists, who are its allies, promote the notion that every act of protest is an act aimed against the Revolution, every stance of opposition to the “democratically elected" President is an attack against the Revolution, and every complaint at the state Egypt has come to is a plot to thwart the President's efforts, so seize power and to topple the Revolution! This struggle between political elites and forces stands at a vast distance from the interests of the majority of the Egyptian people, whose ambitions with the Revolution and with Mubarak stepping down had reached for the sky, and who imagined that livelihood, freedom, social justice and human dignity would be raining down from the heavens. Yes, it cannot be denied that a broad segment of the population has been harmed and has seen its suffering increase after the Revolution. And despite their conviction that the “flaw" did not reside in the Revolution, but rather in those who capitalized on it, exploited it, hijacked it, won it or even conspired against it, the end result for the simple folk, none of whom seek after a seat in parliament or a cabinet position and most of whom did not come in contact with the former regime, is that the suffering of daily life has increased in every aspect, and that the Revolution, which had raised the slogan “livelihood, freedom, social justice and human dignity", has not seen its goals translated except for the few who benefited from it, whether among the ruling party and its allies or even among prominent figures of the opposition, especially the “extraterrestrials" among them. Ordinary citizens have found themselves not finding the means to live even with difficulty, after this has become a rare commodity except for those sitting in front of television cameras, and have found that the freedom they had sought has resulted in dozens or hundreds and perhaps thousands of lawsuits being filed against everyone in opposition or anyone who would complain, and that the social justice which they had imagined would mean achieving equal rights and obligations for all members of society and granting the poor and the simple folk the right to lead a decent life has only appeared in the “chatter" of the speeches and interviews of officials and the objections of the elite to them. As for human dignity, it has been limited to their ability to control their temper, and to testing the limits of their ability to be patient, to bear the burden and to behave with decency when faced with rising prices, deteriorating services and the absence of any vision for reform in the future. The outcome here is that there are no expectations concerning what will happen next Friday. Indeed, regardless of the measures taken by those in power, and of the plans or the wishes of the elites, the masses of the people alone will determine whether it will for them represent a celebration, a completion of the Revolution or a new Revolution. Indeed, the people have had no luck obtaining the “mantle" of the Revolution, and have nearly died of boredom at its “chatter".
