Robert Fisk on Egypt: A Revolution Betrayed

More than any other nation, Egypt epitomises the cruel disappointments of the Arab Spring. In less than four years, its people have come full circle. A sclerotic, cynical, seemingly immovable military regime, disguised by a fig-leaf of ostensible representation, was swept away on a joyous tsunami of popular idealism; a corrupt dictator was ousted, tried and jailed; free elections were held, a new president peacefully installed, and a new age of freedom and democracy seemed genuinely possible.

Then, with tragic predictability, the new regime degenerated. Corruption, incompetence and repression provoked a counter-revolution; the elected president was ousted and jailed, his supporters massacred or rounded up. The old dictator was freed (for a while), the opposition was outlawed, the faceless men of the military resumed and tightened their grip on the reins of power – and thousands of ordinary Egyptians were left wondering what all their suffering and sacrifice had been for.

No commentator is better qualified to tell this tragic tale than Robert Fisk, unflinching critic of the Mubarak regime and acclaimed chronicler of Middle-Eastern affairs for The Independent for 25 years. This powerful anthology of his journalism describes the full cycle of Egypt’s awakening and relapse, episode by episode, as it happened – from the first stirrings of unrest to the glorious dawn of Tahrir Square, and the days of shame and atrocity that followed.

Told with rare insight into both Egyptian culture and the hypocrisy of the West, this is history at its most compelling, written by one of the very greatest commentators on the Arab world.

Yasser Jamil Fayad

Graduado em Medicina pela Universidade Federal
de Santa Catarina (UFSC),
Residência médica em Pediatria HU-UFSC,
Residência médica em Infectologia Pediátrica na
USP-Ribeirão Preto.
Militante de esquerda, do grupo Intifada de estudos em geopolítica e do Movimento pela
Libertação da Palestina – Ghassan Kanafani.
Autor dos livros de poesias de combate
publicados pela Fedayin Editora:
Nosso verbo é lutar: somos todos palestinos e
Amálgama de luta e beleza: somos todos palestinos. Autor do livro: Socialismo ou mais barbárie – (re)pensar os caminhos da revolução brasileira.

Jamil Abdalla Fayad

Graduado em Agronomia pela Universidade de Passo Fundo (UPF), especialização em Educação e Movimentos Sociais pela Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) e mestrado em Fitotecnia (Produção Vegetal) pela Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV). Militante de esquerda e do Movimento pela
Libertação da Palestina – Ghassan Kanafani. Foi pesquisador da Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuária e Extensão Rural de Santa Catarina (Epagri). Autor de vários trabalhos na área de Agronomia, com ênfase em Fitotecnia. Entre esse o “Sistema de plantio direto de hortaliças – método de transição para um novo modo de produção” (Expressão popular).