15 Years After Revolution: Zeinab Abul-Magd Reflects on Protest, Power, What We Can Do

On Jan. 25, 2011, the Egyptian revolution erupted in Tahrir Square, Cairo, with secular protestors demanding democracy and the destruction of the military dictatorship under Hosni Mubarak. From 2011 to 2021, Zeinab Abul-Magd — Nancy Schrom Dye professor of Middle Eastern History — was dedicated to fighting against the most prominent political powers in Egypt. Abul-Magd is a revolutionary by blood; she grew up in a socialist household in Egypt, earned a bachelor’s in Political Science at Cairo University, then her master’s and PhD from Georgetown University in 2003 and 2008, respectively. She has written Imagined Empires: A History of Revolt in Egypt (2013), which traces resistance against multiple empires in Upper Egypt’s Qena region over the past 500 years, and Militarizing the Nation: The Army, Business, and Revolution in Egypt (2017), which shows how the military has hegemonized Egypt through a massive business empire.

This excerpt comes from the named source. Read the original for the full reporting.