On January 28, Tarek said to his wife:
“I want to participate in the demonstrations.”
Rania (his wife) looked at him, taken aback.
Tarek said, “Don’t worry, one cannot run from his destiny”

Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Fallen Fundamentalist

With the passing of time, the warden softened and allowed inmates to socialize, eat and pray together. They even cooked in the courtyard after creating a sort of outdoor kitchen. They built an oven, which accommodated baking for some three hundred inmates. They set up a small garden in the courtyard. One prisoner attempted to escape, and was caught outside the prison but within the military barracks. This backfired on all inmates as the warden further tightened the conditions overnight after they had been relaxed. Unfortunately, after the attempted escape, the guards destroyed both the garden and the kitchen. Mohamed felt hopeless, as it seemed that conditions had returned to the unbearable starting point.

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Tahrir Voices Part 1
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Chapter 6
Chapter 6: Missing Man

Friday morning was quiet and solemn like the calm before a storm. Rania and Tarek were talking in their bedroom.
Rania said, “Watch out, it is rumored that mobile phones are
going to be cut off today.”
Tarek said, “I don’t think so, at 7 o’clock this morning I was just
talking to my friend in America.”
Rania replied, “Just check your signal now.” He told her that he
had a full signal.
Rania told him, “Switch off your mobile and turn it on again, maybe the signal is false.”
Tarek did as she asked and said, “You are right, there is no signal.”
He showered and wore his blue jeans, black sweater, and a dark blue jacket. Before the Friday prayers, he hugged, kissed and said goodbye to his wife and daughters as any other Friday and left, heading to the mosque and afterwards the demonstrations.

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Readers Reviews

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Chapter 12
Chapter 12: Cheeky Cynicism

Shaimaa recalls it clearly, as if it were yesterday. She was at a friend’s party in Rehab compound, one of the suburbs of Cairo, when she heard that the President has stepped down. She cried while everyone around her was jumping and dancing with jubilation; sorrow amidst celebrations. Her friends, mostly single men and women, well-educated elite dressed in tasteful clothes, who like to party and enjoy nightlife and are frequent voyagers abroad, were celebrating as they never have before. The joy transcended their high school prom party, graduation
party, managerial or director promotion and even their wedding celebrations. The loud music muffled her ears; in stark contrast with her friends, she felt as if locked in a dungeon with no windows and everything was pitch-black. Shaimaa felt a heavy weight burdening her heart and sadly foresaw the looming anarchy, which the nation has been
witnessing since the revolution.

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Chapter 17
Chapter 17 : Raving Rhetoric

After the third and final speech of Mubarak, things appeared to be over. The game
was over. The former President handed the trophy to the army who honored him
in the first place. This move did not invalidate the revolution’s reality. It was not
a radical young officer’s military coup but rather, a handing over of power, or, a
returning of power to its source. Gehad compares it to someone who, entrusted with
a treasure and if he needs to leave it, he will return the treasure to whoever entrusted
him with it in the first place. In his opinion, it only made sense that Mubarak
returned the Egyptian treasure to the army.

Nonetheless, not all things are mutually exclusive; labeling it as either a revolution
or a coup d’etat are not the only options. Matters are not unitary; either black or
white, there is grey as well. This was the predicament. Gehad had predicted that
Mubarak would hand over his reigns to the army institution, and his prophesy had
materialized. Gehad supports a civilian revolution. The Egyptian revolution, in his
view, was neither a political nor a social revolution. The main objectives were to
increase personal freedom and equal rights, which define a civic revolution in general.
Gehad has been advocating these rights with his support of liberalism while he was
working at the NDP, but with no avail.

Multiple things happened simultaneously in Egypt in 2011. A civil revolution-cum-
coup took place; it was a special type of coup, not a radical or Latin American type
coup, In addition to widespread social disturbance in the form of demonstrations and
strikes demanding better pay, there was, not in the least, the powerful silent majority.
All these variables were in motion, at some times intersecting and other times not.

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MTV interview

In this televised interview Nadine shares her story behind the making of her debut book Tahrir Voices: 18 Ordinary Egyptians in 18 Extraordinary Days.
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