The Two Souls of the Egyptian Revolution: Democratic Demands, Radical Strikes

Atef Shahat Said begins the chapter with a vignette about observing one of the iconic banners of the Egyptian Revolution being hung in Tahrir Square on February 6, 2011, on which the democratic demands of the revolution were listed. Then he provides a historicization of how the democratic reformist demands dominated in the revolution but also demonstrates how radical social demands and grievances existed during the revolution, describing these different demands as the two souls of the Egyptian Revolution. Among the key pieces of evidence demonstrating the existence of the latter (the radical soul), Atef Shahat Said interrogates working-class strikes during the revolution and new data on the demographics of the martyrs and the injured during the revolution, most of whom were from the underclass. The tension between the two souls, and the dominance of the reformist demands, shapes the trajectory of the revolution, Said argues.