One year ago, today Egyptians woke up to find that the internet had been cut off and that all mobile phone lines were not working. In a desperate attempt to thwart the will of the people and prevent them from gathering in protest in Tahrir Square and across the nation, the regime resorted to desperate measures. Later in the day, as Muslims left their mosques after Friday prayers, they were faced by security officials and government sponsored thugs, defying anyone to lift a finger in protest against the government. In doing so, they so enraged the nation to act that Friday January 28 will go down in history as the day when the fear barrier was broken and the people turned against the regime. It still brings tears to the eyes to watch the scenes of violence and bloodshed of those eighteen days as ordinary Egyptians were beaten, clubbed, driven over and shot at by the very ones who were supposed to be their protectors. The martyrs who fell during those days, many of them in the first bloom of youth, will be remembered for ever as the ones who overthrew the regime. It is not the political parties who took their seats in parliament this week, nor the men of yesterday who were quick to jump on the revolution bandwagon, who were the ones who caused a revolution. It was the youth. One year on, much has happened. There are voices who would have us believe that nothing has changed. Others would tell us that nothing has changed for the better, that in fact things have only got worse. In the words of Charles Dickens, these are certainly “the best of times, the worst of times,” for Egypt, and it is sometimes difficult to choose which one is more prevalent. Security is lacking. People feel uncertain about the safety of their families and property. What the future holds will only unfold with time. Any dictionary will tell you that revolution is about complete change, about turning a country completely upside down. Well, that hasn't happened yet. Many of yesterday's men are still very firmly in control. What is worse, yesterday's ideas are still prevalent in the minds of those who would forge Egypt's future. On this day, though, one year on from that fateful Friday, we can spend a few moments celebrating the good that has come to Egypt as a result of its revolution. There is time to plan for the future. Let us today celebrate what has been this past year. The police, for example, are in a process of change. Many people have witnessed at first hand the attempts by some foolish police officers to try and exert the sort of influence they once enjoyed under Mubarak's rule. In every case, though, the officers concerned have been put in their place by the citizens, often led by the young citizens, who will no longer put up with such treatment. Police are servants of the people. They are no more than that. They are no less than that. They have no political role, nor an authoritarian role. They are not linked to any one party or group of people. Their duty is to enforce the law justly and equitably for all the people. Attitudes take a long time to change, but this last year we have seen many officers dismissed from positions of authority and replaced by younger men, untainted by the excesses of the past. In a similar way, Egypt's universities have seen a transformation of leadership, with Deans and Heads of Faculty no longer appointed for party loyalty, but now directly elected by their colleagues and peers. Such changes might not be obvious to most people, but within the universities the change has been enormous. Many of the students sitting in lecture halls are the very ones whose friends were shot dead last year. It is a tribute to their achievement that Egypt's universities are now feeling a taste of freedom. Al-Azhar, too, for so long associated with the former regime, is now finding its feet once more. Unable in previous years to speak on anything other than matters that affected the President or his wife, Al-Azhar is rising to its rightful position as the world's most authoritative voice of moderate Sunni Islam. This is another major change, directly a result of the revolution, which will have lasting effects both in Egypt and across the whole world. One year ago, Egyptian television was showing cookery programmes, while its citizens were being assaulted with tear gas and bullets. No one could watch on television the real events that were happening on the ground. Now, things have changed. Television, radio and the press are now enjoying freedoms unheard of for the last thirty years or more. In fact, now everyone has a voice. Any journey on the Metro will give first-hand experience of political debate in action! All Egyptians are now entitled to an opinion and they are equally free to express it. This last week, we have seen the first meeting of a new parliament, directed freely and fairly by the people. Egyptians were glued to their television sets this week as the parliament met for the first time. What is normal in any other country was a novelty here in Egypt. It is a sign of just how utterly corrupt things were in the past that the majority of the new members of the People's Assembly, elected by the people, were forbidden from standing in previous polls. Democracy has shown what the people of Egypt really want, denied them for decades. Some of these changes, then, are major ones. Some are only small changes. But all of them are making a new society. Those days, one year ago, that shook the Arab world and made all tyrants feel unsafe in their castles of evil, cannot be gone back on. Anyone in touch in any way with young people will see how they will be the ones who will carry this revolution forward. The men of yesterday have had their turn. Even many in the new parliament are struggling to understand the way things really are now, but the young people of Egypt are quite certain of what they want. In a Patriarchal society such as this one, the voices of young people don't count for much and their opinions are not often listened to. The revolution they brought about, though, has changed things forever. There can be no going back to old ways. The young people, who make up such a massive part of Egyptian society, are the ones who will build the new Egypt. In looking back this week to what happened one year ago, we can forget the troubles and the uncertainties for a moment and look, instead, at what the revolution achieved. We have seen an easing of the Emergency Law, except for acts of thuggery, which no-one wants. Thieves and liars are no longer the country's leaders and the people of Egypt are no longer crippled with fear. Egyptians are no longer second class citizens in their own country. If a revolution is about complete change and about turning things upside down, there is still much to be achieved. But one year on, Egyptians have already made a big start. Let us celebrate that today. British Muslim writer, Idris Tawfiq, is a lecturer at Al-Azhar University. The author of eight books about Islam, he divides his time between Egypt and the UK as a speaker, writer and broadcaster. You can visit his website at www.idristawfiq.com
