The first anniversary of the beginning of the Egyptian revolution will not be remembered as a day spoiled by disturbances, to the huge satisfaction of the Egyptian people, who gathered en masse in Tahrir Square and surrounding areas. It is at the junction between the Nile and Tahrir Square that I have an appointment with Adham Abdel Alim El Charkaouy, the former director of the Secretariat of the Ministry of Water (January 25, 2011).

Abdel Alim is a father of two, a Muslim, who lives in the suburb of Shopra.

"That morning, I learned via the Internet that a call had gone out for people to start gathering. I left my house around noon in order to call upon Mubarak to change his style of government.  It was around 2:40 pm, in Abdul Menan Riad Place, that I heard the first call for Mubarak's downfall from the lips of a woman who chanted "Hosni Mubarak Yascut Yascut" (“Down with Hosni Mubarak”). 

“Fifty complete strangers spontaneously congregated in Tahrir Square. The police had already established a security cordon from the Cairo Museum to the square. We began by offering them flowers and then – when they failed to react - we began to push them backwards. In the meantime, hundreds of people who had been forced out by water cannons began to flood in from all over Cairo, gaining access through alternative entrances. The police who soon found themselves surrounded, decided to leave. I stayed there until sunset. After the evening call to prayer, the police made their first moves: I was wounded on my left hand by a blow from a club as I tried to get into Tahrir Square and although I removed the policeman’s hands, I responded by telling him that I could not hit one of my fellow Egyptian brothers.

One year on, what do you think the most significant changes have been?

"Egypt is even poorer before that - we may have gained freedom of expression, but so far, no one is listening."

What role are you personally playing to improve the situation?

"I am part of a committee called "rights and general freedom" which is made up by 90 teachers, whose purpose is to establish guidelines for the writing of the new constitution."

What message would you like to pass on to the West?

"Egypt is a great country that will never let terrorism establish itself within its borders and where Christians and Muslims live together as brothers. We do not deserve a living death."

Photo & Report by Gaël Favari for The Global Journal

(Photo © Gaël Favari / The Global Journal)