#Egypt’s 1952 revolution and military rule, a history in photos

On July 23, 1952 a group of Egyptian army officers, calling themselves the “Free Officers Movement” engineered a coup d’etat and forced King Farouk to abdicate the throne and leave the country. After years of building tension between Egypt and Britain over control of the Suez Canal and the Sudan, the military power grab abolished the monarchy and began to build a new sense of Egyptian nationalism. Revolution Day is commemorated every year on July 23.

The Egyptian Republic was declared on June 18, 1953, but military leaders have kept a firm grasp on power ever since. 

A waving, shouting crowd demonstrates against Great Britain in Cairo on Oct. 23, 1951 as tension continued to mount in the dispute between Egypt and Britain over control of the Suez Canal and the Sudan. Police used tear gas to disperse Cairo mobs and fired into other crowds in Alexandria. (AP Photo)

A slogan "Down with England" is written in chalk on a street in Cairo, on Jan. 25, 1952. (AP Photo)

 View of the Rivoli Cinema, in Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 26, 1952, as it was burns during the rioting. A large crowd watches as firemen attempt to extinguish the blaze. (AP Photo) #

Aerial view of the remains of the burnt out 'Cicurel', Cairo's biggest department store, in Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 26, 1952, after it was burnt out the previous day by rioters. The building is on Cairo's Fouad First Avenue. (AP Photo) #

 Fields guns take up a commanding position on the road to Heliopolis in the northern suburbs of Cairo on July 23, 1952 following the bloodless coup effected by the Egyptian army under the direction of Major-General Mohamed Neguib Pasha. Mohamed Neguib Pasha has proclaimed himself commander-in-chief of the Egyptian army. Hilaly Pasha has tendered his one-day-old cabinet’s resignation. King Farouk has asked Aly Maher Pasha to form a new cabinet. (AP Photo) #

 extile workers rounded up by Egyptian police and troops squat outside the Misr spinning factory at Kafr el-Dawar, Egypt on August 21, 1952, following rioting there in which nine people, including a policeman and two soldiers were killed. The factory was damaged by violence and fire. A military court is hearing charges against 29 of the workers. Another worker, 21 year old Mustaf Khamis was sentenced to be hanged after he was found guilty of being one of the principal instigators of the recent strike and riots

 General Mohamed Neguib (L) and Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser leave the last Revolutionary meeting late 23 February 1954. AFP/Getty

 Praying at the Nasser Mosque in Cairo, Egypt for the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser, on Oct. 2, 1970, from left are; Libyan Head of State, Moammer Gadhafi; United Arab Republic Provisional President Anwar El Sadat; Sudan Head of State, Gaafar Nimeiry; Algerian President Houari Boumediene; Palestinian Liberation Organization leader, Yasser Arafat; Hussein El Shafey, member of Supreme Executive Committee of Arab Socialist Union; Sheikh Mohammed Faham, Rector of Al Azhar University. In second row, at either side of the head of Faham, are two sons of late President Nasser, Abdel Hakim, right, and Khalid Abdel Nasser, left.

 A waving, shouting crowd demonstrates against Great Britain in Cairo on Oct. 23, 1951 as tension continued to mount in the dispute between Egypt and Britain over control of the Suez Canal and the Sudan. Police used tear gas to disperse Cairo mobs and fired into other crowds in Alexandria. 

 With their hands on their heads, some of the Egyptian police are escorted by British troops, from the police stations at El-Hamada and Tel-El-Kebir, to the local railway station in El-Hamada, Jan. 16, 1952. The British army were trying to capture guerrillas who had been sniping at British troops

 With hands on their heads, Egyptian policemen are marched towards a prison camp area in Ismalia, Egypt, Jan. 25, 1952, after their capture in fierce fighting between British troops and Egyptian police. They are guarded by a soldier from the Lancashire Fusiliers.

 Egyptian police officers are held prisoner by British troops after a battle in Ismalia, Egypt, Jan. 25, 1952. Egyptian police opened fire on British troops after refusing to surrender their arms, and the British troops with tank support returned their fire. Forty two policemen were killed and fifty eight wounded in the battle and over 800 were disarmed when the battle ended. Four Britains were killed and nine wounded.

This is a general view of a demonstration taking place at Opera Square in Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 25, 1952.

 British troops, protected by armored car at left, rush into action in Ismailia, Egypt on Jan. 25, 1952 during fierce battling with Egyptians. Action is taking place outside the Egyptian police headquarters where the British fought the police and their guerrilla followers.

A crowd marches towards Shepherd Hotel in Cairo, Egypt on Jan. 25, 1952

View of the Rivoli Cinema, in Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 26, 1952, as it was burns during the rioting. A large crowd watches as firemen attempt to extinguish the blaze. 

Aerial view of the remains of the burnt out 'Cicurel', Cairo's biggest department store, in Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 26, 1952, after it was burnt out the previous day by rioters. The building is on Cairo's Fouad First Avenue

 Egyptian women struggle with Cairo police on Jan. 26, 1952 as they are ousted from bank two days ago during anti-British disorders. Women were preventing customers from entering bank. Rioting Egyptian crowds ran wild through Cairo screaming anti-British, pro-Russian slogans.

 View of the remains of the burnt out 'Cicurel', Cairo's biggest department store, in Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 26, 1952, after it was burnt out the previous day by rioters. The building is on Cairo's Fouad First Avenue.

In the centre is part of the famous Shepheards Hotel, in Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 27, 1952, after it was burned the previous day by rioters. In the foreground are the wrecked offices of Trans World Airlines.

British Military Police affix "Out of bounds" posters to the walls in the Arab section of Ismalia, Egypt, March 20, 1952. The British Army is pulling out of the area after clearing it of terrorists and having many battles between Egyptian police and British troops

British Military Police affix "Out of bounds" posters to the walls in the Arab section of Ismalia, Egypt, March 20, 1952. The British Army is pulling out of the area after clearing it of terrorists and having many battles between Egyptian police and British troops

 Mohamed Ezzedin waves his arms and struggles with police as he protests the sentence of ten years at hard labor given him by a military court in Cairo, Egypt on March 23, 1952. Ezzedin was sentenced for his part in the arson, looting and destruction which took place during last January's riots in the city. Eight more youths were given jail sentences on March 23 in connection with the riots, which caused 67 deaths and millions of dollars in fire damage.

During a coup d'etat led by General Muhammed Naguib, an Egyptian army tank and field guns are drawn up in front of the royal Abdin Palace, in Cairo, on July 26, 1952. Appointed Premier Ali Maher Pasha issued an ultimatum to King Farouk I, forcing the Egyptian monarch to abdicate.

General Mohamed Neguib Bey,who engineered the recent coup d'etat, broadcasts to the people of Egypt, in Cairo July 24, 1952. After the bloodless coup Aly Maher Pasha took office as Premier and on July 26 issued an abdication ultimatum to King Farouk. The king abdicated in favour of his seven-month-old son, Prince Ahmed Fuad, and left the country for Italy on his royal yacht.

 CAIRO, EGYPT - 1952: Meeting of the Egyptian "Free Officers" in Cairo in 1952. The Free Officers forced King Faruq 23 July 1952 to leave the throne and replaced him by his son King Fouad. Mohammed Nagib (2R) Gamal Abdel Nasser (3R) Anwar al-Sadat (From 4L). Others are unidentified.

During a coup d'etat led by General Muhammed Naguib, Egyptian army tanks and field guns are drawn up in front of the royal Abdin Palace, in Cairo, on July 26, 1952. Appointed Premier Ali Maher Pasha issued an ultimatum to King Farouk I, forcing the Egyptian monarch to abdicate.  

General Mohamed Neguib Bey, centre in uniform, who engineered the recent coup d'etat in Egypt, with newly appointed Premier Aly Maher, in sunglasses, at Maher's office in Alexandria, July 26, 1952. Maher has just delivered an abdication ultimatum to King Farouk. The king abdicated in favour of his seven-month-old son, Prince Ahmed Fuad, and left the country for Italy on his royal yacht.

Ex-King Farouk of Egypt made his first public statement since he went into exile, at a press conference on the terrace of Hotel Eden Paradiso at Anacapri, Italy on July 31, 1952, where he and his party are staying. Left to right: Queen Narriman; baby-King Fuad II; Farouk; Princess Fawzia; Princess Fadia; nurse (reportedly English); Princess Ferial (completely hidden behind nurse); as they prepare for posing for pictures on the terrace of Hotel Eden Paradiso. 

 General Mohamed Naguib Bey, who engineered last week's coup D'Etat in Cairo, gives a press conference at the Egyptian Army general headquarters in Cairo on July 31, 1952, Redently. The new commander in chief of the Egyptian armed forces had just returned to the city from Alexandria. He was there when King Farouk Abdicated in favor of his young son Ahmed Fuad. 

Egyptian feminist Doria Shafik (L) meets 08 August 1952 with Egyptian Chief Army Commander General Naguib in unlocated place. Doria Shafik (1908-1975), an Egyptian feminist, poet, publisher, and political activist, participated in one of her country's most explosive periods of social and political transformation. During the '40s she burst onto the public stage in Egypt, openly challenging every social, cultural, and legal barrier that she viewed as oppressive to the full equality of women. As the founder of the Daughters of the Nile Union in 1948, she catalyzed a movement that fought for suffrage and set up programs to combat illiteracy, provide economic opportunities for lower-class urban women, and raise the consciousness of middle-class university students.  

New Egyptian premier, Mohamed Naguib Bey is seen shortly after he accepted leadership, Sept. 7, 1952. 

Egyptian frontier guards stand to attent during a military parade in Cairo's Ismail Square on Oct. 23, 1952 in celebration of '90 days of Freedom.' The day marked the end of the first three months of major general Mohamed Neguib’s rule. In an address, premier Neguib stated that Egypt was prepared to fight for the liberation of the Nile valley.

Lt. Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser, 36-year-old leader of the Revolutionary Command Council of Egypt, is seen during a public appearance to win support for his governing revolution council, on August 1, 1954, at an unknown location.

A large crowd storms into the Ministry Council Headquarters 28 March 1954 in Cairo, during a demonstration supporting the revolutionary regime. AFP/Getty

A large crowd demonstrates in front of the Ministry Council Headquarters 28 March 1954 in Cairo, during a demonstration supporting the revolutionary regime. 

Mohammed Farghali, centre, a Muslim Brotherhood leader, found guilty planning the attempted assassination of Egyptian Premier Gamal Abdel Nasser at Alexandria on Oct. 26th, is escorted to the execution chamber, in a Cairo Prison, Dec. 7, 1954, where he was hung.

 Egyptian Premier Gamal Abdel Nasser waves to a crowd of people as he stands in an open car moving through the streets of Cairo, Egypt on June 19, 1956. Nasser announced at a rally in Republican Square that martial law in Egypt is ended, that the revolution council which has ruled Egypt since King Farouk was deposed is dissolved, that Egypt's new constitution will be ratified and that a new president will be elected.

 Drawn on a gun carriage the flag-covered coffin of President Abdel Gamal Nasser passes through dense crowds in Cairo, Egypt on Oct. 1, 1970. (AP Photo/Dennis Lee Royle)

In this June 14, 1974 file photo Presidents Anwar Sadat and Richard Nixon shake hands for photographers as they pose in front of the pyramids at Giza, near Cairo. (AP Photo/Horst Faas) 

United Nations soldiers and journalists attend the historic signing of the Kissinger Agreement, bringing peace between Israel and Egypt in a deal brokered by the US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. 

President Jimmy Carter stands center stage flanked by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin as the three leaders shake hands following the signing of the Middle East peace treaty at the White House in Washington, March 27, 1979. The ceremony took place outside the Executive Mansion on the North Lawn.

An undated picture shows late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (L) waving to a crowd as Vice-President Hosni Mubarak (R) laughs beside him standing in a convertible vehicle.

Egyptian soldiers fire on Egyptian President Anwar Al-Sadat while reviewing a military parade in honor of The October 1973 War, on October 06, 1981 in Cairo. The assassination is attributed to muslim extremist group Muslim Brotherhood. 

Egyptian soldiers tend to wounded after an attack on the reviewing platform which killed Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in Cairo, Egypt, on Oct. 6, 1981. Six others were also killed by members of the Al Jihad movement, religious extremists within Sadat's army, who opened fire during a military parade commemorating the eighth anniversary of the Arab-Israeli War of Oct. 1973.

Vice-President Hosni Mubarak casts his vote, 13 October 1981, during a national referendum to decide whether he will succeed the slain President Anwar Sadat as leader of Egypt. Mubarak came to office as Egypt’s fourth president after late President Anwar Sadat was slained by a group of military Islamist fundamentalists with allegiance to the Al-Jihad during a military parade 06 October 1981 and remained in power until resigning after a wave of popular protests in February 2011.

Carnage in Cairo #Egypt graphic

Photos of the most recent -- and the most violent -- clashes yet between Egyptian security forces and supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsy. Warning: some images are graphic.

 

Egyptian opponents of ousted president Mohamed Morsy gather in Tahrir Square in Cairo, on July 26. 

Supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsy protest outside a field hospital where the bodies of protesters -- who were alledgedly killing in fighting between pro-Morsy demonstrators and Egyptian security forces overnight -- were being brought in the district of Nasr on July 27, in Cairo. 

 

Supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsy walk past a trail of blood near the tomb of former President Anwar al-Sadat in Cairo on July 27. 

The body of a Morsy supporter is carried on a stretcher at a field hospital, after reportedly being killed in fighting between pro-Morsy demonstrators and Egyptian security forces overnight, near the Rabaa al Adweya Mosque in the district of Nasr on July 27, in Cairo. 

A group of Egyptian Army soldiers cross the road during clashes between police forces and Morsy supporters in Cairo on Saturday. 

Bodies of Muslim Brotherhood supporters, shot dead in the Egyptian capital after violence erupted the night before, lay inside a field hospital in Cairo on July 27. 

Egyptian supporters of the deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsy (back) clash with riot police in Cairo early on July 27. 

On July 26, Islamist protesters gathered in the hundreds of thousands to demand, once again, the reinstatement of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy. Early Saturday morning, security forces and Morsy supporters clashed in what's being called Egypt's most violent episode of bloodshed since Morsy was ousted from office on July 3. Egyptian authorities fired on crowds gathered in Cairo and the counts of those killed in the attack are as high as 65, according to Egypt's Health Ministry.

An account of torture in #Rabea #Egypt

With its one-month anniversary around the corner and attacks on its participants only increasing, tensions are high at the Rabea al-Adaweya Muslim Brotherhood sit-in, defiance now sharing the air with paranoia and suspicion. Reports of the torturing of “infiltrators” by the sit-in’s members have by this point been confirmed—the same cannot be said of claimed sightings of bodies being removed from the area. Meanwhile, another form of escalation seems to be taking place.

Speaking to Mada Masr under condition of anonymity, 40-year-old Tarek Badr (not his real name) describes how his efforts to renew a driver’s license last Monday resulted in his temporary detainment and physical abuse.
“Obviously, that whole area is part of the [pro-Morsi] sit-in, they’ve occupied the entrance to that building as well,” Badr says of the Nasr City Traffic/Motor Registry Department, which stands directly adjacent to the mosque around which the sit-in was formed. “I went down alone but there were several other people there, trying to get their paperwork done as well.”
The group attempted to access the building, but “people began to gather around us, telling us that we had to accept Morsi as our president and that we were doing Islam a huge disservice by not respecting him enough. We told them we just wanted to get our paperwork done, and that it shouldn’t take more than an hour if they’d let us through.”

Meanwhile a side conversation was going on, one which Badr thought “seemed to have been started by a resident of [the buildings currently besieged by the sit-in] who had been trying to reason with the protestors.” Volunteers from the sit-in’s security team then showed up (“I could tell because of their helmets and padded vests”) and asked some questions before rounding up 13 of the outsiders and escorting them from the scene.

“It wasn’t directly forceful, the way they took us,” he says. “But it didn’t have to be—it’s their sit-in, their territory. The group that moved the 13 of us consisted of ten or fewer individuals but what are you going to do?”
As they moved through the sit-in, “none of its members seemed to notice or care about what was going on, or had any objection about the fact that we were clearly being lead somewhere.”
The 13 men were then lined up along the wall of a public school across from the Motor Registry Department, somewhat removed from the heart of the sit-in. “They made us face the wall as they searched us, and took our wallets and phones. They struck us on our backs and necks with sticks and their bare hands. The whole time they were questioning us—not for anything useful, just to understand how and why we were not accepting Morsi as our ‘master’—that’s the word they used. They called us the ‘enemies of Islam’.”
Although some of the men attempted to object to their treatment, Badr suffered silently. “I could see what happened with the people who spoke up—they just got struck for it, and harsher insults. And I thought of what I’ve seen in the news recently—I didn’t want to have my fingers amputated, or worse. And for what? There is no conversation that could have been had, no room for any sort of discussion.”
“I did want to ask them, though: Why all this? Why build a so-called Islamic state in a public square? Aren’t we all Egyptians, and isn’t this a Muslim country? Why is it that you’re in a country yet all you can see of it is this square? At the very least, welcome the people who come to this square, then. Don’t terrorize and antagonize them.”
“But I said nothing,” he admits.
The 13 men—“two of whom seemed under 30, one was definitely over 50, and the rest in the middle”—were then divided into two groups. “They took eight of us away from the school, and I could tell the five that stayed behind were the ones deemed responsible for starting that conversation earlier.”
“To be honest, I can’t remember the faces of any of the other men,” he says. “But the older man was among the five kept at the school.”
Away from the school, the men were given LE20 each, told to return to the sit-in after iftar to reclaim their possessions, and finally released. “I didn’t want to go back there, obviously,” Badr claims. “I made some calls, searching for someone who might have a reliable contact within the Brotherhood to go back with me to Rabaa.”
The following morning he returned to the sit-in with a sympathetic Brother, he says, and was directed to a “lost items” stand where, from a plastic bag, a sit-in volunteer returned a wallet minus its money and one of two cellular phones.
“I thanked them for their courtesy and accommodation, and left,” he says. “Of course, they tried to apologize, claiming that the whole situation was just a giant misunderstanding and that this isn’t the way the Muslim Brotherhood operates, it’s just the pressure they were under—of course, there was none of this talk the previous day.”
Similar statements were made by the son of a leading Brotherhood figure who also spoke to Mada Masr under condition of anonymity. “There is torture that goes on in the sit-in, but I was surprised to find out about it. I’ve since seen it—the amputations, the electrocution—that stuff is real. But it is not condoned, nor an official position. There’s little supervision on the sit-in and things can get out of hand.”
The son—who claims to no longer be a member of the group—feels the need to point out that “the Brothers who got arrested while taking a torture victim to the hospital, they were the ones who actually freed that man from the square—they’re my friends, that’s how I found out about all this.”
But these claims do little to placate those who survived what can be considered much milder abuses at the heart of the Islamist sit-in. “I was called an infidel countless times,” he says. “The enthusiasm displayed by [those men] for verbal and physical abuse is incredible, and that’s what upset me the most—that and the fact that there was nothing to justify their behavior. In fact, it seemed like they wanted to provoke something from us—to have us give them a reason.”
Between repeated calls by significant segments of the population for the clearing of the Islamist sit-ins, echoed in ultimatums by the Armed Forces and proposals by the government—the most recent of which being a siege to “starve out” the protestors—members of the sit-in likely feel they already have all the reasons they need to in order to justify their stance. Others, including Badr, disagree. “A true Islamist state—like the one they claim to have created in Rabaa—would accept people and invite conversation,” he suggests. “Instead, they reject both.”

Brave Little Girl Flees Forced Marriage, Records Powerful Testimonial #yemen

Brave Little Girl Flees Forced Marriage, Records Powerful Testimonial

 

The longstanding severity of Yemen's child marriages is gaining some much needed sunlight this week after a young survivor of this shocking custom took it upon herself to speak out on behalf of the untold many who can't.

Nada al-Ahdal, an 11-year-old from Sana’a, had been promised by her parents to an adult suitor not once, but twice.

The "gifted singer" had been raised by her uncle Abdel Salam al-Ahdal since practically birth, and had been given the opportunity to go to school and learn English.

Abdel Salam, who was also raising a nephew and his aging mother, attempted to guard young Nada from any attempt by her biological parents to marry her off to a rich groom, having experienced the death of his sister by self-immolation over an arranged marriage.

When Nada turned 10, Abdel Salam learned that Nada's mother and father had indeed sold her off to a Yemeni expat living in Saudi Arabia.

He phoned the groom in a panic, desperate to get him to rescind his offer.

"I called the groom and told him Nada was no good for him," Abdel Salam told the Lebanese publication NOW. "I told him she did not wear the veil and he asked if things were going to remain like that. I said ‘yes, and I agree because she chose it.’ I also told him that she liked singing and asked if he would remain engaged to her."

The man was persuaded to call the whole thing off, leaving Nada's parents "disappointed."

Months later they arrived in Sana'a, ostensibly to visit their daughter, but in reality were there to kidnap her and attempt another arranged marriage.

Nada asked to be returned to her uncle, but was told she had already been promised to someone.

Saying she would run away, Nada's family reportedly threatened her with death, but were unable to stop her escape.

She reunited with her uncle, who took her straight to the authorities.

After an investigation was opened into the forced marriage allegations, Nada's dad suddenly backed off the idea, and permitted her to continue living with her uncle.

"I managed to solve my problem, but some innocent children can't solve theirs," Nada said in a confessional released yesterday by MEMRI-TV. "[A]nd they might die, commit suicide, or do whatever comes to mind...It's not our fault. I'm not the only one. It can happen to any child."

قصيدة إلتباس للشاعر أحمد فؤاد نجم #مصر

قصيدة إلتباس للشاعر أحمد فؤاد نجم

اللباس لو يبقى واسع
او ميبقاش ع المقاس
يبقى عامل فرق شاسع
يبقى عامل التباس
يبقى مرفوع بس نازل
يعنى هتبان المسائل
يبقى هتزيد المشاكل
مهما هتشده بحماس
و حماس طبعا حبايبك
دول عشيرتك دول قرايبك
انما الشعب اللى جايبك
بكرة هيشد اللباس
بكرة هيشد السيفون
ع اللى خان او راح يخون
راح نكون او لا نكون
30 يوم الخلاص

و مهما هتشده بدراعك
شكله اصلا مش بتاعك
عورتك بانت..خداعك
لعبة و انكشفت خلاص
احترم سنك و شيبتك
و اقلعه بكيفك و هيبتك
بكرة هنطير حمامتك
و احنا بنجيب القصاص
ده اللباس لو يبقى واسع
او ميبقاش ع المقاس
يبقى عامل فرق شاسع
يبقى عامل التباس

Watching #Cairo from #Sanaa #Yemen #Egypt

SANAA — The protests in Egypt have not only ignited unrest in Cairo, they've unleashed a flurry of debate across the rest of the region. It's not just about where things are heading in Egypt, the most populous country in the Arab world, or what the current uncertainty means about the country's post-Mubarak transition. It's about their resonance in the whole of the Arabic-speaking world and the potential spillover effects. From Sanaa, all that's truly clear at the moment is that Yemenis are watching a nearly absurd amount of Egypt coverage on TV..

Local Muslim Brothers and sympathizers watch Al Jazeera with trepidation. Politicians from former president Ali Abdullah Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) party watch Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya with a newly awakened revolutionary fervor. Leftists watch al-Mayadeen, the year-old Beirut-based "alternative" to Gulf-funded channels, wondering aloud whether the tide may have shifted against political Islam.

It can feel at times like they are looking at Egypt for cues for where things in Yemen could be heading; over the course of the past two and a half years, events in Cairo have tended to feel a few steps ahead of those Sanaa.

--> While large-scale protests aimed at the Yemeni dictator's ouster began almost immediately after Mubarak's toppling, Saleh didn't formally cede power until the following February. Demonstrators stayed in the streets in months-long protest encampments across the country, but the voices of Yemen's revolutionary youth were soon eclipsed. The military split between supporting the government and the protestors, and Sanaa erupted into urban warfare on two separate occasions. Al Qaeda-linked militants seized control of a series of towns in the south, and, all the while, opposition politicians engaged in a series of on-again, off-again negotiations with Saleh and his allies. In November 2011, the two sides finally reached an agreement, inking the so-called Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Initiative, an internationally backed power transfer deal granting Saleh immunity in exchange for his ouster. The deal set Yemen on a two-year long "transitional period" presided over by longtime Vice President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi and formed a compromise government split between the GPC and the opposition. Presidential and parliamentary elections are tentatively slated for early 2014.

There's plenty of heady talk about the building of a "new Yemen," but in Sanaa it often feels as if things are paused. Some things have moved forward elsewhere in the country: Once the target of a series of devastating wars, the Houthi movement has carved out a virtual state-within-a-state in their base in the far north, while rising secessionist sentiment has made it seem almost as if the only thing preventing the south from regaining its independence is a series of brittle divisions among the separatist leadership. The ongoing Conference of National Dialogue may have forced politicians in the capital to recognize the Houthis as a legitimate political force, while providing for a comparatively open forum for the discussion of southerners' grievances, but its deliberations often feel like rehashing long-running factional squabbles.

Even if new parties have been formed, the post-2011 political map often feels indistinguishable from the old one. Discussions in Sanaa tend to devolve into debates over the divide between the GPC and the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), an ideologically fractious coalition of leftist and Islamist factions dominated by the Islah Party, which incorporates the bulk of the Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood, and the Socialist and Nasserist parties. In that sense, there's been little change since 2005, when the JMP was initially formed.

The activists who spurred the former president's ouster -- and, for that matter, many politicians here -- have been open about their misgivings about the shape of Yemen's post-Saleh transition. But it has generally been accepted as the only option aside from further violence and instability.

Gathered around watching news coverage with activists on June 30 and July 1, however, it seemed the scenes in Cairo and other Egyptian cities had provided a potential course of action.

For a few brief days, there was talk about building a Yemeni Tamarod (or rebels, as the Cairo protestors called themselves). There were unofficial discussions between activists from across the political spectrum; the date for massive protests aimed at "correcting the course of the revolution" was tentatively set for July 7. Even at the speculative stage, though, disagreements about everything from demands to acceptable protest slogans foreshadowed that things would eventually come to naught. July 7 came and went with only street protests in the south, as secessionists marked the anniversary of their defeat in Yemen's 1994 civil war. The closest thing I witnessed to an outburst of discontent came a few days prior. Driving with a friend past the home of Yemen's embattled prime minister, Mohamed Basindowa, he rolled down his car window, stopped briefly, and shouted "Leave, Uncle Mohamed!"

The absence of Egypt-style protests hardly means people here are happy with the way things are going. Hoped-for improvements in the stagnant economy and the tenuous security situation remain largely elusive: kidnappings of foreigners have increased in frequency, while security officials continue to be targeted in a string of assassinations. The recurring sabotage of power lines has left even residents of the capital at the mercy of disgruntled tribesmen. Even if Hadi has held on to much of his tenuous public support, Yemenis from across the political spectrum have condemned the unity government as a failure.

Still, it seems, no one is willing to make a move. Chewing qat with a collection of GPC politicians on July 2, their enthusiasm for the protests against Morsy was palpable; Yahya Mohamed Saleh, the former Yemeni president's nephew, had already stopped by Cairo's Tahrir Square to show his solidarity with the "revolution against the Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood]." They watched as revolutionaries and remnants of the Mubarak regime joined together against a common foe, and I wondered if they thought they felt they could pull off a similar feat here, capitalizing on the longstanding misgivings many Saleh opponents hold regarding the Islah Party. 

 

"The question is no longer ‘with the revolution or against it,'" an activist had told me a few days before. "The stage has changed. What matters now is who is truly for or against building the state."

Comments like that are music to the GPC's ears. But that enthusiasm among revolutionaries and the regime's old guard seems distant from the current political reality.

Complaints over Islah's increased influence in post-Saleh Yemen notwithstanding, the power the party currently holds is in no way comparable to that of Morsy's Freedom and Justice Party. In the event of any possible shakeup, all parties would almost inevitably be affected; while plenty may raise issue with the current balance of power, few seem willing to take the risk of upsetting it.

--> Perhaps, however, it's the way things have gone in Egypt that has ultimately doomed any real aftereffects here. The violence and uncertainty since the July 3 coup has led many to quiet their misgivings about Yemen's own post-Arab Spring transition. It may be far from perfect, the argument goes, but things could certainly be worse.

There were certainly plenty of Yemenis who celebrated the military's overthrow of Morsy; plenty of others cast it as a far from ideal, but necessary step. But even many Yemenis with little sympathy for the Muslim Brotherhood have expressed a deep discomfort as events have unfolded, wondering if it's all a message about the fragility of the tentative gains made in the wake of the Arab Spring.

"I don't like Morsy, but it's hard not to see the army overthrowing an elected president as a negative step -- a step backwards," an activist told me. "It makes me nervous about where Yemen is heading: Wherever Egypt was [before June 30], it was far ahead of where we are now."