Egypt, the most populous country in the Arab world, sent shockwaves internationally when they erupted into protests on Jan. 25, 2011 just a few weeks after the revolution in Tunisia. After decades of economic struggles and complaints about the more-than-questionable election results under the rule of President Hosni Mubarak, the straw had finally broken the camel’s back. As a result of the protests, Mubarek stepped down from the presidency on Feb. 11 to the excitement of the protesters.

Sarah Rangwala, a recent CHS alumnus who is pursuing an undergraduate degree at Washington University, was studying abroad in Alexandria from Sept. 2010 to Jan. 15 2011. She mainly lived in Alexandria during her time there, but also visited locations like Cairo and Luxor, during her time in Egypt. Despite her long stay, she rarely heard people speak negatively about Mubarak and never heard any positive statements about him.

“People didn’t very often volunteer up information about Mubarak because it clearly wouldn’t bode well for them to be caught bad-mouthing Mubarak to the wrong person,” Rangwala said. “When my dad visited, he tried having political conversations with our taxi drivers and never got a much of a response. Sometimes us students could get into those topics of conversation after beginning with a bit of small talk. I did hear on occasion some less-cautious taxi drivers make snide comments or jokes about Mubarak without being prompted.”

In direct contrast to the infrequent conversations about Mubarak, Rangwala saw evidence of the autocracy frequently, with signs of Mubarak and his son Gamal’s face “everywhere”.

In addition to observing the oppressive political environment, Rangwala observed an economic stratification that seemed impossible for most Egyptians to overcome.

“The most disheartening thing was knowing that no matter how high their resolve or how persistent they were, for the most part, it was not possible for regular Egyptians to achieve the rag to riches idea that we Americans are so proud of,” Rangwala said. “Not that it is so simple here, but under Mubarak the important Egyptians are often the ones who have an ‘in’ with Mubarak, not necessarily the ones that are the most qualified or most determined.”

Despite sensing the overall discontent of Egyptians, Rangwala didn’t expect a protest of such great magnitude to occur in Tahrir Square. Although a few protests had been planned for the local election and other controversial events during her time in Alexandria, they never amounted to anything.

As a result, she didn’t initially think much of the news of protests in Tahrir. That is, until she saw the numbers and the fact that the protests were not a one-day event as she had predicted.

“The fact that people stayed out in the streets overnight and then continued their protests until this point is amazing and super inspiring,” Rangwala said. “I guess I was also surprised because I had thought that the young people of Egypt were apathetic politically since we never discussed politics and none of my friends voted in the local elections. But, what I realize now, is that they weren’t apathetic it was just pointless for them to expend energy getting worked about politics or voting since it never mattered as what Mubarak wanted was essentially what guided the politics in Egypt.”

Rangwala believes that part of the reason for the surprising success of the protest was the recent revolution in Tunisia.

“I wouldn’t have been surprised if there had been a drive to protest in September 2011 around the time of the presidential elections, since before these protests most people expected Gamal Mubarak (Mubarak’s son) or Mubarak himself to run and ‘win’,” Rangwala said. “But I think if the Tunisian revolution hadn’t occurred those wouldn’t have drawn many crowds and the government would have been more prepared to put them down fast and brutally. In my opinion, most of the inspiration for the Egyptian protests came from the Tunisian revolution when the Egyptians saw the general masses in nearby country revolt despite the possible consequences and were moved to the same before having to witness another sham of an election.”

Rangwala, who was greatly inspired by the Egyptian students she met, hopes that American youth begin to show the same dedication to the political process.

“Seeing how the Egyptian youth finally took matters in their own hands was exciting and I hope it inspires the American youth to take more interest in elections and politics,” Rangwala said.