Some imagination is necessary to better deal with reality. So imagine Egypt without the Muslim Brotherhood; then imagine the political scene that would not only be void of the Brotherhood but of their critics as well.

Amidst the increasing violence on the Egyptian street and the uncertainty regarding the political transition process, the birth of the second Egyptian republic seems to be highly complicated.

Over the past few weeks, human rights groups recorded more than 20 cases of sexual assault and collective harassment against female protestors in Tahrir Square, which at times included stabbing victims with switchblades. Some victims are still in hospital in critical condition.

I believe the presence of armed gangs and the incidents of rape at the peripheries of Tahrir Square represent a serious problem. I do not just sympathize with the victims: women and revolutionaries who were, and still are, subjected to wide-scale suppression or abuse. I am concerned about two issues; the first of them is building a revolutionary party capable of maintaining a link with protest spaces.

There is a famous story that is probably more fiction than fact about how Military Intelligence in the 1960s was excessive in its censorship of the media, to the extent that it objected to publishing an article reporting a drop in the availability of canned sardines on the market.

There is a famous story that is probably more fiction than fact about how Military Intelligence in the 1960s was excessive in its censorship of the media, to the extent that it objected to publishing an article reporting a drop in the availability of canned sardines on the market

“Suddenly I found my pants down, a hand between my legs. I did not know how he unbuckled my belt without me feeling him…”

Since the first day the people took to the streets on 25 January 2011, Egyptians and foreign observers alike have differed on decoding the message the protesters who ousted former President Hosni Mubarak wanted to send. There have been dozens of analyses explaining the triggers of the revolution, the nature of the social powers that led the protests, and the role of the new generation that forced itself onto the scene in the name of the revolution.

The second anniversary of the great people's revolution saw no serious signs of effective action to reach the goals of the revolution in terms of freedom, justice and human dignity. There has been no retribution for the martyrs and wounded of the first wave of the revolution, or against those who ruined the country for so many years.

At the same time that the Obama administration has decided to provide Egypt with the most sophisticated varieties of American weaponry, mass protests against the increasingly dictatorial regime of Mohamed Morsi reached a magnitude that threatens the very foundations of the Egyptian statehood. This shocking dichotomy raises questions as to why the most important leader in the world and the supreme commander of the most powerful armed force is so confused and so helpless while facing the challenges of radical Islam.

On Tuesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be the first Iranian president in decades to visit Egypt in order to attend a summit on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Cairo. This has sparked the usual outrage amongst groups like the ultra-conservative Salafists, the Egyptian branch of Wahhabism that is practiced in Saudi Arabia.

As President Mohamed Morsy wagged his finger at Egyptians in his televised address to the nation on 27 January, my mind wandered back to the televised addresses former President Hosni Mubarak gave during his last 18 days in power.

On 28 January 2011, the Friday of Rage, I walked with my friends on a long march from Mustafa Mahmoud Mosque in Mohandiseen towards Tahrir Square. For nearly one hour we chanted what eventually became the slogans of the revolution: “Bread, Freedom, Social Justice” and “Peaceful, Peaceful.”

The renewed bloodshed and defiant protests in Egypt prompts a provocative question: Could Egypt really collapse?

Trigger warning: This post contains accounts of sexual violence. A woman was sexually assaulted with a bladed weapon on Friday night, leaving cuts on her genitals, in central Cairo, in the midst of what was purportedly a revolutionary demonstration.

Last week in Egypt, integrity became an attribute to be bought, not earned. Former President Hosni Mubarak and some of his former ministers tried to barter their illicit wealth in return for immunity from prosecution on corruption charges.

For many of us, Sunday is a day of routine. Lots of us sleep in; others go to church, or perhaps take part in other activities we enjoy

Egypt faces a severe economic crisis that has not been seen since the late 1980s, when the country was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Egypt will be having its own national conference. Sooner or later this will be happening. It is inevitable. Egyptians will have to choose between two scenarios either taking the initiative by setting the date for such a national conference and outlining its agenda or letting matters slipping out of their hands and getting more escalated and complicated, thus missing out on the opportunity of organizing it on their own and allowing outsiders to call the shots and do that in their place. In that latter case “Egypt National Conference” would be held by foreign parties and its venue would be outside the homeland.

The revolution proper is coming. It must and it will. Egypt has had enough of autocratic patriarchies. The foundations are shaking. The intense public rejection of autocracy in all its formswith its unbearable repressions that started two years ago is not letting up. With every attempt to contain the revolution its forces get stronger. This is the physics of revolution.

There is a particular image from 25 January 2011 that has left an indelible mark on my consciousness — one that has fundamentally shaped the way in which I understand post-revolutionary Egypt. So important is the image to my mind that I regularly show