Continued revolution

When I was in the States in May of this year, I felt like I got a hard time from several people because I hadn't followed-up my last post about Egypt with a message that all is well. For those of you who are included in this group, all is well with my day-to-day life here in Cairo. I go to work, visit tourist sites, socialize with friends, shop, worship at church and go about the rest of my life just as I did before the revolution.

However, for the people of Egypt, all is not well. Protestors have continued to take to Tahrir Square each week since the revolution began. There has been "Save the Revolution Friday", "Friday of Cleansing", "Second Friday of Anger" (the first was January 28), "Friday of Retribution", "Revolution First Friday" and so the list goes on and on. The majority of these protests have been small, peaceful demonstrations by various factions who are unsatisfied with the transitional military government that has been in power since President Hosni Mubarak stepped down in February. However, there have still been spats of violence between protestors, "thugs" from the old regime, police and military forces.

Each week, it seems, the government must give in to one of the protestors' demands in order to keep peace in the square (and, for that matter, in the country). Interim policies have been put in place and government officials have been replaced numerous times. Just this week, nearly 600 senior police officers were fired. Still, the people are growing more and more impatient with the slow pace of change and the lack of prosecution against corrupt politicians and brutal police from the old regime.

The next few months should remain eventful - Former President Hosni Mubarak is set to go on trial on August 3; parliamentary elections are to take place in September; presidential elections are to occur before the end of the year.

While the degree of violence that overtook Cairo in late January is long gone and the situation is nothing like the crises taking place in Libya, Syria and Yemen, the Egyptian revolution is far from over. In fact, some say it's just beginning.