On the 57th anniversary of their revolution, Egyptians are still evaluating and debating how this historic event that started with the military coup d’etat has changed the their lives, and that of many future generations. Until today, bloggers continue to discuss and pinpoint the pros and the cons of the revolution, as well as the decisions of the Free Officers, who led the coup which turned Egypt from a constitutional monarchy to a republic.
In celebrating the day, Zeinobia [1] decided to jot down the pros and cons and pay due tribute to the Egypt's first President Mohamed Naguib.
In her blog, she posts rare photos for Naguib, and writes:
This is the real spirit I want to celebrate on that day , Mohamed Naguib believed in the coup and its principles for real
She then continues:
President Naguib has not yet received what he really deserves from his country , already I wonder if his family receives the same pension that the El-Sadat Family receives as the former president’s pension !!! Mubarak recognizes Mohamed Naguib as the first president of Egypt which makes him equal to Nasser and Sadat and thus his family should have all the privileges of other former first families have.
She concludes her post saying:
We must acknowledge the rights of President Naguib and his family who suffered a lot because of his decision to jeopardize himself and lead those young officers.
Ahmed El Miligy [2] felt perplexed and wasn’t able to form an opinion on whether the revolution has effected Egypt positively or negatively. In his post he says:
مرة اخري تعترض ثورة 23 يوليو افكاري فليس هناك حدث في التاريخ المصري المعاصر او القديم يجعلك غير قادر علي تكوين رأي ثابت علية سواء بالتأييد او المعارضة مثل ثورة 23 يوليو .. بالطبع هي شىء جيد بل هي كحدث شىء رائع لمصر و للمصريين و لكن كتطبيق فيوجد الف علامة استفهام عليها الامر الذى دفعني مرة اخر ان اعيد النظر في اهم انجازات الثورة و هل كانت هي في صالح مصر و المصرين ام انها خدمت اغراض و مصالح شخصية مرة اخري كعهد الملكية
Once again the Revolution of the 23rd of July is confusing me. There isn't another event in Egypt's contemporary or past history which makes us unable to form a clear opinion on whether you are with or against it like this one. Of course it is something good as event in the history of Egypt and Egyptians but when it comes to its implementation, there are a thousand question marks on it. This has led me to reevaluate my position on the main achievements of this revolution and whether it had served Egypt and Egyptians or personal interests, which as the era of royalty.
Desert Cat [3] writes a post against Gamal Abdel Naser and the Free Officers. She address the main objective of the revolution and demonstrates how altered it got:
ندور على اهداف الثورة واللى اولها كان القضاء على الفساد .. وبعد ما كان فساد عائلة واحدة بقى فساد عوائل وعائلات وعيالهم كمان وان كان عاجب .. ومن اكبر انجازات المقبور ناصر تبديد اموال مصر فى الحروب من 48 لليمن لوكسة 67 ، بعد ما كان الجنية المصرى يساوى 4 دولار اصبح الجنيه المصرى اقل من الجنية السودانى .. ومن القطن المصرى طويل التيلة للقطن اللى اكله الدود لحد لا بقى فى قطن ولا حتى تيله .. وطبعا مقدرش انكر اعظم انجاز تغيير العلم من اللون الاخضر للثلاث الوان اللى تفتح النفس .. وهنيئاً لمصر باللون الاحمر بس ياريت حد يتكرم ويشيل النسر من فوق العلم اصل اللى حطه السادات وسيادته كان فى السينما وقت الانقلاب
Looking at the goals of the revolution we see that the primary one was eradicating corruption .. and after suffering from the corruption of one family we are suffering from the corruption of several families and their children as well. One of the main achievements of Naser is emptying Egypt's coffers on wars, beginning with the war of 48 to the catastrophe of 67. The Egyptian Pound is now worth less than the Sudanese Pound, after it was worth $4. Cotton production has also suffered, after producing long staple cotton, we moved to cotton infected by worms to no cotton production at all. And of course, I can't forget his biggest achievement, changing the flag from green, to this tri-coloured one which makes me look forward to life… Congratulations to Egypt on the colour red [on the flag] and I hope that someone removes the eagle, because this eagle was added by Sadat, who was at the cinema at the time of the revolution.