In 2010, according to the CIA World Factbook, the rate of unemployment in Egypt was around 9.7%. Given the economic problems caused by the revolution, the loss in revenue caused by the drop in tourism, and the uncertainty that pervades the nation’s political future, it would be safe to assume unemployment has risen. Regardless of this, the revolution has created at least two new sectors where Egyptians can work. The first is the civil version of an army’s logistical support group; after all, tens of thousands of protesters do get hungry and thirsty. The second, less economic but more political, is the constantly-hiring field of the Egyptian people’s public relations sector – the countless individuals who each give their thoughts, feelings, and support to the protesters’ cause.

During protests, the square is not just a political center, but also a hub of social life. The temple of the revolution is now a marketplace as well, where the people who sell the flags of all Middle Eastern and North African countries involved in political turmoil, post-revolution t-shirts with slogans and celebratory statements, and food, water, and sweets mingle with those who come to make a political claim. The merchants are not there just for the money though, but rather are also part of the movement. These are not the obtrusive vendors that have to be shooed away; these are the Mother Courage types who follow the army and need it as much as it needs them. There are also those who walk around painting Egyptian flags on hands/arms/faces for a few coins, symbolically reconnecting Egyptians with a country they had felt estranged from for too many years.

Fathers bring their children with them as they go protest. During my time attending the protests on May 27th in Tahrir Square, one father even wanted me to take a picture of his daughter, who had her face painted with Egyptian flags and was carrying one, too. Everyone has their poster they want you to take a picture of, with their statements and demands and thoughts on what’s going on. There was the young man who was taking his niece around who told me her father was killed during the revolution and that the child only had her mother now. There was the man who stopped me to make me take a picture of an article in a newspaper he was holding, about the trial of a jail commander, and asked me to upload it on Facebook. All Egyptians seek to add their faces and voices to that of the revolution. The absence of individual leaders has allowed the emergence of the revolution as a mosaic, patiently assembled by all those who dedicate their time to the bettering of their country. Everyone was taking part and wanted everyone else to do the same, be it by conscripting their sons and daughters or using the occasional foreigner as a means of spreading their cause. That is why people were offended that the Muslim Brotherhood rejected the protests and refused to take part in them. They could not stand that there were Egyptian citizens just like them who would not be part of the common movement of all Egyptians for their individual party’s political strategies. There were also some reporters and some camera crews, although none seemed foreign. However, there were a small number of other foreigners observing Tahrir as I was.

I stayed in Tahrir about four hours, and it was always completely peaceful. Although people remained in Tahrir until late night, the barriers were removed in the evening, to allow traffic to use the roundabout again. If not by voting yet, the Egyptian people has a voice for every single inhabitant who chooses to express himself in the protests. If not by economic recovery plans yet, Egyptians may earn a living in a whole new sector of the service industry. The revolution – and a new Egypt – is still a work in progress, but at least in this field, all Egyptians are employed.