A country inflamed

There were few signs preceding the protests that began on January 25 that they would push the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to the brink of collapse, leaving Cairo, Alexandria and much of the rest of the country in a state of chaos. Over the course of Mubarak’s 30-year-long reign, different groups of Egyptians have tried many times to openly oppose the regime in the streets, with any movement deemed threatening to the regime crushed under the truncheons of heavy-handed security forces. This time, it was different. Within days, the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) headquarters were in flames, gutted and charred carcasses of police vehicles littered Tahrir Square in central Cairo and vigilantes, armed with everything from kitchen knives to samurai swords and baseball bats, had set up checkpoints in the streets to protect their neighborhoods in the absence of the state security apparatus. In short, revolution was