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Revolutionary, creative, heterogeneous and unorganized: young Egyptians facing elections

10/02/2014

This paper investigates which role revolutionary Egyptian youth played in the electoral process. Even if some revolutionaries questioned the validity of elections organized under military rule, for the first time in their life, many young revolutionary Egyptians showed a political activism never seen before. Focused on an urban context, this work investigates the role, the strategies and the contribution young Cairo activists gave to all the different steps of the electoral process. Their participation was one of the most innovative aspects in voting, and although they appeared uncoordinated and unorganized, they all desired to make the difference in the transitional process. Thanks to activism, fantasy, ability with arts and technology, they became the revolution caretakers and they used original strategies that, together with the more traditional ones, turned out to be strong weapons for their struggle.