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Freedom in Tunisia
After almost a month of protests, Tunisians rally in the streets on January 14, 2011, following the ouster of President Ben Ali. The success of the Tunisian revolution touched off the Arab Spring, leading Fathy and other Egyptian organizers to see significant change as a real possibility in their own country.
A Turning Point
An Egyptian woman holds up a sign on April 6, 2008, calling for a general strike in the country that day to protest conditions in the country. This protest marked a critical period for both Egypt and Fathy. It was the moment when he began to fully dedicate his life towards activism and change.
Associated Press
Protesting in Tahir Square
In violation of a curfew, thousands of protesters assemble in Tahrir Square on January 28, 2011, the most violent day of the demonstrations yet. Despite early efforts to organize the protest, Fathy found that the demonstration took on a life of its own.
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Ahmed Maher
Ahmed Maher, the political activist and founder of the April 6 Movement, made an early attempt to organize Egyptian protest groups. Maher was a source of inspiration for Fathy, and the two worked together beginning in 2008.
AFP/Getty Images
Tahir Square Protesters
A group of peaceful demonstrators sit on an Egyptian army tank in Tahrir Square on January 29, 2011, several days into the revolution.
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Celebration in Yugoslavia
Protestors celebrate in Yugoslavia after their success in ousting President Slobodan Milosevic. The Otpor Movement served as a leading model of successful organization of fragmented opposition groups for Fathy and other Egyptian activists. Fathy made contact with the group's leaders to learn from them. Egyptians even adopted the Otpor Movement's symbol of a fist, visible in this photo.
Associated Press
2008 Protests
A protester tears down a poster of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak during the second day of protests in April 2008. In response to the eventual failure of the demonstration, Fathy wrote a detailed analysis of the strike and posted it on the internet. In the coming months, he began connecting to other activists to prepare for a more organized protest.
Associated Press
April 6th Movement
Riot police fire tear gas and beat protestors on April 7, 2008 in Mahalla. The April 6th Movement marked the beginning of Fathy's intensive activist work. For three years, it consumed his life. As a leader of the movement, he was beaten and detained on more than one occasion.
Associated Press
Protests in the streets of Mahalla
Egyptians workers protest the government in the streets of Mahalla on April 7, 2008, continuing the demonstration begun the previous day. Fathy remembers the importance of the youth movement in organizing the protest, spreading the call by using the internet.
Associated Press
Hosni Mubarek
A 2008 photo of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whose decades-long rule of Egypt was finally ended by the demonstration that began in Tahrir Square on January 25, 2011. In August 2011, Mubarak went to trial on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of protestors.
Associated Press
Tahir Square
Protestors in Tahrir Square stand atop an Egyptian Army armored personnel carrier. As the demonstrations continued day after day, thousands of Egyptians assembled in the square.
Associated Press
Young Fathy
Basem Fathy at two years old.
Basem Fathy
Toddler
Fathy as a toddler
Basem Fathy
At home, age 3
Fathy at three years old, growing up in Cairo.
Basem Fathy
Four Years Old
Basem Fathy as a four-year-old. He grew up in a middle-class household. Fathy remembers that his parents, both Arabic language teachers, believed in keeping politics out of their lives.
Basem Fathy
Young Activist
A five-year-old Fathy. His earliest memory is organizing a "strike" in his kindergarten class to protest "an unjust situation" incited by his teacher.
Basem Fathy
Age 5
As a young boy, Fathy learned the importance of reading from his father.
Basem Fathy
Learning
Fathy at nine years old. It was around this age that he first read the works of Ahmed Matar, an Iraqi poet who wrote about politics, freedom, and justice in the Arab world.
Basem Fathy
Nontraditional Teenager
A teenage Fathy rides a horse in front of the pyramids in Egypt.
Basem Fathy
Age fifteen
By this age, he had already begun to think seriously about politics and justice in society, a topic of which most Egyptians avoided speaking.
Basem Fathy
Crossing the Kasr Al Nile Bridge
Riot police fire water cannons and clash with protestors on January 28, 2011, as they try to force their way across the Kasr Al Nile Bridge in order to join the demonstration at Tahrir Square. Fathy was in the crowd near the front line and witnessed fellow demonstrators beaten and killed. He and others eventually made it to Tahrir Square.
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