On 1st February, the day of the first “million-man protest” in Tahrir Square, I caught up with two of my student friends. Yasmine was fired up from her turn at the barricades: “I cannot imagine how an 82-year-old man can say he is still president. We need fresh blood.” Abdel Rahman, on the other hand, had stayed at home in solidarity with the regime. “If he [Mubarak] leaves, it will be a disaster. He is [like] my grandfather, we cannot say ‘go’ to him.” In his final address, Mubarak played on this filial chord: “I am addressing you all from the heart, a father’s dialogue with his sons and daughters.” Most of the kids, however, had long since tuned out.

To those familiar with Egypt, the youth-led rebellion was inevitable but also inconceivable. In 2009, I helped craft a survey that asked 15,000 ten-to-29 year olds across the country about