No one said it was going to be easy.

The ongoing Egyptian revolution, like any other, goes through ups and downs. The bumpy road is rather harsh on those who celebrate victories momentarily, and let the consequences of the losses drag on. While the current phase is not exactly a positive indicator in terms of achievements versus sacrifices, there’s plenty of room for optimism. In fact, it is our responsibility as supporters of the revolution and partakers in it to find and focus on the bright light at the end of the tunnel.

In Spain the 15m movement tosses around the term ‘indignados’ quiet a bit. Indignados translates to offended, but it implies much more than that. Someone who is indignado is someone who is simply not satisfied with his or her life. It’s not about being politically active or having a twitter account with tens of thousands of followers. It’s not about reading the news everyday and creating detailed analysis on the geopolitical situation of the region. It’s not about knowing what exactly the problem is and how it should be solved.

Someone who feels indignado is someone who is simply sick and tired. We’ve had enough, and we deserve better. We don’t know who the members of parliament are, nor what their job is exactly, we just know that we are not happy, and we shouldn’t be how we are.

The simple act of feeling that you are not granted your basic rights is a step forward. As an indignado, you object. You complain. You make people around you realize that things aren’t the way they should be. And that’s how it starts. By simply recognizing that you, as a human being, as an individual, as a citizen of the country, as a member in society, are not treated that way you should be, is how you become a revolutionary.

By taking the street, your square, your workplace, your friend’s neighborhood, the kiosk on the corner of your street, and openly communicating to everyone around you that you are not pleased, is how ideas are shared and nurtured.

SCAF benefit from making the revolutionaries believe that we are a minority, and that no one else cares. Those who are willing to make big sacrifices for the chance of change in Egypt are a rare commodity.

Tahrir sq. Nov 22nd - photo by @LilianWagdy

But we are clearly not an insignificant minority. If the Islamist-less Tuesday at Tahrir square during the week leading up to the elections in November taught us anything, it’s that that are millions out there who feel indignados. If the strong wave of labor strikes that hit the entire republic in September and October tell us anything, it’s that millions are willing to take the risk for a shot at freedom and social justice. We might not have clear solutions, we might never agree on a clear-cut plan of moving on from the ‘transitional phase’, but we are certainly united in our belief in the revolution.

When it comes down to it, for the revolution to succeed, we need to be constantly exchanging thoughts and ideas with anyone and everyone around us. We need our communication levels to outdo that of public TV. We need our opinions to be hard louder than those of ‘experts’ on talk shows. We need our videos on every screen, our messages on every cell phone, our words on every corner of every street.

We need to go out somewhere, anywhere, and say it out loud: INDIGNADO!