Born in Egypt, 2010 IDRF Fellow Mohamed Elshahed was in Cairo when mass protests erupted on January 28, 2011. Mohamed’s IDRF-sponsored research focuses on mid-twentieth century architectural and planning developments in Egypt under Nasser. As he argues in his dissertation, elites and the authoritarian revolutionary government manipulated architecture and urbanism as a form of “visible politics,” just as protesters are doing today in Tahrir Square and around the city. From the heart of Cairo, Mohamed offers an impassioned account of the protests and the injustices that occasion them.