Girl in the blue bra is symbol of Egypt's ongoing struggle

IMAGES of a young female Egyptian protester being stripped and beaten by the military during a protest in Tahir Square have prompted worldwide outrage and condemnation. "The girl in the blue bra", as she has been dubbed, has come to symbolise the ongoing struggle for freedom in Egypt for some, while for others she is an example of the failure of the Arab Spring and a worrying sign of worse to come.  

Egypt military's shame

Hillary Clinton, reports The Daily Telegraph, said: "This systematic degradation of Egyptian women dishonours the revolution, disgraces the state and its uniform and is not worthy of a great people." She denounced a "deeply troubling pattern" of "military authorities and the major political parties alike keeping Egyptian women out of decision-making".

The brutal treatment of this young woman reminds us that the revolution is far from over, says Ahdaf Soueif in The Guardian. "The revolution is now an endgame struggle with the old regime and the military. The young woman is part of this."

The message from those in power is that "we are the regime and we're back", adds Soueif. But the old techniques of shaming women will not work. "What they are not taking into account is that everybody's grown up – the weapon of shame can no longer be used against women."

Army strategy backfires

Egypt's generals launched a clumsy and often brutal attempt to end weeks of protests against their rule, says Adrian Blomfield of The Daily Telegraph. "The generals appeared to be banking on the fact that the protesters have become increasingly unpopular, with many ordinary Egyptians seeing them as violent reactionaries preventing the restoration of stability in the country."

But the image of the female protester has stoked tensions more than any other, adds Blomfield. Many Egyptians who might sympathise with the army are horrified by its brutal response, "which has misfired in the past".

The way in which the military and police responded to protesters over the past few days was uniquely cruel, says Sarah Mousa on Al Jazeera. But "SCAF (Supreme Council of the Armed Forces) continues to drown in its own mistakes."
 
The images of its cruelty - from the abuse of women protesters to targeted killings - have been circulated widely, adds Mousa. And while SCAF may temporarily have a portion of the general public convinced that those in Tahrir are thugs wreaking havoc, as Mubarak had convinced many during the revolution, "their growing political isolation marks their pending downfall".
 
Worse to come

But it is a serious mistake to believe that "the girl in the blue bra" somehow represents the Egyptian people, says John R. Bradley in the Daily Mail. Much of the uplifting narrative of the Arab Spring was based on this sort of "wishful thinking in the West".
 
This is not the climax of a battle between a great mass of the Egyptian people and a despised military establishment, says Bradley. "It is the last gasp of a tiny idealistic minority as they fight to the death for their core beliefs." While the military may falter, the "cunning" Islamists will be waiting to exploit the moment to gain supreme power. In the process, the liberals who sparked the January revolution "will truly be crushed to oblivion".  ·