CAIRO — After Friday prayers in Tahrir Square Oct. 21, a small demonstration lurches into motion. As the scheduled speakers consult with their staffs, flags are hoisted, a P.A. system is rigged up, snack vendors and shoeshine men form a loose ring around the crowd, the mundane details of revolution attended to on a sunny afternoon in Cairo.

A new song called Kazeboon (“Liars”) by the popular Egyptian hip-hop group Revolution Records is making the rounds among Egyptian activists following the launch of a new opposition campaign also called Kazeboon. 

CAIRO — For decades, Arab dictators have monopolized information flow, employing state media to propagate the official line while censoring independent media. But in recent years new alternatives, including satellite TV and internet platforms have expanded the scope of media consumption in the Arab world, and with it the scope of political expression.

It is not just the talking heads on orthodox Islamic television channels that scare liberal-minded Egyptians — Salafist candidates and their supporters voice similarly conservative views.

“This is the one time that Christians and women will ever be allowed to campaign for the presidency,” says Abu Amr Baheth from Shobra El Khayma. Once the Islamist-dominated parliament implements Islamic law, he believes, only Muslim men will be allowed to become president.