Between the Signifier and the Signified Falls the Signification: Reflections on the Use of Political Terms in the Egyptian 2011 Events

The present paper explores the discrepancy between original sense and actual use of certain political terms with particular reference to the Egyptian 25th of January uprising/revolution. The researcher casts light on the frequently controversial if not even self-contradictory use of these terms to denote hardly related concepts and, at times at least, the down right antonym of the original concept in question. An attempt is also made, whenever possible, to compare and contrast, if necessary, the same political terms in relation to the 23rd of July 1952 revolution. The researcher adopts an analytical comparative/contrastive approach. This paper, broadly speaking, makes use of semantics and pragmatics to reflect on the topic under study. Key words: Political terminology; Democracy; Revolution; Uprising; Justice; Freedom of thought and speech; Signifier; Signified and signification