Theory, Culture & Society 2016, Vol. 33(7–8) 111–135 ! The Author(s) 2016 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0263276416670729 tcs.sagepub.com Special Section: City of Potentialities: Race, Violence and Invention Violence, Dramaturgical Repertoires and Neoliberal Imaginaries in Cairo Mona Abaza The American University in Cairo Abstract This article reflects upon the monopoly and repertoires of violence in the city of Cairo perpetrated in counter-revolutionary moments by the successive military and Islamist regimes, which lack alternative visions and imaginaries. It counters the myth that the Egyptian revolution was non-violent. It also reflects upon some of the debates about the Arab revolutions, the question of militarization, and the return of ‘order’ with the re-emergence of the army in public life. It also reflects upon the multiplication of segregating walls, first as buffer zones to isolate protesters, then as the walls of the gated communities and compounds of the rich, examining the extent to which the supposed revitalization of downtown Cairo actually represents the flight of wealth and capital to isolated areas far from the city center. Keywords counter-revolutionary moments, militarization of urban life, neoliberal city, reper- toires of violence and revolutions, uncertainty and despair, utopia of Dubai versus Tahrir Introduction If one were to decode post-January 2011 Cairo with the lens of David Harvey’s reading of the ‘right to the city’ or impediments to it (Harvey, 2008), i.e. through the capitalist monopoly of private property that appropriates surplus production, as one main urban resource that needs to be reconsidered in transforming the city we live in, it could be argued that the 2011 revolution had no real impact on transforming the blatant inequalities in Egyptian urban life. It is surprising, for example, that in spite of the political turmoil the country experienced, specifically the escalating violence and instability in the streets, the real-estate market Corresponding author: Mona Abaza. Email: moabaza@aucegypt.edu Extra material: http://theoryculturesociety.org/