CAIRO — As Egypt's interim president and ministers of defense and interior celebrated the third anniversary of the January 25 Revolution, countless authors and TV show hosts continued to smear the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak's dictatorship. On this day in 2011, Egyptians took to the streets and called for an end to decades of torture, killings and injustice, but now these authors and TV hosts accuse the revolution's youthful participants of disloyalty, espionage and call for crushing those who dare criticize the police.

A couple of hours after the celebration aired on national TV — as I was in a taxi heading to Cairo's Zamalek neighborhood — a radio news program received a call from a top official of the Beni Suef governorate, commenting on a militant attack at a checkpoint on Jan. 23 that killed five police officers.

"This terrorist attack is an attempt against the harmony and unity shown through the constitutional referendum, but it will only make us more persistent in our fight against terrorism," said the official. His comment was followed by random calls from listeners pledging to join the Jan. 25 celebrations in Tahrir Square and in every major square across the country. They called for celebrations in all Egypt's squares — the squares that are remembered for being the sites of bloody confrontations over three years of unrest.

"Celebrating a constitution that never satisfied the wishes of the dead youth and was boycotted by those who are still alive," said the cab driver. "What a pity!"