Snapshots of the last Week

30 January 2011

How does one really capture the sensations and feelings of being caught in revolutionary events for nearly a week? I was contemplating this issue this morning, sitting on my porch in the cool breeze listening to semi-automatic gunfire echoing across Maadi, happy to learn that a couple Egyptian tanks had finally stationed themselves close to my residence after a night of anarchy. The gunfire still sometimes sounded as close as across the street. Looters were prowling throughout Cairo with the guns stolen from police stations that had been burned to the ground in the previous days. Only the bo’abs and other guards were out, armed with pipes, shanks, and other blunt objects. Building materials from a nearby construction sight had been drug into the street to create road barriers. Even Maadi was starting to remind me of Mad Max.

However, Maadi was still not the nearly post-apocalyptic scene my friend and I witnessed after escaping Tahrir on Saturday morning, having spent 24 hours in downtown Cairo watching the Egyptian people defeat the security apparatus. There were burned out cars, army personnel carriers, still in tact tanks, glass and ash strewn in the famous liberation midan filled with youths carrying weapons, one of whom briefly made to attack our taxi until the driver waved him off. The NDP building was still burning and the Egyptian Museum looked unprotected. After Friday I will never forget the smell and sting of tear gas. I will never forget the rage I felt watching the police utterly brutalize people, feeling guilty and helpless to aid the people in the streets; the people who made me swell with pride for the Egyptians. They were not going to let themselves lose this battle. But I digress…I should start with Tuesday, Police Day, the beginning.

Who would think that Egyptians would finally rise against their oppressive government? A week ago I would have told you that this scenario was highly unlikely. The regime was too firmly in place, further cemented by American and Western support.

On Wednesday I wrote some reflections in a notebook as I lay, still tired from the day before, in a cool corner nook at the American University in Cairo, waiting to meet with my advisor:

26 Jan 2011

How long will the US government forsake universal human rights in their pursuit of stability as the strategic cornerstone for the Middle East? Repression cannot go on indefinitely and Arab societies are more than aware of US support for brutal dictatorships. The US sends 1.3 billion dollars a year in military aid alone to Egypt, second only to Israel.

How many Americans are aware that much of their magical bubble and way of life is often paid with the blood and lives of those who have been silenced or left on the edges of political margins? Relegated to the realm of the irrational or the religious fanatic? But I suspect much of the American public will respond with apathy, lost in the world of Britney Spears and reality shows. Those who do look a bit further will find themselves comforted with the likes of Bernard Lewis and others- there is that timeless and unchanging difference in our cultures and religions- the monolithic Arabs have some essential cultural quality that makes them stagnant and unable to modernize like the “West.” Yes, it all sounds academic and well reasoned enough. Such a perspective allows us to take our patronizing tone that suggests, “the West did it so why cannot you?” Well my friends, the same thing never happens twice or in the same way. Our friends in the global “South” do not exist under the same circumstances the West enjoyed some time ago. And let us not mention the lovely US foreign policy that tries to maintain dictatorships for the sake of strategic stability; but in the end this is a band-aid covering a festering wound.

Yesterday I was proud of Egypt and the Egyptian people. It was called “the day of wrath” but I actually sensed a strong feeling of joy. Even amidst the repeatedly fired canisters of tear gas there were happy cheers- the people had actually turned up. They were actually going to take a stand together. They were organized, continued to regroup, and worked in unison. They were serious.

Instead of running, many brought water, handing it out to all who had been overwhelmed by the gas. Everyone spoke openly and clearly about why they had come. This was not about ideology, religion, or culture; Egypt is tired of oppression, tired of hunger, tired of absurd hierarchies of status and wealth.

Egypt surprised me yesterday and I don’t think the momentum will die anytime soon…

3 February 2011

It is hard to believe that I am sitting on an airplane, high in the sky, on my way to Brussels- a last minute destination. In the last hour it changed from Vienna, to Budapest, to Brussels. The day before it had possibly been Paris or Rabat. Did I feel relief when the plane lifted from the ground? I suppose a little- if only because of the finality of getting me, my dog, and my friend out together on a commercial flight so that we were not forced to return to the US on the government evacuation flights. We both agreed we didn’t want to go back- we didn’t even know what we would say to people as wandered our respective small towns. I was sad when the plane lifted- sad to leave. I had no choice. I had delayed until the last minute when my name was becoming far too prominent on the CENTCOM commander’s desk- why is she not gone yet? Why is she not taking the mandatory evacuation flights? Thankfully, I was able work in a commercial flight so I could get my dog out with me. The embassy would not make me leave him.

I felt like I was abandoning Cairo, though this revolution is not mine. I am leaving friends, a life, and a country it seems I have become rather attached to-particularly in the last week. I have been so proud and awed by the Egyptian people. These short words probably do not accurately capture everything that I feel. It was absolutely inspiring to see people stand up to their government, stand together, take control and responsibility for their country. After this I will not doubt in the powers of “agency” again.

And in our rush to the airport I was greatly worried for Egypt, particularly in the way things have turned since Mubarak’s thugs turned out in Tahrir. I hear from various sources that the man only has hours before the fall- he will be gone by Friday. But he is obviously trying to make his last stand.

My friend Hussein showed up before curfew to get us to the airport early enough to battle onto a plane. He showed up in spite of the fact that his brother was in the hospital from severe burns he received the night before in Tahrir. When I said goodbye tears filled his eyes-I told him I would be back in a few weeks. I must come back.

I laughed at the headlines of Al Ahram when they handed them to us in the plane today- all the pictures were of Mubarak supporters. I firmly believe the Army must make a stand now, as dangerous as that could be. I am tired of hearing that only the US can tell them to do it. I am utterly sick of the argument that Egypt will fall to radicals. In my opinion, that is not Egypt and it is not where Egypt is heading. The people now know they can stand- the Muslim Brotherhood is not the only opposition force against the government, though they are the best organized.

I was briefly wondering what to think about my thesis now- this revolution has had no stain from the West or victimhood. Finally, the West was out of the picture- besides the hand in the Mubarak regime and the sheer incompetence of American foreign policy.