Eye On Egypt Blog

Egyptian Revolution: Persistant and Unviolent

Cairo, Egypt
Sunday , January 30, 2011

Today, the sixth day of what must now be called an Egyptian revolution, 100,000 people showed up in Tahrir Square, the political center of the people's protest against President Hosni Mubarak and his government and for democracy and government respect of the people.  Not a bare spot was to be found.

The size of the gathering was unaffected by the government's shutdown of the internet and cell phone services.  Nor the fact that it shut down Al Jazeera in Arabic, the county's main source of news.

That fact is, that in spite of the tremenously rapid growth in internet and cell phone use in Egypt, the major pathways for news are mosques - whose messages sound throughout the city each day and which provide public gathering places for the people, and word of mouth.

Neighborhood are extremely tight-knit; people help each other - lending money, bartering for services, adjudicating quarrels, offering aid and spreading news.  Since very few move house, the ties are long, complex and meaningful.  Neighborhoods tie the country together.  Word travels efficiently.

Mohamed al-Baradei

At some point, Mohamed al-Baradei, former Nobel Peace Prize winner and spokesman for authentic democracy in Egypt, announced that he would be willing to form an interim unity government.

The people's opinion of al-Baradie is mixed.  He's been out of the country for decades, most recently as head of the IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and many see him as an interloper and there are others with long established reputations for leadership and opposition to the government.

Still it's important that a titular leader emerge.  The people will get tired; they need people to replace those who were in positions of power and who are leaving the country in droves.  Among many others, President Mubarak's son, Gamal, often mentioned as a likely successor to his father - much to the people's disgust, is said to be in London with his brother and their respective wives.

Meanwhile, the police have returned to the streets and  protesters keep the pressure on one of main sites of oppression, like the Ministry of Interior (known locally as the Ministry of Torture).  Today shots were heard from inside the building and there are rumors that Minister Habib al-Adly abandoned the country. 

F-16s over Cairo

Early this evening, my apartment rattled violently.   Two F-16 fighter jet coming in low to buzz Tahrir Square.  The people shout louder.  In a phrase which rhymes in Arabic, they yell "You fly; we stay"

Army tanks rolls toward square while rumors spread that they had been order to use live ammunition and that they had refused. 

I suspect that's true.  In Egypt, the army is thought of being on the side of the people.  It would simply be "unEgyptian" of them to shoot

Egyptian's distaste for violence

 People here are terribly upset by the violence.  They genuinely hate to see people being hurt.  They avoid confrontation. 

In fact, a major turning point in the revolt was provoked by government violence.  In the beginning, the protest was mostly young middle-class men; but when the police started bruising, bloodying and in some cases killing, the lower classes joined up en masse.

And now, as this very dignified rebellion progresses,  people are proud.  For the first time in my life, I see real pride in Egyptian faces.   They are proud of the consistency and restraint in the protest, proud of protecting their own neighborhoods and proud of standing up for themselves.

I believe we'll see a lasting change in the Egyptian psyche.

As an Egyptian-American myself,  I am proud; I get shivers thinking about the folks out there.

-Amal Sedky Winter, PHD

 

For more on the Egyptian people today and background on the revolution see...

My Eye on Egypt

"Egypt at the Tipping Point" by Joel Beinin

Egyptian Revolution; "Mubarak Leave!"

Saturday, January 29, 2011
Cairo Egypt

Mubarak Leave!  Mubarak Leave!”.

Today’s protest against the government of Hosni Mubarak and for authentic democracy was called for 3 pm; by 1:30 pm there were 150,000 in Tahrir Square, the political center of the Egyptian people’s revolt. Relatively large groups gathered in cities all over the country.

"House of Torture"
At 3:30, Cairenes massed around the Ministry of Interior building or, as it locally known, “the House of Torture, ” and overturned police cars.  Protected by the military, the building remained secure.

At the government-run television building, the scene was different.  Crowds chanted, but individuals stopped from time to time to run up to plant a fraternal kiss on the cheek of one of the military policemen surrounding the building, then ran back to resume their cries.

Tunisian Tips
Another evidence of brotherly love traveled between the experienced Tunisians demonstrators and the Egyptians.  The Tunisians sent tips:

• Don’t protest without a minimum of 35 people – you need critical mass.
• Carry soda pop, onions and vinegar to dowse the scarf or mask you wear over your mouth and nose when being attacked by tear gas
• Put plastic bags on your shoes: in Tunisia, they used electrified water cannons. When you step in a puddle you get a shock.

Meanwhile, the government warned the people to stay off the street. After all, their president, Mubarak was concerned about their safety.  Ironically, the strategy backfired.  As actual and reported violence rose, more and more people – now even more insulted by the government – joined the protestors. 

Many further questioned Mubarak’s sincerity when they learned that he, following Saddam Hussein’s example, had released prisoners from jails all over the country. The word spread that the criminals picked up arms on their way out of the buildings.

Perhaps as a consequence, the middle-class community of Mohandessin became a site of major looting last night

Mubarak's government ordered ambulances and fire trucks off the streets

Today eople are setting up their own public safety stations.  The Muslim Brotherhood, who first announced they would sit out the protest, is now offering emergency health services. Some young men stay in their neighborhood to protect its residents.  Women and shopkeepers hand out water, vinegar, onions and snacks to protestors.

The word flashed round that the most important political and business people are fleeing. Naguib Sawiris, owner of Orascom Telecom Holding, one of the leading telecom companies in the world, is said to have slipped off to Dubai. 

Mubarak made things worse by appointing Omar Suleiman, former head of secret police, as vice-president.  The street is disgusted.  People now chant  for Mubarak’s arrest and trial.  “Down with Mubarak” graffiti graces army trucks.

During pauses in the action, some ask when the US will step in. From the revolutionary point of view, it’s just as well the Americans have remained quiet. If they’d spoken too soon, it might have cooled the entire thing.

Amal Sedky Winter PhD
Cairo, Egypt

 

Read more about the Egyptian people and the background to the revolution.

Egyptian Revolution: "Friday of Rage"

Friday, January 28^, 2011

Cairo, Egypt

 

"Friday of rage."

To open this Egyptian “Friday of Rage”, the country’s Coptic Christians vowed they would protect their Muslim brothers while they paused in protests to pray.

The internet and all cell phones had been closed during the night.  News was sporadic on Al Jazeera Arabic, the people’s primary source of information.  Egyptian-run television ran clips of small gatherings in a quiet country.

Outside, thousands of people were exploding into the streets of every town and cities.

Mohammed al-Baradei, 2005 Nobel Peace Prize winner and spokesman for authentic democracy in Egypt, was reported to have been put under house arrest.

Wel known politician Mohamed al-Sekki called on President Hosni Mubarak, whose regime is the focus of the disturbances in the country, to address concerns of protesters. His failure to do so thus far, three days into the uprising, has confirmed the popular opinion that he has little respect for the governed.

By 3 in the afternoon, 25, 000 in the northern coast city of Damietta had bombed the police station. Police station fires spread from city to city throughout the country.

By 4 pm, 100,000 were reported on the streets in Mansoura and 150000 in Port Said.  In Cairo, police fired tear gas; in other towns and cities, police were said to be acting in sympathy with the protestors.

Cairo protesters reach half-million
Numbers  of protestors in greater Cairo, a city of about 17 million, were reported to have swollen to a half million.

In places, the police used live ammunition and protester were killed. One person warned that the police were using sulfur.  During afternoon prayers, people stopped to pray – at the top of their voices – and petition Allah for support from the army.

The Egyptian Army, unlike the military, is respected for its professionalism and admired for its success in the 1973 war with Egypt. It is thought of as a people’s protector of last resort.

 “The people call for the government to fall.” replaced the words of prayer . Over and over again, the demand bounded through the streets

When the retaliation came, demonstrators toppled a police van.

The government closed the bridges to Tahrir Square.

Destruction of Mubarak's party headquarters, preservation of Egyptian Museum
Those already in the square torched the headquarters of the Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NDP), located in a building on the perimeter of the square and next to the Egyptian Museum. This victory, of considerable symbolic value, fed the courage of the crowd.

Journalists called for local news station to discontinue their reporting of disinformation. 

In the city of Suez, located at the southern end of the canal and totally controlled by the NDP, demonstrations were violent.

In Port Said, located at the Mediterranean mouth of the Suez Canal, people swore they would stay in the streets till the government fell.  Police refused to fire on them.

In Alexandria 50,000 gathered on the corniche in support of the revolt.  Not a single policeman was seen.

Love and war
At 5:45 in Cairo, police suddenly stopped firing and stepped over to join the protesters. In an operatic moment, the sides exchanged hugs and kisses.

Egypt has 1 policeman for every 4 citizens. They tend to be recruited from poor families, have little education and are very poorly paid.

At 6:15, the police resumed their assault.

The Army, said to have refused orders to shoot, arrived in Tahrir Square. The police left. The demonstrators went wild with happiness and walked hand-in-hand with the troops.

The joined to create a human shield to protect the Egyptian museum from the fire at NDP headquarters next door.

Mubarak refuses to resign
At 12:15 am, President Mubarak announced the he had excused everyone in his cabinet.  He would remain on the job to ensure the security of his people.

Amal Sedky Winter, PhD

 

Jan 26, 2011: People still demonstrating - Amal

Referencing Egypt’s notorious Emergency Law - one that makes it illegal for over 5 people to congregate - the Egyptian government  today called for the use of ”all necessary force" to disperse any gathering. The streets are choked with security: policemen emerge from dusty blue vans in riot gear, arms and water cannons ready. Armed vehicles cordon the squares. Facebook and Twitter are closed down.

Today the Hesham Center for Human Rights reported 1000 confirmed arrests; the government admits to only 500.

Soaked, bruised and reduced in numbers, people are still demonstrating: they "walk" Cairo’s streets to offer less of a convenient target while calling for by-standers to join. Protesters persist in Alexandria, Mansoura and Suez as well. 

Internet savvy youths kept the revolt alive by using proxy sites until Facebook and Twitter reopened.

Right now, 500 people are demonstrating at the Lawyers’ Syndicate in Cairo while literally thousands of police disperse supporters with batons to the legs and head.

The EU and the United States have called on the Egyptian government to respect the universal human right of peaceful demonstration and to order police restraint and non-violence.

Change in Egypt's government will come;  maybe not this week or next. Maybe not even this year. But things are going to change. They already have.

 

Jan 25: Today belongs to Egypt's Youth: Amal

Today belongs to Egypt's youth.

Using Twitter and Facebook and who knows what else, tens of thousands young men and women took to the streets to protest the Mubarak regime. Twenty thousand filled Cairo's Tahrir square. They protested in Suez, Fayoum, Ismailia, Kafr el Sheikh, Bultim, Mahallah, Mansour; cities from Alexandria in the North to Aswan in the South.

Nothing of this magnitude this has happened in Egypt since its independence in 1952. And the rebellion doesn't look like it's about to cool off soon.

The government  warned the leaders of Egypt's few political parties to stay away. Leaders obeyed but their people turned out. The Mufti (highest Islamic authority) issued a fatwa forbidding participation but Muslims turned out. The Church forbade its members from participating; Christians turned out too.

The Muslim Brotherhood refused to back the demonstrations—less than 150 of them came. Still, the government, using the tired and dishonest technique to scare the Western power into supporting it,  claims the Brotherhood incited the protests and admits to jailing 212.

Despite the warnings, huge crowds of young people demanded change not as party loyalists, not as members of NGOs, and certainly not as Muslims or Christians, but as Egyptians. 

This is not an ideologically driven event. It is certainly not religiously inspired. It is populist and nationalist.

While organized by those with access to the Internet, youth of all  social classes met in the streets; students from the elite American, German and British Universities of Cairo and the 20-year-old peddler near my building. The 3 men buying cigarettes at his kiosk had been in the Tahrir Square demonstrations and planned on returning. One, a gardener in the small park across the street said, "I can't live on 240 pounds (40 US$) a month." 

The government was blindsided. It permitted the ‘standing’ demonstration thinking, as did the rest of the country, only the usual 200 activists would show. Local media coverage was virtually non-existent; a function of surprise and self-censorship. I first heard of the demonstrations from my daughter in the States. Al Jazeera, based in Qatar, was probably the first to air the news here but most of us followed on YouTube because of a ‘functional’ blackout in the news.

The most immediate impetus for the revolt is likely a soaring cost of living and grinding poverty.  But people don’t need a political science education to know that dictatorships support the corruption of their cohorts who siphon off public coffers. People know they can’t survive on dregs. 

They chanted "Change. Liberty. Social Justice.” “No to dictatorship.""Mubarak must leave." "This government must fall.” Some carried pictures of Gamal Abdel Nasser (1952 revolution.)

They demand:

• President Hosni Mubarak must resign.
• His son Gamal must not inherit the presidency.
• Parliament and councils elected in the country's most fraudulent election must be dissolved
• New free and fair elections must be held.The constitution must berevised

With echoes of the violence in Tunisia in their ears, protesters remain peaceful to a fault and, at first, the police were reasonably restrained.

By afternoon, everything changed. They set upon people with batons. They shot water cannons, tear-gas and rubber-tipped bullets; they poked with cattle prods. They killed four in Suez and bloodied hundreds  in Cairo and other cities.

By evening, the situation took an even greater turn for the worse. At Tahrir  Square, they closed off the routes of escape, blanketed it with teargas and shot into the crowd. They jammed the airwaves and blocked cell-phone reception. Armed vehicles, sirens wailing, sped across the bridge near me. Despite Ministry of Interior guarantee, they arrested hundreds and hundreds of people, including 80 journalists, one from the Guardian newspaper. You can hear his moving report from a police van.

The protestors pledged to stay the course. No one quite knows what this means but everyone I’ve met is cheering them on. And, true to the Egyptian sense of humor, they say, “When we win this round, we’ll have a [football] rematch with Tunisia!”