This article appears in this month’s Erudition, edited by Sally Cervenak. You can view the original article here: http://www.eruditiononline.co.uk/article.php?id=935
Egyptian citizens are celebrating after nearly three weeks of continuous demonstrations in Cairo, Alexandria, and elsewhere in Egypt; and right they should. Their tenacity and dedication should be lauded; it will surely be remembered. To have navigated such an uncertain situation with a sense of responsibility, suppressed until only a few weeks ago should elicit respect from around the globe.
What has happened in Egypt these past few weeks certainly came as a surprise to many. After three delusional speeches from the now-ousted President Hosni Mubarak, in which he patronized Egyptians-referring to them as his children, himself as their father-Vice President Omar Suleiman’s announcement could not have come as more of a shock. But this was not the first instance of surprise this year; the very occurrence of such insistent and dedicated protests astounded many, Egyptian and foreign. I myself have come to know Egyptians as patriotic and good-spirited, but not-so-secretly demoralized by the unrelenting oppression of a state fearful of criticism. With slander and libel considered felonious defamation under the thirty-year-old Emergency Law, people have become quite fearful of criticizing the government beyond the accepted generalities of: “It’s Egypt, nothing works” or “fi-l-mishmish” (which is loosely idiomatic for “when pigs fly”).* Cab drivers in Cairo who decried the abuses of the government on an outward journey, were just as likely to praise Mubarak on their return
This well-founded fear of reprisal is what has kept all but the most daring or foolhardy Egyptians from mounting protests in the past. And who wouldn’t be afraid after witnessing the imprisonment of Ayman Nour, after he made comments about the ability of the aging Mubarak to handle the presidency during the 2005 elections? Anyone who vocally criticized the police or the Interior Ministry were just as likely to be falsely charged with a trumped-up offense and thrown in the clink. For years, Egyptians have lived in fear of the Mukhabirat–the intelligence officers of Egypt’s heavy-handed Interior Ministry. Theirs was a dominion of Orwellian surveillance, torture, and imprisonment without accountability. It was terrifying.
This time was different though and it was clear from day two, when the demonstrators began shouting for Mubarak’s ouster. Just one month ago in Egypt, rhetoric like that was likely to get you tried for treason. Indeed quite a few protesters were arrested in those first few days and threatened with charges of treason and sedition. Only once the cries went up, the game changed. After Mubarak made his first historically delusional speech, it was evident that this struggle would not come to an end until he relinquished power. No amount of threating arrest, nor curfews, could put this cry down.
Those who stood defiant put aside their fears of a totalitarian state and made their demands known in the face of what would have been terrible and painful reprisal had they lost. Perhaps even more impressive than this bravery, was the initiative taken by Egyptians in the face of uncertainty and potential chaos. When the police were ordered by the Interior Ministry to disappear from the streets after three days of solid protest, Egyptians banded together to protect their neighbourhoods and their property. As it was realised that the protests would not stop until the demands of demonstrators were met, citizens began dealing with essential services. Every morning in Tahrir Square, groups of protesters went out and picked up rubbish. Some say that the square never looked so clean as it has done during these last few weeks.
When violence erupted – very likely at the hands of secret police and hired thugs – people worked to set up makeshift hospitals in downtown mosques. They ensured that protesters were fed and had access to water and medicine. Mobile phone charging stations were set up at point throughout Tahrir Square so that people could stay in contact once the communications networks came back online. Even during the communications blackout, Egyptians did what they do remarkably well and communicated and disseminated information via an informal network of people on the ground. One blogger commented that this revolution only worked because Egyptians are the original social networkers, with or without an internet.
Of course, I am focusing on what occurred in Cairo. Similar things happened in Alexandria and elsewhere. My friends in Alexandria guarded their neighbourhoods just as we saw in our usually quiet suburban neighbourhood south of Cairo. Roadblocks were stationed up and down the streets and at every intersection. Men and boys were armed with lengths of pipe and sticks (and in some cases swords, golf clubs and bike helmets). Protesters in Tahrir Square began checking their fellow Egyptians for weapons and identification in an attempt to keep away those who would have undermined the protests by turning them into violent street riots.
This revolution, and that is what it is, did not occur without casualties. Three hundred were killed, most from head injuries caused by rocks or other blunt objects. Over a thousand were injured. Property was destroyed, shops were looted, cars and trucks burned. The Egyptian economy was damaged severely. Tourism will take some time to recover to its previous levels.
With any luck, once the celebrations have settled a little (though not the celebratory spirit), Egypt will be able to rebuild their country with the same sense of community and initiative exemplified throughout the last several weeks. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has made it very clear that it cannot be a substitute for a democratically elected government of the people of Egypt. Egyptians are in the unique position of having forced a corrupt, illegitimate dictator and his cronies out of power not by force, but by making their demands known and holding their ground until those demands were met. The role of the military in what occurred is still a bit unclear, but it would appear that the Supreme Council had grown tired of the machinations of a dying regime and decided to end it.
On Thursday, Minister of Defence Mohamed Tantawi was actually out in the city talking to demonstrators. Representatives of the military made statements that the demonstrators would “have all their demands met”. All the more reason for protesters’ anger, sadness, and confusion when Mubarak stood up to make his final deluded address to the Egyptian people that night in which he asserted that he would not be stepping down until the next election. The scene was almost surreal. But then when Suleiman made the abdication announcement the next day on behalf of Mubarak, the pendulum of emotion swung the other way. The strength of emotion then released evinced what had fuelled the public for the duration of the eighteen day protest. It can only be hoped that this emotion will continue to fuel Egypt, for the next few months and years of reform and reconstruction.
The coming phase of Egypt’s revolution will be an interesting and difficult one. The most visible part was completed with the ousting of the totalitarian regime, but the people will need now to monitor that the existing entrenched bureaucracy and the military do not exercise undue influence over the process of arranging and conducting fair and open elections. Egypt has a bright future ahead and has demonstrated, like Tunisia before it, that real revolution is possible in the Middle East. Let us hope that those international powers with an interest in the region do not interfere with genuine democracy, as they have done in the past. Barring this threat, there appear blissfully few barricades across the road of Egypt’s future, something which anyone who has ever driven in Cairo would gladly welcome.
*’Fi-l-mishmish’ is an abbreviation of ‘bokra fi-l-mishmish’ (‘Apricots tomorrow’). It is an expression generally used to demonstrate disbelief that something will occur, not unlike ‘when pigs fly’.
