Tag Archives: tahrir

Jul 05 2011
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Anecdotes, Two minute read

This day is our day

Yesterday was the 4th of July, America’s main national holiday and the date on which the Second Continental Congress unanimously adapted the Declaration of Independence, announcing the colonies’ separation from Great Britain. I happened to be out of the country, but I could still smell the patriotism roasting from across the pond.

In celebration of America, I partook of my first McDonald’s food since I’ve been here: a chocolate sundae that cost roughly 99 cents. I had no regrets and I have a feeling I’ll be frequenting the McDonald’s 100 yards from my house slightly more often now that I’ve tasted the simplicity and reliability of soft serve ice cream and chocolate syrup. In addition, I and some fellow students sang patriotic songs like Born in the U.S.A. and God Bless America before another failed lecture on security that did more to anger and confuse than assure anyone. Later on that evening I savored some non-local beverages as well as non-local pork ribs grilled to perfection while singing more songs, campfire style, without the campfire. The night ended appropriately with tribal dancing on a carpet wall from a bedouin tent in southern Iraq.

One of my favorite moments of the day, however, was when I and 2 other CASA students were sitting on the shaded lawn inside the campus of AUC Tahrir having a boy scout/hippie dippy moment while singing “Such Great Heights” by Iron and Wine. Less than 200 yards away from us, on the other side of the wall, lay Tahrir square, the locus of current unrest complete with sit-in tents, non stop traffic, and general pedestrian mayhem. The two worlds could not have been more different, though it might not be impossible to mix them.

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Jul 03 2011
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Anecdotes

Cairo boat-night view

I lied about the dates of the churches…one is a 9th century structure and the other is a 4th century structure but both

Cairo at night

were built on older things of significance, I think, and there is still a dispute between them as to who is the oldest.

There is a dog in our neighborhood that loves to bark at night. This is the reason I prefer stray cats to stray dogs…stray cats might look disgusting,occasionally sound like human children whenever they meow, or even engage in shrieking street fights, but they do not constantly produce loud noises for no reason. Moreover, they are more discriminatory (I believe) about where they mate and relieve themselves, producing a more respectable strolling experience alongside the highways of Cairo. I’m considering hiring our doorman to hunt down the offending dog and remove it–however he may please–to a different neighborhood permanently. I don’t need to know the details.

About four hours ago right now I was on a boat in the Nile. This time we were on a felucca–a wind powered vessel–and there was less dancing though an equal amount of pop Arabic music. Twenty five of us sat around the main body of the boat on a cushion lined couch and stared at each other from across the way for the first ten minutes of the trip before it occurred to us to engage in conversation with one another. Conversation commenced and as the sun went down, Cairo slowly looked more beautiful, the pollution fading away leaving just a sliver of the moon in the sky above the various high rises on the Giza side of the Nile.

While on the boat, one of our leaders got a call from a student from the program living in Midtown saying that there were clashes in Tahrir square. I’m still not sure what those were all about/if they were real since it became clear later on that nothing was going on. Earlier today, however, we did see tents in the square and there are plans for big-ish demonstrations on Friday. I tried to convince one of the people who work in the office at AUC to go to Tahrir and check out the sitch for me but it looks like I’ll have to do it myself come Friday post-prayer time.

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Jun 30 2011
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Anecdotes, Two minute read

It’s like a snow day

Tahrir without protestors

Late-ish last night bloody clashes between protesters and policemen began once again in Tahrir square, the focal point of the Revolution of Jan. 25 and also a place I pass through daily on my way to class. From what little I understand (and it is very little), some families were protesting and/or sitting outside some government building in rememberance of sons or daughters that had perished in the revolution. I think the police tried to dispel them by force and then the situation escalated from there.

All through the night the clashes continued, and over 1000 people were injured according to the most recent numbers I’ve seen, most of them from tear gas. Here’s an article about what happened. And here are pictures (not mine). Much of the action took place on the street that directly borders AUC and in some of the pictures you can see the building I usually attend classes in. Those classes were cancelled today of course due to the unrest and we’re still waiting to hear whether or not we have class tomorrow. Part of me hopes that we don’t since I’m not as prepared as I could be even though we had a snow day: there was a lot of facebooking, Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement watching, Moroccan food cooking, and Mohandiseen exploring to do today in addition to the homework I didn’t quite finish yesterday.

But the other part of me realizes I’m not fully comprehending the political situation here in Egypt. What else is new? It’s hard to appreciate the impact of the Egyptian Revolution on people who had been living under the Mubarak regime for 30 years and to feel the pain of people who suffered at the hand of the previous regime when I grew up in a society where most people have never been tortured, beaten, kidnapped, or killed for their political beliefs. And now, the slow pace of transition, the lack of clear change between the way the old regime dealt with people and the way the Supreme Council of Armed Forces is dealing with people, and the continuing economic crisis are all causing increasing levels of frustration especially among the original perpetrators of the revolution. Essentially the main causes of the revolution itself have not yet been addressed, and the clashes between the riot police and the demonstrators were just another example of the lack of change.

I’m no political scientist….just a mere college graduate with a penchant for 30 rock, but to me it seems that oftentimes a post-revolutionary community desires an unreasonable pace of change, leading to hastiness and unstable foundations for the future. Where is the balance between transition and meticulousness? How do you rebuild a society that has the same problems as it did 6 months ago or even worse because of the economic situation and security vacuum? Anyone with answers can  sent them to coolchieftantawi@hotmail.com.

How hard could it be to build a just society in Egypt?

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