DAY 5 - TAHRIR SQUARE
SYNOPSIS: I spent several hours in Tahrir Square with Michalis from Cypres and Temoris from Mexico. I finally could make some travel plans. Normalcy seems to return to Cairo. After yesterday's difficulties and searches, I was trepidatious about going out this morning by myself. Many of the journalists had left. They had bad stories to tell - equipment taken, colleagues missing, etc. Funny enough, on government TV we had seen an announcement expressing the government’s assurance to protect journalists, and their apologies for any incidents. The announcer was calling on the population to extend to foreign journalists every help necessary to assist them in doing their job. I guess, that was one of those falsehoods one of the female reporters on Government TV recently resigned over, since tonight, we had a Spanish journalist couple arriving who had been stripped at the airport of almost all of their equipment...
This morning, Temoris, a freelance journalist from Mexico and Michalis, a young man of the world (born in England to Cyprus parents, growing up in Argentina) were still around. And we had a newcomer: 22 year old Andy from California. She had flown in this morning "to help". We looked at her in utter amazement. This is not a hurricane area... But we let that go. A few strange remarks followed, such as: "I have been beaten by the California police many times.” I guess, Andy was trying to make a point of comparison between the US and the Egyptian police. I pointed out to her that she lived in a state of basic civil laws and the police was subject to that as well. There was no comparison to the Mubarak police corruption and their free range activities. The point was lost on her. When she said she was a communist, here in Cairo looking for other communists, and ready to protest, I knew we were in for something. I responded that I grew up under communism and love to talk to communists who don't know what they are talking about. I know, that was a bit harsh, but I could not help it. She then told us that she was not really a communist but an anarchist! At that point I realized that she was not only stupid but dangerous, and an utter embarrassment for America or the west, for that matter. Even worse; it is ultimately people like her who provide ammunition for Mubarak's point that Egypt is full of "infiltrators" who are creating this chaos and that it has nothing to do with any Egyptian sentiment. What a mess this is! Again, I am amazed at the mix of people who end up at this low budget hotel tucked away in a dark alley! We seem to represent a wide spectrum here from the scared tourist, the untimely professor, the gay world citizen, the robbed journalist, the enthusiastic activist to the crazy anarchist. Who will be coming next?! A spy…?
We had to shake off the anarchist. Thankfully, she decided to hook up with Amir, another new arrival from Germany. He is the most gregarious Egyptian, I have seen anywhere. He is a journalist, but here more as an activist. He speaks fluent German and was beaming with revolutionary excitement. He fully believes in the success of this movement. I hope he will be proven right. Temoris, Michalis and I took to the streets together. We felt that if anyone would be contained, it would be the guys. I was a security token for them and could hopefully report if anything was going to go wrong. Temoris convinced me to leave my camera behind. Even he, a journalist, left his camera at home. I agreed. I cannot afford to lose my camera at this point. Whatever I would see, was already on the news, on blogs, facebook, or twitter much nicer than I could photograph. Michalis, however, hid his camera in his pants...
The streets of Cairo had a completely different feel to it than yesterday. The stores that were white washed yesterday, had been scrubbed and were open. Traffic was flowing in all directions, people were walking. Even the police were on the streets directing traffic! That was surprising. They had completely dropped off the face of the earth for almost a week. And there they were. What does that mean? A good will gesture? A threat? Nobody in the news is addressing this. What is going on?
Our plan was to head towards Tahrir Square and to see how far we would get. No checks or pad-downs at all until we got to the square. I was surprised to see how close we actually live. It's much less than a mile. Then, however, we were searched multiple times by civilian guards. The square was relatively empty. Still, hundreds, if not a couple of thousand people were milling around. What I observed is most likely old news to anyone of you who has been watching western TV over the last few days. But to see it first hand was amazing. Nothing "exciting" happened while we were there, but all the small slices of life on the square we could observe were deeply moving to me. As it turned out, there were many journalists and a good number of foreigners out. Many of them had big cameras and visible microphones. So, Michalis fished his camera out of his pants and took a lot of pictures and movie clips. He shared them with both Temoris and me, especially since I offered him a bar of my chocolate pile in exchange. I knew this chocolate would come in handy. After all, he had risked his camera for all of us.
The first thing I noticed were piles of rocks everywhere, neatly stacked up for the eventuality of a fight with the other side. The middle of the square had an obelisk-like structure and a group of men were forming a circle around it holding hands. We soon found out why; they were guarding a pile of medicine and food supplies. Several people were treated for head injuries right there in a make-shift way. Among the demonstrators we saw numerous people with bandages around their head, shoulders, chin, noses, eyes. Some of them were still bleeding through their bandages! Many of the people there looked exhausted and dusty. As we found out, many of them had been here since day one and had gotten at best three hours of sleep every night. This protest is in its tenth day… The heroicism of these people is inspirational.
At various corners of the square people were engaging in different activities. One group of men got ready for prayer. One man led the prayer and others followed. To see them lined up against a horizon of tanks, the reddish Egyptian Museum and the burned out party headquarters was something else. Right behind the tanks a line of soldiers with helmets had formed a chain to keep the pro-and contra Mubarak people separated from each other.
At another corner, a stage was set up and a man was leading the crowd into chants of “down with Mubarak”, etc. We could not understand a word, but it was usually possible for me to find a young woman who would speak English and translate for me. We ran into Shema, a most amazing young woman who was among the founding members of this protest on facebook. She gave us a couple of interviews. What will happen to someone like her if this revolution fails is unimaginable. Her face is plastered all over the internet and she has been seen by thousands of people in the square day after day. Not all people in the square are presumed to be supporters. Some of them are walking around way too obviously taking pictures of people…
For the few hours we spent at the square things were peaceful. But occasionally things flared up. At one point people started shouting and gesturing for people to move back – apparently, the other side had made gains against the line of soldiers. But nothing came of it. Another incident involved a group of shouting people who dragged a man in their midst whom they had identified as a spy. Mob mentality kicked in and I could see how it would take less than a spark to ignite people on just about any matter after having lived under stress like this.
It was almost funny to see that the minute things calm down, vendors seize the opportunity to make some money. There was the guy selling Egyptian flags, the tissue merchant, the bread distributor, and of course somebody selling water and cigarettes. And there were people like us, strolling, looking, curious; fathers and sons, young girls, women, men.
We were often asked where we were from. In the later afternoon these inquiries to the guys turned more aggressive. Indeed, the paranoia spread on government channels seems to have taken hold at least in parts. We were foreigners and people did not know if to trust us or not. Usually, reaction was divided. It helped that we were neither Americans, nor Iranian, nor Israelis – all countries which were blamed to have instigated this revolution. It is disheartening to see how lines between friend and foe are blurring. Egyptians even were held under the suspicion of not being Egyptians! They had to prove their identity or would have been dragged off as spies instantly.
The atmosphere at the square overall was less enthusiastic than I would have expected. Fatigue and distrust have taken their toll. And perhaps, some fear is mixed in as well: What will happen to the brave ones who risked everything for this revolution should it fail? What happened to so many of the Iranian protesters cannot make anyone feel optimistic.
In 1989, when the Berlin wall fell, communism was toppled, the cold war came to an end - I was in Ann Arbor. I missed my revolution. I am grateful that I was allowed a glimpse today into the Egyptian revolution, that I was able to meet some of its participants, and to witness a slice of history in the making.
Perhaps, that’s why I am here.
Good night.
P.S. Egypt Air was open today and I was able to book a flight to Aswan on Monday. The trip goes on.
P.P.S. On February 11, 2011 the Ann Arbor News ran this article: http://www.annarbor.com/news/washtenaw-communty-college-professor-blogs-from-egypt-as-revolution-unfolds/#comments