فلنعفو عن مبارك وحرمه

على شرط يعيشوا في الدويقة، ويتعالجوا في مستشفى عام، ويشربوا من مياة الحنفية وياكل عيش مدعم، وياخد معاش 150 جنيه، ويتعمل لهم حفلة استقبال في قسم بولاق الدكرور، وابنه يتقتل في ميدان التحرير بالرصاص، وناخد موافقة الشهداء

Scenes from the Egyptian Revolution; a Background

To an outsider it may seem puzzling why a revolution started now in Egypt, but as a keen observer I could see it coming all along, perhaps at a different timing.

Don't get me wrong though, the timing was perfect. Talk about accumulations ... tens of years of accumulations. If you take police brutality as one reason for protests, it has been practiced systematically ever since 1952 against political opponents, though in recent years it has also crushed to death innocent people, even those who have not been accused of any crime. Several high profile cases against policemen have been filed. Still, the source of the problem, the culture of state-induced violence and impunity as well as the emergency law imposed since Mubarak assumed power (not a coincidence), remains a culprit towards dignity for Egyptians.

Let's focus on the last five years. Hundreds of protests, sit-ins and marches were organised by thousands for various political and economic reasons. Because Mubarak and his regime do not have a hint of respect or care for "their" people, they dealt with most of these protests with violence alone instead of diplomacy or any concrete steps towards development. Inevitably this attitude has created vendetta among tens of thousands, mainly downtrodden workers and government employees.

Then the Khaled Said tragedy began. Within a few hours, Facebook pages were created in his memory. At the same time, various political movements organised marches and protests calling for punishing his killers. Through time, the page, created by anonymous, started to shed more light on similar abuses and other regime failures. It has been a haven of debates and most of its fans bitterly criticised this regime. Have you noticed the momentum? Are you watching the snowball rolling? A man gets killed at the hands of policemen, thousands know and are angered, more people get killed the same way, fuelling more anger and frustration, the emergency law which is accused of letting loose policemen on innocent people does not get cancelled still.

A few months after Khaled Said, thousands of kilometres away, a vegetables vendour gets his cart confiscated and a policewoman slaps him when he objects. Hurt and frustrated, he sets himself ablaze, dying a few days later. The self-immolation sparks ever-growing protests calling for basic human rights; bread, dignity, social justice, freedom. No amount of government promises, then sniper shootings and police brutality could quell them. Almost a month later a regime topples and a president flees. This is the Tunisian Revolution.

The Egyptians watched the fall of a repressive regime wistfully. They congratulated the brave Tunisian people and showed solidarity. The Egyptians saw a live and practical example of how to get rid of dictatorship. And it wasn't in the Western "brave new world", but in a country which shares the same language, history, culture and Arab identity. Now was the time to emulate them and let the domino effect work.

Again, within a few hours, the anonymous Khaled Said Facebook page creator called for a "revolution of anger". He succeeded at gathering thousands in "silent protests" before, but this was the first time he actually called upon people to GET ANGRY. This day was the 25th of January, strategically on the government-chosen Police Day, only 11 days after Tunisia's dictator fled. No one expected the response to be very huge. "When you want to slap someone, do you tell him beforehand or do you do it suddenly?" a shop vendour remarked. Luckily, everyone was proven wrong.

In a striking real "remake" of V for Vendetta, then, this anonymous V has been addressing thousands of people via Facebook for months on their rights and sharing with them dreams of prosperity and dignity. Blend all of the effects you may and you can now find the mouth-watering aroma of the revolution. The butterfly effect, the domino effect, the snowball effect.

At one point I said to myself, if Khaled Said hadn't been killed, and his horrific postmortem photos hadn't been published, who knows, maybe this revolution wouldn't be happening. How insane, how ironic, how delicious could it get?

Updates from Egypt

Allow me to be too lazy to write separate posts about each of the important incidents that have taken place in the land of wonders.

The highly anticipated Tuesday 21st of September, Abdin square, or rather a dumpster-turned protest scene. The People's Democratic Movement for Change (Hashd), a leftist movement, called for this protest against the expected presidential-succesion in Egypt. News spread that whoever ventured close to the palace was immediately arrested. So a couple hundred of honest people decided to stand on said dumpster and started chanting anyway. Of course, every now and then protesters were attacked. The most horrifying moment was, though, when we suddenly found a march of fellow-protesters coming toward us. Due to my length, I don't know what happened. But suddenly the whole 200 ppl, backed by 2000 soldiers, were rushing towards me, and I was jolted out of the security cordon. A few tense minutes passed before security forces rearranged themselves and the cordon was large enough to include both groups.

I estimate the protesters to have been around 400 to 500, but it is not only about the numbers. Photos of Gamal Mubarak's photos burning were widely circulated and chants accusing Mubarak senior (oh, man. we actually have to start telling them apart) of trading Jerusalem for his son were shouted. It is the effect of the photos and videos posted that also carries defiance. We do not want to be ruled by Mubarak junior. We do not want to have sham elections no more. We do not want to be ruled by a bunch of businessmen who eat up most of Egypt's wealth and leave the bones for the workers. Or, for that matter, a bunch of businessmen who are able to drown a thousand and thirty four people and manage to flee the country, never to be held accountable. Gamal Mubarak's rule only means more unfair distribution of wealth, more thuggery, more unsaftey, more autocracy, more people dying of torture or negligence. We are already rolling down a steep hill, and Gamal Mubarak will be our rock bottom.

September 22nd, October Courthouse. Judges order the policemen, whom Shadi Maged accuses of torturing him, to be arrested. Reminder: I did assert that this is the land of wonders. So this court order may or may not mean that they're in jail now.

September 25th, second trial of the murderers of Khaled Said. Same silly attempt to intimitade pro-justice protesters. Police gathered a number of thugs, or informers, or random ppl who were bribed to protest for the police. Trial was adjourned to the 23rd of October.
I cannot even imagine how his family must be feeling now. Always hanging their hope on justice, only for justice to be deferred, or hushed, or obliterated.

صدق اللي سماه عيد التحرش

كنت متوقعة إن يحصل تحرشات جماعية في العيد السنة دي، بقى لنا أربع سنين التحرشات الجماعية مقررة علينا وبقت خلاص زي الأكل والشرب والنوم كده، وماتوقعش ليه؟ إيه اللي تغير من 4 سنين؟ ولا حاجة؟ الشرطة اللي هي أحد الأسباب الرئيسية لحالة الفوضى كانت مشغولة بتعتقل أعتى مجرمي هذا العصر اللي هم النشطاء السياسيين
يا حلاوة يا ولاااااااد العيد فرحة فعلاً، سايبين العيال يتحرشوا بالبنات وماسكين تنكيل في النشطاء، هم دول اللي بياخدوا مرتباتهم من ضرايبنا، أنا مش عارفة أقول إيه فعلاً، أنا قلت كل اللي ممكن يتقال، بس مش عايزة أي جحش من هنا ورايح يقول لي إن التحرش ليه علاقة بالكبت الجنسي - كتير من اللي بيتحرشوا لسة مابلغوش أساساً، ولا أي جحش تاني يقول لي البنات هم السبب و90% من المصريات محجبات، ولا أي خرتيت يقول لي إني ببالغ أو إن الموضوع مش سيء زي ما أنا متخيلة
اتفضل إلبس ست يا روح أمك منك له وإبقى قابلني لو عرفت تمشي مسافة عمارتين من غير ما تسمع تعليق أو حد يبص لك بصة غير بريئة أو يعمل نفسه بيتكلم في التليفون مع حد وتبقى عارف إنه بيتكلم عليك
جتكوا القرف كلكوا تستاهلوا جمال يدوس على راس اللي خلفوكوا
وساعتها إن شاء الله هكون مت بالنقطة أو سبت أم البلد دي