From Egypt to the Promised Land
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Crowds are just starting to gather in Tahrir Square to continue voicing their demand that the Mubarak regime go. The army remains stationed on the roads leading into the square, preventing cars from gaining access. Everything appears very calm, but we are warned by the demonstration organizers that “something big” could be in the works – good or bad we don’t know.
But this can hardly be a surprise. Mubarak threw down the gauntlet by appoint Suleiman as his number two. Omar Suleiman is the head of the hated secret police (Egyptian intelligence), works closely with Israel and the US, and is clearly just another face of the Mubarak regime. The key question here is the relationship between the army and the police. They are reputed to hate each other. On the other hand, Suleiman has held the rank of General in the Army. What kind of deals are being cut among Egypt’s elite and will the rank and file in the Army accept any order they receive? So far their actions have tilted slightly towards the people. That is, they have prevented the police force from deploying against the demonstrators. But they have not definitively taken sides against the police. For example, last night, when demonstrators went to the Interior Ministry to rout out the police hiding in there, the procession was led by Army APCs and possibly a tank. But when the police began firing live ammunition at the demonstrators, the Army did not fire back, despite pleas from demonstrators to do so. Also, demonstrators would like to take over the state run television stations to get their message out. The state media has portrayed the demonstrators as thieves and criminals to the extent they have shown anything at all. But the Army deployed to protect the state television station building from takeover. Their ultimate role in this revolution remains to be determined.
Possible alternative political leadership to Mubarak does exist, but may not be able to surface in the face of American (and Israeli?) machinations for “stability.” That alternative leadership does not rest in a single person, but rather in the Popular Council for Change and the Popular Parliament I described earlier. Most people seem to feel Egypt needs a little time to develop a real political process.
Later Sunday afternoon – one amazing event after another continues to unfold. When we left the hotel early in the afternoon, we met a human rights activist/reporter that Medea knew who invited us to come to the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Justice, which he said was at the center of the organization of the protests. (This Center was the organizer of the April 9th Movement protests in 2008). We went into an unprepossessing building in a narrow street, climbed up about six flights of stairs and came into a room that was filled with young organizers/activists. We met with Nada Saddek, a middle aged woman who is a key person at the center. She told us a number of interesting things pointing to the conclusion that Mubarak is trying to save himself by creating chaos. At least four prisons, 3 in the Cairo area and 1 in Alexandria were emptied of their prisoners. Her daughter called her on the way from Alexandria to Cairo to tell her men in prison uniforms were trying to hitch rides along the road. This fits right in with Nada Khassass’ story of the police using criminals in prison uniforms to attack the press syndicate. She also told us that the police had seized ambulances which they were filling with police officers who jumped out with automatic weapons and killed people. We saw some concrete evidence of that at the Interior Ministry. As we walked towards the demonstrators there last night, we saw that the crowd was trying to roll over an ambulance – quite shocking since we had seen nothing like that before. The ambulance was literally thrown up in the air, and emptied of whoever was inside it. The driver then frantically backed it down the street away from the crowd with the back door hanging ajar. Now, it turns out, the ambulance was being used to smuggle police out of the building where they were holed up. Finally, several people told us that the army arrested police officers for several criminal acts – attempting to loot the Egyptian Museum, robbing a bank in Alexandria. Of course, the lack of almost any communication, and my inability to understand what is broadcast on television, makes it impossible to substantiate anything I haven’t actually seen.
We also discussed with Nada the possibility that the almost complete disruption of internet service was an effort to sow chaos. February 1 is payday, and the banks have no way to transfer money to people’s accounts without the internet. Many people who can ill afford it will go with no pay. Nada told us she is conserving her money because of this worry. Her daughter needs surgery for injuries from an auto accident but Nada is postponing it until she knows whether or not money will be available. People are also worried that the government will stop shipments of food into the city.
Other rumors circulating are that the Minister of Interior was arrested by the Army. He had been hiding in the Interior Ministry, which may have been why the police took so many lives shooting live ammunition into the crowd. (The New York Times said the police at the Interior Ministry fired rubber bullets, but live ammunition was clearly used. We interviewed an 11 year old boy who had been shot twice, and produced the bullet that had been extracted from his arm. It was not a rubber bullet.
Another rumor was that the Minister of Defense was arrested. (This turned out not to be true). We were told that he had ordered the army to shoot live ammunition at the demonstrators on Friday. A general refused the order, creating the rift that led to the army tilting towards the demonstrators. Later this afternoon, the chief of the army came to Tahrir Square to tell the demonstrators not to worry, things will move forward. Again, I can’t substantiate any of this. But people very much want to trust the army and believe that it is with them. This afternoon, the air force staged continuous flyovers with fighter jets roaring and rolling across the sky. Some people took this as a very positive sign. Others saw it as a show of strength after the arrest (if it took place) of the Minister of Defense.
Regardless, Tahrir Square began to fill up again with people streaming in all afternoon, and the crowd growing particularly after work. It seemed a little smaller than yesterday, but not by much. And many more women and children came out to join in.
People have so much to say. Thirty five years of being muzzled means you have a lot to say. Everyone wanted to talk to America via the video camera. This is the message people wanted to send:
The Egyptian people are hardworking, educated people who want to live normal lives. Instead they face massive unemployment, lack of healthcare, declining quality of education, lack of housing, a police state where there is no opportunity for self-expression, no political freedom, massive government corruption, lack of public services. In other words, complete frustration and lack of opportunity. Many told me this was their first protest but they had simply had enough.
People are very angry with the United States for its support of Mubarak and for the military aid that has been used against the people. Person after person showed us wounds that they said came from US bullets. Then they would say, “We are not stupid. We know the US thinks that, without Mubarak, we would attack Israel. We don’t want to attack Israel. We don’t want a religious state. We want a normal life and the freedom to choose our government.” The model for the centrists among these demonstrators is Turkey – strong, productive, respected, independent.
When I say everyone wanted to send this message, I mean everyone. Anyone who could speak English came crowding up to us, began talking and would not stop. People who did not speak English tried to find someone to translate and, if they could not, began talking anyone. They wouldn’t stop either. I realized that it has been so long since people could freely say what is on their minds they have a lot to say. Hope to upload some videos which will give a better idea of their thoughts.
