“To Belong” In The Egyptian Definition
“To belong”, is a verb that I was taught when I was a kid in Kindergarten, but I’ve never experienced this feeling until 11/2/2011. Till the early hours of Saturday the 12th, thousands of Egyptians were on the streets, singing the national anthem while actually meaning every word of it for the first time in their lives. Fireworks everywhere, people dancing, singing, congratulating each other, and what caught my eye the most was the huge graffiti written on Mubarak’s ex-palace “NO CORRUPTION FROM TODAY ON”.
Then on Saturday early morning, hundreds of young and old people, women and men, Copts and Muslims took it upon themselves to clean whole neighborhoods in Egypt, starting of course with El Tahrir Square, the cradle of this immense revolution. Egyptians were washing the walls with soap and water, brooms and plastic garbage bags were in everyone’s hands as they collected every piece of garbage even the cigarette buds, some people were repainting the side roads with brand new black and white paint. For the first time we feel that this country is OURS, it belongs to US and we belong to IT!
I personally never thought that I’d witness such a huge turning point in my lifetime, nevertheless participate in it. I know, some dear readers might wonder why we were so outraged by our past regime, I mean Egypt was doing just fine, making money on tourism, developing different industry sectors, like the gas industry…etc
And especially someone like myself, am studying medicine on the yearly fee of 60 dollars, am driving an Opel Corsa car, I live in a beautiful 6 rooms apartment, I can afford 3 meals a day, if I fall ill, I can seek the best private health care institutes, I should be very thankful and appreciative, what do I have to worry about??!
Well, all this (along with my parents refusal) didn’t stop me from protesting on the “Friday of Wrath” dated 28th of Jan. I was going out there, putting in consideration that I might spend the night in prison, in a hospital or in the morgue. I was ready for the tear gas bombs, I had my piece of cloth soaked in vinegar to counteract the effect of the chemical as I read, I replaced my contact lenses with my glasses and many other precautions that I read online. It all felt worth it, no matter what it took.
And as we started demonstrating, there stood the police forces blocking the street completely so that we wouldn’t join other protestors; they had sticks, guns in their hands along with this cruel looks, but on the other hand there we were, protestors from all ages and social classes yelling at the top of our lungs, asking for our rights, we stood one hand.
The same street that witnesses tens of sexual harassment incidents everyday was the purest place I’ve ever seen, we were like one family, people were just different!
Few shouts later, we found firemen trucks directing cold liquid at us, from high power hoses, it wasn’t water, it was some itchy liquid, yet no one moved for over 20 mins.
And as the first weapon failed, police men started hitting us with sticks, and shooting rubber bullets, and to my surprise, all my countrymen stepped forward to shield us, all the girls and women.
Then the tear gas bombs came into action, they threw a couple of them and all the crowd dispersed, everyone started running in different directions yet taking care not to push each other over. Some of us, took shelter in a building’s staircase as we tried to do the simple act of breathing which seemed just too difficult, tears alongside with blood drops everywhere, but before we noticed, people were coming out of their apartments bringing us water, first aid kit, more vinegar and just everything we needed.
As Friday 28th came to an end, more than 60 Egyptian protestors lied dead and more than 2000 protestors were injured, this was the cost, paid to grab Mubarak and the national media’s attention! For the first time the national channels start acknowledging the uprising of Egyptians, after 3 days of complete ignoring! 3 days were they were displaying series and movies as if the protestors on the streets are a bunch of barking dogs!
If it’s still not so clear why the past regime had so many enemies, well let’s see, yes I pay university fees of 60 dollars per year, but more than 60% of my class (including myself) pay thousands for private lessons in all subjects to listen to some decent explanation, and we get taught ever since primary, to memorize by heart instead of to analyze and innovate, thus thousands of university students graduate every year under qualified and under paid!
I do have a car, but I have to drive it in the streets of Cairo, which is more of a jungle, the only rule is that “there are no rules”; I have to live with the driving horror everyday and see the wrinkles appearing slowly on my young face, because it’s the best option out there. I can afford a great hospital, yet the nurses wander carelessly around, no proper sterilization, no system! Then sue them you might think, but the cases in courts gets postponed for years and decades before they get sentenced.
And above all the Police forces that are supposed to protect the people, protects no one but Mubarak and his gang, they take pleasure in humiliating everyone, torturing sometimes till death any suspect, they see people as worthless insects that they can crush with their shoe!
And what about the 35 million people who make less than 2 dollars per day, they kill each other in bread queues, they jump in overcrowded public buses where 5 men end up hanging out of the door, because there’s no room for their feet! While the ex-so called-President and his gang are rolling in their billions!
Too many crimes to mention, and on top of the list, snatching every ounce of sense of belonging in every Egyptian soul, we all wanted a foreign passport and a flight to flee, the poor who just wants to wash dishes in a foreign country and the not so poor who dreams of being a great scientist or diplomat, maybe winning a Noble prize but knows that it can never be done here!
It was NO one’s home; a human life was so cheap and worthless, maybe less than a dog’s life in a Western country!
Why were we silent for so long?! Well, we have this Egyptian old proverb that says “the one that we know, is better than the one that we don’t know” but many people now realize that fear of the future shouldn’t let you settle for a horrible present, that doesn’t deny the fact that many of us still remain worried and skeptical about what will happen next. This of course is beside the undeniable inspiration that the Tunisian revolution had on each of us.
21st Century Egyptians carry the Pharaohs genes, who were the greatest nation the history knew and we definitely deserved a better reality that the one we were living!
A flood of surprises came along, as the revolution proceeded, the biggest of which was the escape/release of more than 17,000 prisoners as part of a conspiracy to keep the protestors protecting their properties instead of revolting, which did not succeed. So many rumors and lies were put on the table, opposition parties, Muslim brotherhood, many other figures jumping to try collecting the gains of the revolution that the youth paid their lives for!
By the end of 18 days, more than 300 Egyptian People lost their lives, 3000 were injured many of which lost their sight. All to shake off the regime that was sucking the life out of Egyptians! And each blood drop that was shed didn’t go in vain.
by Nancy Sobhy
