Friday Demonstration in Tahrir

Just a quick note after getting up here in Cairo to say how excited I am about today: This is the first and only Friday I'll spend in town, and there is a major demonstration against sectarian hatred planned for Tahrir Square.  This is, at least in part, why I came to Egypt, to get a sense for the 'spirit of the square,' and so I'm hoping that all remains peaceful and positive during the demonstration.

I spent yesterday with several scholars who were in Cairo throughout the revolution and learned a great deal about a wide range of topics I had questions about, among them, the geography of protest on the square, the workings of the popular committees protecting neighborhoods, and attitudes towards foreigners throughout.  I am encouraging one particular friend to write about these matters herself, as she has tremendous insight to share.

No doubt by the end of today I'll have plenty of pictures, videos, and thoughts to pass on: I'll keep you posted!

Why Coptic Protest Is Good for Egypt

There is much hand wringing in Egypt at the moment about the decision of Copts to mount a protest in front of the Radio and Television Building in the center of Cairo.  The subtext of much of this anxious commentary is that Copts are merely playing into the hands of those who would seek to divide the nation, namely, the Salafis and the counterrevolutionary elements of the former regime.

I find this rhetoric frustrating and, frankly, condescending in the extreme.  Indeed, those who suggest that Coptic protest is 'bad for Egypt' or 'damaging to national unity' fail to realize that the Coptic protests at Maspero take much of their inspiration from the revolution, and this is repeated again and again in the speeches and chants of the protesters.  The revolution has opened a door for peaceful protest in Egypt that, presumably, should never be closed again.  How, then, could advocates for the revolution view this protest as retrogressive, as a step backward?

The logic of this argument appears to rest on the assumption that all manifestations of sectarian identification in Egypt are 'bad' and 'damaging,' and that, at the end of the day, sectarianism is merely a diversion from Egyptians' principal concerns.

This view is not only condescending but, in an important sense, tragic, because it betrays an extraordinary lack of understanding, on the part of the commentators, of contemporary Coptic life and culture.  That there is a distinctly Coptic culture, which is central to the self-understanding and self-identification of the Copts, is a fact which seems to have eluded these commentators.  Hence, the Coptic protests at Maspero need to be understood not simply as a response to those who burned the church at Helwan, or to the government officials who approach violence against Copts in a cavalier manner.  The protests need to be understood as a call for acknowledgment of contemporary Coptic life and culture, of a distinctive Coptic identity.

To suggest that all forms of sectarian identification are 'engineered' for malevolent political purposes is, in an important sense, to devalue Coptic life, culture, and identity.  Of course there are forms of sectarianism that are bad for Egypt, not least sectarianism that involves violence in whatever form.  But is Egyptian identity so fragile as not to allow for cultural differences within the community of the nation?  Is it not time to cast aside a monolithic 'national unity' discourse that has no tolerance for distinctive, public Coptic and Muslim identities, in favor of a vision of the nation as pluralistic?

The choice of the Radio and Television Building as the site of protest was quite deliberate: The Coptic protesters want their distinctive lives and concerns publicly acknowledged by fellow Egyptians.  This means inclusion, not separation.  I can only hope that the civic spirit of the revolution will allow for a pluralistic Egyptian identity in a way that post-colonial Egyptian culture hitherto has not.

The Long Road of Revolution

This was a difficult day.  I awoke to the news of the lives lost to sectarian violence the night before in Muqattam.  In light of this, rather than head directly to the Radio and Television Building where Copts have protested the burning of a Helwan church for the past several days, I thought I would spend time in Tahrir, in an effort to recall the hope and optimism that followed Mubarak's departure.  As my cab driver had related last night, I found Egyptians from all walks of life milling about the square, furiously discussing the future of the country, but agreed that both Copts and Muslims were essential to the success of the revolution.

Worthy of note was the transformation of the way in which young and old interact: There is a respect for the young the likes of which I have not seen in this country before.  Whatever attitudes of condescension may have existed in the past are now often replaced by a profound respect for the enormous accomplishment the determination of the young has brought about.  The old seem to hang on the words of the young in a way that is both moving and inspiring.

It was equally moving and inspiring to witness the Coptic protest in Maspero: Much like the revolutionaries of January 25, to whom they repeatedly acknowledged a great debt, these Copts were giving voice to long held but suppressed views.  For one familiar with the internal politics of the Coptic community, the scene was unforgettable: Defying the wishes of the Church hierarchy and the traditional expectation of quiescence in the 'national unity' narrative, the Maspero protesters demanded, quite simply, acknowledgment of their concerns.

I returned to my hotel with a palpable sense of history in the making.  Within hours, though, the young people I had heard chanting and debating in the morning were attacked in a scene reminiscent of the last days of the Mubarak regime.

A cry went up from the square that gave me chills, and I soon saw the banners and tents on the square (above left) torn to shreds by thugs (above right).  'History in the making' became 'history repeated.'  The road ahead for the revolution is a long one, to be sure.

Arrival in Egypt: Initial Impressions

I promised I'd record at least a few of my initial impressions here, though I must confess that I'm quite literally a zombie, having caught only minutes of sleep on the Frankfurt-Cairo leg of the journey.  So I'm aiming for a minimum of coherence in what follows.

Perhaps the least surprising point first: There were very few tourists on the flight.  This was my first visit to the new terminal building at the airport, and thus I can't particularly judge the scene there, but I must say that the immigration formalities were not nearly as chaotic as I've observed in the past.  One of the meet-and-greet folks I chatted with at baggage claim mentioned that the number of tourists had picked up particularly in the past few days, and that there were even package tourists arriving from Latin America and East Asia.  But I must confess that I was particularly shocked when I walked into the lobby of my hotel, only to discover a place that usually bustles in the evening utterly dead.

Equally depressing was the sad story this fellow related about having had his car stolen in Giza yesterday.  When he reported this to the police as required by his insurance people, he was apparently told that there were hundreds of cases like his flooding in at the moment.  This anecdote only lent greater credence to rumors I had heard lately about problems with property crime, but of course, rumors can be formidable weapons themselves, so I'll reserve judgment.

My spirits were lifted considerably when chatting with my cab driver (as they almost always are, cab drivers just have that effect, I find).  There's nothing like a torrent of political talk to get one's colloquial Arabic flowing again!  The driver was still reeling over the reports of corruption in the Mubarak household, and repeatedly asked how Hosni and Gamal could have become quite so breathtakingly greedy.  This led into a general conversation about how clueless Arab leaders had become about their own populations, and there were a few choice insults reserved for Qaddafi and his oratory.  But what was so inspiring about the fellow were his comments about how Tahrir has gradually evolved into a sort of garden open to all who want to discuss their problems and concerns.  People still gravitate to the square for an ineffable sense of comfort.  And he was relating this as we were entering the square on the way to my hotel.  I can't help but admit that I was moved, both by what the driver was explaining and the sight of the tents still in the square, together with countless Egyptians simply milling about and chatting.  Clearly this is one space that Egyptians have seized in a durable sense.  I recall chatting with friends about Cairo's notorious problem with green spaces (or the lack of them): Wouldn't it be marvelous if Tahrir could truly become a sort of public garden for the people?

Well, just a few initial impressions.  Now time for a fuul overdose and sleep!

The Egyptian People Seize State Security on Film

Remarkable images have flowed from Egypt all day, of ordinary Egyptians taking control of State Security buildings, discovering efforts to cover up crimes, and safeguarding whatever documents they can recover to secure justice against their former torturers.  Here are a few of the most striking:

Citizens Protecting State Security Documents from Destruction in Nasr City

Protesters Chanting "Long Live the Revolution!" at Nasr City State Security

A Man Describes His Torture by State Security

One of the Heads of State Security at Nasr City During His Arrest

Office of the Minister of the Interior, Habib el Adly, at State Security in Nasr City

"The Moment the Dogs of State Security Were Arrested"

Inside State Security at Nasr City

Inside State Security in Aswan

The Top Five Egypt Revolution Videos

I just gave a talk at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee entitled "Revolution in Egypt: Sights, Sounds, Significance," and faced the impossible task of deciding which sights and sounds the students just had to experience.  The following were the ones I ultimately decided on, but I welcome feedback about which to include or omit next time.

Asmaa Mahfouz, the Military, and Misogyny

Wael Ghonim has attracted much attention as symbol and spokesperson for Egypt’s revolutionary youth.  The administrator of the ‘We Are All Khaled Said’ Facebook page, who was kidnapped by Egyptian state security, galvanized the revolutionary movement with his tears for the revolution’s martyrs.  Ghonim refused the label of ‘hero,’ but without the language of heroism, it is hard to find a just way to describe his contribution to, and sacrifice for, the revolution.

Yet, in their capacity to galvanize, the tears in Ghonim’s glossy Dream TV interview are rivaled by the words of a young woman, uttered in grainy YouTube videos, one of which has earned the tag 'the v-log that helped spark the revolution.'  Asmaa Mahfouz speaks about the imperative of human dignity that motivated her own revolt against the regime with a passion that is hard to describe.  Suffice it to say that the label of her YouTube channel and blog, 'wolfinside1985,' is wholly appropriate.

That Asmaa and her calls for revolution have received relatively less media attention than a figure like Ghonim only intensifies one of the greatest fears I have about the revolution and its progress thus far.  Despite the extraordinary role women from all walks of life and social strata played in the encampment at Tahrir and Egypt as a whole, the revolutionaries must guard against the danger that Egyptian women will experience the marginalization and disenfranchisement that have prevailed in the aftermath of past revolutionary moments.

Indeed, in the wake of the 1919 Revolution against British occupation, during which women were ubiquitous in both organizing the protests and participating therein, the ‘liberal’ regime would not permit Egyptian women either to vote or to hold office.  They were labeled ‘irrational’ and ‘apolitical,’ and such labels were used to justify the political marginalization of women.

Perhaps the aftermath of the 1952 Revolution is the more apt parallel for my purposes here, given the central role of the military then and now.  Nasser’s regime is frequently credited with measures intended to secure equality before the law, as well as unprecedented educational opportunities for women.  But there were limits to this purported ‘equality.’  Emblematic of these limits was the way in which the suffrage was extended to women: Although men were required by law to register to vote, there was no parallel requirement for women, resulting in an enormous disparity in voting numbers for men and women respectively.

Without doubt, the theoretical question of whether a military regime is inherently misogynist merits discussion.  But for Egyptian women in the ‘here and now,’ surely this is beside the point.  From a practical standpoint, the Egyptian experience with military rule has yielded a record of misogyny that is clear and unambiguous: Women have remained systematically marginalized from positions of power within the state hierarchy because they are women.  Rhetoric about the ‘liberation of women’ has remained just that, rhetoric, intended to advance the ‘modernization’ or ‘development’ agendas of given regimes.  Specific advocacy for women’s formal political rights has remained consistently suppressed. 

To my mind, there is no reason to suspect that the military regime now prevailing in Egypt will suddenly revert away from past military regimes’ misogyny, and this is what makes dislodging the military from Egyptian politics imperative.  There are, of course, countless reasons why this is imperative at this moment of extraordinary historical opportunity – but surely the shameful legacy of military rule that I have outlined here is reason enough.