We are into double figure days of the Revolution. Protests continue in Tahrir Square and so they should. The concessions made by the government are unprecedented and some of the pro-democracy demands have been met. But what they really want is Mubarak to go. I think they will have a long wait and by the looks of things they are prepared to do that. The number of tents that have gone up increases day by day. A 6 month Glastonbury type protest, I think, is achievable. They’ve even managed to arrange a bit of rain for authenticity.
From what I’ve heard, the people do not like Suleiman either. It’s no wonder. Under Mubarak, he was the one overseeing the infiltrations, intimidations and organising arrests in the middle of the night. His response to the Day of Departure protest last Friday showed just how out of touch old men in Government are with the Youth. He said that he would simply ask them to leave and if that didn’t work he would ask their parents to ask them to leave. Many intellectuals and celebrities were protesting. People like Omar Sheriff were there. Amr Moussa, the leader of the Arab League. I can’t imagine them listening to their mothers, asking them to leave.
There have been some close shaves. Simon had two. Simon is our journalist friend who flew in from the UK to get his first first- hand taste of a real Revolution. He went straight from the airport to Liberation Square. He eased into it gently, casually dropping his back pack off at a hotel just off Tahrir square and made his way down to join the Protesters. By the end of the afternoon, he was caught up in the crossfire of rock throwing and shooting while the army stood by and seemingly did nothing. He eventually managed to escape through some back streets to Zamalek. His backpack is still in the hotel off Tahrir Square. Hopefully the biltong and my M and S face wipes he brought have been used to make some poor protester more comfortable.
Simon’s second attempt to get to the Square on the Day of Departure was just as dangerous. On a tip from one of his contacts, we planned a safe route for him Downtown using a taxi driver known to us and then he was to use the Metro. He passed through all the army blocks along the Corniche with no mishap but as he got closer to the Square, the men at the road blocks clearly became progressively more Mubarak’s. It was when one of them jumped into the back of the taxi next to Simon wielding a very sharp-looking knife demanding and then confiscating his passport, that Simon decided to report from our house in Maadi. The press has had a very raw deal and had he been carrying any other passport besides a South African one, he may still be in Egypt, but not out of choice.
Rumours are rife: the American school is closed until August, there has been the murder of 3 foreigners on Road 9 and Apache, a large US oil company, is relocating to Dubai. None of this is of course true. What is happening is that life is trying to get back to normal for everyone. I’ve even been to the dentist. I was chatting to him about the latest happenings; actually, he was, of course, doing the chatting; I had my mouth full of metal. Many of the older members of his family feel that they have wasted their lives when they see how quickly the youth have managed to bring about change. I suspect that this may be the feeling of many of that generation. But then, they did not have the power of the internet and social networking sites. It also shows just how tight the government‘s hold is over the people and why they are more than right to continue to protest for Mubarak to go.
The information that the banks are open is another rumour that has been proved to be untrue. HSBC may be the world’s local bank but they were the only bank here that was not in operation for a few hours today. There was, however, enough cash in the cash machines for everyone to withdraw a restricted amount. I saw another revolutionary thing has happening in my quest to get money-people queuing properly and waiting their turn to draw money. Finally!
And how has the South African community survived this? Well when times are tough, have a potjie! The curfew was shortened on Saturday and we decided to celebrate by having a lamb potjie. It was also the day it decided to rain in Cairo. So there we were, standing under an umbrella on Tertius and Ingrid’s balcony solving the problems of Egypt. For all of us, this is our second experience of a revolt for democracy so without being too blasé about it, we are all optimistic about the outcome. After a while we found other, more important, things to talk about such as the start of Six Nations Rugby. We even went on to cricket. Maybe it was the rain that prompted that.
By Mandy