Newsletter: Vol. 10. Iss. 2
February 2011
Don't Know Much About History
Peter J. Miano
I just got back to our base in Bethlehem after having spent most of January with two programs in Cairo. Our third program in Egypt since November was in progress when the popular uprising against the Egyptian government broke out. I happened to have been in Tahrir Square-ground zero of the uprising-when the first protests broke out and I watched for about four hours that first day (I returned that night and the next night too).
As I approached Tahrir Square, my first indication that something was awry was the absence of car traffic-unheard of in Cairo. There were a lot of special police on hand, but, from a bridge at about 12:30 PM on 25 January, I spotted only about two dozen protesters. Although calls for demonstrations had been circulating by word of mouth and especially via Facebook, Twitter and sms, no one really expected anything like what would transpire. When I say "no one," I mean no one in anyone's government (U.S. and Egyptian governments included), no one in the so-called "opposition" movements (neither the Muslim Brotherhood nor Nobel Laureate Dr. el Baradei), and, perhaps, not even the organizers themselves. The ominous overthrow of the Tunisian government a week earlier might have telegraphed a domino effect of sorts, but it was not well understood in establishment circles, especially in Egypt and the United States. The spontaneity and seeming suddenness of the uprising reminded me of the first and second Palestinian Intifadas, but the parallels end there. Even one of my Egyptian colleagues was surprised and incredulous when I informed him on the evening of Day One, "Today is the first day of the revolution."
In Egypt, public dissent is carefully regulated and the organizers had received permits to demonstrate in advance. The demonstrations were scheduled for a national holiday called "Police Day." But the police on hand were not the usual and ubiquitous traffic and tourist police. In a walk around Tahrir Square, I easily observed at least 1,000 special police, dressed in black, wearing full riot gear and at least 40 armored police vehicles mounted with water canon. At that point, they were controlling spectators, not protesters. In addition, there were hundreds of plain clothed security personnel making sure that spectators did not stray into the ranks of the protestors.
As the small crowd of protestors, now numbering about 100 entered Tahrir Square, they were managed adeptly by the special police. Undeterred, they changed course, which they seemed to do in a disciplined and directed manner. As they became more confident, they provoked a stiffer police response and when the police pushed on the protesters, their numbers were joined by those who had been spectators. Outnumbered by police at first, the numbers of the protestors swelled to 10-15,000 by mid afternoon and now the police were badly outnumbered. Moreover, the protestors themselves were obviously well organized as groups of new protestors appeared from a different angle almost as soon as the police pushed another group back, causing the police to fall back and regroup repeatedly. Still, however, there was an air of civility among the protesters and professionalism and discipline among the police-a sharp contrast to what I had observed in previous clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers during the two Palestinian uprisings. It was easy to observe the tentativeness of the police, who although well trained and equipped, may have been unprepared to meet such determination among their compatriot protesters. Demonstrators shouted slogans such as, "No, No Mubarak," "We are all Egyptians," and "Not Mubarak, not his sons," indicating that their objective is nothing short of complete regime change. This may have seemed like a long shot on Day One, but on Day Six, it is a distinct possibility.
Facebook was one of the primary ways in which the organizers of the protests circulated word of the event, garnering 90,000 visitors to their Facebook site in a matter of hours in advance of the demonstrations. Cell phones were another tool at their disposal. Along with other networking tools, Facebook and Twitter were shut down by the end of the first afternoon and text messaging was severely disrupted in an effort by the regime to suppress the uprising. By the end of Day Two mobile phone service was shut down and all internet access was blocked.
Egyptian dissent is by no means new. Rather, widespread discontent has been systematically suppressed by the Mubarak regime for 30 years, with the full complicity of his U.S. patron. The Egyptian government has ruled by emergency laws since the assassination of Anwar Sadat 30 years ago. These laws give the government the authority to arrest and hold indefinitely any Egyptian without charge or trial-a tactic employed by the British in Palestine, Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Israel even today. It is also a tactic employed by the U.S. Torture is often used to extract information.
While 25 January 2011 was marked in advance as a "Day of Change," the precipitating moment of the uprising was the parliamentary elections of 28 November 2010. The dubious result of this election was the complete removal of any opposition in the Egyptian parliament-incredible even for a land of miracles! Egyptians were disgusted by that result, incredulous even
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