Day 4 of Protests: Back in the Stone Age; The calm before the storm; The police are gathering...

Friday, January 28, 2011

12:00pm

Well, the government is officially panicking, and they are doing everything they can think of to prevent and suppress the demonstrations today. Tahrir Square is closed off completely. We have no internet. We have no mobile service. Al-Jazeera live is blocked – the screen literally says “This channel is not running or scrambled” – to try to prevent live coverage of today’s events. The government is trying to put us back in the Stone Age. I’m just praying that the land lines don’t get cut as well. We should probably start filling bottles of water and get out the flashlights just in case.

I heard a man yelling in the street this morning. He sounded very passionate, even angry. I couldn’t tell what he was saying, and I thought perhaps he was calling upon everyone to protest in the street. Then Taunt (aunt) Afaf explained that he was selling oranges.

That’s Egypt. A man yelling in the street in Arabic at the top of his lungs, “ORANGES FOR SAAAAAAAALE!!!!,” is just part of the ambient noise. In the US, anyone doing the same would probably be arrested for disturbing the peace.

Lamya just left to take an exam. Yes, an exam. On Friday, the weekend. On what will surely be one of the most significant and dangerous days in Egypt’s modern history. She has private lessons, and her private teacher was stubborn enough to schedule an exam on the weekend on the day when Egypt is expecting to see the worst demonstrations in 33 years, in a building right next to a mosque, where demonstrators are likely pouring out right now. Ya khabar abiyad… (literally means ‘good news,’ but is often said sarcastically)…

1:00pm

I just spoke to Tanya (our coordinator) on the land line – she confirmed that those who left on a bus for Sinai last night arrived safely in Dahab and checked into the hotel. I know there is still risk involved, but now that I know they’ve arrived safely, and after Dad’s reassurance last night, I am actually very glad that they are not here in Cairo. I’m quite certain that some would be in the streets themselves if they were here. God am I glad I decided to stay. Aside from the risk involved in leaving last night, there is nowhere I’d rather be right now than watching the news with my family.

Apparently they still have mobile service in Sinai. Good news. At least we’ll be able to communicate with them, and I’ll be able to call land lines in Cairo when we arrive at St. Catherine’s Saturday afternoon (assuming we still go, which is still the plan so far).

Amu (uncle) Ayman just told me that Amr, Osama, Ahmad, Kareem, Mohammad, and Ibrahim (some of my cousins) are all in the street today. I am not surprised. I’m proud. Amu Ayman spoke to Muhammad this morning and advised him not to confront the police directly, of course. I’m praying that they all come back safely. Amu Ayman assures me that there is no way the police can arrest all the protestors in the street. Rabbina ma’ahom. God be with them.

Huzzah for Al-Jazeera!!! Apparently Al-Jazeera released a password on their other channel, the one playing old footage from Tuesday, so that Egyptians can access Al-Jazeera mubasher, Al-Jazeera Live, via a different frequency. Al-Jazeera is run by former BBC reporters - they are professionals. I commend them for helping Egyptians fight the good fight. In a few hours it too will probably be blocked, after which they’ll switch again to a new frequency.

Interestingly, BBC Arabic has not been blocked. Apparently the Egyptian government won’t risk blocking the British, only Al-Jazeera.

I’m now watching live coverage of Tahrir Square. Police are lined up, backed by armored trucks, blocking the street right next to the Egyptian Museum where I was just days ago with my cousin Lenah. People are watching from 6^th October bridge, where I was just yesterday. This is unreal. There must be a couple hundred police. It looks like an invasion. It is an invasion.

This morning I asked Amu Ayman, “isShorta fa’alan behib Mubarak walla la’?” “Do the police actually love Mubarak or no?” He explained that the police are completely brainwashed. You would not believe the things they would say. I was wrong – they are not just following orders out of fear. They are actually defending Mubarak. However, Amu Ayman also said that after a few more days of these demonstrations, some of them might come back from the Dark Side. I told Taunt Afaf about the Stanley-Milgram experiments that were conducted following WWII, demonstrating that even average civilians can be pushed to do horrific things under pressure and imposed authority.