Saturday, January 29, 2011
8:00am
Slept an uneasy three and a half hours on a couch with the TV on. I dreamt, among other things, that everyone was abandoning their stores and clearing out because of the demonstrations. The owner of the local corner grocery store was trying to get rid of all the food left in his store for whatever money people were willing to give so he could pack up his belongings and leave. Then I was in a department store, trying to gather all my belongings quickly before the danger arrived – which turned out to be a swarm of baby velociraptors. We didn’t make it. We were overrun by raptors.
9:00am
Lenah (my cousin) and I are sitting in front the TV evaluating the situation…
Things have calmed down for now. The real army arrived around 4am this morning and took control of the city. People were cheering in the streets and hugging the soldiers. Tanks are everywhere with “Yaskut Mubarak” (“Down with Mubarak”) spray-painted on them. All the footage shows excited and bandaged civilians flashing peace signs at the camera. Egyptians are hilarious.
Some remain in Tahrir Square and other streets, but almost everyone has gone home to rest, recover, and plot for a new wave of riots starting this afternoon, supposedly around 3pm. We are only in the eye of the hurricane...
Demonstrations are being held in Paris, Istanbul, and Washington DC in support of Egypt. Demonstrations continue in Yemen (since Thursday) and in Jordan (since three weeks ago) and Lebanon (since… one week ago?)… Who’s next??? All the corrupt governments of the Middle East must be pulling their hair right now.
Now that I am no longer panicking, I am feeling immensely proud of my cousins for joining the demonstrations yesterday. Honestly, if I were a legal Egyptian citizen, I would be out there with them today. I am also thanking Lenah for not going into the street herself, as much as she would love to, because I need her here with me to help calm my nerves and keep me sane (plus her parents would completely freak out).
We are still marveling at how admirably the protesters handled themselves last night. We feared that things would get out of hand and they would really go crazy and lose control, but in fact they were peaceful the entire time. They did not instigate the violence. The government was initiating the violence the whole time. Lenah says they were surprised – they really thought the Egyptian people might become violent, but they didn’t. I am so proud. Dad said yesterday that he was amazed, that he has never seen Egyptians act this way, and he was so impressed with how beautifully Egyptians are handling the demonstrations.
I have always been proud to be an Egyptian, but now I am more proud than ever.
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