The Other Side of Me

Fighting with everyone isn't either....  I'm against stereotyping, against defining people according to their looks or clothes. I'm against arresting someone for protesting. But I'm also against giving them the chance to do so. I'm against protesting when it's going to make the revolution lose the people's support. Because people are the most important thing, a lot more important than the fight with the SCAF. So if this fight is going to make the revolution lose its people then no one should fight it. I'm against thinking of protesting and never of playing politics, because some things can be solved with politics, and without losing any supporters. If the revolution loses its people then the revolution is going to die. Our revolution was victorious because the whole country revolted, not only youth activists, not only opposition groups, not only middle class, not only Muslims, not only men, not only Cairo and Alexandria. Our revolution was able to over...

I'm finding many similarities between our revolution and many different things that I'm starting to think that this is just the laws of nature and our revolution wasn't epic and unprecedented or anything. OK, I'm joking of course, it is epic and unprecedented, but something reminded me of Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino yesterday and the number of similarities between this movie and our revolution is unbelievable.  If you have seen the movie, then please skip the next paragraph, if you haven't seen it and would like to know what I'm talking about, then read on. If you haven't seen it and plan on seeing it, then here is a SPOILER ALERT don't read this post at all until maybe after you've watched it. Walt (Clint Eastwood)  took part in the war against Korea earlier in his life and then went to live in a Korean neighborhood in USA. The movie starts with Walt's wife's memorial service, his son lives in another state and sees him as old and use...

What happened yesterday in Tahrir was a plan to divide between the SCAF and the people. There are many talks about how this was planned by Zakareya Azmy's men, and I believe them, why? Because this has happened a few days after he was arrested, and because we all know that how slow the SCAF was in taking action is because they're too scared of the regime's gang because they too have stolen our money and everything. So once the SCAF had to take an extra step forward, the gang has also taken a an extra step and tried to do a military coup, and of course lead to a division between the army and the people. Well, this has partly failed, so now to the next step... If people won't get too busy fighting with the army and the army can't mess anything up, then they can try something else. If Mubarak is now ready and hid all his money, then it's time to try to gain the people's sympathy. This had to happen, because now the army has also gotten angry and Mubarak's ...

Crawling Friday, February 11th, 2011, later turned into Resignation Friday (11.02.2011, yes that's how cool our revolution is). I don't know where to start, should I start from the moment Omar Soliman announced Mubarak's resignation? Should I start from how my day started today? Should I start from the day the January 25th event was created? Should I start from the moment that I believed we can do it? Should I start from the moment Tunisians were able to overthrow Ben Ali? Should I start from the moment I started writing my Egypt: Now and Then series (that I never got to finish), wondering if Egyptians will ever revolt? I have no idea where to start, or how to start. But since today's post is the most important, and since I witnessed a lot more than some have, I'll try to keep this organized as possible. I woke to find a protest by Maspero, another by the presidential palace, another in Tahrir, and another by the parliament. And this is only Cairo, there were huge...

Let me first make one thing clear; for me, dispersing a sit-in brutally for whatever reason is unacceptable. Turning a peaceful sit-in into a war zone can never be right. The way yesterday's sit-in was dispersed can never be right, even if they did it after the curfew. And we all know that this three hour curfew is only there to give them the ability to disperse sit-ins. And it's wrong even if there were thugs among the protesters. But from my very humble point of you, (and yes I'm someone who spent my night comfortably at home, but this doesn't mean I'm not allowed to say what I think and judge from what I read from eye witnesses), the army is not the only one who did something wrong. This army officers story sounded all wrong from the very first day. What exactly was their plan anyway? Why did they join yesterday's protest? How come they made videos and let everyone know who they are? They say they sacrificed their lives and future for Egypt, but what exactl...

Thursday, February 10th, 2011 Since the day I was born, Egyptians were always proud of their past. They were proud of Ancient Egypt, Coptic and Islamic civilizations. They were proud of our flourished culture, our many colonies, our well educated Egyptians during the time of Mohamed Ali Pasha. They were proud of Ahmed Oraby, Mostafa Kamel and Saad Zaghloul. They were proud of the 1952 revolution and the many achievements of Gamal Abd El Nasser (that Mubarak and his gang sold). They were proud of the October 6 th war with Israel. They were proud of many things in the past, but were they proud of anything in their present, except maybe for winning the African Football Cup.  But this has all changed since January 25 th when we changed history with our own hands, when we made the whole world look at us with respect, when we used our mighty power. When we made a very civilized revolution, 100% peaceful, very well organized, very pure, with no internal or external agendas, with a gre...

The best thing about protesting in Tahrir is that people from all walks of life, from all different backgrounds, with all different ideologies, protest together for one common cause; the best for Egypt. Today was different; people were still different, and were about 1.5 million, but it was different in many ways today. First, the number of street vendors has increased dramatically and they sold all sorts of things, including popcorn and cotton candy. Streets were very dirty, dirtier than they ever were. Not all entrances had search points, even though Ikhwan were back. There was a lot of verbal harassment, from vendors and protesters. Things weren't very organized. Chants weren't vibrating the square like they have always done. Salafis decided to join the protest today.... to demand the release of a detained sheikh. The Salafis I saw today were all together protesting for this demand and not merging with everyone else. I don't know if some others were protesting for revol...

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011   This revolution has changed people, they have changed their lives. It has made them think differently, it has made them react with dignity to everything, it has made them think more positively, it has given them the power to say NO loudly. And so: Today, protests and strikes were all over the country. The revolution was always all over the country, but today everyone protested and striked at work. I couldn't even remember all the names of the cities and firms that had protests today. I don't even think that there was one city across Egypt that didn't have a protest today. The streets were closed everywhere because of the protests, so I was unable to go to Tahrir, but the numbers are huge there. The cabinet meeting even had to move because of the protests. Yesterday Omar Soliman has said that it's either a dialogue and people accept to wait, or a military coup. People shut him up by protesting everywhere. Today he came again saying tha...

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 There was no place to set foot in Tahrir today, at least 3 million in there. Not only this, they got into the streets around them too. Not only this, tens of thousands are surrounding the parliament and the cabinet office. Not only this, many many workers at firms and syndicates protested; Ahram, Rose El Youssef, Telephone company in Ramsis, Sigma Medical Company, syndicate of workers, syndicate of journalists, Staff of Cairo University, God I can’t even remember what else. It’s been AMAZING Cairo was all protesting.  Not only this, but the revolution was vibrating the streets across Egypt; a million in Alex, Suez, Sohag, Bany Swaif, Ismaeleya, Aswan, Areesh, Damietta, Kharga,  Mansoura, Luxor. Never was the number of protesters that huge. Let the Obama administration say whatever it wants, let the MB make any deals they wish. It’s US, yes us who’ll bring change. Today was simply the best day of Egypt’s long long life. Everyday this week, proves th...

Monday, February 7th, 2011 Things are starting to slow down from the government’s side. The revolutionaries can still bring two million to the square, and of course this is only Cairo. We by now have understood that it might take a while before Mubarak leaves, but that doesn’t matter, we will wait and we will get what we want. We’re winning every day; we win compromises from the government and win more people on our side and that’s good enough to keep us strong and resilient. Mubarak and his regime planned to keep everyone busy with going to work, but of course they were too stupid to do anything right. People started protesting and striking at work today. Tahrir today had almost no MB, but still the numbers were in hundreds of thousands. They've proved that the revolution has nothing to do with them, and will go on whether they're going to be part of it or not, so thanks to them. They've shown their real side, no more acting, so again they should be thanked for letti...

Sunday, February 6th, 2011 My Egyptologist cousin has always told us that all Egyptian temples had these words carved on their walls: "Egypt is filled with life and power".... Today Egypt was back to life, all works were open, most of the shops were open again. Streets were very busy again, people left their hiding places at home and went back to the streets. Tahrir and other squares today were filled with life and power. The fact that Egypt was back to life didn't stop anyone from revolting. Tahrir was filled with life, everyone was talking, chanting, laughing, singing, praying, everyone was full of life. It was filled with power, people knew how strong they are, people were serious, they were resilient, they were powerful. Today was the first million man march this week, and even though people had to go to work, there more than a million in the squares.  Chants were as loud as ever, the whole square chanted together, the sound vibrated the ground. There was a katb k...

Saturday, February 5th, 2011 (Resistance Week) Today has started with just a few hundreds in Tharir and other squares in Egypt. It was scary in the morning, the numbers have never been that low ever since the revolution started. But as the Day went on, the numbers have increased again.By midday, they were a few hundreds thousands again. I went at around 1:00; search points moved a little since the numbers weren't as many as they were yesterday. It started raining, everyone was very happy, didn't mind getting wet and started to pray. Today there were also many Solidarity protests all over the world. Meanwhile in Egypt, some army officer came and asked people to go back home, they answered by chanting that they will not leave unless Mubarak leaves. So the officer just left. The army is being too neutral! Tanks decided to move today, to decrease the revolutionaries' space. They reacted by lying in front of the tanks to stop them from moving. There was an explosion in the lin...

Departure Friday, February 4th, 2011 (only a name)  I started my day filled with optimism, although the first piece of news I heard was that state TV spread rumors that Revolutionaries are leaving the squares today. I was filled with optimism because minutes later, I got to know that yesterday's sit-ins were bigger than any other day's. That even though it was still early, the numbers were increasing very quickly. Mubarak didn't leave today, but I'm still filled with optimism and positivity, I know he'll be leaving very soon. I know we're stronger than him, I'm sure that belief is stronger than any weapon. And I'm so proud to say "we", I'm so proud to be part of all this. Muslim Brotherhood said that they have no intentions for running for presidency, that they want a secular government and that they aren't trying to ride any waves. I'm starting to respect them. They're also the ones who organize all the searching at the entr...

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011 And the massacre is still going in Tahrir. Shafiq came out today and apologized for what happened, and is still happening, in Tahrir. He said he had no idea about this and that whoever is responsible for it will be punished. Meanwhile, people were still being killed. Thugs took all food and medicine at the entrances and threw them in the Nile. Then he said he's ready for a dialogue with the opposition. Baradei and Muslim Brotherhood said that they will not have a dialogue with any government representative. Shafiq has made a press conference after his speech and talked as if the only thing that happened was that Mubarak's supporters went to demonstrate, and those against him were already there. The only wrong thing that happened was that both protests were left to meet. He talked as if the numbers are equal, and that there were no thugs, no violence, no weapons, just two equally peaceful protests. I wonder if he really thinks anyone believes him! ...

I reached Tahrir with my family at around 1:30, there were already around 700,000 protesters there. Stages were put up, many were chanting, distributing flyers, hanging banners against the army or asking them which side they're taking. I wasn't searched and my ID wasn't even checked. I didn't see any army soldiers, and only a few central security. There were almost no MB at all in the square today. There were flags and chants for Libya, Yemen, Syria, Palestine and even Japan. Later, numbers increased to more than a million. There were many chants demanding the prosecution of Soroor, El Sherif and Azmy, and of course the Mubaraks. Other chants were for the attorney general, asking him to either take action or leave. And others were saying that Muslims and Christians will always be united, and that we want a secular and civil government. Some also asked PM Sharaf about the new protests' law. It was very hot today in Cairo, and even hotter in Tahrir. There were many ...