With the run-offs set to be between Mubarak's last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq and the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi, is there anything left of the Tahrir Square spirit?
As much as I love visiting Egypt as often as I possibly can, (and I do miss Cairo in particular more than I care to admit) my heart would grow heavy at the end of every visit.
Every time I go back and catch up with friends and all the people I met in Tahrir square back in July I'm convinced the Tahrir days are gone.
Nothing like Jan25
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Graffiti by Omar Fathy. Drawn on AUC wall on Mohamed Mahmoud street. Downtown, Cairo. Photo by Jonathan Rashad
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Fresh too was their discontent with how the army was running the country and the human rights violations that bagan to surface.
If the first half of 2011 was defined by 'Yasqot Yasqot Husni Mubarak' (Down, Down with Mubarak) the second half of the year was defined by 'Yasqot Yasqot Hokm EL Askar' (Down, Down with Military Rule).
'This is nothing like January!' I remember one protester telling me .. 'Back then the spirit was different.. We felt like one person , we all wanted one thing for 'him' to go'
'Now as you can see , they are all arguing and fighting.'
Same Tahrir - Different voices
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| Tahrir Square July 29th 2012 (Also known as Salafi Friday) |
The arguing varied from those saying the army should go back to the barracks and hand power to a civilian presidential council to others asking for better pay and working conditions.
Strikes were the flavour of the month (well the three or four months )
The following became obvious as the Arab Spring went from a hot summer into a chilled winter:
1- Despite being in the same place, those who went to Tahrir square for the second time spoke in many different scattered voices and demanded different things. Different enough to confuse everyone and diffuse energy. The chants may have been in unison-- The demands were not.
2-The revolutionary voices which defined Tahrir Square in January were drowned out by the political noise of new parties still finding their feet and established ones looking for deals to make and niches to carve in this new and very illusive political scene-- Specifically the Muslim Brotherhood who were quick to form a political pary - The Freedom and Justice.
3-The ruling Supreme Council of The Armed Forces - SCAF- had no idea how to politically handle the country and were operating on crisis management mode-- All the time.
4-The Islamists will rise to power. There's no stopping them - a) Because they had the initial backing of SCAF b) They've had a massive following for years of tireless rallying and a limitless budget and c) There was no obvious and equally powerful alternative.
5-The hard-line Islamists known as Salafis were rising to the surface at an alarming rate-- Where did they come from? Where were they all these years?
By the end of July the army and a large sector of Egyptians were fed up of Tahrir. The revolution went from being viewed as a catalyst for change to a hurdle in the face of production and economic prosperity.
'3agalet El Entag-- or -- The Wheel of Production' would be the term used to discredit any revolutionary motion. And to be honest there weren't many and they were never coherent .
On the first day of Holy month of Ramadan (1st August) the army cracked down heavily on Tahrir , taking all the tents down and arresting hundreds of protesters (including yours truly!)
Patterns of violence
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| February 5th 2012: Thousands of Ultras Ahlawy took to Mohamed Mahmoud Street outside Egypt's Interior Ministry to protest against what they called police camplaicency in Portsaid violence. Photo by Jonathan Rashad |
The pattern of violence would be repeated numerously in the months to come, the most prominent of which are:
- Mohamed Mahmoud Street
- Qasr El Aini Street outside Parliament
- Portsaid Stadium after an Al Ahly and Al Masry football game
- Abbasiya outside the Ministry of Defense
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| May 4th 2012 : Clashes outside the Ministry of Defense headquarters in Abbasiya. Photo by Jonathan Rashad |
"Khallas! What do they want" a taxi driver shouted when we passed through the neighborhood of Abbasiya two weeks ago. "The army said they'll go in June after the elections. What do these people want. They just want to burn the country. They were paid to destroy it. "'O'mala !" he told me -- "Agents"
It was a day after violence had erupted between protesters including Salafi supporters of Hazem Abu Ismail and the military police.
If there was a picture for 'state of emergency' Abbasiya would have been it on the day. Military police officers of different ranks dotted the place .. armorued vehicles parked back to back on both sides of the long street running through the neighbourhood.
Tension was high but the message from the military was clear.. 'We're in control. We'll go at the time we've said we will-- Not sooner'
"we ba3been?--Then what??"
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| Cairo Graffiti saying 'Now What my country?' on 26 July bridge in Zamalek |
The Abbasiya violence and presidential elections are the centre of discussion.
"Some people are angry at me for saying that Abbasiya was a stupid move" Adbullah said. "I get non-stop insults on twitter , but I stand by it! What the hell are they doing"
"I was there to support the protesters against those thugs!" Ahmed replied heatedly..
"Support who, Abdullah said-- "The Salafis , what have the Salafis ever done for you?" Abdullah said.
"And by the way --you all were chanting 'Down, Down with military rule' fine, so who do you want to rule now?" Abdullah asked.
Ahmed is silent for a moment then says-- "No one can answer that question"
"But Ahmed, some of the protesters were armed. Residents of Abbasiya said so themselves " I said.
"Yes." Ahmed replied
"You say they were attacked by thugs -- but it can also be Abbasiya residents fed up with people carrying arms on their doorstep-- besides isn't Abbasiya a SCAF supporters stronghold AND the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense?" I said.
I asked him."What were they thinking? -- that they could just storm the Ministry of Defense?"
Ahmed shrugged.
"I've always said there's no use taking to the streets now." Masry commented
Masry was a member of the security committees team whoch was responsible for securing the entrances to Tahrir Square. He, more than anyone elese at the table knew what it was like to spend days and nights on end in a sit-in.
"Ana Te3ebt-- I'm Tired"
"Khallas -- sit-ins are no use now. They're the wrong tactic. Everytime it's the same thing we take to the streets they screw us over , people die and we go back to our homes." Masry said."we ba3been?--Then what??" Masr asked.
No one really had the answer to that. The obvious one is to let the ballot boxes decide, I suggest.
"Why beacuse you trust those sons of bitches when they say elections will be fair?" someone says from the end of the table. He'd joined us later and I didn't really know who he was.
That's the beauty of those 'Tweet-ups' anyone can join. You're guaranteed to meet someone new everytime!
Another debate errupts on which of the presidential candidates is more incomeptent than the other.
(This very debate will become a distant memory very soon-- Those very people will find themeselves between Ahmed Shafiq's rock amd Mohamed Morsi's hard place")
Some people at the next table hear us talk. I overhear one of them saying -- ' I can't listen to this shit anymore-- let's move to another table' and they do.
Masry and his fiancee drive me to my hotel. On our way out everyone is in a thoughtful sombre mood.
Tahrir Sqaure was five minutes away from the cafe we were in but its spirit was a million miles gone.
As I get ready to go Masry asks me.. "Do you know how many friends I've lost in the last fifteen months. How many are in hospital? How many lost their eyes."
" Look at me Shaimaa! I've aged! I feel old! I shave my head so people won't see the grey hair!"
"I was in Tahrir day in and day out-- But now I want a life. I want to get married and have kids. I want to live. Ana te3ebt --I'm tired. Khallas!"
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