You're Not American

Manhattan, NY, USA

This morning, on my way back from a Pakistani wedding reception in New Jersey last night that was a delightfully glittering, delicious affair, I was doing my best to navigate through weekends on the subway. There are so many cancellations and track changes that it can be very hard to maneuver. I'm beginning to get the hang of it, but the poor Israeli tourist I met was having a much more difficult time working it out.

So there I was, trying with little success to get him to his cousin's house in Queens. "Where are you from?" he asks. "You're not American."
I protest that I am.
"But you have an accent that's not American," he insists.
"Oh, well, I've been living in Egypt and Jordan for the last few years," I offer.
He starts backing quickly away from me. "I'm your neighbor, but I speak Hebrew, not Arabic!" he calls back down the corridor at me.

I think that's the first time a complete and total stranger has ever been afraid of me!

Metro Logistics

Boston, Mass., USA

An alien, shown the ticket-taking systems of the New York or Boston subway systems versus Cairo's Metro would have to conclude that Cairo had the more efficient system. Half the ticket-taking machines in Cairo are marked as entrances, half marked as exits, and there are 2 or 3 times as many of them as in New York or Boston, where the ticket-checking machines are simultaneously both entrance and exit. Less efficient, right? Our alien would be wrong.

Put people in those machines, and the result will surprise our curious ET. In Cairo, delays and snarl-ups are common on your way in or out of the Metro, and I don't just mean the (frequent) instances of machines jamming and eating your card. But New Yorkers and Bostonians just slide right through their un-intuitive system. I didn't see a single snarl-up in more than a dozen rides on those subways in these last couple days!

Don't get me wrong. I think it's fantastic that Cairo has a Metro at all - the only subway system on the entire African continent! It was just my first real episode of culture shock on this return to the U.S.

A Different Souq

Khan al-Khalili, Cairo, Egypt

This evening, around 10pm, Mohannad and I went to Khan al-Khalili for a little last-minute souvenir shopping. Ordinarily Khan al-Khalili would be hopping. Six months ago when I was there with my cousin, the place was thronging with tourists. Two years ago when I visited as a tourist, only months after a deadly bombing right there in the market, you had to elbow your way through the crowd.

By 10:30 last night, the sidewalks were mostly rolled up. Virtually the only shops open were the ones with TVs around which Egyptians were crowded to watch Zamalek Football Club get their asses kicked.

This is the way of the world in a volatile region of absolute dictatorships and grinding oppression. Revolutions and other violence happens. Other kinds of major crime - and even most petty crime other than corruption - tend to be much lower in police states like Egypt, Jordan and Syria, but that doesn't make headlines like revolutions, terrorist attacks and American invasions. When such major events do happen, though, we have long memories.

A few months later, the tourists have begun to trickle back - probably more in the Sinai than in Egypt proper - but in such small numbers that the tourist economy is seriously suffering. Khan al-Khalili should never be so quiet that the empty alleyways fairly echo.

"The Look," But Different

Cairo, Egypt

My Egyptian friend Mohannad's been squiring me around Cairo for the last couple of weeks, and there's been a striking difference in my experience of the city. I still draw as much attention as I usually do, but it's a very different kind of attention.

When I walk alone or with other girls, we get stared at by everyone, cat-called, lots of "Welcome to Egypt!" and Borat-esque "Verrry niiice!", occasional groping, and sometimes even more explicit invitations. My favorite is the plaintive whine, "Why won't you answer me...?" which has got to be the stupidest-ever follow-up to a terrible pick-up line! (For a few precious weeks during and immediately after the revolution, we encountered almost none of that, but it was too good a utopia to last!)

In the last few days, walking around with Mohannad, I've really clued in to the differences between then and now. At first, it seemed like the harassment was gone entirely, but eventually I noticed that we were receiving just as much attention. Only this time, it wasn't just baldly appraising looks and frustrated glares at me, but also at Mohannad. What's he done to get a foreign girl like that to walk around with him? they seem to be thinking.

Back at the beginning of the year, I remember Heather and Kirsten talking about this same phenomenon, when they were seen out with their Arab husbands. If the Egyptian Revolution often felt like Martin Luther King, Jr.'s civil rights movement, Cairo sometimes feels like MLK Jr.'s South, where interracial relationships are rare, and draw a lot of uncomfortable attention.

Graffiti for Grades

Cairo, Egypt

From Art School Grafitti

Six months ago, you could be arrested and detained in Egypt for acts of graffiti. In fact, I met a guy who was. But like so many things in "the New Egypt," that's changed now. Starting with the slogans scribbled haphazardly on every conceivable surface during the revolution, and evolving to the murals painted across downtown during the post-revolutionary youth clean-up, a graffiti and street art culture is growing here in ways Egypt hasn't really seen before.

(The Arabic word for elephant is pronounced "feel.")

A wide range of graffiti has emerged, from beautiful Arabic calligraphy to simple humorous stencils.
Yasmeen introduced me to these beautiful murals painted around an art college in Zamalek. Perhaps not technically graffiti, these murals were designed, drawn to scale and then painted by groups of students. There are a lot of interesting themes and symbols here, but I'm particularly struck by the appearances of Facebook and Twitter, and the use of English.

"7rya" is SMS-speak for "freedom." Notice al-Jazeera's logo, too.

Sure, it's reductive and misleading to call the January 25th movement a social media revolution. Facebook, Twitter and the youth alone probably couldn't have toppled the regime. It does, however, reflect a reality of a certain segment of Egyptian youth who consider themselves citizens of the knowledge century, of a global marketplace of ideas and values. Where that leads them, leads Egypt ... Allahu 3alem [God knows]. All I know is that I can't wait to see where Egypt and the Middle East finds itself in ten years!

Palestinian Solidarity

Cairo, Egypt

Yesterday we received a message from the US Embassy in Cairo that included the following:

May 15 is the anniversary of the Palestinian-Israeli territorial demarcations and is considered to be a significant date in the current Palestinian political situation involving Gaza and the West Bank.

Several Egyptian political groups have announced plans to commemorate this anniversary by staging large-scale prayer and protest gatherings, characterizing Friday as Unity Day. On Friday after mid-day prayers, there are plans for a large demonstration in Tahrir Square, with a number of protesters planning to proceed to the Israeli Embassy near Cairo University and to the Israeli Ambassador’s residence in Maadi....

On Saturday, May 14, political activists plan to converge on Tahrir Square and begin a march toward Suez, where they will link with groups from other Egyptian cities and then continue their march toward the Rafah border crossing.

The embassy probably thought this rally - as opposed to the usual Friday protests - would be of particular interest to Americans in Cairo because it can be a very short couple steps from pro-Palestinian to anti-Israeli to anti-American. As Lara Logan knows well, it only takes one person shouting "Spy!" to make a whole crowd turn on you. It certainly gave me pause.

Fajr Prayers on Tahrir
I was woken up in the wee hours of this morning to the news that thousands had started a Facebook page since yesterday, planning to have pre-dawn prayers for Palestine on Tahrir Square, led by prominent Salafi sheikhs. Since it involved defying curfew, my friend didn't go, but video was on YouTube almost immediately showing at least a couple thousand praying

By the time I did go down to Tahrir Square today, it was the biggest crowds I've seen on Tahrir Square since mid-February, though I understand the crowds were as big on April 9th.

Mixed Messages
In light of the violence and church-burning on Wednesday, there had been a call to make today a rally for Egyptian unity between Christians and Muslims, and there were plenty of signs to that effect. However, calls for solidarity with Occupied Palestine largely drowned out pretty much everything else, and there were plenty of other causes, too.

"The people want the opening of the Rafah Crossing, permanently and completely."

"The people want peace and security,"
i.e. new faces in charge of the Egyptian security forces.

The flag of Bahrain on the left, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as Hitler.

This one's calling for reform of traffic laws!

...and many more!

"Egypt and Palestine, one hand."

Third Intifada?
What concerns me even more amid these protests and calls for a Third Intifada on Sunday, the 63rd anniversary of the first Palestinian refugee crisis, is the ambiguity about who is calling for these actions and why. Egyptians are calling for a Third Intifada in an excess of revolutionary zeal, and I have to admit to a wild hope that Palestinians might have their own success in the Arab Spring, but are Palestinians themselves calling for an uprising? If they are, I haven't heard.

In fact, a spokesman for Hamas said today that it was "not necessary" for Egyptians to come to Gaza. On the one hand, this could be a neat way of avoiding responsibility. On the other hand, though, Hamas has taken bold steps this month to form a coalition with Fatah and work politically and peacefully towards greater Palestinian unity. An Intifada now would undo everything that's been achieved in the last couple years.

(Thanks to Emma for the photos!)

Egyptian Sectarianism: How Bad Is It?

Cairo, Egypt

The Corniche is closed again in front of the Media Ministry because of protests, primarily by Egypt's minority Coptic Christians, in response to the worst sectarian violence in months that broke out few days ago in the working class Cairo neighborhood of Imbaba.

Word spread like wildfire in Imbaba that Abeer Talaat, a Christian woman, had converted to Islam, and when church officials found out, they had kidnapped her and held her prisoner. Angry mobs gathered, churches were burned, rocks were thrown, shots were fired, a dozen were killed, a couple hundred wounded, and all because of an unsubstantiated rumor. My colleague Andrew wrote about it in his blog immediately after, but more information is coming out every day about the incident and its causes.

I'm sorry to say, it's not an unprecedented occurrence in Egypt, but present circumstances make this particular case especially interesting and different in important ways.

History of Controversial Conversions

This image has been everywhere in Egypt in the last year. Her name is Camilla Shehata. She was born a Coptic Christian, but she famously converted to Islam last year, and was allegedly kidnapped and imprisoned in a monastery by the Coptic leadership. Hers is not the only story like this, but certainly the most famous face. During Ramadan last August, large protests were held by Islamist and/or Salafi groups outside the Husseini Mosque demanding Camilla's immediate release. They wanted her to go on state television and state personally and unequivocally her current religious preference, and to confirm or deny her incarceration by church officials. Although she posted a video on YouTube, it was not until the night of the Imbaba violence this week that she went live on television to tell her story. Throughout the intervening 9 months, the name Camilla Shehata has become a rallying cry for both Muslims and Christians, far beyond the significance of her individual story.

For Americans, it may be difficult to understand what the fuss is about. In present-day American culture is enshrined a very clear personal freedom of religious choice, and children turn away from their parents' religions all the time. In fact, for many, it's almost a right of passage. It can be a painful strain on family relationships, but it's not a matter of public scrutiny.

But imagine for a moment that you're a Native American in colonial or ante-bellum America, and your children are being lured and even kidnapped away by the government to schools where they are forced to perform the rituals and profess the beliefs of Christianity and forsake the rituals and beliefs of their ancestors. You're already a tiny minority population, and shrinking, in a society that's often hostile towards you, and where there is a blatant government policy to use religious conversion to obliterate your cultural uniqueness. How far will you go to preserve your religion, your individuality, your identity? The US Government has since apologized for what is now acknowledged to be cultural genocide, but it took America centuries to reach an uneasy compromise with the Native Nations among us.

Many Egyptian Christians feel that they are under the same kind of threat, while the Muslim protesters feel that they are bringing enlightenment to the damned. But then again, if it were merely a matter of religion, this would be a different story.

Flotsam of the Former Regime
Yesterday the Supreme Military Council announced further arrests in the case of the church burnings and violence in Imbaba. They have released information that at least one but perhaps dozens of the arrested individuals, both Copts and Muslims, were members of the former ruling party, the National Democratic Party (NDP), what's become known by a revival of an antiquated phrase faloul an-nizam [flotsam of the regime]. The man who first opened fire is allegedly the Coptic owner of a cafe next to the church. The assumption is that he did so to instigate some sort of sectarian conflict.

Rumors abound that former NDP members are trying to cause a fitna (sectarian civil war) between Muslims and Christians in Egypt, presumably in order to create the kind of chaos that could bring the NDP back to power. For years, former Pres. Mubarak used fear of sectarian violence, anti-Christian attacks, fundamentalist Islamist involvement and jihadi terrorism to hold on to power. "Support me," he told the West, "or have Muslim extremists ruling Egypt!" It seems that some remnants of the former regime are hoping that the same fears might bring them back to power again.

Kul-oh waHad! / One for All!

Gazeerat ad-Dahab, Nile River, Egypt

From Island of Gold

Rachel's been doing research on some political issues on this island in the Nile in the south end of Cairo. Today she took me along to see it. It was one of the best afternoons I've had in Egypt, sipping tea with villagers. I almost felt like I was back in Peace Corps!

The Island of Gold is a strange little anomaly in the middle of Umm ad-Dunya (the Mother of the World, aka Cairo). These low-lying islands used to disappear under the yearly floods, but since the construction of the Aswan Dam, they stay above water all year, and several generations have now lived there. But the government refuses to provide them water, electricity or sewage treatment. For the most part, it seems they may be okay with that. As one woman told us today, "We grow everything we eat. Some of our neighbors don't farm, so we give them what we grow. Kul-oh waHad! [We're all one.]"

On Their Own Protest Movement
The Ring Road (Cairo's Beltway) passes over the island, but there are neither on- nor off-ramps. It's just a place to stand. At one time, there was a stairway down, but it was too often used to steal goods and livestock from the island. For that reason, and because of their lack of resources, a number of years ago the islanders finally had enough. The entire island - men, women, children - climbed up that staircase and filled the bridge. They stopped traffic in both directions on one of the most important roads in Cairo. State Security forces were sent in to disburse the crowd, but according to the woman who told us the story, they were afraid to shoot at women and small children, and refused. (After what happened at the end of January, we were a little surprised at that.)

The government removed the staircase leading down to the island. There's still no public services on the island, but there haven't been more protests on that scale.

On the January 25 Revolution
People from the island did go down to Tahrir Square for the January 25 Revolution this spring. At the time, I imagine, they were as inspired as anyone. Now, however, they're not so happy. Every time the topic came up, there was nothing but disgust for the chaos that still reigns in many parts of Egypt: crime, lawlessness, and instability.

On the other hand, as Rachel noted, they've been building like crazy across the island, since a long-standing building ban on the island isn't being enforced any more.

Flora and Fauna of the Island
The logic for the building ban is that the islands have been named as nature preserves. Rachel asked, "But where's the nature?" I was inclined to agree, since nearly every possible inch of the island is being used for agriculture. But the longer we were there, the more I began to notice the wildlife, mostly birds. I saw Hoopoes, at least two kinds of egret, Pied Kingfishers, crows, fish, and a rust-red dragonfly.

And, miraculously, I made it 6+ hours in Egyptian villages with only one person asking "Why aren't you married yet?"

More Bird Shots

Cairo, Egypt

From Springtime in the New Egypt

I think this time I got a picture of an immature egret, not a bittern.

I also caught the elusive little moorhen on land, preening, and the mature egret with a snack.

These little interludes with waterbirds and my camera are the highlight of my long walks to and from class!

Ding, dong! The Warlord's Dead!

Cairo, Egypt

"I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure."

- Mark Twain

It's not that I'm happy Bin Laden the man is dead. I would have preferred a trial, public humiliation, and a long prison sentence in Guantanamo or some Saudi shit-hole of a prison ... but even as I write that I'm conflicted, because those words descend to a level of vindictiveness that I don't want to live by. In the words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Standing By the Side of Love:

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral,

begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.

Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.

Through violence you may murder the liar,

but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.

Through violence you may murder the hater,

but you do not murder hate.

In fact, violence merely increases hate.

So it goes.

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,

adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness:

only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

(Thanks to Carter for the quote.)

No, mostly I'm happy that Bin Laden the symbol and the excuse is dead. I'm listening to Talk of the Nation's coverage of Bin Laden's death on NPR, and one of their Middle East correspondents was talking about how Arabs see this as an end to a decade of collective punishments of the Arabs and other Muslims for the actions of Bin Laden and a few other fanatics. Afghanistan, Iraq, Bagram, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, extraordinary rendition, Pakistani drone attacks ... all of these look from the Middle East like punishment for 9/11, the USS Cole, the African embassy bombings, the first WTC bombing.... Now, finally, we've gotten rid of the man who, for the West, represents the deepest evil that Islam has to offer and too often blinds us to the great good that's present in Islam. True, Zawahiri and al-Masri are still out there, and hundreds of others bent on wreaking havoc on the West and Western installations in the East, but the biggest, baddest wolf is gone. It doesn't mean we automatically withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan, close Guantanamo and put it all behind us, but it's a powerful step in the right direction.

At the same time, I think it's important to put this event into context. While Americans are making a big deal out of this attack, Arabs have other things on their minds. Hundreds are dying in Syria every day, and in Libya, standing up to mad, relentless dictators. The outlook for Yemen is not much better. Egypt and Tunisia are busy rebuilding - or, I should say, building - nations they can be proud of. Jordanians, Palestinians, Iraqis, Bahrainis, Saudis, Lebanese ... they're all busy with extremely important and emotional domestic issues.

Osama Bin Laden is barely relevant here anymore, and the single desperate act of a fruit vendor in Tunisia deserves more credit for that than a 10-year, trillions-of-dollars manhunt. The youth of the Arab Spring are disciples of Rev. King and Václav Havel of Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution, with whom some of the April 6 Youth studied nonviolent resistance techniques. Even when they were being attacked with horses and Molotov cocktails on Tahrir Square, Egyptian protesters were chanting "Peaceful! Peaceful!" to hold themselves and each other to a philosophy that rejects violence, even in retaliation for violence. Disciples of Osama Bin Laden still exist, but a much larger portion of Arab youth have found a far more powerful and effective means of expression.

Easter Brunch

Cairo, Egypt

From Easter Brunch

Emma and Erin gave up sweets for Lent, and Erin fasted altogether for the last two days of Lent, so by Easter Sunday morning, they were starved for sugary treats! We took advantage of that as a chance to get together. In the tradition of the Potluck Crew, we made ourselves a potluck Easter brunch, heavy on the sweet stuff: cinnabuns, Danish, fruit pizza with frosting, baked oatmeal.... It was a feast worthy of the holiday!

Some Egyptian friends of Emma and Erin joined us, too, and we had long conversations about the revolution, about Egyptian universities, about our families that tend towards the intellectual and eccentric, and all kinds of other fascinating things. Also, we had a ton of fun playing with their little cousin. Erin gave him the toy gun Andrew gave her for Christmas. First he played "shoot the girls" and then we played "hide the ammo" and "hide the gun" and ultimately, "hide and seek." Hilarity ensued!

Free Cupcakes!
Yesterday, a knock on Emma's door revealed a delivery from NOLA Bakery, the fabulous cupcake shop in Zamalek ... a delivery she hadn't ordered and wasn't expecting. This morning, she got a call from the bakery, apologizing for delivering the cupcakes a day early. A gift called in by her parents in Vermont, the cupcakes were supposed to be in lieu of an Easter basket. So, to apologize, the cupcake shop sent her another half dozen cupcakes on Easter Sunday, free of charge! Yum!

Coptic Easter Mass

Cairo, Egypt

One of our program administrators invited a group of CASIC students to the man Coptic church in Giza with him this evening for Easter Mass. I love to visit services in other religions, and I'm collecting exotic Easters (at the Vatican with Pope John Paul II, on Mt. Nebo at sunrise), so I was quick to accept the invitation.

Like a traditional Greek Orthodox mass, it's a long affair, starting at 7pm and going till at least midnight (we lasted almost 3 hours), and people come and go throughout. Women sat on the right, men on the left. Some women wore veils draped symbolically over their heads, many of them embroidered with crosses or images of Jesus or the Virgin Mary, but as in modern Catholicism, covering one's hair has become optional.

I wish I had understood more, but most of the chanting was done in Coptic. Like modern Hebrew, Coptic is a language revived from old texts, the Rosetta Stone, and a lot of guesswork about its pronunciation and more mundane vocabulary that didn't make it into written form. I understood at one point from the text on TV screens around the sanctuary that they were praying for the martyrs of the January 25 Revolution and their families. The rest was pretty, but not particularly meaningful.

The Bible readings I definitely did recognize, because they were read in plain Arabic, and were about the Virgin and the Magdalene opening the tomb and finding Jesus' body gone, and then being spoken to by the ascended Jesus.

By far the most dramatic part was the blessing of the Host. The lights were turned off all across the sanctuary, and the curtains were drawn between the priest at the altar and the congregants in our pews. By that time, incense hung heavy in the air. There was a great deal of chanting and singing, and then a great crescendo as the curtains parted, the lights came up, torches were lit in the courtyard outside, and the Host was paraded with all its robed attendants 3 times around the entire sanctuary.

At one point, there was a good deal of commotion as a number of military personnel and men in suits were ushered in. During the sermon, also in Arabic, we learned that these were representatives of the Giza Governorate, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the local division of State Security, and the Egyptian Army. The Army got resounding applause from the congregants. The sermon talked about Egyptian unity, and standing with our Muslim brothers, and honoring the sacrifices of the revolutionaries. Apparently we were at the most important church in Giza.

Good Friday on Mount Sinai

St. Katherine's, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt

From Good Friday on Mount Sinai

It was long and cold and may have given me bronchitis ... but it was definitely worth it! This wasn't my first hike up to the top of Mount Sinai, where Moses spoke to God - the only man in history to do so directly! - and received the 10 Commandments ... and then hiked all the way back down just to find his people worshiping some golden cow they'd made...! Let me tell you, if it had been me, I'd have done more than break a couple stone tablets!
I mean, granted, they'd been walking from the Nile Delta, which is 10+ hours by tour bus, and a whole lot farther on foot! But still, Mount Sinai is no little hill, and talking to God has got to be frightening (I mean, even the angels have to preface every encounter with "Be not afraid!"), so I can only imagine Moses' frustration to find the Chosen People distracted by a bit of bling!

my classmates and fellow pilgrims, Emma and Erin

It was a great hike with excellent company, though. Emma and Erin are always saucy companions. We picked up this nice Japanese guy at the hotel who is studying Hebrew in Beersheva; we didn't manage much conversation with his limited English, but he was a quick, uncomplaining hiker. Our guide Mohammad was just home for a few days on leave from the army, and very pleased to say that he had only a month left. He's been stationed in the coastal city of Alexandria, which was a much more violent place than Cairo during the Revolution, during which time his wrist was sprained while he was part of a human chain of soldiers holding protesters in place. He also showed me a nice little video of the girl he'll be getting engaged to later this year. All in all, he was exactly the right amount of chatty and friendly, and not at all smarmy, and he got us an extra blanket to ward off the cold at the top, and a perfect place to watch the sunrise.
Unfortunately, St. Katherine's Monastery was closed for Good Friday celebrations. Their little museum has the most extensive collection of pre-Iconoclasm religious icons in the world. See, the tribe in this area was charged by the Prophet Mohammad himself to protect the monks of the monastery from any and all attackers, so when the Iconoclasm happened and people came to destroy the icons brought by pilgrims from all over Christendom, the Muslim Bedouin kept them out, and not an icon was harmed. I saw the museum when I visited the Sinai with a Peace Corps colleague back in 2005, but I would have liked to see it again.

A Lawyer And Everything!

Cairo, Egypt

I've started going to the grocery around the corner more frequently. They carry fresh milk and most of my other staples, and they're open after dark unlike the supermarket I used to frequent. The cashier there is enchanted by an American who speaks Arabic as well as I do, and he always engages me in conversation.

Tonight he was very pleased to my attention the prosecution of former president Mubarak. "There's going to be a real trial, with a judge, and they've given him an attorney. They're giving him his human rights!" As if to say, after all the years he denied us our human rights, we're better people than that.

Then he said, getting serious, "You know, America talks all the time about human rights, but they don't really mean it, do they? As soon as they want something from a leader like Mubarak, there's no more talk of human rights." I agreed with him, and clearly that wasn't the response he was looking for. "Really? You know this?" Of course, I agreed, governments are inherently selfish institutions. "And Americans know this?" he wanted to know.

Of course, that's where the conversation gets tricky, isn't it? My friends and family know that America is not the paragon of democratic virtues it claims to be, that it operates both domestically and abroad in ways that don't always serve the rights and interests of the people effected. Jon Stewart's audience knows this, and those who listen to NPR and watch PBS and stream al-Jazeera. Unitarian Universalists know this, and MoveOn.org members know this, and Peace Corps Volunteers see this.

But do "Americans" know that their government, for its own self-interests, is propping up evil despots and oil barons and CIA stooges and oppressive states who are willing to torture for the US Government? How do I answer that question?

It begs another question, too, that's been on my mind for a couple weeks now. When I go back to America, how do I answer the inevitable questions about what "Egyptians" or "Jordanians" or, worse, "Arabs" and "Muslims" think about America, about democracy, about freedom, about terrorism, about revolution...? As if any of those terms represented a uniform monolithic entity that had one opinion about anything!

Meanwhile....
They've been chanting on Tahrir Square since last night. I don't know what they're chanting, but there are a lot of them, and they're very enthusiastic, not about to back down until they've got everything they demand.

Rewind, Play Again

Cairo, Egypt

Sometimes you have to take a step backwards to go forwards.

As I walked across Tahrir Square at noon today on my way to class, I felt like the clock had been wound back a month or more. Starting about two blocks back from Tahrir Square were roadblocks of cinderblocks, metal table frames, 4X4s and other "found items," as it were. They seemed to have been erected by the neighborhood watch committees, directing traffic away from Tahrir Square, because there were no police in sight.

Ahead of me on the edges of Tahrir Square, those roadblocks had been reinforced with concertina wire, making it hard to know whether they'd been set up by the protesters or the military.

I was a little hesitant to go forward, remembering Saturday morning's gunfire, but I'd decided to treat myself to a Hardees Jalapeno Chicken sandwich to break a 100-pound note, and I had my patriotic ribbon on my backpack, so I kept going. Unfortunately for me, Hardees had learned a hard lesson in the 25 Jan Revolution when all their windows and been smashed and the restaurant torn apart. When they rebuilt, they installed brand new metal shutters to pull down over their shop windows, and the place was buttoned up tight at noon today.

There were only a few hundred people there, mostly clustered near Talat Harb Street and the KFC (where I later found out they were painting a mural of the military attacking protesters) and out of my way across the square. There was no military or police in sight. It seemed pretty safe, so I strode across what had become, for all intents and purposes, a giant pedestrian plaza.

Vehicle burnt by protesters during bloody clashes with armed forces, Tahrir Square, 9 April, 2011.  Soldiers had forcibly dispersed protesters leaving two killed, 71 injured. (Al-Masry Al-Youm)

As I got to the Nile side of the square, I saw a couple burnt-out police transports, which took me straight back to the violent early days of the revolution. But typically enough for the spirit of the New Egypt, the scorched hulks had been put to good use. They were filled to the ceilings with plastic garbage bags full of detritus from the weekend's protests.

Between Tahrir Square and Kasr al-Aini Bridge, cars were parked bumper-to-bumper and people were trickling onto the square in fours and sixes and pairs.

An hour ago, when I came home from class, we skirted around Tahrir Square. I was feeling uncertain about what we might find on Tahrir Square now that schools are out and some businesses are beginning to close for the day. In the streets around the square, police were directing traffic away from the makeshift barriers extending a few blocks away from the square. I glimpsed tanks around the Interior Ministry, but I couldn't say that they haven't been there all along since 28 Jan.

From all directions, people were walking towards the square. It's going to be an interesting week.

Meanwhile, let me recommend some reading from Sandmonkey, who is emerging as one of the premier bloggers in Egypt, on 7 Popular Myths About the Revolution.

Gunshots

Cairo, Egypt

It started around 3am. At first I thought it was fireworks. There had been fireworks all over downtown Thursday night while my classmates and I were celebrating Sarah's birthday on top of the Happy City Hotel, and it's a sound I certainly got used to in my years in Amman.

Then I realized that I could still hear chanting and the distant roar of a crowd coming from Tahrir Square. There hadn't been crowds on Tahrir at 3am since I got back from Jordan, and even though the curfew has been eased a bit more, it's still in effect from 2am-5am, and usually pretty well enforced here in the downtown.

Gunfire, some of it semi-automatic, waxed and waned through the next couple hours. There wasn't much to see from where we live, though at one point early on my roommates saw several hundreds of people come flooding across Falaky Square, running from Tahrir. Al-Jazeera was busy talking about how the US Congress avoided a government shut-down, and Twitter only revealed to me that "protesters are being cleared from the square" amid sounds of gunfire and possibly teargas, and these videos by YouTube user Kikhote:

After the first call to prayer near 5am, things went quiet again.

This noon, I can still hear chanting on Tahrir Square and traffic is unusually light on Tahrir Street in front of our apartment. The neighborhood watch is out again. Reuters and Al-Jazeera report that some but probably not all of the military officers who joined the protests last night were arrested by Central Security and the military, who had been promising court martial for any officers joining protests last night. Also, a video has emerged of the officers' demands:

Their demands include: dissolution of the military government, appointment of a civil governing council, removal of Tantawi from leadership of the country, prosecution of the "symbols of corruption" (Mubarak, al-Adly, etc.), and of those who killed protesters during the revolution.

'Copters and Cops

Cairo, Egypt

Helicopters have been circling downtown all day today, and when the wind is right you can hear the cacophony of voices down the street on Tahrir Square.

I'm under the weather and haven't gone out to see for myself, but my German roommate says there's a bigger crowd than (the new) usual gathered on the square. They're protesting a hodgepodge of things on behalf of Egyptians and the greater so-called Arab Spring: against military control, in support of the budding Syrian revolution, against Gaddhafi, for the release of political prisoners, death to Israel, support for Palestine, against the Emergency Laws ... you name it.

Al-Jazeera English is reporting that the protesters are concentrating on a call for Mubarak and his cronies to be put on trial, and for the military to hand over power to a civilian council.

There's a rumor that there will be 1,300 officers coming sometime today to march against abuses by the State Security, with al-Jazeera reporting that any military personnel participating in today's protests will do so under threat of court martial.

Al-Masry al-Youm (Egypt Today), English Edition, is reporting that tens of thousands are marching on what they've dubbed the "Friday of Cleansing" and calling for a renewed groundswell of protests until the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces demonstrates a significant commitment to fulfilling the demands of the original January 25 Revolution.

My classmate Yasmine has posted pictures on Facebook from today's protests that include several banners from unions demanding a new Labor Union Law and more protection of their right to organize (take that, Teaparty!), independence and freedom of expression for the ancient and revered Islamic institution of al-Azhar University, independence of the judiciary, and more.

Some Fridays are like this. Sometimes there's a unifying cause like Muslim-Coptic unity following events of sectarian violence, or opposition to the constitutional amendments in the next day's referendum. Other Fridays, without specific events to focus their attention, people come to Tahrir Square on behalf of whatever cause is dear to them, or whatever slogans they think will make a splash. Today is one of the latter, except that the numbers seem to be unprecedented for this sort of a free-for-all Friday rally. As I've said before, they sometimes seem drunk with people power in the New Egypt.

As usual, when things get interesting again, I find myself wondering if they'll turn off the Internet again, but I think Egypt has learned its lesson there. As one protester put it, "When your government shuts down the Internet, shut down your government!"

It's a Bird, It's a.... Yeah, it's a bird.

Cairo, Egypt

Who needs to join a gym? I spent three hours walking and doing stairs today just getting to and from my classes, and every muscle below the hips is telling me I earned that brownie I had with lunch!

From Springtime in the New Egypt

All that walking is not without its little joys, though. Along the way, I saw this bird in my usual birdwatching spot. I've never seen one like it before. I love the colors. A little research leaves me guessing that it's a White-Throated Kingfisher.

Raindrops Are Falling On My Head....

Cairo, Egypt

There's nothing quite so wonderful as the smell of rain. Even above the dusty, decaying, dismal odors of Cairo, the smell of rain manages to take over the air, wake me from a dismal day. Thick, gray clouds have been hanging low over Cairo since yesterday, but I haven't paid them much attention. Cairo never gets more than a few minutes of desultory little showers every now and then ... or so I thought!

Not, in fact, the case. Today we've got real rain. Not just a few piddling drops, but an all-out, blustering, thunder-and-lightning rainstorm! It's thrilling, invigorating, and I'm not the only one to think so!

I make it a habit, when living in the Middle East, to go out and dance in the first rain of the year ... since it comes so seldom! Okay, I didn't exactly dance on our balcony, but I did go out and stand in the rain, and I wasn't the only one drawn to the windows. I had no idea that every apartment in the horrendously ugly building across the street is actually occupied. Even during the revolution, only two or three apartments showed hesitant faces at the window. Today, every single apartment raised a shutter, opened a window, stepped out on the balcony, all smiling ... though perhaps none so broadly as I!

Let me tell you, when I get home in May, the very first time it rains, I'll be dancing in it till my lips are blue!

Add that to the little tremor we felt from Friday's earthquake in Crete, and it's been an exciting weekend!

Ah, Cairo! Just when I think I've got you figured out....

Springtime in the New Egypt

Cairo, Egypt

From Springtime in the New Egypt

The first thing I loved about Cairo was its flora. After all that time in Jordan, it was so refreshing to live with towering old trees and big bright hibiscus flowers and all sorts of other greens and colors. Now that the gardens of Zamalek line my route to school and are awash in spring blooms, I've been carrying my camera with me everywhere I go.

My route to class also follows along the banks of Zamalek Island over looking the gardens that line the Nile. In particular are some shallow waters, docks and moorings under the 15 May Bridge that attract a selection of water birds that I've been stalking for weeks now.

Now, not only is it springtime in the literal sense of the word, but commentators are beginning to speak of an "Arab Spring" as a collective term for the rash of revolutions across the region. In that spirit, let me also share my images of the Egyptian Spring, as portrayed by the youth in murals across downtown Cairo.