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.

ANNOUNCING TAHRIR DOCUMENTS

I'm pleased to share this press release for a project I and many of my CASIC colleagues have been participating in here in Cairo.

ANNOUNCING TAHRIR DOCUMENTS

We are pleased to announce the launch of Tahrir Documents, an ongoing project to archive and translate printed discourse from the 2011 Egyptian revolution and its aftermath. The website presents a diverse collection of materials — among them activist newspapers, personal essays, advertisements, missives, and party communications —- in complete English translation alongside reproductions of the Arabic-language originals. The site will be updated regularly, frequently, and indefinitely as new writings appear in response to post-revolution developments, and as we locate earlier materials.  

The assembled documents address a variety of contemporary concerns including Muslim-Christian relations, constitutional amendments, moral conduct, revolutionary strategy, and the women's rights movement. Some of the highlights of the collection:

• A defense of protestors' continued sit-in at Tahrir Square released on March 9th, the same day on which their encampment was destroyed by thugs
• Guidelines for personal behavior after the revolution
• Numerous denunciations of sectarian violence
• The announcement of new political parties and presidential candidates.
• Numerous articles debating the constitutional amendments passed last week  
• Selections from Gurnal and Revolutionary Egypt, activist newspapers founded after the revolution    

We invite you to examine the the website, and to return regularly as we post communications and commentaries from the post-Mubarak era. We believe the archive indicative of the diversity of political thought and action in contemporary Egypt, and hope that this diversity is of interest to anyone following the country's transforming situation. The archive is searchable. 

Tahrir Documents is the work of volunteer translators in Egypt and abroad. It is not affiliated with any of those authors or groups whose works appear in translation on the website, nor with any organization foreign or domestic.

For more information please write to the editorial board at tahrirdocuments@gmail.com. We invite the submission of materials for translation and publication on the website.

Regards,

The Editors and Staff of Tahrir Documents

 www.tahrirdocuments.org / tahrirdocuments@gmail.com / twitter.com/tahrirdocuments

A Little Further Up the Rift Valley....

Cairo, Egypt

After reviewing an essay assignment for which I assessed the effects of geography on Jordan's economy, my professor asked me why I thought there hadn't been widespread protests in Jordan. Naturally, I was all to happy to explicate. In fact, it's a question I've discussed before in the last month, and I thought I'd share a few thoughts on the matter.

I think it's obvious to most Jordanians, both in the cities and the villages, both the educated elite and the less educated middle and lower classes, that reform actually is happening in Jordan at a fairly rapid pace, and that the king is the primary impetus behind it. They may have their critiques about what the king pushes, how and why, but they can see positive change happening from year to year.

Since King Abdullah II came into power, there have been drastic ongoing improvements in education at all levels, with a focus on an IT economy, and Jordanian Internet entrepreneurs have been among the most successful in the Arab world. The national debt has decreased, the salaries of teachers have more than doubled in the last two years, tourism and medical tourism have steadily increased despite regional instability, and many other factors of economic health have shown obvious evidence of improvement. Freedom of expression continues to expand, and Jordanian bloggers are award-winning. There has also been significant development in infrastructure.

In addition, King Abdullah II has demonstrated repeatedly that he listens to the concerns of his people, and acts decisively to address those concerns whenever possible. I don't know anyone in Jordan who really believes that a significant segment of Jordanians have any intention of being rid of the king that has done so well by them.

I think it is also worth noting that in a kingdom with relatively low oppression, like Jordan and Morocco, it is neither a surprise nor an imposition when the son of that king is next in line to lead the country. The effect of Presidents Ben Ali in Tunisia, Mubarak in Egypt, Gaddhafi in Libya and Saleh in Yemen all conspiring to put their sons in the presidency after them should not be underestimated in determining the reasons for their respective ousters and attempted ousters.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....
When I arrived at St. Andrews to teach my Arabic class for Somali refugees, the education coordinator said to me, "So the Interior Ministry's burning down, is it?"
"What?" I asked. "That's two blocks from my apartment, and I've just come from there! How could I not have noticed?" If I'd known, I might not have left home for fear that my road would be blocked off when I came home.
So we turned to the local paper's Website and found this stunning image. Apparently Interior Ministry employees were also protesting downtown today, and I had no idea, holed up taking classes and doing homework in the AUC dorms in cozy Zamalek - an island in more ways than one!

The Center Party

Cairo, Egypt

Today in our Islamic Political Movements class, we had a special guest, Dr. Tareq Malt of the al-Wasat Party, or Center Party, one of the few "opposition" parties allowed under the Mubarak regime, and therefore one of the best-prepared players in Saturday's referendum and the elections coming up in late May.

The Center: from liberation ... to reconstruction

The al-Wasat Party formed in 1996 when about 20 leaders of the younger generation in the Muslim Brotherhood differed on political matters and broke away. The Muslim Brotherhood seeks an Islamic state that protects women and religious minorities but excludes them from full participation in public life. The al-Wasat Party, however, promotes a secular political system inspired by Islamic values, which are after all the same values on which Judaism and Christianity, and therefore liberalism are built. (There are obvious parallels to be drawn here with the Justice and Development Party that has been so successful in Turkey.)

They affirm the right of any Egyptian, regardless of religion, race or gender, to achieve even the presidency of the republic. They promote freedom of expression, human rights including women's rights, and full social and political equality of all Egyptians. They support a free market economy so long as there are regulations in place to protect the rights of the poor. Above all, they promote education as the surest path towards development of the economy and standard of living in Egypt. The regime of Hosni Mubarak, said Dr. Malt, blamed Egypt's problems on overpopulation, but that's a faulty analysis. With proper education, Egypt could exploit their human, historical and natural resources much more effectively, and this is the key to improving Egypt's economy.

Naturally, as a teacher by trade, I jumped on the idea of education as the key to development. I believe this wholeheartedly, and I've written about it for graduate school, so I know that one of the fundamental challenges to education reform in Egypt is financial. The Ministry of Education simply doesn't have the money to provide a living wage to teachers, which makes teaching a job of last resort and consequently of very low quality. When I asked Dr. Tareq how he proposed to solve the financial crisis in education, he said, "Without corruption, we'll have all the money we need!" There are so many problems with that statement! For starters:
1) Assuming that corruption will simply disappear post-revolution is incredibly naive.
2) Ending corruption doesn't guarantee the appearance of that money in public coffers.

In general, this was the problem with his presentation, and frankly with the platform and program of the al-Wasat Party in general. They have high, idealistic aspirations to find a "third way" between Islamism and liberal democracy, at least on paper, but they don't have a sufficiently detailed plans to achieve them.

al-Wasat Party and the Amendments
I think we were all most disappointed in al-Wasat Party's stance on the constitutional amendments approved by referendum on Saturday. The party supported a "yes" vote on the amendments, as a way of returning stability to the nation. Like many of the youth movements and other liberal parties, most CASAween believe that the constitutional amendments are the most powerful weapon of the counter-revolution, an effort to block real democratic change. Al-Wasat Party, on the other hand, believes that approving the amendments is necessary to provide the necessary political infrastructure to write a new constitution, which will be the first order of business of the new Parliament later this year. Of course, as one of the few political parties with an established apparatus before the revolution, the al-Wasat Party has a great deal to gain from a continuation of the former system and the accelerated timetable of 3 elections (Lower House, Upper House and presidential) and 2 referendum (on the constitutional amendments, and then the new constitution) in 12 months.

Dr. Tareq on the Revolution
What interested me most was his editorializing on the Egyptian Revolution. It was not Egypt's elites, intellectuals, politicians or Islamists who caused the revolution to succeed, he said (even if elites and intellectuals may have started it). It was the apolitical families and the poor who brought the real power to the revolution when they came out late in the second week of protests. They're the real power behind the revolution, and they're the ones to whom the New Egypt is accountable.

Moreover, he said, "Don't be afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood!" They were not the power behind this revolution, and that they represented less than 20% of participation in the revolution. (I don't know how he calculates that number, so we'll call it opinion.)

He also noted that "unlike some of those other parties" who were against the revolution at first, and then for the revolution when it was politically expedient, the al-Wasat Party was with the revolution from the very first ... even before! The founders of the Kefaya movement, he claimed, were members of al-Wasat Party, and the party has supported all the youth movements of recent years, and will continue to work with youth as the New Egypt emerges.

Then again, he's a politician, so take that as you will!

Voting In Egypt

Cairo, Egypt

Congratulations to my Egyptian-American classmate Yasmine, and to all my other Egyptian friends who voted today in Egypt's referendum on the military's proposed amendments to the constitution. Whatever the outcome, it's wonderful to know that your voices are being heard!

No to the Amendments!

Cairo, Egypt

Today, when I took my Friday stroll through the protests with Emma and Erin, there was pretty much only one message being delivered: No to the constitutional amendments!

From No To The Amendments!

I also read today about the Association for the Protection of the Revolution, an umbrella activist organization from Port Said doing great things to sustain the power of a peaceful revolution in one of its most violent centers.

Foreign Interference

Cairo, Egypt

There was a protest of mostly women in black headscarves and big trendy sunglasses on the sidewalk in front of the Embassy of Bahrain in Zamalek today as I was walking home.

From Bahrain Embassy, Zamalek

What's happening in Bahrain is in some ways the most disturbing of all the uprisings in the Middle East. Until Sunday, those uprisings were domestic affairs. Financial assets have been frozen in foreign accounts, and plenty of rhetoric has flown about concerning the rest of the world's recommendations to the leaders of Algeria, Egypt, Yemen.... After weeks of discussing it and making proclamations, no country has even stepped in militarily to stop the atrocities in Libya.

On Sunday, the Saudi army rolled across the border into Bahrain to assist the police there in crushing the opposition protests. By Tuesday there was blood in the streets. It doesn't bode well for the future of democracy in the oil-rich Persian Gulf states. The interests of oppressive Arab governments in that region are too deeply entrenched to allow free expression, and too essential to the global economy for the international community to intervene.

"In Order to Form a More Perfect Union"

Cairo, Egypt

Tonight Erin and I went to a meeting of the Popular Coalition for Reform, one of the many fledgling political organizations just beginning to find their feet. The topic was "Why we oppose the amendments to the constitution."

The basic argument boils down to this: The constitution was written under Pres. Anwar Sadat to support a military intelligence state, and expanded under Mubarak to lock in that dictatorship. Amending that dictatorial constitution is not reform; it's a cosmetic change to the process of presidential elections that doesn't alter the fundamental oppression of the constitution or the political system.

They point to the banner that went up on Tahrir Square in the last days of January, listing the main demands of the revolutionaries, and a new constitution was on that list, as was a reform of the Parliament and political party system. These amendments, written by a council formed by the military that put the dictatorship in power in the first place, and pushed through so quickly on the heels of the revolution, is an attempt to placate Egyptian revolutionaries without any substantive changes.

All of that I'd heard before. The most energetic speaker, however, had a slightly different angle that I hadn't heard before:

This, he claimed, was Egypt's first broadly based popular revolution since Moses led the Israelites away from the the pharaoh. (Some would argue that the 1919 Revolution was also a broadly based popular revolution, but I don't know enough to quibble about the details.) Unlike the military coups that brought Nasser and Sadat to power, this was a grassroots revolution supported by intellectuals, the working classes, the poor, women, students ... all walks of life. As such, the creation of a new government should not be left to the military, but should include the participation of all those parties that demanded the reform. He quoted the Constitution of the United States: "We the people, in order to form a more perfect union." He quoted a similar line from the constitution of the French Revolution (in French, so I didn't quite catch it). He quoted Rousseau, saying that this Egyptian Revolution also called for a tabula rasa, a clean slate on which to draft a new constitution, a new political system such as Egypt has never seen.

But however impassioned the words of the new revolutionary parties, with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafis and al-Azhar University supporting the amendments and the recommendations of the Supreme Military Council, there's still a great deal of doubt as to whether the amendments will truly be rejected.

It Was Fun Until....

Fayoum, Egypt

From Fayoum

My old roommate Pip always raved about Fayoum as her weekend getaway of choice for recovering from the stresses of Cairo life, so I was excited when Noel organized a trip there for a dozen CASAween plus Heather's family. Fayoum is the first manmade oasis, built by the pharaohs, and was sacred to the crocodile god, so we began by visiting a pyramid.

This pyramid was once covered with limestone, but the Ptolemies pirated the good stone for their own structures in the later dynasties. All that remains now is the mud brick core of the pyramid.

Unfortunately, when we went into town to see Fayoum's famous waterwheels, we also picked up a police escort. Any group of Americans larger than 10 is supposed to have one "for security." From a tourist's perspective, though, if you can avoid it, do! We spent all afternoon arguing with the police escort, who insisted that it was only "safe" to eat at the most expensive restaurants along the lake (where they could get a free meal for their trouble) and it pretty much ruined the rest of the day!

Egyptian Unity

Cairo, Egypt

From Unity March

The cross and the crescent raised together!

It was one of the slogans of the 1919 Revolution in Egypt against the British. Finally tiring of the British Empire's time-honored tradition of "divide and conquer," Muslims and Christians rose up together to throw off the imperialist yoke. Past is future in the New Egypt. In the wake of so-called Muslim-Christian violence this week, which some people have attributed to remnants of the former State Security apparatus, one of the focuses of this week's Friday protest is Christian-Muslim unity.

No to the constitutional amendments!

We're also only 8 days away from a referendum on amendments the Supreme Military Council is proposing to the constitution, and protesters on Tahrir are adamantly opposed to amending the constitution that kept Hosni Mubarak in power for 30 years. They will only accept the drafting of an entirely new constitution, they say. It has been their demand since the very first week of the protests.

One Lord: Muslim, Christian, one people. Destroy churches, destroy homes, [but] the voice of the Copts will not die.

Ten minutes' walk down the Nile, Coptic Christian Egyptians have been protesting for days. They're demanding respect for their rights as a minority, and insisting on a secular state. They're not the only ones. I saw plenty of Salafis there, with their distinctive beards, skullcaps and high-water thobes, bearing banners that called for Muslim-Christian unity, supporting the argument that Salafis were probably not behind the sectarian violence of this past week.

As we came back to Tahrir, we walked past a group of youth painting a banner along the edge of the street.

Behind them, on the fence of a construction site, they were displaying artwork about the revolution.

We also picked up a lot of revolutionary literature and other swag!

What's a Salafi?

Cairo, Egypt

Last night there was an altercation in Mokattam, aka Garbage City, a largely Christian suburb of Cairo. It was reported in the paper that a mob of Salafi Muslims attacked some Christians. When Andrew mentioned this headline in our class on Islamist political movements, it changed the course of the whole lesson.

Our teacher was adamant that it couldn't have been Salafis who attacked those Copts, and I found myself convinced by his arguments and what I know about Salafis. They're academics, scholars of Islam and followers of a literal interpretation of the Quran and the Prophet Mohammad. They're men who know not only exactly what the Quran and the Prophet say, but also understand the context in which those things were said. They understand that Islam is an Abrahamic religion that protects Christians and Jews, that advocates peace whenever possible, and abhors violence except in self defense. They are pacifists to a broad extent.

Moreover, they do not participate as a group in Egyptian politics. That is to say, they are not a united voting block behind any one party. A few vote with the Muslim Brotherhood, some with the National Party, some with the Wafd Party. Others don't participate at all in the corrupt, immoral, un-Islamic government that has made a practice of oppressing Egypt.

The common explanation for this week's violence is that the state newspapers' use of the term "Salafism" is a smoke screen. Nearly everyone I've asked is of the same opinion: the so-called "Salafis" attacking Christians could only be thugs of the old security apparatus. This conclusion is fueled by the evidence uncovered during the days of the revolution that the church bombing in Alexandria was, in fact, orchestrated by the former head of State Security. It became evident during the revolution that reports of a "sectarian conflict" between Muslims in Christians in Egypt was not a reality on the ground, but rather a divide-and-conquer tactic of the Mubarak regime.

The Slow Slog Forward

Cairo, Egypt

Sometimes it seems that Egyptians have just gone mad with people power. The handicapped are camped out on Kasr al-Aini Street, tents have gone back up on Tahrir for various causes, there's a solidarity demonstration of some sort in front of the Arab League every day, and different workers are on strike every day. And over and over, in taxis and stores and metro cars and coffee shops, you hear the same refrain: "There's no more government! There's no more order!" While a few Egyptians are mad with people power, most of them are slowly wearying of constant disruption by protesters.

Here's what I think is going on. 6 of April and other organizations of young people have very clear insight into the democratic process. I remember how impressed I was on 1 February when the pro-Mubarak supporters first started to appear. Everywhere I went, I heard pro-democracy protesters engaging Mubarak's supporters (or trying to) in quiet exchanges of opinion. They demonstrated a clear understanding that real democracy is about dialogue with the opposition. Others used tactics from Balkan nonviolent resistance movements like hugging policemen and chanting for national unity to show that they wanted respectful discourse with the regime and its security apparatus.

What these youth movements didn't have was hierarchy or leadership. They did this deliberately. It was all part and parcel of their message that despotism and the cult of personality wasn't getting Egypt anywhere they wanted to be. Perhaps they even have the humility to recognize that while they were able to topple their government, they don't have the skills or experience to constitute a new one. Community organizing is one thing, but not all community organizers are Barack Obama! Unfortunately, no one has yet stepped up who does have the skills and experience, or even the charisma to lead the New Egypt.

What we're seeing instead is evidence of the part of democracy that Egypt hasn't quite wrapped its head around yet. Yes, demonstrations and nonviolent resistance are powerful tools to end a policy, law, institution or regime you don't like. That, however, is the easy part of democracy. It's where we go from here that's difficult, and a hundred people pitching tents on Tahrir Square is not going to build institutions, write laws, implement policies or in other words, govern the most populous country in the Arab world!

In 2010, hardly anyone imagined that people power could topple thirty years of dictatorship and megalomania in just 18 days. In 2011, that failure of imagination has made a quagmire of the already chaotic downtown of the Mother of the World.

Inter-Taxi Chit-Chat

Cairo, Egypt

I don't ride around in taxis in America, so I don't know if this is just taxi driver culture, or specific to Arab taxi driver culture, but there are lots of conversations that go on between the open windows of taxis stuck in traffic. Especially Cairo traffic, and especially in the complete disaster that surrounds Tahrir Square for several blocks around.

Often drivers lean out their windows to ask a taxi driver for directions. Sometimes they're checking traffic conditions. "Is it better to go this way or that way?" In these exciting times, they talk more and more about politics, too. I noticed today that a great many taxis have "25 January" stickers on their cars; there are the ones that look like license plates, banners with the faces of the martyrs, "I was there" stickers, Egyptian flags, and more.

Today my driver spent half his time screaming invectives out his window: "You ass!" or "That's my spot, man!" He was definitely not loving his job today.

As we were sitting in traffic in front of the Arab League Headquarters, there was a small protest on the sidewalk. The driver on the other side of us asked, "Is that a protest for Libya?" That was the topic of protests in that spot last week. "No," said my driver, "that flag is for Iraq." Replied the other driver, "Whatever do they want in Iraq?" Said my driver, "God only knows! Some beans for their bread, maybe? The whole world is falling apart!"

It was a common refrain from him after that. The whole world is falling apart. And sometimes it seems that way in Egypt post-revolution. As I commiserated with my driver, Tahrir Square was a traffic disaster before the revolution. Now it's a place taxi drivers avoid whenever possible. Before picking up me, he turned down three fares to the same neighborhood because they would entail crossing Tahrir as he did with me. As a result, he gets angry, and I feel guilty and overpay for my ride. Having classes in Zamalek is getting damned expensive!

But it wasn't all politics. Along the way, as we were waiting on a corner for our turn to go around Tahrir Square, he shouted out his window for a cup of tea from a street vendor.

Security Leaks

Cairo, Egypt

I was all set to be abed by midnight for the first time in weeks. Lights were out and I was settling in when I started to hear shouting down the street towards Tahrir Square. A unified chant began to emerge, and as I came out on my roommate's balcony over Tahrir Street, there was a mob of young men and women shouting, "The people demand the fall of the system!" as they marched with Egyptian flags from Tahrir Square towards Abdeen Palace.

Not ten minutes later, I was out on the balcony again. Some of the protesters were coming back down the street. Residents of the street had come out in the "popular committees" or "neighborhood watch groups" that were so familiar during the 18 days of revolution, with their sticks and thin plastic pipes. They beat a few youth as they ran back down the street towards Tahrir Square.

Maybe fifteen minutes later, I was back out on the balcony watching an argument that had broken out on the intersection below. I noticed that the neighborhood watch and the employees of the gas station on the corner had once again erected a roadblock on the street heading towards the Interior Ministry. They were turning cars away from both the Ministry and the street to Abdeen Palace, but I couldn't hear clearly enough to understand why.

Eventually, sometime after 1am, things settled down enough that I could sleep.

The Leaking Begins
When I woke up this morning (not as rested as I'd planned), I discovered in Egypt Today that protesters had stormed a number of buildings of the Central Security, the intelligence service in the police force, to stop them from destroying documents, videos and other evidence proving their corruption and use of torture.

There are also rumors that senior police officials have been relieved of their jobs, and that they stormed several government offices in protest. My roommate, who was watching from a nearby balcony, heard that one of those government buildings was the Abdeen Prison down the street, where they supposedly released prisoners who attacked the Interior Ministry. I can't confirm either, just to say that rumors are rampant and the revolution is far from over yet!

Center for Arabic Study In Cairo (CASIC)

Cairo, Egypt

Today was our first day back to classes, in our new program: Center for Arabic Study In Cairo (CASIC). We're not back on the old Tahrir campus, as there are still demonstrations of varying sizes on Tahrir Square every day. Instead, we are having our classes in the AUC dorms in the ritzy, super-secure neighborhood of Zamalek.

Thanks To AUC...
Zeinab Taha is our hero! We thanked her often and effusively yesterday at our orientation, but I don't think we can thank her enough. When the University of Texas canceled CASA for the rest of the academic year, we felt stranded and abandoned, academically and financially. Thanks to the Zeinab, and AUC's new president and CASA alumna Lisa Anderson, we now have an academic home again, and much-needed financial support.

We're also very happy that our teachers will have the work that was promised to them. So are they, it seems, since several professors report having asked AUC to let them teach us without compensation during the revolution! With CASA canceled and all but 20 of AUC's 350 Arabic students having fled the country, if they didn't have CASIC, they'd have nothing!

We're Back To Business...
It was great to be in class again. I haven't forgotten quite as much Arabic as I thought I had over our 10 very long weeks of break. In fact, it's pretty amazing how much I've learned since June, and I'm excited to see how much I'll learn by the coming June!

It was also great to hear our professors talk a little about the revolution and their experience of it. We'd been asking ourselves all through the revolution if they were on Tahrir Square, and they certainly were.

Wael was out almost every day, playing bodyguard to his friend the Chief Supreme Court Justice, as one of the volunteers protecting the Egyptian Museum, and even being shot at by pro-Mubarak thugs. His friend the amazing interpreter was also there, leading the Muslim Brotherhood's defense of Tahrir Square from those pro-Mubarak thugs on horses and camels. And of course we saw his friend from the leadership of the Lawyers Syndicate on TV to announce that the lawyers were taking the side of the people against Mubarak.

Sayyed was also very excited about the revolution. For a decade, he explained, he's been arguing that the only way Egypt would change is from within the NDP. Some prominent party voice would have to publicly declare their disgust with the NDP and break away to form a new party. He'd never imagined that the people would effect change from beyond the party, and he's delighted to be wrong. I'm excited to take this class with him on Islamic political movements, especially in light of the current curiosity about the Muslim Brotherhood's next move here in Egypt.

But Not Quite As Usual!
Things are not yet back to normal in Cairo, whatever normal is going to be. There are still dozens of tanks blocking the streets around the Radio and TV Building, the heart and soul of the Egyptian propaganda machine. The only public transportation between my apartment in Tahrir and our classes in Zamalek should go down those streets. Consequently, there is no public transportation to class, and I refuse and can't afford to pay 30 pounds ($6) a day in taxi fare to get to class on my stipend. That's a whole week worth of koshary lunches!

This means that I practically ran to class this morning, for lack of public transportation, which took me an hour and left me with half a dozen blisters and all my clothes soaked in sweat. I don't mean to whine. I'm grateful that we have classes to go to! But I chose my apartment for its proximity to class and public transportation, and it's so frustrating to be stranded there now!

HR 1 and the Future of International Education

The memo below on budget cuts in the US Congress was circulated on Cairo Scholars today. The proposed budget cuts detailed below have profound effects on study abroad, cultural exchange, peace work and critical language teaching in the Egypt, the Middle East and beyond. These reductions effect both American students, professors and scholars seeking opportunities abroad, and also foreign students, professors and scholars wishing to enrich American institutions with their wealth of experience. It also represents a drastic reduction in resources and opportunities for American students starting at the kindergarten level to interact with the greater world.

In this era of globalization, interconnectivity and interdependence, we should be increasing our understanding of the rest of the world. I've seen photos of Egyptians holding placards in solidarity with striking government workers in Wisconsin, and government workers in Wisconsin holding placards in solidarity with Egypt, Libya, Algeria and Bahrain. This is how the world works now, and failing to prepare our youth for that reality will, in the long run, worsen our economic, political and cultural power far more than the deficit it reduces.

Dear MESA members,

Many of you will have been immersed in the news of the extraordinary events taking place in the Middle East over the last month or so. This update is to bring to your attention some important developments happening in the U. S. Congress that could affect programs in foreign language and area studies. A number of programs funded by the U.S government have been targeted for either major budget cuts or complete elimination.

Thinking that area studies specialists may be concerned about this possibility, I pass on information about a few programs particularly relevant to the broad disciplinary interests of MESA members.

Background
The U.S. House of Representatives passed House Resolution 1 (H.R.1) last week. What is H.R.1? It is the 2011 full-year continuing appropriations Act. It would extend the current 2011 fiscal year funding which expires March 4, 2011.The Senate returns from recess next Monday (February 28) to begin work on its version of a budget for the remainder of FY11. Many things can happen in the negotiations between the House and the Senate.

In H.R. 1:

• State Department international exchange programs would receive a 21 per cent cut, or a reduction to $501.3 million from the current funding level of $635 million. Two examples of programs funded under this program (http://exchanges.state.gov/scho-pro.html) are the Fulbright Program for Scholars serving scholars and the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program serving undergraduate and graduate students.
• All funding from the United States Institute of Peace ($42.6 million) would be eliminated. www.usip.org USIP funds have supported hundreds of scholars and practitioners through its Senior Fellows program and hundreds of students through its Peace Scholars program. Its Grant Program has provided over 2,000 awards since 1986, a majority of which have supported the work of individual scholars around the world.
• Funding for the K-12 Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) would be eliminated ($26.9 million). This is the Education Department's only dedicated grant program for K-12 foreign language education.
• Funding for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education--FIPSE (including the International Consortia Programs) would be cut entirely ($58 million).
• $350 million from the National Science Foundation would be cut. This could affect research funds for such disciplines and fields as Anthropology, Election Studies, Geography, Linguistics and Political Science.
• For the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), H.R. 1 provides a FY 2011 budget of $145 million. This figure represents a $22 million (13%) cut from the agency's FY 2010 enacted budget. Examples of NEH grants are the NEH Research Fellowships, NEH Summer Institutes and Seminars for College and University Teachers, Collaborative Research Awards, Scholarly Editions and Translations Awards, etc.: http://www.neh.gov/news/recentawards.html
• Funding for the Grants and Administration portion of the National Endowment for the Arts would be reduced by $20.5 million. NEA has funded Literature Fellowships for Translation Projects.

Finally, although H.R 1 did not propose any changes to the funding levels for The Higher Education Act, Title VI and Fulbright-Hays 102(b)(6), changes may come up in next week's Senate deliberations or in negotiations with the House. Funded at $125.881 million in FY 2010, these programs represent less than 0.2 percent of the U.S. Department of Education’s discretionary budget. A cost-effective investment, this federal-university partnership stimulates substantial additional funding by universities and foundations.

Sincerely,
Amy W. Newhall
Executive Director

Reviving Downtown

Cairo, Egypt

I strolled down Mohammad Mahmoud Street and her side streets this afternoon, the first time I've been there in daylight, and finally saw the murals people have been talking about there.

"You're in my eyes, oh Egypt!"plays on a common Arabic endearment.

 

"I'm Egyptian / I'm Egyptian, Mother of the World / With the passing of time / Peace and love in each person's hands."
It's signed, "25 January: the beginning of Egyptian freedom"

"Raise your head up high...."

"...you're Egyptian!"

"Oh Lord, protect those who reform!"

"I love my country."

Woo. Rah.

Cairo, Egypt

Pro-democracy advocates had called for another day of protests today to put pressure on the caretaker government to include more opposition members in the interim government, and to set a solid timetable for a handover of power. Some are calling for protests every Tuesday and Friday until free and fair elections take place.

The government was ready. Tanks still line Kasr al-Aini Street between Tahrir Square and the Parliament. As I was walking across downtown, they had increased roadblocks around the Interior Ministry, site of some of the heaviest fighting during the revolution, to a two block radius. On Sheikh Rihan Street by the American University, exactly in the middle between the Interior Ministry, Parliament and Tahrir Square, there were half a dozen ambulances and MASH units waiting.

In fact, only a few hundred showed up on Tahrir Square for a very quiet protest. They didn't stop or even hinder traffic, which is still being directed by military police in this very sensitive downtown spot. It was not much of a protest.

But it is a reminder of the warning people were giving the Supreme Military Council as they left Tahrir Square after Mubarak's resignation on the 11th: Everyone knows the way back to Tahrir.

You Bought WHAT??

On a lighter note.... I am pleased to finally be able to publish this blog entry, now that the recipient of the secret gift detailed therein has received her surprise!

Cairo, Egypt, 29 December 2010

From Gwen Comes To Egypt

My cousin Gwen arrived safe and sound last night, after some sightseeing in Amsterdam along the way. We started out light on the first day, sleeping in till noon, having a leisurely lunch at Costa Coffee, and wandering across the Qasr al-Aini Bridge to the Opera to get tickets for tonight’s Nutcracker. They were sold out, so we got tickets for a piano concert instead.

When we arrived at the Egyptian Museum, it was closed. (FYI, it closes early on Wednesdays, which the guidebooks all neglected to mention.) So we decided to head over to Khan al-Khalili to do a little shopping and experience the Arab souq. Gwen’s good at bargaining!

We were on our way out when we spotted the man laying out animal skins and leather footrests. He also had a taxidermied fox and a pair of taxidermied rabbits. It was that latter that made Gwen stop and say, “That would a perfect gift for my mom!” It’s a long story best summed up by a phrase my mother loves to use in her defense, “But Auntie Viv is the only eccentric in the family!”

When we went out to dinner later, we left the rabbit on the coffee table in our living room, where my German roommate Amir agreed it looked hilarious. When my French roommate Sana'a came home, however, she startled Amir away from the book he was reading with a scream. It took him several minutes to remember the rabbit in the living room, and it took Sana'a several hours to get used to it, but eventually everyone agreed it was great for a laugh!

Boo CASA! Yay AUC!

Cairo, Egypt

The Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA) has canceled their spring semester, despite the resumption of near-normality in the streets of Cairo. They are also withdrawing funding for our stipends.

However, we've just received confirmation from the Arabic Language Institute at American University in Cairo. They will be providing our spring semester anyway, hopefully beginning as soon as Monday the 28th. They will also be providing our stipends.

For background, after recommending to CASA students that they return to Cairo, the University of Texas canceled the remainder of the CASA program for this year, including the stipends on which we were expecting to live until summer. (One of us is supporting two households on her stipend, while most of the rest of us at the very least have no other source of income until September, having counted on this fellowship to last until 1 June.) It took the University of Texas and their woefully misinformed security "specialists" two weeks to make this decision, and we have had no further communication from them since that decision 10 days ago, despite repeated emails from CASA Fellows for more details of how various elements of the program will be resolved.

Academically, CASA is one of the best Arabic language programs in the world, and has been for 40 years. However, I will not be able to recommend it to colleagues in future without serious caveats. The actions of the University of Texas regarding the CASA program have been chaotic, unorganized, and unprofessional. Had CASA students been in any real danger - and fortunately there was only one life-threatening but safely resolved incident during the revolution - there is no indication that UT would have even known about it in time to do anything. Only now, when the danger is passed, are they concerned about the "liability" of our staying on in Cairo, when we've already signed paperwork absolving them of all liability.

Despite operating for 40 years in Cairo, it became clear in this crisis that no one in CASA knew who was authorized to make critical decisions about student safety, evacuation, financial concerns like the distribution of stipends to pay our rent and food, or about the continuation of the program itself. It took 18 days, until the day Mubarak stepped down and the revolution ended, for CASA and UT to make the decision to suspend the program. It took them a further 10 days to respond to a single emailed question from CASA Fellows. If we had questions, we were instructed to contact the program director via Skype (she was not responding to emails, either) and when contacted she could only say that she was not authorized to make any decisions or recommendations.

I have worked with Rotary Youth Exchange, studied abroad with Goucher College, and was a Peace Corps Volunteer. In all those circumstances, not only were lines of communication and responsibility made clear to program staff, but also to program participants. Emergency plans were in place, lines of communication established, and participants were trained to take advantage of them. Not so with CASA and the University of Texas. Though this crisis was unexpected at this time, it was not unimaginable that an increasingly impoverished, overpopulated country ruled by a brutal dictator might some day, quite suddenly, fall apart. We are only lucky that Egypt did not do so as spectacularly and tragically as Libya. CASA and UT's lack of preparedness is inexcusable.

On the other hand, I am happy to report that the Arabic Language Institute (ALI) at AUC, which hosts CASA in Cairo, has stepped in to fill the gap. They have arranged for our classes to resume, our stipends to be paid, our health insurance coverage to continue, and the CASA/Cairo office to reopen. While they may not have communicated with us as often as we might have wished, lines of communication were always open, and emails have always been responded to promptly and as completely as was possible under the circumstances.

Of course, this is a mutually beneficial arrangement for ALI. Most of their students have left Egypt for good, and most of their teachers were looking at having no jobs this semester. With all CASA students - without exception! - expressing a strong desire to complete our studies despite (or perhaps because of) uncertainty about Egypt's political future, it makes sense for ALI to provide our classes. And we are glad to give the work to the amazing teachers who have helped us understand Egypt's revolution on a deep level most foreigners in Egypt don't.

Close Encounter with a Protester

Cairo, Egypt

From the moment I returned to Egypt, it was a different place. I wrote about it for New Matilda [reprinted below**].

Everywhere I go in Egypt, the atmosphere is different. I went to pick up a book for class at Diwan Bookstore, and the salesmen gathered around to hear me answer the question, "What do you think of Egypt now?" The same thing happened at the mini-market around the corner from my apartment.

Simply standing on my roommate's balcony is a different experience now. People are talking in the streets more than I remember from a month ago. Before the revolution, people went where they were going and kept their heads down. Now they're having conversations, hopeful conversations, animated conversations!

Of course, not everyone's happy. There was a man in the women's car when I was on the Metro today, and as usual he was screamed at to get out. But there was a different undercurrent. "There's no police to arrest me!" he said. And it echoed around the women's car: "There's no police, no regime, no government, no order...." As much as there is excitement in the wake of the revolution, there is also trepidation and uncertainty.

I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, and I'm just waiting for the CASA Executive Board to realize that, and allow us to start our classes again.

**UPDATE: January 1, 2016
No longer available at NewMatilda.com, I am reprinting the article here:

EGYPT 21 Feb 2011
The New Egyptian Normal
By Maryah Converse

Returning to her home in Cairo after the protests, Maryah Converse was struck by the optimism she encountered

I landed in Cairo at midday, full of excitement. I'd been reading on Facebook about the new spirit of Cairo's youth, cleaning streets and painting murals of love and freedom — and I couldn't wait to see it myself.

As I waited for my bags to arrive at baggage claim, I could hear the airport employees on strike in the Arrivals Hall. Like other workers who've been striking all week, they want a living wage. "We won't go to him," they were shouting. "He must come to us!" I was grinning ear-to-ear. A month ago, few Egyptians demanded their rights like this.

Then, immediately upon exiting customs, I was met by that first welcoming refrain: "Taxi? I give you good price!" Naturally, then, they asked for 110 pounds, when I'd paid 60 pounds when I landed in Cairo three weeks ago. The drivers insisted it was the "fixed price."

Outside the Arrivals Hall on the curb, I got some offers of 80 pounds, and as I was trying to get them down to 60 or 70, I heard a voice say, "I'll take you for 50!" I agreed.

The driver was in his 20s, clean-cut with a late model taxi. This was his first day back at work, he said, after camping out on Tahrir Square for three weeks. He told me that when he heard that I was going to a neighborhood adjacent to Tahrir Square, he wanted to take me so that he could see the place of his struggle and his victory.

"Did you come from America today?" he asked. I said that I had come from Jordan, and he said, "Did they hear about us there? What do they think about what we've done in Jordan?"

"They're so proud of you," I said. As Jordanian bloggers Naseem Tarawneh and Christine Makhmara explain, Egypt is more than just the Arab world's most populous nation. They call her "the Mother of the World," and Arabs have long drawn inspiration from Cairo.

"Our country is in its youth," said the taxi driver when I commented on how Egyptians finally have hope for their future.

I asked him what he thought about the military being in control. "At every level of the military," he said, "they are good men." He pointed out that it was the police who had injured and killed protesters, not the army. It was the police who were corrupt and oppressive, not the army. It was the police who caused trouble.

He mentioned the now-iconic image of men steadfastly bowing and prostrating in prayer on Kasr al-Nil Bridge as the police bombarded them with water cannons. "That's the kind of people we are," he said, peaceful people dedicated to a cause.

We drove past the synagogue in downtown Cairo, and he pointed out that it had been untouched. All the windows are intact, and there's no graffiti on its walls. "There were no police there," he said, "but no one damaged it. No temple or church was damaged. We're all one people."

As we came onto Tahrir Square, there were vendors selling Egyptian flags and red, white and black striped ribbons. Groups of people were clustered on the islands between streams of traffic, smiling and looking more relaxed than I remember them being before the protests began.

Later in the afternoon, I saw young people all around Tahrir Square and the side streets with brushes and cans of paint: green for touching up fences and bridges, and black and white for repainting kerbs. I even saw them stopping traffic to repaint the Tahrir Street crosswalk that probably hasn't been white for years.

I could see for myself that the shops and restaurants around Tahrir Square were largely undamaged. The only real difference from a month ago was that it was the military police in red berets and vests directing traffic, instead of the black uniforms of the usual traffic police.

"Bravo on you!" I said, and I paid my taxi driver 70 pounds anyway. He and the others on Tahrir Square deserve 10 times more than that for what they've done in the last three weeks. We can't know yet what the end result of the Egyptian demonstrations will be, but there's a new excitement and sense of possibility across Cairo.

Revolutionary Detritus

Cairo, Egypt

I returned from Jordan today to find my apartment showing signs of its time as a refuge for Egyptian revolutionaries and their allies. From this detritus, I learned a few lessons.

1. Less is more. I couldn't have put it more eloquently than that!

2. Sometimes you can't think too much. My roommate and the other revolutionaries and refugees who took shelter here worked there way through all of his alcohol, and then ravaged mine. It was the least I could do for Egypt!

3. Nicotine is a necessity. At least if you were already a smoker. My roommate is working on a sculpture of found objects. He hopes to eventually reach the top of the mirror....

4. Take your vitamins to harden your resolve! Actually, I don't know if this bottle of calcium was here before the revolution, left by some earlier roommate. The candles, though, were a wise precaution in case the pharaoh cut the electricity along with the Internet....

5. Pick up after yourself. Young people were out all over Tahrir Square and the surrounding streets with buckets of paint. They were repainting fences, railings, bridges, curbs.... I even saw a group of youth enlist a military policeman to divert traffic so they could repaint a crosswalk that probably hasn't been white for years!