Feb 4, 2011

If You Were Confused Before...

Entry 33

11:14 pm Cairo Time, the last hour of February the 4th and Mubarak is still the president. At this point though the square is still packed to the gills, the spirit is confused though not yet waning.

Circles are gathered around small stages with microphones, as speakers take turns reiterating demands and reminding people why they are there and what are the terms for them to leave. The notion, that there are no acceptable negotiations that include the president completing his term, seems to be prevalent though not guaranteed. People are tired and a large number of the protestors are being pestered by family members to give up the fight and return to safety.

In addition to personal pressures, segments of the population have begun to criticize the protest and its goals, claiming that it is wreaking havoc on the Egyptian economy and it is keeping Egypt’s schools closed and placing the country’s children under house arrest. They say it has hiked up the crime rate and created a shortage of food for the poor.

Yet the president remains and claims that his departure is what may create chaos. He refuses to give the citizens the satisfaction of admitting that all the aforementioned ills, are the result of the forced screeching halt that Egyptian youth suddenly decided to enforce on this runaway train that dared to call itself a democracy.

No apologies or condolences were offered to the protestors and their families for those who lost their lives in this divorce of ideologies, by any government official let alone the president. The deaths are simply not mentioned in official speeches. No promises have been made that the protestors and their families will remain safe and unprosecuted when they go home.   

So like the title implies, if you are an Egyptian, and you were confused before about where to go from here, then you are, for lack of any better word, screwed now.

It has already been confirmed that a number of the protestors who headed home today to rest, are unaccounted for. They are missing. These are not TV scare tactics. I am just stating the facts delivered to me by those in the square who are concerned about friends who should be home by now and are not. We will update you on this situation tomorrow.

As of yet there is no clear vision of when we decide the square needs to be cleared regardless of the revolution’s demands. But there is a sense that if you give up on Mubarak leaving now, then you have betrayed the revolution and those who died for it.

Now, packed into the warmth of the square and the safe haven it creates for like-minded individuals who are anti-Mubarak and pro-revolution, protestors feel safe. They deter each other from leaving before noon tomorrow so they can protect each other from attacks or arrests. They sing and pray and phone people at home.
Now and then, the thought of the relative simplicity and predictability of their lives two weeks ago may creep to the surface, but they push it way down inside their minds lest it weaken their resolve.  

There is no way to compare those of us who are home hearing the buzz of the fridge and a loved one fidgeting in the kitchen, to those on the asphalt tonight.

So again, pray for them.

Pray for God to provide them with the wisdom to utilize their achievement thus far. Pray for the world to stand up and help them and for humanity to take center stage in this struggle.

God Bless.

 PLEASE READ ENTRY 17 or Entry 10 or THE FIRST ENTRY OF THIS BLOG FOR BACKGROUND

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