On Friday, May 27, I went to Tahrir Square for the so-called “Day of Anger” protests around noon.As Professor Noam Chomsky observed, whereas the Wisconsin protests were centered on impeding the loss of workers’ rights, the Tahrir uprising aimed at securing democratic rights previously nonexistent in Egypt. However, both cycles of contention (against the state and the State) had solidarity as one of their core principles. If in Wisconsin the protesters gathered as public employees virtually representing all those in the country, Egyptians embodied the politically disenfranchised of the Arab world. Now that the regime might be transitioning, however, Egyptians did not rest content of such symbolic actions, but are taking tangible initiatives to help some of their neighbors.
Tahrir Square, ironically, is a large roundabout. On one side sits downtown Cairo with its large colonial buildings, giving parts of the city a Paris-like look. At the opposite side, a large bridge leads across the Nile, guarded by two colossal lion statues lying at its head. The Arab League headquarters, an anonymous white concrete building, are but a stone’s throw away, located at the periphery of the square closest to the river. The construction site of the Nile Ritz-Carleton hotel separates the Arab League offices and the Egyptian Museum, a large rectangular red building topped with a dome. The museum is visible several hundred meters from the square, on the road that leads to the northeastern neighborhoods of the city. Next to it were the National Democratic Party’s headquarters. This building, which hosted the central offices of Hosni Mubarak’s hegemonic party, no longer has windows and bears black scars on theoutside, evidence of the destruction caused by the fire protesters set just three days after the uprising began on January 25th. A gray, Soviet-like building, which hosts part of Egypt’s large bureaucracy, lies diametrically opposite, neighbored by a small mosque partially hidden from view by some trees.
Barriers blocked traffic to the square along the many roads that lead to it. Protester volunteers stood at the barriers to ID, frisk, and search those who entered. Males searched males and females and females. A series of ambulances awaited on standby near the entry of the square. Even though protesters do their best to keep the gatherings “selmiya” (peaceful in Arabic), accidents – or simply sunstroke – can still happen. The police presence outside of the square was negligible; there were only a few soldiers a block away, but they were standing guard to a building and were not directly involved with the protests. Once inside the square there were several nuclei of people, mostly focused around three stands where individuals were giving speeches or chanting. Later in the afternoon, the attention shifted to an expanding set of posters and pictures related to Palestine, and a set of large sheets where people were signing a petition to ask the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (the transitional authority currently ruling Egypt) to uphold its promises of reform and to abide by the requests of the revolution(aries).
To me, the most evident concrete initiative the people in Tahrir were undertaking to transform solidarity from a word to goal of collective organizing was their planning of an aid convoy to Gaza. The Egyptian government had suffocated its citizens’ true feelings towards a nearby foreign policy situation for decades, and finally Egyptians could act collectively to aid Palestinians. As things are, Egyptians have enough troubles of their own: continuing military rule, corruption, controversial upcoming elections, unemployment, macroeconomic problems, and so on. Yet they are organizing collectively and one of their first causes is to help their neighbors still under siege in the Gaza Strip. But this is not, in my opinion, a general effort of re-igniting conflict or voiding the 1978 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. I believe this is a movement aimed at rejecting the biased and remote-controlled foreign policies of Mubarak’s Egypt in order to implement something closer to what the people see the country’s role in the region should be: one that does not turn its back to the real needs of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and that diverges from Washington-mandated positions to reflect the genuine will of the people.
The atmosphere was one of oneness. Taking on one of the revolutionary chants “yidd wahda” (one hand/fist), people were carrying signs with crosses inscribed in crescents. From the larger stage a man gave a speech arguing that Christians and Muslims were not from two different religions, but they are one and belong to one religion. He advocated respect, tolerance and unity in the common fight of the Egyptian people against the former regime and its remaining elements. Therewere plenty of women, donning burqas, veils, or “Western” garb, and they would also speak from the stages at times. People were singing and chanting, though at times the protesters probably struggled to avoid their high spirits being diminished by the monotony of the announcers on the stages. Though harassment of women still occurs often on Egyptian streets, and though the Egyptian Christian community has been the target of violence recently, these groups can now join the crowd at large as one in advocating for a new country.
In order to assist the formation of a new Middle East after the momentous events of the Arab Spring, the new rulers – and involved Western nations – cannot use a “divide et impera” mentality. Playing religious groups against each other, supporting a patriarchal social structure, pitting real or imaginary Islamists against stability and development, toying with Arab countries to create a satrap-centered balkanization has proven the wrong path in shaping this region. Only solidarity, both intra- and inter-national will foster a more peaceful, rights-based, and forward-minded region. Very close to where the ancient pharaohs’ golden mummified remnants rest in the Egyptian Museum and to where the dictator’s torched tower stands, the Egyptian people has begun to look for a future devoid of absolute rulers, advocating for solidarity, and acting on it.