Yes, we have a revolution on our hands.
As I sit here and listen to Ayaman Mohyeldeen making me cry with pictures from Cairo, I wish vehemently that I had not partaken in what I like to call the Laughing Revolution in the form of Soap Opera. A big part of me wants to be on Tahreer, chanting with the masses and taking pictures of them as they wait for our non-president to come on air and announce… something.
This is a moment of terpidation, in which history is being, as we are constantly reminded, is going to happen in a big way. Bells and all. The masses have amassed en masse, for their is no other way to describe what I am seeing on a tiny screen, awaiting a presidential announcement. This is the moment which will decide wether this uprising, which has been the tenor of most conversations I have had in the last couple of weeks, has succeeded or must turn into something prolonged.
They are singing. Millions of people are singing a single song in a single voice. Will it be a song of relief or will it be a call for battle?
The speech is over now. Battle has been announced, and justly so. In one fell stroke the Egyptian government has fanned what was a peaceful uprising to the brink of a violent overthrow.
The last pictures I see is that of an insulted and rightously outraged mob, no longer singing in anticipation. It has just recieved incontrovertible proof of the truth of its convictions. As have I. Somewhere, in the middle of what the world had hoped would be Mubaraks final speech as the president of Egypt, I started laughing. It takes a lot of guts to make such an absolute joke of yourself, not to mention a target. Fot a moment, I can't help but wonder if the blatant impunity the demands of the people are being treated with is te result of a safe sound stage somewhere in Hollywood from which these speeches must be held? Mubarak would not be the first dictator to use body doubles…
All I can hope for tonight is that Cairo Is still in one piece and that everyone has survived the night.
Whichever way this goes, Berlin is not a bad place to be while this entire revolution is happening back home. While Hosni made a point of reminding us during that pointless speech of his, he seems to have forgotten that we are living in a global village- with the difference that this global village is made up of many small communities from larger villages, which unite online to form a global community of exiles, travellers and nomads in constant contact.
As such, the foreign forces acting with the people of Egypt are expatriates, exiles and naturalised students, who, even though they have long left their homeland, still feel a deep connection to the people at home. We live outside the Egyptian system, far from the influence of security services or propaganda. We have friends here. They are not afraid to speak their mind. They have an opinion. And you will hear it as well.
Interestringly, the more foreign forces seem to be looking for ways to keep Hosni in power or give him a light slap on the wrist. He is certainly not bowing to that.
Yes, we will miss that soap opera when it's over. Because this farce has to end at some point.
I haven't actually said this yet, but after yesterdays speech, it is time to add my voice to the rest of Egyptian voices: أرحل! غور! أتلهى! روح إلعب بعيد!
As I sit here and listen to Ayaman Mohyeldeen making me cry with pictures from Cairo, I wish vehemently that I had not partaken in what I like to call the Laughing Revolution in the form of Soap Opera. A big part of me wants to be on Tahreer, chanting with the masses and taking pictures of them as they wait for our non-president to come on air and announce… something.
This is a moment of terpidation, in which history is being, as we are constantly reminded, is going to happen in a big way. Bells and all. The masses have amassed en masse, for their is no other way to describe what I am seeing on a tiny screen, awaiting a presidential announcement. This is the moment which will decide wether this uprising, which has been the tenor of most conversations I have had in the last couple of weeks, has succeeded or must turn into something prolonged.
They are singing. Millions of people are singing a single song in a single voice. Will it be a song of relief or will it be a call for battle?
The speech is over now. Battle has been announced, and justly so. In one fell stroke the Egyptian government has fanned what was a peaceful uprising to the brink of a violent overthrow.
The last pictures I see is that of an insulted and rightously outraged mob, no longer singing in anticipation. It has just recieved incontrovertible proof of the truth of its convictions. As have I. Somewhere, in the middle of what the world had hoped would be Mubaraks final speech as the president of Egypt, I started laughing. It takes a lot of guts to make such an absolute joke of yourself, not to mention a target. Fot a moment, I can't help but wonder if the blatant impunity the demands of the people are being treated with is te result of a safe sound stage somewhere in Hollywood from which these speeches must be held? Mubarak would not be the first dictator to use body doubles…
All I can hope for tonight is that Cairo Is still in one piece and that everyone has survived the night.
Whichever way this goes, Berlin is not a bad place to be while this entire revolution is happening back home. While Hosni made a point of reminding us during that pointless speech of his, he seems to have forgotten that we are living in a global village- with the difference that this global village is made up of many small communities from larger villages, which unite online to form a global community of exiles, travellers and nomads in constant contact.
As such, the foreign forces acting with the people of Egypt are expatriates, exiles and naturalised students, who, even though they have long left their homeland, still feel a deep connection to the people at home. We live outside the Egyptian system, far from the influence of security services or propaganda. We have friends here. They are not afraid to speak their mind. They have an opinion. And you will hear it as well.
Interestringly, the more foreign forces seem to be looking for ways to keep Hosni in power or give him a light slap on the wrist. He is certainly not bowing to that.
Yes, we will miss that soap opera when it's over. Because this farce has to end at some point.
I haven't actually said this yet, but after yesterdays speech, it is time to add my voice to the rest of Egyptian voices: أرحل! غور! أتلهى! روح إلعب بعيد!
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