Tahrir Square January 25 2012: A Year After

“To celebrate or to protest” seemed to be the question on people’s minds as they gather today, January 25th, in Tahrir Square to mark the 1-year anniversary of the Egyptian revolution and overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.  While some people find cause for celebration, others find reasons to be angry, as they accuse the military of not giving in to all their demands. As of now, 1 PM Cairo time, the protest has been peaceful, but I, like I’m sure many non-activist Egyptians, am holding my breath in wariness.

I drove through Tahrir Square on Sunday, 22 January after my husband’s visa interview at the American embassy (they approved him! To which I can only say, thank you God). It should be noted that the line of Egyptians waiting for an appointment for general visas snaked all the way down the avenue, which only proves that Egyptians are wary of their country’s future. Many of them, my husband said, were Copts, although I’m not sure how he could discern that just by looking at them.

Unlike the last time I saw Tahrir Square, back in July 2011, there was activity this time, and by activity I mean protesters. On one of the center circles of the square (surrounded by traffic) protesters had erected red tents and had gathered. It wasn’t crowded, but I was kind of happy to be in the car and not walking on the street. Apparently an activist was stabbed to death right outside  the justice building that day (see link below), which explained why there were several journalists gearing up in front of their cameras as people gathered to watch.

A man preparing food; after all, even Tahrir Square protesters need to eat.

Another man appearing to prepare food, which kills the stereotype that Arab men can’t cook for themselves (his “Boys Don’t Cry” shirt is amusing, I think).

Not sure what this tent was for., but there appears to be someone’s leg and boot coming out of the door. Perhaps it’s a bathroom? If only I could read the sign.

I love this photo. It was taken, of course, as we drove along in the car, and it appears as though the man on the moped is about to drive straight at us! Here you can see a series of Egyptian flags that were staked in the ground, as well as the Cairo Tower ever so faintly in the background. Red, black and white (Egyptian flag colors) were everywhere, as were people selling Jan 25 tchotchke memorabilia and little food stalls.

There is a lot to be said about the 25 January Revolution. In the year since it happened, frustrations have run high, more people have been killed, honor and respect have been replaced with animalistic barbarism and, overall, not much in the way of change has occurred. For me, personally, the Revolution meant having my husband’s visa case delayed, which is not something that I take lightly. The Revolution meant not being able to go outside in Egypt because my husband feels that it is “unsafe.” Had the Revolution not happened, I possibly might be in Egypt to stay, but it is impossible for me to live in a country that at any moment could spark into intense unrest.

Although I disagreed with the methods of both sides of the Revolution, it is here to stay. Whether the demands of the protesters are fully met within a week, month, year or many years, the people will have to deal with what they created. After all, this was the greatest example of a people’s choice, a people’s work, and a people’s unity. Egyptians need to stand unified, forget their differences, let go of the past while still honoring those who died for the Revolution, and charge ahead for democracy.

S-L-M

Links:

1. Bikaya Masr: “Egyptian Activist Stabbed to Death in Cairo”  by Mohammad Abdel Salam, Jan 22., 2012 http://bikyamasr.com/54604/egyptian-activist-stabbed-to-death-in-cairo/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=WordSocial

2. A very interesting wordpress.com site regarding the author’s personal take on the Revolution: http://legalrizk.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/january-25-revolution-a-year-in-review/#comment-3

Rubbish, It’s just Rubbish!

A few days ago, I was in our flat (big surprise; I never get out much in Egypt) when I saw billowing white smoke wafting through the air through the balcony doors. I went onto the balcony (I just love having one,; you get to spy on people without them knowing it) and saw that, along one of the low walls of the “courtyard” someone had lit a pile of rubbish on fire.

Really, I just sighed when I saw this. If I wanted to be cruel, I could easily call Egypt one big “rubbish dump,” to use the British term for ‘garbage’ which they also use here. Cairo is littered with litter: even on the poshest street corners say, in Zamalek near the American Embassy, one will find garbage strewn across the ground. For someone who loves nature as well as beauty and cleanliness (my mother might laugh at that one, but dirtiness does give me the heebee-jeebees!) the site of all this rubbish just makes me scream.

The Egyptians, it appears, don’t care. If they did, they wouldn’t litter in the first place. Litter is just an accessory to Cairo’s, er, great sandy boulevards and weathered, eroding sidewalks and dusty evergreen plants. Whilst sitting on my balcony, I’ve seen rubbish fly by me; usually scraps of paper or cigarette ash, but there also happens to be a black belt and a dirty sock hanging in the tree which stands eye-level with my balcony. On the ground, I can spot a lone hanger, Chipsy’s bright-coloured bags, styrofoam delivery cartons and of course cigarette boxes.

Whenever I lecture my husband and his friends on this, they just laugh. My husband has no qualms about tossing rubbish out the car window onto the street, and neither does anyone else I’ve met. On occasion, I’ve taken the empty Pepsi cans and put them in my purse to throw away in our garbage at home. I don’t see why anyone would want to live in rubbish; after all, they do have garbage collectors here, it’s not like they don’t! I suppose the many alley cats enjoy the rubbish heaps as do the pigeons, but overall, the lack of care over  the environment is pretty sad and non-existant here in Egypt.

Speaking of a lack of environmental concern, fireworks are also legal in Egypt. And although it was kind of nice one day last summer when people set them off in the courtyard, they pose a severe threat in a city that is parched and, well, a desert! They are also not cool when you can’t see them, as was the case the other night. I heard a series of huge booms, and when I stepped onto the balcony I noticed the sound of everyone clinging shut their doors. Perturbed, I went back inside, only to realize that a smell of rotting eggs-sulfur-had filled the apartment. I seriously thought that a bomb had gone off, or at the very least some type of nerve gas, which was only compounded with my fear that one, I don’t have a cellphone to call my husband, who was out and two, I started to have difficulty breathing. Later, I found out that they were only fireworks, but seriously, in Egypt you never know if it’s going to be fireworks, fire or just a burning pile of rubbish!

Note: Although the environment and safety issues in Egypt disturb me at times, I still find the country a beautiful, intriguing place and I am not trying to insult anyone with this post!

S-L-M

Hawawshy, the Egyptian Food that I Love

When discussing picky eaters, there’s no person on Earth (I exaggerate not) who is more picky than I am. Like the five-year-old who won’t eat his vegetables, I turn my nose up at practically every food that exists. My main hatred concerns fruits and vegetables; if it’s green and healthy, I won’t go near it with a ten-foot pole. But non-Earthy foods also get the ax, especially if their textures are what I would deem “gross and unappealing,” such as pudding, fish, soup, and eggs. To be frank, I believe that I have a severe food phobia, but since I;ve never admitted this to any doctor I have never been able to solve the problem.

Living in Egypt, one might think, would be a nightmare for someone with such food issues as me. My family constantly asks me: “But what do you eat? Do they have ‘normal’ (as in normal food that I would eat) over there?” The answer is a resounding “yes, they do:” peruse a menu at an Egyptian café and there’s going to be at least one thing—normally a sandwich—that I will eat. The more fancy cafes are wholly American in style, and let’s not forget, there’s always Burger King or McDonalds to suit my fancy. Likewise, the supermarkets wouldn’t be out of place in the USA either.

Dolma, courtesy of wikipedia.com

Lest one think that I have gotten off scot-free with trying new foods here, I must say that I have tried traditional Egyptian dishes before, and mostly at my husband’s parents’ home. His twin sister “Re” is a great cook by both Egyptian and more Western standards. I’ve tried roz be laban, the traditional milk-and-rice pudding (blechhh) which is the dessert du jour; I’ve tried mashi wara enaab, otherwise known as dolma or grape leaves stuffed with meat and rice (my God, I wanted to vomit); I’ve tried Re’s curry-flavored chicken (okay, not an Egyptian dish, but how delicious!) I’ve eaten white rice that has some strange brown (vegetable? Seed? Spice?) in it which would have been fine without the strange brown thing; I’ve eaten my fair share of pasta (they do not put tomato sauce on it) and breaded lamb or chicken, otherwise known as chicken panee, which are popular dishes.

Courtesy of wikipedia.com

Recently, however, I have tried two Egyptian dishes which stand out in my mind specifically because they were good. The first was the Egyptian version of lasagna, a.k.a. macaroni bechemel (seen at left): instead of using that white cheese(Fettuchini? You can tell I’m no cook) and tomato sauce, they just layer cheese, actual shaped pasta, spices and ground beef. It was easier to eat (not so messy) than American lasagna, and pretty good. However, the food award goes to none other than “hawashwy,” which I tried last night.

Hawashwy is basically a pita-bread sandwich. You take a pita bread, open it, and stuff it with several different ingredients: ground hamburger meat, onions, carrots (!), salt and pepper and then bake it. I took one bite of it and fell in love! (Anything with bread in it usually wins me over; I am a carb-a-holic). It is so good that I ate every single bit of it (something I never do at my in-laws house) and then ate another half of hawashwy. “Re” was very impressed, and now I know what I need to do with my copious amount of spare time: learn how to cook hawashwy!

S-L-M

Salam alaykoum

In the Arabic language, words with similiar meanings are formed by the same root consonants. The words ‘Islam’ and ‘Salam’ both have the same 3 consonants:

S-L-M.

These 3 letters mean “peace” in Arabic.

Unfortunately, there is not a lot of peace in the world today. A lot of people, including radical Islamists, do not believe in peace or equality and thus there is a lot of fighting in the world. Similiarly, those who are suppressed are forced to struggle for their rights.

The Middle East today is quite far from the peace and “surrender” that Islam suggests. As Muslims themselves misinterpret the Koran for their own power and political gain and the West focuses on solely these negative people, misunderstanding occurs.

My goal, therefore, is to spread two messages: one, that Islam is a peaceful and righteous religion and thus the mistreatment that occurs in it’s name should be stopped, and two, that the Western world must educate itself about the real, and good Islam that exists.

I myself am not a Muslim, nor a Christian: my beliefs are that everyone is equal, everyone has the right to freedom, and that education is al-noor, or the light, to guide the world!

S-L-M