Eyewitness Account Of The Egypt Protests: "We Have Come Together To Stop The Looting Of Our country"

[Turborama]

We have come together to stop the looting of our country by this regime, writes Ahdaf Soueif in Cairo

Ahdaf Soueif in Cairo | Friday January 28 2011 19.34 GMT



This is the scene that took place in every district of every city in Egypt today. The one I saw: we started off as about 20 activists, after Friday prayers in a small mosque in the interior of the popular Cairo district of Imbaba. "The people - demand – the fall of this regime!" Again and again the call went out. We started to walk: "Your security. Your police – killed our brothers in Suez."

The numbers grew. Every balcony was full of people: women smiling, waving, dangling babies to the tune of the chants: "Bread! Freedom! Social justice!" Old women called: "God give you victory."

For more than an hour the protest wound through the narrow lanes. Kids ran alongside. A woman picking through garbage and loading scraps into plastic bags paused and raised her hand in a salute. By the time we wound on to a flyover to head for downtown we were easily 3,000 people.

The government had closed the internet down in the whole country at 2am. By 9am, half the mobile phones were down. By 11, not a single mobile was working. Post offices said the international lines had been taken down. This is a regime fighting for its life. And fighting for its ability to carry on looting this country. As the protesters walk through Imbaba, we note the new emergency hospital where building has been stopped because of a government decision to turn it into a luxury block of flats. The latest scandal of this kind is the Madinti project. The chant goes up: "A pound of lentils for ten pounds – a Madinti share for 50p."

Now, as I write, the president has announced a curfew from an hour ago. And the army has started to deploy. If I were not writing this, I would still be out on the street. Every single person I know is out there; people who have never been on protests are wrapping scarves round their faces and learning that sniffing vinegar helps you get through teargas. Teargas! This is a gas that makes you feel the skin is peeling off your face. For several minutes I could not even open my eyes to see what was going on. And when I did, I saw that one of my nieces had stopped in the middle of the road, her eyes streaming. One of her shoes lost, she was holding out her arms: "I can't, I can't."

Continues: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/28/eyewitness-account-egypt-protests

[xchrom]

1. "Bread! Freedom! Social justice!" nt

[woo me with science]

2. Your posts have been fantastic all day.

Much appreciated! :toast:

[Turborama]

8. Thank you

Right back atcha! Feedback like yours is much appreciated. :fistbump: (I've been on the wagon for a year now, lol)

[woo me with science]

9. Hey,

congratulations on a year! You rule! :applause:

[sabrina 1]

3. "Every single person I know is out there' ~ on the street!

I think Mubarak is finished! This is so exciting to have watched as it progressed.

Cowardly Dictators everywhere! Take note!

And the U.S. better start deciding how much more of our money they are going to keep paying to these dictatorial rulers everywhere they find them.

This truly is a historical moment and if I were the President, I would want to be on the right side of history. He needs badly to come out and condemn the actions of the Mubarak government and try to influence him from engaging in any more violence.

But, Gibbs says we have to not take sides.

[Broderick]

6. nice post

I am glued to it when I can be. It is definitely a moment in history. The whole Middle East seems to be blowing up, centered with what is going on in Egypt.

[Billy Burnett]

4. Only a crisis—actual or perceived—produces real change.

"Only a crisis—actual or perceived—produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around." - Milton Friedman

http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine




This is a time of great danger. The disaster capitalists have plans for every contingency. We have to wait and see what forces of power emerge.

[Raksha]

10. I'm reading "The Shock Doctrine" now. Just started Chapter 2 last night.

Now I wish I hadn't waited a whole year after I got it to read it...I'd be on my second reading (at least) right now.

Based on what I've read so far, somehow I don't think what's happening in Egypt is the kind of crisis the disaster capitalists had in mind. I don't think Wikileaks is anything they could have anticipated or planned for either.

[Hannah Bell]

12. they've been planning mubarak's exit a while.

he's 83; you think his funders haven't thought about this?

[suffragette]

5. K&R

[roguevalley]

7. God bless Egypt. I hope they don't replace one asshole with

another. The people DESERVE a better life. I love Egypt.

[burrowowl]

11. Good for Egypt!

When will Americans take to the streets to stop the looting of our country!?