Over the past twelve days I have watched closely and read about the events in Egypt, since my sister was scheduled to go to Egypt in March. As I followed the unfolding drama, I found vivid memories of the Tiananmen Square massacre came flooding back into my mind. The parallels between what happened in China and what is presently going on in Egypt are striking.
Twenty years ago, my naive heart and my tendency to wear rose-colored glasses helped me believe the Chinese government would surely negotiate with the protesters, giving in to their political demands for economic change and democratic reform. Instead the Chinese government sent in the tanks which opened fire on the crowd after nearly six weeks of standoff. My generation experienced the assassinations of JFK, King, Malcolm X, and Robert Kennedy. We also lived through the Civil Rights Movement and Viet Nam, so I should have known better than to get caught up in the image of the man with the flowers standing in front of the tank in Tiananmen Square. I should have remembered the Bob Dylan lyrics to Blowing in the Wind back then and remained skeptical of meaningful political change with regard to human rights.
The nineties, however, turned out to be a decade when many Communist governments all over the world began to collapse. Now, in the Middle East, we are seeing the power of dictatorships and ruling oil-family despots begining to show cracks. Today the Internet, Twitter and Facebook connect people of the world in powerful and previously unimaginable ways. The world (yes, including our State Department) was shocked when Egypt ignited this month. Perhaps these new technologies coupled with the fervor of younger generations living under tyranny everywhere will no longer be underestimated. The youth bulge in the Middle East is beginning to make it clear that they do not have the tolerance for the rules of authoritarian regimes in power for decades. The youth of Egypt stood up against Mubarak, using technological tools to organize the masses armed only with rocks, which they used only when attacked. Unbelievably, the older generation joined them in protest. Scenes of the elderly, families with children, the rich, the poor, the educated and the uneducated were seen in the Egyptian crowds filling our television and computer screens this past week.
Several weeks ago, my sister Julie bought the plane tickets to Egypt, and two weeks ago she and I went to Barnes and Noble, where she bought Arabic for Dummies and Lonely Planet: Egypt. Her trip with both my nieces was the trip of her dreams. Lifetime friends of Julie's, Pat and Carlos, have worked as diplomats in US embassies all over the world for twenty-plus years. The couple are presently in their final foriegn post in Cairo, and they invited Julie to come and visit them. On Tuesday of this past week, the US government airlifted the couple's daughter out of Egypt on her 14th birthday. The parents remain in Cairo, living no longer in their home, but at the embassy. Julie is worried for her dear friends.
Late Thursday night I took off my rose-colored glasses and went to bed with a heart that was breaking for the Egyptian people. As I slept, the sun would rise over the pyramids and the horror would begin. I fully expected to wake up to learn on Friday morning that tanks, which had begun to encircle the perimeter of the Tahrir Square on Wednesday, had been unleashed on the protesters in the square. Reporters and photographers from all over the world had been run out of the square on Thursday; so,it seemed there would be no documentation of the massacre to come. My fearless favorite, Anderson Cooper of CNN, was holed up in an undisclosed location in Cairo. He and his camera crew had been roughed up and chased out of the square. Cooper was now reporting from an undisclosed location and his eyes kept darting around the makeshift broadcasting center as he told of the day's developments. His usual self-confident, fast-talking manner was gone: he looked scared to death.
I woke up the next morning, sat down with my coffee in front of the TV, and could not believe what was being reported. Tens of thousands had once again joined the protesters, many of them injured, in Tahrir Square. All over Egypt, in big cities and small, people en masse were marching and rallying to the call for Mubarak to resign. It seemed safe to put on those rose-colored glasses again, at least for now. Mubarak said in a speech on Wednesday that he would not step on down because Egypt would sink into chaos. Is this man insane? Many courageous and sane Egyptians are ready to embrace chaos over the oppression they have lived under during Mubarak's reign. One of the unforgettable scenes for me this week was a human chain of hands encircling the famous Egyptian museum with all its treasures from the great Egyptian past, protecting it from looters and those who would have destroyed it.
There was singing and dancing today in Tahrir Square, but the euphoria will end, and the reality of forming a new government, if and when Mubarak steps down, will undoubtedly entail bloodshed, hardship and confusion. But, for now, my heart is with the Egyptians as they dance and sing and march. I know a bloodless revolution is not of this world, but let us acknowledge a most amazing thing has happened in the world. Egyptians now dare to hope the oppression they have lived under for decades will come to an end. The future is indeed unknown in Egypt, but the hope is still alive that all Egyptians may someday become a democracy where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are a reality not just for the rich and powerful minority, but for all. Let's all put on rose-colored glasses for a bit and enjoy the moment!!!
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