Revolt! Feb. 3

February 3, 2011

9:53pm

Today has been a difficult day. The jubilance and celebratory atmosphere of the peaceful protests is marred now by the bloody street war yesterday. The good guys are a little on the defensive and thankfully the international media has picked up the truth of the story that many of the so-called “pro-Mubarak supporters” that attacked protesters yesterday were plainclothes police and/or paid to cause violence. Fortunately, the bad guys are on the defensive too, and I say fortunately because although the news is not good for me, with the new VP giving a long interview on State TV blaming foreigners for everything, the continued backpedaling and mixed messages from the administration (while the VP was blaming foreigners, the new Prime Minister said he would start an investigation into whether security forces were involved in the violence) is strengthening the stance of foreign governments against Mubarak.

There are some scary rumors of foreigners being targeted by government funded gangs (I heard a foreigner was beaten to death in Tahrir yesterday) and the media reports it is basically open season on journalists. The US Embassy has provided its last evacuation flight out of Egypt and those of us that wish to leave after this will have to make our own arrangements. Honestly, most foreigners were making commercial reservations anyway, as they are significantly cheaper than the evac flights provided by the State Department. Interestingly, I learned that most countries fly their citizens out of emergency situations for free. The US is fairly unique in requiring reimbursement. Even Mexico was evacuating its citizens from Egypt free of charge.

Mexico. Take a minute and think about that. What responsibilities does a government have to protect its citizens who choose to live on foreign soil? Do those responsibilities change depending on whether or not those citizens engage in peaceful protest against a foreign government? If there is no actual legal obligation for a government to protect its citizens abroad, does it have some moral obligation? Whether it is a moral or legal obligation, is it right that such protection comes with a price tag?

Many Americans have been disappointed by the lack of guidance and assistance offered by the Embassy here. No one from the Embassy ever called me, despite the fact that I am registered with them. Not knowing I was receiving Cairo Warden emails from the Embassy (proving I was registered), due to the Internet blackout, I had my mom re-register me. To complete my re-registration, the State Department sent me an EMAIL with a link I had to click and enter a code (HELLO – NO INTERNET). After 48 hours of me not entering the code I didn’t know about, they canceled the re-registration request (which turned out not to matter because I was already registered, they just weren’t calling me because they’re lame). No safe transportation was provided to the airport and I’ve heard reports of roadblocks on the way where foreigners trying to leave are first robbed. Even if you can get an evac flight, you are sent to the “safehaven” (and the safety of these places is debatable at best) cities of Nicosia, Istanbul, or Athens (no choice where you’re sent) and must provide your own accommodation or transportation from there, at your own cost, in addition to reimbursing the State Department for your evacuation at two to three times the commercial rate. No pets allowed, even as carry-on luggage.

The president apparently admitted to ABC today that he is fed up with being president and would like to step down but fears that if he does, Egypt will descend into chaos. I didn’t see the interview but if that is accurate, it is a surprisingly frank admission from what I have believed this whole time is basically a stubborn octogenarian blinded by his pride and his advisors (who supposedly keep a lot from him) to the reality unfolding in his country.

Officially, the two sides have come to a stalemate, as the VP declared the government will not negotiate as long as the protests continue and the protesters will not leave until Mubarak steps down. If Mubarak is making admissions in the foreign media about wanting to leave office, perhaps he is trying to soften his landing a bit but the crackdown by government forces yesterday, the continued non-intervention of the military or police to protect peaceful citizens, the stoppage of supplies into Tahrir by government lackeys and the sanctioned hunting of journalists and demonizing of foreigners weighs against the likelihood that he is preparing for a graceful exit. If he is, judging from the continued rage and frustration of the Egyptians I’ve heard from, he really shouldn’t take his time. If tomorrow’s protests are as big as Tuesday’s, or even as big as last Friday’s, he could be chased out before he has time to leave on his own.

If he’s not planning to leave on his own, his terror tactics are weighing against him in the court of international opinion.

10:46pm

Hillary is slamming the attacks on the peaceful protesters, foreigners, and journalists now and she totally called out the army for sitting on its ass while people were attacked around them. She fell back on the “immediately begin negotiations for a peaceful and orderly transition.” It isn’t enough to demand that negotiations begin immediately. The transition needs to begin immediately or those people on Tahrir are not going home. Sigh. That was disappointing.

The Health Minister says that 13 people were killed in yesterday’s fighting and some 1200 were injured.

Middle class Iraqis who had taken refuge in Egypt during the war are fleeing Cairo and returning to Iraq in search of security and stability. Yikes.

So it was a big day in the news but one of the most boring days so far in Zamalek. In the wise words of my friend Dalia, “this is what unemployment felt like.” Only with the caveat that unemployment comes with a little tingle of guilt like it is somehow your fault. This at least doesn’t feel like that. But there is a sense I should be doing more with my days, which is difficult when the day officially ends at five. I am going to make a better effort to exercise each day, in addition to my two half-hour dog walks and finish some projects I promised I’d do for my mom but haven’t been able to work on without Internet. Of course with the restoration of Internet, I’ve caught up on my TV shows, but it is time I buckled down and did some work too. Now that I am used to watching TV for 12-14 hours a day it will be hard to work anything else into my schedule but after 10 days, maybe some variation in my routine will be good for me.

The helicopters have been circling non-stop today but otherwise the streets are quiet. I can smell burning trash from the campfires warming the neighborhood watch groups (who I neglected to make banana bread tonight – hopefully tonight will be uneventful!) but I associate that smell with the burn barrel of one of my babysitters when I was little and would strike out on my own into the woods during the day to explore. It is the smell of adventure!

Thanks to those of you who continue to write and call. It is nice to hear from home and reeaaally nice to break up the monotony. Good luck with this year's snowpocalypse!