Reliving Revolution in Egypt: Day 12 – One More Step Forward

For each day during this nearly three week long anniversary, an excerpt of the Book “Egypt Unshackled” will provide you with the historical and social media highlights from each day of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.

Saturday, 05 February 2011

Tweet of the Day: @estr4ng3d‎ The revolution’s biggest obstacle now is not #Mubarak. It’s the ignorance 30 years of his rule have deliberately produced. #Jan25 #Egypt

The events of the last few days were, frankly, exhausting. The field hospitals were winding down, the injured healing and the martyred were being buried in loudly chanting, angry funerals. The Square remained under the control of the protestors and after a jubilant day of protest where more than 1 million people marched in demonstrations acrossEgypt, the consensus reaction was, “now what?”

Many of those in the Square had been there for almost two weeks and almost all were unsure of the endgame.

Tahrir was peaceful and quiet. With police patrolling the streets again, the citizenry felt safe and returned to their homes to sleep rather that protect via neighbourhood watches.

For days journalists were targets of the Mubarak regime. As this day began we learned more about their treatment by their secret police captors and aggressors. And the first journalist casualty of the crisis is named.

@bencnn‎ Chilling account from the New York Times: This is what people here are revolting against. #Jan25 #Tahrir #Egypt 2 Detained Reporters Saw Secret Police’s Methods Firsthand
RT @Jan25voices AJA: Reporting Egyptian security services arrest the bureau chief of AJZ Abd AlFatah Fayd and the journalist with him Ahmad Yusuf, #Egypt
@teri_sawers‎ Shot reporter dies in Egypt clashes, first reported journalist death …Hillary Clinton weighed in on media freedom y’day
@AmnestyUK‎ Relieved that our staff in #Egypt have been released, but outraged that Egyptian activists arrested with them have not been freed #Jan25
@hrw‎ Great news this morning, all our Egyptian colleagues detained on February 3 have been released.

The US continued to grab at shadows showing both a lack of message control and tunnel vision, all the while thinking this series of events was all about them. The Ambassador inCairo’s staff named a picture of someone receiving help from the Embassy… the ‘photo of the week.’

It reminded me of a conversation theUSAmbassador to The Netherlands had days after 9/11. He toured the very tragic Anne Frank House inAmsterdam, remarking to my friend guiding him, how tragic Anne’s life was and bemoaned the (then estimated) loss of 5,000 people in the WTC. My friend, an American living abroad answered: “Mr. Ambassador, yes it is and… more than 55 million people on this continent perished in WWI and WWII. That, sir, is the equivalent of a 9/11 per day every day for 30 years.”

TheUSand much of the West struggled with maintaining perspective. Despite the suffering this week of thousands and scores of lives lost, it was still clearly all about theUSAand their interests.

Many words of encouragement came in from other sources but US ‘Envoy’ Frank Wisner would create his own ‘Tempest in a Teapot’ suggesting on television from Cairo and Germany, that loyalty to Mubarak was the ‘official’ US position.

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Obama spokespeople would not merely just ‘throw’ him under the bus, they would run backwards and forwards over his corpse until not even an ‘Alien’ living inside him would survive.

@SultanAlQassemi‎ Al Jazeera: Reuters: Ambassador Frank G Wisner ”Mubarak must stay in power for the constitutional changes to take place”
@abdu‎ Reuters: Frank Wisner, Obama’s envoy to Egypt, says Mubarak has to stay to oversee the transition. This is ominous. #Egypt#Cairo#Mubarak
@AzizaSami‎ If it is true that Frank Wisner said Americans want Mubarak to go on til September then theUS is playing the wrong hand #Egypt
@NiceBastard‎ Frank Wisner: „Mubarak’s continued leadership is crucial — it’s his chance to write his own legacy.“ #jan25#egypt US envoy: Mubarak has to lead Egypt to transition – Yahoo! News
@Sandmonkey  Dear Frank Wisner, Please keep your opinions to  yourself.   Sincerely,  the Egyptian people!
@TheNewsBlotter‎ /@BBCKimGhattas Wisner never described as an “envoy” by WH or #StateDept but he was on an official mission in #Egypt.

For years we would joke that when we encountered someone in ‘denial’ about their situation, that it was a river inEgypt. Since this struggle takes place on the banks of the River Nile it felt inappropriate, but the Mubarak regime was living in total denial of the people’s will and Nile State Television was happy to play the role of Greek chorus letting anyone with an axe to grind against the protestors have airtime to state their issue on live television.

They were watching the Egyptian version of the Right Wing US FOX News network on steroids. At least with FOX there is pretence of balance. No such need on Nile Television.

@DailyNewsEgypt‎ Hossam Badrawy replaces both Safwat El-Sherif and President Mubarak’s son, Gamal in their NDP positions. #jan25
@Firas_Atraqchi‎ Safwat El Sherif is out = a matter of time & Mubarak is gone. El Sherif was NDP pillar and the other face of the presidency #jan25#Cairo
@AyaYousry‎ Safwat El Sherif’s phone call to Lamis El Hadidi and Naguib Sawiris on Nile Life … I just love Sawiris!! #Egypt#Jan25
@TheNewsBlotter‎ This is laughable. Nile TV says there are no Egyptians in #Tahrir Square. Only Americans and Iranians #Egypt

Those in Tahrir were committed to staying until the very end and became increasingly concerned about the ignorance of the masses and how easily they seem ready to accept State Television pabulum despite continued gains and pointing out corruption in the government and police.

@estr4ng3d‎ The revolution’s biggest obstacle now is not #Mubarak. It’s the ignorance 30 years of his rule have deliberately produced. #jan25#egypt
@Mwforhr‎ .@sandmonkey In Iran we saw ppl tracked down via their cell phone locations! Tweeps inEgypt, PLEASE BEWARE! #jan25
@ramadan‎ Government giving $900 to the families of those who died in #Tahrir. A cow costs $1500 inEgypt. #Jan25
@Sarahcarr‎ Cameras are apparently being banned from going into Tahrir now. Has anyone had a different experience today? #jan25
@EANewsFeed #Egypt Egyptian Christians Will Hold Mass During Sunday Protest in Tahrir: #Jan25
@Rouelshimi‎ Egyptians have already changed. It’s raining and ppl are out on the streets. #jan25
@mlubbad‎ … protestors sitting on street to prevent tanks into #tahrir#jan25
@arwasm Gosh! Once out of #tahrir you’re in Hitler’sGermany! Spies, people who look suspicious, pointless comments! #ja

And true democracy was happening in Tahrir Square and on Twitter. A respect-filled form of self-governance began to examine nuanced ways of dealing with multiple crises a new government would face.

@democracynow‎ Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif: life in Tahrir Square “is truly democracy in action” #Egypt #Jan25
@Sandmonkey‎ But the status quo won’t due. This lack of action and organization will be used against us in every way possible . #jan25
@Sandmonkey‎ Start registering the protestors, get their names, addresses & districts. Start organizing them into committees. & they elect leaders #jan25

The democracy movement was leaderless by design. After the events of the last nearly two weeks their level of trust in outsiders was very low. Everything could be a Mubarak trap.

That is why when an unknown group from the Cayman Islands appeared and communicated with thousands acrossEgyptsaying they were supporting those in the Square and claiming to speak for everyone via Twitter and Facebook, many were simultaneously thrilled and suspicious. They called themselves shebab-masr, opened a website and Facebook page and asked demonstrators to register using their name and national ID. Protestors in Tahrir spent hours online trying to track down this shadowy group.

Equally perplexing was VP Suleiman’s eagerness to meet with their board and his invitation to them to join the Committee of ‘Wise Men.’ Their online sign-up petition created more questions than it answered about the group and suspicions would become warnings to all that this could be the government up to its old tricks.

@googlewaveyour‎ “Protestors aren’t 1s who shut down internet paralyzed ur businesses & banks:Government did” @Sandmonkey‘s blog Rantings of a Sandmonkey
@carlesdijous‎ We’ve just heard from Cairo that the banned Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, has said it IS ready to take part in talks with the gov.
@SultanAlQassemi‎ El Baradei on Al Jazeera: The Egyptian army must now choose between Mubarak & the people

The question begins to be raised: who is the leader/spokesperson for those inTahrir Square? SandMonkey answers eloquently and the search for Wael Ghonim continues…

@Sandmonkey Yes we must ID leaders to negotiate for us. We need to be safe to do that. Meanwhile @Ghonim speaks for us #jan25
@njarrar Wael ghonim is still detained. By state security. #Jan25
@Sarahngb‎ News that Wael @ghonim is alive and might be released soon has made my day!! and I don’t even really know the guy!

The day though ends with the thorough debunking of a story only FOX News in theUScould create… and indeed they did. In the wee small hours of the Egyptian morning, prime-time for their cable channel, they let this nugget fly:

@Galilyou‎ An assassination attempt on Omar Sulieman the Egyptian VP .. Fox News Report #egypt#jan25
@BBCWorld‎ Clinton says reports of an assassination attempt on Egyptian Vice-President Omar Suleiman shows the challenges of the transition. #jan25
@Jerusalem_Post‎ Statement on Suleiman assassination attempt retracted: German diplomat at Munich Security Conference tells CNN…
@Mosheh‎ Egypt denies Fox News assassination report. Egyptian official: 1st car in Suleiman’s motorcade was hit by a “stray bullet”

As yet another day came to a close, the plan to open the banks and stock markets on Sunday and Monday looked less likely as the crowds remained inTahrir Square. Pleas to think about the economy fell on deaf ears mostly because those in the Square had never benefitted from the economy in over 30 years.

@camanpour‎ #Egypt losing $100′s of millions a day. Big worries of econ collapse. Ppl tell me they want change but country needs to get back to work now

Day 13 would be very interesting asCairoand the rest ofEgyptattempted to start a new work week. Would any work get done?

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Denis G Campbell is author of the book Egypt Unsh@ckled: Using social media to @#:) the System. He is also editor-in-chief of UK Progressive Magazine and contributes politics and business articles for several global newspapers and magazines. He also provides regular commentary for BBC, China Radio International and others.
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