Stay safe

I’m not going to make a thorough attempt to analyze the total current situation in Egypt. Enough people seem to be doing that. Besides, the past events have felt so close, and have been occurring so rapidly that it’s hard to have the proper distance that I feel that you need to perform a decent analysis. However, I can tell you about what it has been like to live in Cairo downtown for the past two weeks and throw some random thoughts out there. Above all, my relationship to and respect for every common Egyptian seems forever strengthened. The time I’ve spent on Midan Tahrir, the time I’ve spent talking to people, and the time I’ve spent attempting to document the uprising have ensured this, and increased my feelings of sympathy as time has passed.

During the past two weeks I have tried to balance the placing of myself in the middle of what’s happening with paying attention to my own safety. I moved to a spot right in between midan Talat Harb and the Egyptian museum, a couple of hundred meters away from Tahrir, just before the protests started. To be honest, I’m glad I did. My trips over to Zamalek in the past days to see friends and fellow students, gave an impression that the whole island has manifested its position as an isolated fortress of diplomats, expats and rich Egyptians during the protests. Security turned top priority once the disturbances broke out. The “Neighborhood watch” consisted of a lot more people than in downtown. I know that the media across the world make it seem like all of Cairo is in total mayhem, but this is only partly true. Staying indoors, for example, prevents you from being exposed to any discomfort whatsoever, at least in downtown. Violence is also mainly concentrated and limited to certain areas, which you know about before you go out, and are easy to spot even if you are already out the door.

About security, two other Norwegians and I just flew out of Cairo, headed for Amman. Passing through the airport and observing the practices of local security really pinpoints what the Egyptian concept of security actually means. I passed through three or four metal detectors. They all beeped. I did not get checked. Passing through one of the final checkpoints, three police officers were too busy arguing with each other instead of actually checking the monitors and people coming through. Not until we boarded the plane, Jordanian airlines personnel did a superficial check. I carried a water bottle in my bag through all of the airport and onto the plane, and my fellow traveler did not even get her purse checked once. Personally, I don’t really care that much. Security levels at western airports are paranoid. It just says something about the Egyptian way. The airport crawls over with police officers, but more than actually securing the passengers, they just loaf around trying to display a show of force or whatever.

I must say that I feel the same way about the normal state of the inflated Cairo police force. More than filling the typical functions that westerners associate with police, they constitute a bunch of manpower that scares off, or potentially knock down unrest and unwanted behavior. I think I read somewhere that Cairo has more police per citizen than any other city on the continent. The recent “pro Mubarak protests” and organized looting might be the states attempt to prove for Cairenes that the police presence (not to say Mubarak’s presence) ensures stability. Stability is the word of the week, being the core topic of all the announcements from the regime, and partially in the statements from foreign leaders (much more than democracy anyways), and then transmitted to everyone’s lips in Cairo. Residents at the dormitories of the American University in Cairo barely dared looking out the windows the past week, even though the streets have been mostly safe until the pro-regime goons barged out in downtown a couple of days ago. Not that I blame the university for being overprotective or anything. Once you move into the dorms the safety thing is part of the package I guess.

Everywhere you go as a foreigner in Cairo right now, the Egyptians warn you about your safety and to stay inside. Next, they ask you not to take pictures. Journalists have been hospitalized due to over courageous reporting in the past days. The journalists seemed to be intentionally targeted to spread the message that documenting the ongoing brutality is a no-go. Then the attacks themselves could be used as an excuse to keep foreigners in general from witnessing what’s going on in the streets. “Where you from? Passport, passport! Please go to hotel for your safety.”, and then blocking your way. The whole thing seems a bit backward to me. If Egyptians are so concerned about the well-being of foreigners, they should constrain those who attack people with cameras, not prevent foreigners from using them. I think the explanation lies in the regimes hostility to openness is imprinted to people’s minds. It might also be that people are still scared. Once a picture is taken, there is no knowing where it might be shipped off to, be it a newspaper or the secret police. In an awkward form of patriotism, attacks on journalists/ people with camera are also actions to prevent Egypt from being seen in an unfavorable light. Can’t really say it’s working.

The situation escalated quite a lot in my neighborhood from around three days ago. Clashes and beatings were going on in my street, and gunshots were frequently heard around downtown. I struck a deal with myself when the protests began that I would leave the country if live rounds were fired, so that’s what I’m doing right now. As I mentioned at the top, we just flew out of Cairio. We slept one night in Amman and are now headed for Jerusalem. I have a return flight to Cairo from Amman on Friday. Hope it’s safe to go back.



I have a bunch of videos from the protests that I’ll try to upload and post continuously on this page. Also, I wrote another blog entry in Norwegian on this link:

http://www.nyemeninger.no/lch081/
Lars, Jerusalem