Another wave of students left today. I have heard that there are still some from yesterday that are stuck at the airport. There is no water available at the airport, they are out of food, and all non-embassy flights have been pushed back until further notice. This bites.
I find myself getting so angry. I want to stay and I don’t want to lose my scholarship because Mubarak has an ego. I want to learn Arabic at this school. I want to see mosques, pyramids, the Sphinx, Luxor, Alexandria, and all the markets. I haven’t even had a chance to see the Cairo museum. I hate the president here and if I hate him this much, I can’t even comprehend how much the people of Egypt must hate him. I’m so mad I could cry and if you know me, you know how mad that is.
I am as safe on this island as an infant in a padded room. There is no danger. We have more security than the Federal Mint and we don’t even utilize them. They are admittedly just as bored, if not more than we are, but we are safe. I don’t feel threatened in the slightest. The entire faculty of the school is still here, including the president and vice president of AUC. They both come to Zamalek everyday to bring us new news. How much danger can we honestly be in if people are driving 45 minutes each way, daily, to pass along news that is essentially the same everyday.
Today Egyptians have amassed two million strong in Tahrir Square. (I believe someday this square will be as famous as Tieneman in China.) The protests are peaceful and the protestors just as insistent that they will be heard and they will be respected and that their voices are required to be heard and that Mubarak must go. I was walking near 26th of July street today and on every concrete support of the overpass, someone had spray painted NO MUBARAK (in Arabic, of course.) People here are serious. They say that everything that has happened so far is worth it and the belief is held that they will come out victorious.
It is my sincerest wish that the US would withdraw financial support from Egypt. I realize that it will inconvenience us, but our country was funded on several principles and everyday Americans live their lives by them. Yet, everyday the American government lends money and support to regimes whose policies are directly oppositional to our proclaimed moral and perceptual beliefs. Lending this support undermines our constitutional directives. How can we say we believe in human rights, freedom of speech, freedom to pursue happiness and achievement and then openly (or secretly) support governments that enforce values that are diametrically oppositional on their people? It makes us hypocrites and it makes us liars. If we truly believe in the basic rights of all men to exist, that encompasses a world of mankind, not just Americans and we are making liars of ourselves by assisting in the oppression of Egyptians or any other people.
I am waiting on a call from Ryan, my study abroad advisor. He is supposed to have information for me about alternate programs that I can participate in. I deeply deeply hope he will have found some options for me. In talking to Cat, another Gilman Scholar, there are programs in Morocco, UAE, and Aman. The question for me is going to be if I can afford them. I will not give up without a fight. I have come so far and it would be an awful thing to fail now.
I love these people. Being here and seeing how hard they are willing to fight for their basic rights gives me a desire to be more informed and to be more active in lending my support to the things I feel are important. Saying I believe in something isn’t enough if I am completely unwilling to back it up with action.
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