February 12, 2011
The world has changed since I last posted. We went from discouragement and depression one night to joy and jubilation less than 24 hours later. After Mubarak’s disappointing speech on Thursday night where he refused to relinquish power, the following evening the vice president came on television to announce that Mubarak had handed over power to the Supreme Military Council. This was good news as the military here are highly respected by the people and stood in solidarity with the protesters, actually protecting them from pro-Mubarak thugs at one critical stage of the uprising in Tahrir Square. After the news, many of us who had gathered at Helmy Abouleish’s house to work on a vision for a New Egypt, which he will present to the Prime Minister, headed to Tahrir Square to join in the celebration. The drive all the way to Tahrir was uncharacteristically quiet, hardly a car on the road – which for Cairo is as about as common as a torrential downpour – making it somewhat eerie. But once we got closer, the streets turned into parking lots and there was a mass of Egyptians celebrating their newfound freedom. Flags everywhere; horns honking; people singing and dancing and Egyptians of all ages celebrating freedom. Once in the square, it was literally wall-to-wall people, a sea of jubilant humanity. Every where we went people wanted to shake our hands and said, “Welcome to Egypt,” which is a common greeting to foreigners here, but on that night it had an entirely different meaning, They meant, “welcome to ‘My’ Egypt … a free Egypt.” I must say it was one of the more emotional experiences of my life. I wondered how many Americans were actually in the square that night – probably not very many. I could have been one of only 50 or so Americans witnessing the fruits of the Egyptian Revolution firsthand. At one point I found myself actually wiping a tear from my eye as I thought about all of those in history who have fought for freedom in different places at different times – like the American Colonists who took a costly stand against King George III to win America’s freedom – my freedom. I realized you can hold the human spirit down for only so long until years of abuse and repression light an unquenchable spark for liberation. I was witnessing the results of what over 300 Egyptian patriots gave their lives for over the course of 18 days and what thousands more were tortured for. It was an absolute honor to walk in that square and have hundreds of former protesters say, “Welcome!” Particularly for me as an American, whose government had paid billions of dollars to keep Mubarak in power for 30 years. Yes, I know, you can argue that Mubarak was better than some radicalized, fundamentalists who would threaten the stability of the region, but why during those 30 years didn’t we put more pressure on the regime to honor human rights and provide the people of Egypt with the basic freedoms that we benefit from – freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly. I hope that all western nations learn a valuable lesson from the Egyptian revolution.
Now the heavy lifting begins for the people of Egypt. It will not being easy creating democratic
institutions and paving the way for truly free and fair elections. But based on what I have witnessed of the Egyptian people, they are up to the task. Now the question is, will America provide the same level of support to nurture these new institutions as it did to keep Mubarak in power? We can only benefit from having a truly free, democratic Egypt – will we make the investment in these people? Time, I guess, will tell.
Well, needless to say it has been a life-transforming experience for me, even as I have watched from the sidelines as it were. But I am excited to play even a tiny role in helping to build the new Egypt by providing truly innovative and transformative education to this young generation of future leaders. Heliopolis University’s vision is to help develop and nurture truly creative young leaders who will be equipped to engage in social innovation – something the New Egypt will surely need. If any of you reading this would like the challenge of your life; if you have gifts and abilities that might be useful at Heliopolis University as we develop the next generation of leaders for Egypt, you know where to find me!
I'm reading your posts but also your reviews of books on the side column. I believe I will be reading some of these books in the near future. Wow. Thanks for the reviews.
Also, A new world emerges for me as well as for you and your family. Hoping to be in Africa by June. Hope to keep in touch.
Posted by: ABigail | February 13, 2011 at 08:00 AM