At an estimated nineteen million people, Cairo does remain a very small town. Every single time I have been there I have been struck by the small cliques of people who hang out at the same parties, go out to the same restaurants and bars, visit the same art exhibitions and gossip endlessly about each other. There is an interesting kind of tribalism. For example, many of the expat journalists reporting on the Middle East (till a few days ago Cairo as opposed to Beirut was considered the safest place to report from about the region) like to drink copiously at the Odeon Palace rooftop bar off Talaat Harb street pretty much a stone’s throw from the Ground Zero of the Egyptian revolution at Tahrir Square.
Like any claustrophobic society ruled by autocratic regimes, the well off hang out with the well off and are usually cut off from the majority of Egyptians, at least forty percent of whom live below the poverty line and are never inhabiting the same physical spaces let alone the same spaces on social networks.
Mobile phone penetration at an estimated half of the population and Internet penetration at about twenty million Egyptians is remarkable. However the most profound thing about the ongoing Egyptian revolution is that it has brought together young activists (who decided to not be as apathetic as their parents’ generation had been) with some of the poorest who they never really spoke to before these remarkable events unfolding live on Al-Jazeera.
I have continued to report from the space I am using on my own frontline of cyber journalism. I have turned down most media interviews, because I really need to be next to my phone and laptop and today I did do one interview (while multi-tasking and doing the chat below) for Voice of America Urdu which I know is heard in Pakistan. My hope: perhaps some of this remarkable revolutionary spirit of the Egyptians will travel beyond the middle-east into one of the most troubled countries in the world right now. I joked to the interviewer who asked me if I would take back my earlier comments that this was not a Twitter revolution—I said I would not and that the only twitter revolution that I knew was really happening was on my laptop and perhaps on the laptops of others not in Egypt (and ofcourse the very valuable but relatively small critical mass that has been able to tweet from inside).
I continue to report my conversations and chats with my wide network of contacts in the “raw”-un-edited, without spell checks and trying as much as possible to keep the nuance of language as it is spoken on phones or online chat-rooms. This is what might happen if I was a journalist with a camera hunting for vox-pops in Tahrir Square. The immediacy of these and my previous conversations is what makes them important.
Today, I spoke to many friends. Here is one who is not protesting at Tahrir Square. The most chilling thing he and others reported to me today—was that Hosni Mubarak (and the violence he unleashed in the past twenty four hours) had succeeded in creating divisions amongst the protesters. Even family members are now arguing at their dinner tables about the feasibility of continuing the protests.
“MMQahira” is a 27 year old gay man who lives in the relatively affluent Mohandessin area. I had not been able to reach him since the first day of the revolution (That now famous #Jan25 hash-tag) but today we found each other again on a restored internet. Here is our entire conversation, raw, no spell-checks.
Me: hi
MMQahira: hey
Me: u there?
MMQahira : yes i’m here
Me: did u go out today?
MMQahira: well.. i go out every day, only within our street limits
Me: which area? not to tahrir?how r u getting info? al jazeera?
MMQahira: for a week i’ve been stuck between our living room & patrolling the street with the rest of the guys downstairs…im in mohandeseen
Me: have not been to tahrir?
MMQahira: we watch a combo of cnn/bbc/jazeera/arabiyya
have not been to tahrir, have friends there
Me: do u think cnn is doing a good job?
MMQahira: uhmm, tough question. i think they are doing the best they can, each channel tends to be operating within its own limits
Me: what news frm frnds in tahrir? how many frnds there? anyone hurt?
MMQahira: 5 that i know of
Me: able to talk on cell?
MMQahira: they go in the morning when things are OK. yes we talk on the cell
Me: while they are there?
MMQahira: they were delivering medical supplies and food
Me: and they leave before nightfall? is it true that 6 people were killed yesterday?
MMQahira: my friend’s mom went in the afternoon and was not allowed to go into tahrir and was shoved out of her car and all supplies thrown on the ground…it seems true of course
Me: how old is she?
MMQahira: have u not seen the images from tahrir at 4am? i’d say mid fifties
Me: yes I have . . . non stop . . . all night . . . I have not slept much for a week, watching al Jazeera and on phone to Cairo all the time…and writing updates on twitter
MMQahira: the thing is… no one is able to objectively say WHO was responsible for last night’s massacre
Me: what do u mean? dont u think it was his guys?
MMQahira: of course we all think so
Me: but?
MMQahira: but where is the proof?
Me: so who else cud it be?
MMQahira: i don’t know!
Me: the brothers? no way? El B no way?
MMQahira: there’s no reason i could think of to justify that it would be the brotherhood
Me: let me say this
MMQahira: go ahead
Me: it seems people were paid between 100 to 500 pounds even those guys on horses and the molotovs they are making on 6th october seems to be their guys
MMQahira: they were not only throwing them from the bridge they had taken over 2 buildings and were receiving supplies of gasoline on a regular basis to fill up the molotovs in the comfort of the building’s roof to throw down
Me: tell me what are u thinking? whats going on in your mind? what emotions?
MMQahira: anger . . . that the truth never prevails and no revolution ever turns out as expected
Me: depressed? hopeful?
MMQahira: and shocked at how mubarak’s regime was able to divide the people’s views and deceive them
Me: tomorrow? wont everyone march to helioplis?
MMQahira: depressed not at all, hopeful definitely. i’m not marching every where. i am an observer not a participator
Me: this is imp–do u think this is a twitter or fb revolution or is it way more than that?
MMQahira: twitter and fb are merely a medium through which people can spread ideas
Me: but most of the protestors r poor and not on twitter and fb right? esp in smaller cities
MMQahira: protestors are of every age and social class…but in cairo…it is the educated young generation that was able to get the ball rolling because they have the means and knowledge…all other ppl followed
Me: OK, what do u think will happen tmrw? u think they can march towards heliopolis?
MMQahira: absolutely not
Me: its a long walk from tahrir for sure!
MMQahira: that’s a factor
Me: why do u think they cannot walk?
MMQahira: because the military is now again taking orders from the minister of defense who is in the ndp’s umbrella
Me: so what? if 2 million ppl start walking then?
MMQahira: we’ll have to wait and see, it would be a miracle
Me: well do u think tmrw is big?
MMQahira: what we all really wish for is that mubarak truely reaches out to people heart-to-heart, to give us any glimpse that we could trust his regime but quite the opposite is happening….that’s what i do not understand
Me: do u think he was ever sensitive? to what people felt?
MMQahira: no he was always robotic
Me: in the past? so then why would he listen now?
MMQahira: because the shit has hit the fan
Me: true, but he is a dictator rt? agree?
MMQahira: haha
MMQahira: lol..is it not obvious
Me: what are the slogans today?
MMQahira: Varied…a lot of people are cussing him out straight to the point
Me: using abuses like?
MMQahira: i don’t know, u can see on people’s statuses
Me: on fb?
MMQahira: and pictures of people holding banners. yes
Me: yes that I can, will any of your friends be marching tmrw?
MMQahira: probably yes but i am discouraging them because look at was is happening
Me: which is? the killing?
MMQahira: it could be deadly
Me: but if people dont go..he stays…
MMQahira: They are ruthless, parvez it looks like he stays regardless, it’s like he is invincible
Me: u really feel that?
MMQahira: yes, but i know that god is just and nothing really changes over night i think we are very much in the early stages of this revolution
Me: do u want people to stop and just wait till september?
MMQahira: i would have been OK with till september a few days ago but he is too late
Me: so i dont understand, u dont want your friends to go
MMQahira: and with all he is doing to the people in their neibourhoods, sending out lunatics to scare the people into hoping non of this had happened
Me: but u want others to keep going?
MMQahira: no, i want whoever wants to go, including my friends, to go but i am not optimisstic as a friend i have to discourage them because it is a matter of life or death and the odds are high that this regime will do everything to keep things the way they are including killing their own people does that make sense
Me: u getting any info thru fb or twitter? A few more people are sending regular updates…since the internet came back…
MMQahira: what sort of info?
Me: about stuff on ground, developments
MMQahira: yes of course, i’m on twitter all day i even saw you post a couple of times and on fb i read my friends’ pleas for help in tahrir but i don’t have a twitter account
Me: so how can u see my tweets?
MMQahira: i just got onto the homepage typed #egypt and your post was in one of the many thousands by coincidence
Me: M…any idea how many people in cairo tweet?
MMQahira: do you think that this is a virtual revolution….
Me: or have fb?…out of 19 million…many in media think its a virtual revolution which is why I was so angry about it!
MMQahira: well i’m telling you it could have been what started it…in a small way…not all of it… that is all…and the proof is, things went on regardless, when the internet was cut off and phones…for ppl in egypt
you cannot give out fliers
you cannot stand and make a speech in the street
you cannot express any political views
so people resorted to the www, as a medium through which to talk just like people in palestine are doing to get their voices heard
Me: but how many? thats my question. 80 million people-how many on fb and twitter? if u dont have money for food do u twitter?
MMQahira: well just go to the original fb page about the revolution, it had 90,000 people listed as ‘attending’
Me: I know that
MMQahira: it was sent to 600,000, that is a lot, even our buwab’s son has FB
Me: and then it spread through them…I understand. But now?
MMQahira: it is a revolution of the youth
Me: Its even more than that no?
MMQahira: because they are the ones who dont keep their mouths shut
they spoke for the poor
they spoke for the innocent
they spoke for every one
and it is clear now the ndp is putting fear in people that egypt’s a goner if this goes through that we will be in hands of the brotherhood to rule that economically we will be doomed, etc so there has happened a split in views from within the same people who just a couple of days ago were united
Me: and mubarak did that with his second speech?
MMQahira: i wouldn’t say that, the second speech angered people because it was too little too late had he done this speech 2 days before
Me: so how did that split happen?
MMQahira: things would be different, all the people who would rather just get back to their lives the way they were are now speaking out, the poor, who are worried that they will starve to death while people protest and the rich, who were not really affected by the regime and the middle class, who have an affiliation with mubarak and the normal person who is afraid to leave the house wants stability back so many people are blaming the protestors instead of blaming the system
Me: true. what time is it? how much have you been sleeping? u there?
MMQahira: sorry was on the phone
Me: how much have u slept?
MMQahira: i sleep from 8am to 2pm
Me: and then?
MMQahira: shower, and off to the street with the rest of the shabaab from the area, we block the street from both sides with our cars and make a bon fire on each nasya
Me: So u don’t need to be in tahrir necessarily to participate
MMQahira: and sit around it with our stick/shouma/guns/whatever we can find
Me: I know u were religious once…is it helping now?
MMQahira: it has been very interesting, i like to consider myself a true muslim
Me: so then allah swt helping?
MMQahira: what’s swt? subhanahowata3ala
Me: Yes…easier to type swt!
MMQahira: of course
Me: yes
MMQahira: it’s no joke… every time i pray or meditate, i get a perspective on things, it’s magical
Me: which is? the perspective with salah is?
MMQahira: that ultimately this is one of god’s filtration systems…what is going on whose truely good, whose truely not good and that i do not have to feel helpless
Me: So the truly not good will be filtered out?
MMQahira: absolutely, their judgement not necessarily will be in this life
Me: any particular surah that helps?
MMQahira: the last verses of surat al baqarrah but why do you ask?
Me: yes…just wondering. I think its special…i wanted to ask you about something
Me: fi amanallah btw
MMQahira: Thx…i knoww of all people you must have an idea
Me: pls do
MMQahira: ok, it’s very scarey what’s going on because hour to hour things change completely
Me: I know
MMQahira: me and my partner/husband had made a pact in our vows that no matter what happens we will be together
Me: hamduliilah
MMQahira: yes
Me: so the question is?
MMQahira: i am lucky to have an american citizenship, he is egyptian we were considering if our lives are at threat that we would go to the U.S and wait it out
Me: u should, let me see how I can help
MMQahira: how would i go about in taking him with me
Me: let me think who can help
MMQahira: we want to get married in the U.S
Me: I know an immigration lawyer in NYC who is amazing
MMQahira: but i know it’s not legal on a federal level
Me: yep u cant get married my friend here for sure! Ask me, I know lol! inshaallah we will try and figure out a solution
MMQahira: i know friends in Europe where i lived, and brought their boyfriends over from whatever country, and were able to get the same benefits as any hetero couple but i don’t know what’s the situation in the US
Me: its pretty horrible, lets talk about this soon inshaallah, let me make a few calls btw was he the one who had a live feed from his phone at tahrir on the first night?
MMQahira: i’d truely appreciate your help in whatever you can find out or help with no, that was one of my best friends from school who had the live feed from his android phone I think on the first night…
Me: OK…Listen…I will talk to ppl about this… I promise and I will publish this chat anyway so maybe people will rspnd with ideas
MMQahira: god bless you
Me: u2 fi amanallah
MMQahira: thx
Me: Be v careful on twitter or fb or phone…he has people setting up alibis now and monitoring…ahmadinejad did this in Tehran in 09 and there was a crackdown…tell all your frnds pls…
MMQahira: yeah, god
Me: lets chat tmrw inshaallah
MMQahira: ok… let’s.
Me: send me reg. updates pls whenever u are online
tayyib bye
MMQahira: Sure…bye
