Thinking of Tahir Square

I have felt and continue to feel compelled to write about the things catching fire in Africa and the Middle East (yes, the Suzanne Collins' title seemed most appropriate). I have been reading, or devouring, BBC news on Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt. I have since seen headlines alluding to protests in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. I have begun to drink from the well of fuel and flame that is the history, the present, and the future of this area of the world. This is a doomed task as the thirst is not quenched and the contagion of knowledge spreads even to my fingertips with so much energy that I must dip the bucket into the well again and again.

Though I urge to parrot all the things I have heard and read I will try to limit myself to discussing three poignant factors that I can't ignore.

1. We are all Khaled Said. This was the title of a facebook page that became a stage for videos and photos of policemen doing illegal acts justified by the "emergency law", a law created after the Six Day War. It has allowed activist to be "dealt with" in any imaginable way without consequence. Khaled Said was a young buisness man who was dragged out of an Internet cafe by police. He was beaten to death. The report of his death said that he had suffocated while swallowing a packet of drugs. Family members said that he had a video that implicated police officers in a drug deal. His death sparked the facebook page that was an unstoppable tool in organizing the revolution. In reality, it did the only thing it was ever meant to do--to build connections.

2. The role that social networking has played in the Egyptian revolution is incomprehensible. Does Mark Zuckerburg lie in bed each night, eyes wide open, as he realizes that his creation has ventured into areas he never once considered? He has discussed the idea that the nature of facebook would change communication, but did any of us foresee the role of it in places like Egypt? Did he imagine it in time of war? Do the words "We are all Khaled Said" flash through his mind? Think about everything you know about other wars and how the availability of information was limited by book burnings, controlled newspapers, or monitored telephone calls. Think of the secret radio stations, code words, curfews, and whispers spoken in musty places in the dark. Wael Ghonim, administrator of the facebook page, said that the regime couldn't control it that way in his interview with 60 minutes. The only way to control it would to be to cut off the Internet--which would only tell "4 million people that they are scared like hell from the revolution." He said that the regime made the mistake of blocking facebook and it only forced people to the streets to get connected. (P.S. google search how facebook will end March 15)

3. I don't know much about politics. In fact, I know so very little about my own government, let alone government in the rest of the world. However, I do know some things about religion so it is natural that this last topic is what I notice. Muslims and Christians united to stand for the rights they deserve. They protected each other from harm. This is one picture of Coptic Christians surrounding Muslims as they pray in Tahir square, protecting them from anti-revolutionary forces. Remember that one month before, 23 Christians were killed by an Islamic extremist suicide bomber.



Connections.