Revolution in the Arab World - Observation of a lost soul Blog

foreign policy • revolution in the arab world • 18 days
ommend changes to the existing constitution, though critics noted immediately
that it was headed by one of his staunch supporters.
“The debate on the constitution is already mature,” said Hassan Nafaa,
head of the political science department at Cairo University. “You don’t
need any time. Everybody knows exactly what has to be done.”
A few kilometers away from Tahrir, at Pottery Café, a high-end coffee
shop overlooking the Nile in the wealthy island neighborhood of Zamalek,
Gucci-wearing young people smoked shisha and spoke with new interest of
a protest movement that, for many of them, had thus far been something to
fear, rather than welcome.
Zeina, 23, a graduate of the American University in Cairo who works at
her family’s charity hospital in Aswan, in Upper Egypt, said she had been
to the square once just to see it but still wasn’t sure which side to support.
“I’m worried we’re going to be pressured to choose someone we don’t want.”
“Everyone here is in the middle,” Zeina said, gesturing at the young crowd
sitting at the café. “They are all on the fence.”
Others disagreed. “I think Wael Ghonim spoke on behalf of everyone,”
said her friend Sara, 23, who hadn’t been to any demonstrations but said she
was “contributing to the revolution in other ways.”
Maher, 30, who owns a sporting goods store in the upper-class Mohandiseen
neighborhood and wore tinted sunglasses and a white sweater, said
he hadn’t gone to any protests yet; he had been protecting his home every
night “with machine guns” and was afraid to leave. But after watching
Ghonim on television—and now that the police are beginning to return to
the streets—he and his friends plan to go to Tahrir Square later this week
to show their support.
“Everyone” watched Ghonim’s interview and empathized with him, said
Maher’s friend Ahmed, 29, laughing as he pointed to a well-coiffed Chihuahua
sitting in a woman’s lap several tables away. “Even the girl over there with
the little dog.”
At Tabasco, another coffee shop in Zamalek, Karim, a well-spoken 25-yearold
activist, told me that he and several friends were planning to hold an
open forum at a local cultural center on Saturday to help young people begin
to get accustomed to their new freedoms. “But we don’t know really how to
do this,” he said. “Do you know how to organize a town-hall meeting”
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