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

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foreign policy • revolution in the arab world • 18 days happy,” she told me. “I used to be almost embarrassed to be Egyptian; now at last I am truly proud.” Mubarak’s departure seemed to be such a done deal that many protesters had already moved on to a discussion of what a post-Mubarak Egypt should look like. Several people told me they automatically rejected the idea of Vice President Omar Suleiman assuming power. “We don’t want Suleiman either. We want to choose our own president. That’s the whole point,” said Mohammed Abdel Salam, a 32-year-old small-business owner. Perhaps the most prescient person in the crowd was Mahmoud Salem, a 29-year old IT professional who blogs under the name Sandmonkey. “I’ll believe it when I see the tape. I want to see him say it,” Salem said. I watched the speech from the northeast corner of the square across from the Egyptian Museum. A sheet had been hung from lampposts to serve as a projection screen for the live broadcast of Al Jazeera. The sound quality was terrible, so few of us could actually make out what Mubarak was saying. But as the president’s speech went on and he failed to say the magic sentence everyone here was waiting for, you could feel a sense of stunned realization settle over the crowds. Even the dozen or so soldiers clustered on top of a tank watching the speech looked grim. About halfway through Mubarak’s speech, one guy behind me yelled out: “Does that look like someone who’s leaving He won’t go until he’s removed. So we’ll remove him!” The mood in the immediate aftermath of Mubarak’s speech was difficult to define—equal parts deflation, determination, and a mounting sense of rage. “I feel hatred. I feel like we need to drag him from his palace,” said Mayada Moursi, a schoolteacher in her early 30s. Another man, 25-year old Mahmoud Ahmed, simply shrugged and said: “I feel like our president is stupid.” The Tahrir protesters clearly feel that despite more than two weeks of widening public unrest, they still haven’t actually managed to deliver their message to Mubarak in a manner he understands. So now the question becomes: What will they do next to ensure he gets it and goes into early retirement Within an hour of the conclusion of Mubarak’s speech, there were reports of protesters staking out new ground and making moves that could poten- 108
foreign policy • revolution in the arab world • 18 days tially bring them into conflict with the Army. One group of protesters was moving to surround the Information Ministry, located near Tahrir. Another group seemed determined to make the several-mile trek to the presidential palace in the outlying district of Heliopolis. Both locations are heavily fortified, and it’s unlikely the Army will let either be taken. But can the soldiers do so while also keeping their repeated promises not to harm the protesters Even before Thursday night’s bizarre non-resignation, Friday was shaping up to be an angry day; mass symbolic funerals were planned for the estimated 300 protesters killed since the civil unrest campaign began on Jan. 25. Thursday’s events seem certain to add an extra level of intensity and frustration. There is now a real possibility for violence. Former International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei put out on ominous message on Twitter: “Egypt will explode. Army must save the country now.” But within a half-hour of Mubarak’s speech, some protest organizers were already working to tamp down the rampant emotions of the enraged crowds. One man pleaded through a megaphone: “Please people, I’m begging you. Tomorrow’s protest must be peaceful, no matter how much they provoke us.” 109
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