Egypt - 3 - From those who've been there

Over dinner last night with friends Mickey and Sharon Nardo, I was eager to discuss Egypt, since they had just traveled there last year. We shared most of all a wondrous sense of admiration for the Egyptian people. When I got home, I discovered that there is already a petition circulating on the internet to have the Egyptian People nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2011. Absolutely !!!

Sharon was particularly ecstatic over the events, having watched live for up to five hours at a stretch, waiting for Mubarak's announcement that he was resigning -- and then he didn't. We were all moved to tears by the extraordinary unity of the people and their pride in what they have done. And we shared an awe of the restraint the crowds showed when Mubarak refused to step down, not losing faith and also not succumbing to despair and rioting. They just kept steadfast in the moral persuasion of the rightness of their cause, their sheer numbers, their broad representation, and their determination.

I was incredulous how this could have happened without obvious strong leadership. Sharon has followed it more closely than I and had some answers. There has been a small group for years working quietly toward this kind of non-violent protest movement. When the government fell in Tunesia recently, they contacted leaders from that movement and got advice from them on how they did it. The Egyptians then prepared a manual of instructions for demonstrators (what to bring, how to behave -- they stressed staying non-violent), and they distributed the manual through Facebook and Twitter. This is how it was all managed and how daily plans were communicated.

It had to be more than just good management, however; the people had to cooperate and stay cool in the face of risk and attacks. And the internet was shut off for a while there; that could have been crucial -- and probably would be in another, even more repressive dictatorship. As bad as Mubarak now seems to have been, there are worse.

Another important factor is who the military sides with -- and this may be a crucial difference in some other countries that now might try to follow suit. In Egypt, the military protected the protesters and announced that it would not shoot at them. When (Mubarak-hired) thugs attacked, the military intervened. Another country with a military controlled by the dictator might have turned on the protesters.

But, so far at least, the Egyptian people have triumphed in a hard-to-believe, non-violent overthrow of a repressive dictatorship. They are justifiably basking in pride and good feelings. It is an amazing moment in history --because of the people and what they did. This spirit was so evident in the comment of a 20 year old student, Omar Muhammed, to explain why the crowd is now spending a day cleaning Tahrir Square: "We are cleaning the square now because it is ours. After living here for three weeks, it has become our home ... We're going to leave it better than before."

Some other points I gleaned from Sharon and Mickey's experience and knowledge about Egypt and the Egyptians from their trip:

1. They found the people very open and likable, generally better educated than people living in comparable poverty-stricken nations, and certainly impressive in their endurance of hardship. Egypt has a very homogenous population.

2. The people were impressively devout in their religion (observing calls to prayer), but they wore it lightly without trying to impose it on others; a level of tolerance not seen in many Muslim nations.

3. Egypt looks like a big country on our maps, but it is about 90% sand and the inhabitable part of the country is just a few miles wide along the length of the Nile. Overcrowding in this narrow strip is extreme.

4. Infrastructure decay and disrepair is appalling -- even things like the national museum that houses priceless antiquities is falling apart and dirty.

5. Alexandria is plush, a resort for the wealthy and tourists. Cairo is teeming with overcrowding and poverty. Smog is intolerable, garbage piles up.

6. We all agreed that Egypt will need international financial assistance to rebuild and combat the poverty. A concern is the effect of all this on the tourist industry -- which is a major source of income. At this point, one U. S. travel agency has already canceled a tour schedule for mid-March.

Thanks to Sharon and Mickey for sharing this. Hope they'll correct any of my misunderstanding of what they said.

Ralph