Some reflections from Cairo August 2013

Some reflections (Day 1 is the 14th of August 2013) the date of the crackdown on the two sit in camps by the pro-Muslim Brotherhood and Pro-Morsey supporters Posted: 15/August 2013 ( I used that in an email responding to a German friend, but I feel I should share that with the rest, it is long so sorry for that).

My family is ok, we all stayed at home yesterday, I took my kids to the nursery in the morning but we had to take them home early because we were not sure of the events . I consider myself lucky as I live in a very quiet district to the East of Cairo almost at the edge of the desert, its called New Cairo. But my work me and my wife are of course in the main city and even my wife's work is in the backstreet to the sit in camp in East Cairo. the problem with the news coverage is that they are only showing images of the crackdown , no images what so ever of what is happening elsewhere in Egypt. I had friends and relatives who live close by the sit in camps in both sides and they were really living in misery. unfortunately this is a consequence of having a deep rooted religious based group like the Muslim Brotherhood. They really have twisted politics and policies on the ground. Since 2011 they have been slowly but surely infiltrating most of the state's institutions even the universities. I never voted for them as I seriously do not believe in any rule attached to religion, strange approaches inside and outside Egypt. Sinai was made a safe heaven for terrorists and Al Qaida groups, I really wonder how people abroad will feel if they see Al Qaida flag raised over their land, it does not make any sense. My wife's uncle was a fighter pilot and was killed in the last war with Israel in the quest of getting back that land. You can not imagine the dismay among old veterans who lost their friends and almost lost their lives in that war to see how it is simply being given away to terrorists.

You know , I was part of a team in 2009/2010 working on making developiment plans for a region in the South East of Egypt, we were working for the government to attempt and set large development and investment plans for this region because of some illegal disputes with our neighbor Sudan, and we were under pressure from the cabinet to finish the plans as soon as possible as it meant a lot to the notion of Egyptian Sovereignty. This was put on hold after 2011 revolution and worse was that this region at a certain point was being offered as a token of good will to Sudan by the Muslim brotherhood government, can you imagine the level of dismay and depression on many Egyptians while seeing their government giving away their land just like that?

For the Muslim brotherhood, the problem is their deep ideology and their believe on the so called Pan Islamic state. They act thinking as a whole that Egypt for example is not a state in its own rather a region in a larger whole. In theory this larger whole would be composed of most Arab and islamic states, a principle that seized to exist with the fall of the Ottoman empire. Accordingly resources were depleted and given over to help other branches of the Muslim Brotherhood in states like Gaza for example. Can you believe that we had massive oil shortages at the beginning of this summer with oil reserves sent to Gaza instead of meeting the increasing demands of Egypt? Power stations were closing down because there was simply not enough oil to keep them running!

People were killed yesterday, and I am really concerned that the next few days further possible casualties will take place, again the problem is what kind of images are being broadcasted abroad?

Have you heard about the slain officers who died trying to defend their police station after an attack with the RPG? Have you heard of the 7 churches that were torched by the Muslim brotherhood yesterday to show that this is the spark of religious ethnic violence?

Anyway, I am sorry for the long email,

As for leaving Egypt, I don't think I will do that now, I am not trying to be patriotic or anything but I still have hope and may be as a university professor and urban planner I can help in developing the country back.

I was seriously thinking of leaving after the Muslim Brotherhood took over as this is not the place for me , but now I will wait and see. Perhaps if economically affected in such a way that I cannot support my family while living in Egypt I might consider relocating for a while, but not yet.

Reflections, Day 3: Posted 16/8/2013 Today Cairo downtown is turning into a battle field. I really was in shock to see images of so called protesters marching with some militants between them! they were shooting randomly as well! Al Qaida Flag was raised today in Ramses square in the heart of downtown Cairo before the police and army moved in! A blood bank building is currently on fire after militants managed to somehow set on fire the top floors and the ground floors leaving some people working there trapped inside until this moment, fire brigades tried to get there but they were shot at........ I ask every single decent European and American citizen, what would you do if this happens to downtown Brussels , Berlin, Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, Athens, London or even Washington???? ( I support the Egyptian state, the Egyptian Army and the Egyptian Police in their fight) Reflections , Day 4: Posted 17/8/2013 Today was my first day outside New Cairo were I live , things are calm in East Cairo with the main focus all morning on the El Fateh Mosque in Ramses square were many Muslim supporters take refuge and refused to leave despite promises from the interior of a safe exit. For the first time in my life I watched over TV gunmen shooting from the mosque's minirate until the police managed to take control over the place. This continued almost until the early afternoon. What is interesting is that many residents of Ramses square went to support the police and army, they were infuriated with the actions of yesterday that took place by the MB. Generally I would say that I am very optimistic. Today two press conferences were given , one from the government and the other from the presidency. Somehow these two conferences showed that the Egyptian state is sorting up nicely the present situation despite the ongoing violence and that soon we will be back on track However, I think many people are now catching their breath for what will happen tomorrow. There are several marches and protests by the MB in two key places in Cairo, I am certainly crossing my fingers for the day to pass without more bloodshed!

Reflections, Day 5: Posted 19/8/2013 I think mostly today was a quite day, my worries of the two mass protests that were announced yesterday were not realized (thank God) . There was a cancellation in the last minute for the intended

marches by the MB. I hope that this is a sign of something good. However, strange events took place today , there was an attempt of breakthrough by several MB detainees which ended with many of them dead, and towards late night, news of two bombs that were found in Cairo in key places close to Ramses square (I hope this does not turn uglier) , luckily they say the bombs were defused by the bomb squad!

Curfew is still on from Dusk to Dawn. I would add that there are sporadic incidents across Egypt but the scale is getting smaller than the previous days. Meanwhile, yesterday some pictures were released showing vandalized statues in Museums in the South of Egypt, mainly that of Malawey in Menya , the pictures showed a statue dating back to the time of King Tut broken as if the attackers were breaking infidel statues. My wife's friend is an archeologist familiar with this museum and she was telling her that the scale of damage was great with many pieces stolen as well. Tomorrow we live another day, I am going to the University to give a lecture at 10 am and now its 2:30 CLT, so Good night!

Reflections, Day 6: A hard time in Egypt...

Posted 20/8/2013 Today i went to the university and gave my lecture, students within the age of 18-20 were there and that I already consider a good sign that life will go on and with these young people eager to come and learn (or at least continue with their education) then we will go past this hard time. Meanwhile , In Sinai at the time when these students were leaving their homes to come to the university, another group of young men of more or less the same age group (20-21) had a terrible time with destiny! Those men were police soldiers unarmed heading back to their units... someone tipped them off and the buses taking them were stopped, they were asked to step down , their hands tied from the back and they were all shot from the back of their heads...... 25 was they were in number ...Horrible . Now the Egyptian army in Sinai is really considered in a state of war with terrorism.

Today, I had several observations and talks. On the way to the university i passed through the sites of street fights that took place earlier from Wednesday until Friday. I passed next to the Ministry of Finance were traces of fire were covering its facade. I drove through the October bridge were confrontations between the police and FB supporters took place and I saw few traces left of debris, stones and broken glass from the fight. I drove through a main street where I saw that many Interlock tiles used for paving the sidewalks were took out and used for making barricades.

On the way back, I drove with a colleague of mine close by the infamous Rabaa place were there was one of the sit in camps in East Cairo, I couldn't get there because of traffic but I saw again similar sight of the interlock tiles, yet this time a construction company was taking whats left of them and replacing all that with fair faced concrete for the sidewalks so as not to all future violent use of these tiles.

My colleague joining me in this drive told me that his cousin (f) was kidnapped for a day by protesters in the sit in camp earlier in Ramdan. She is actually a resident in the neighborhood close by and was stopped by two women in Borqaa detained by them because they thought she was a journalist trying to sneak in. I think his cousin talked later to the media about such an experience, which I couldn't believe that this could happen in Egypt (details are really too much and I think i won't go deeper in that) Rumors are spreading, doubts are spreading, Fear might be on its way to spread.

Reflections .. Days 7 & 8: Posted 21/8/2013 Yesterday I was so tired that i collapsed too early and feel asleep, that's why I missed writing the reflections. I would say that the most important thing that has been going on for the last two days is the capturing of the MB heads. The grand adviser of the MB has been arrested in Cairo, while another key figure was arrested while he was on his way to Libya some say dressed as a woman, after changing his look!! (what a courage). As a resident in East Cairo things seem much stable and calmer now at my side of town. I believe that this is the case in many other places in Cairo, however sporadic menaces and attacks are still taking place in other cities in Egypt. Today flags have been raised only half mast as a mourning sign for the 24 police victims who were shot dead in Sinai a day earlier. On the other hand it turned that there was a severe misconduct when it came to the 36 detainees who lost their lives while being relocated to a prison. We have been told that further measures and actions will be taken against those responsible for such a sad incident. My wife showed me pictures of her office which is located very close to Rabaa square . The place were one of the sit in camps used to be. The windows and walls of the offices that overlooked the place had bullet holes in them. One of her colleagues mentioned that since this is an office building it was easy for snipers (linked to the Muslim brotherhood) to take positions on top and there was a tough exchange of gunfire with the police ....

Some of my European friends are so true friends, many of them are showing support and concern not only for me but for Egypt as well, I really appreciate that and I am still very optimistic that this will be over soon.

Reflections Days 9 and 10 Posted 23/8/2013 Again, yesterday i was too tired so I just fell asleep without switching on the computer , I think I am aging!

Anyway, to me yesterday was hectic, but that was the daily normal thing. I had to give some lectures at the university which ended at 5 pm. Some students were nervous at the end because the curfew starts at 7 pm and they needed to leave . The curfew this time is very strict, in 2011 several time I had to commute after the curfew and I was stopped by the army at a check point , they searched the car and even looked under the baby seat of my son who was one year old at that time, but eventually they let us pass. This year its different, the army is very strict on keeping the curfew and ensuring its seriousness.

On the radio there is a daily warning to respect the curfew time. I have been told that if you break the curfew and get stopped in a checkpoint the soldiers manning the location shall stop the car and ask its passengers to stay with them till the curfew time is over. My father in law who is a retired army general also stressed on that point and asked to respect it.

Today the day went smooth , I tried to fix my car but I could not however, on my way back home I found myself in an "Automotive protest" of those people sympathizing with the Rabaa sit in camp and who are against the crackdown that took place. There is currently a symbol for that by waiving the hand holding up 4 fingers (as Rabaa is a derivative from the word four). I am not a MB supporter and I am with the crackdown but the incident looked like a wary football supporter who sat in the wrong side.

The MB tried to stage several protests today ,but luckily they failed to reach an significant critical mass or tangible supporters.

I sense that we are on the way to stability, i hope that this is realized soon!