June 30 2013 Egypt
I didn’t hang around for the historic demonstrations on June 30. Egypt’s second revolution. According to the BBC, 33 million turned out, a new entry for the Guiness Book of Records. The numbers surpassed the Russian Bolsheviks. How do they count them?
Fortunately there were ‘few’ incidents of violence given such a large number. In Alexandria a young American AMIDEAST student/teacher was fatally stabbed while taking pics of a demo on his phone. The protests are not a spectator sport. Violence and mob mentality are best avoided. Despite protection groups the rapes in Tahrir Square continue.
I escaped to Dahab on the South Sinai coast for the summer. According to the Lonely Planet, it is in the top ten places to ‘chill’ worldwide. It used to be a hippie haven in the 70’s when it was under Israeli rule.
It was a ten-hour drive with the two cats in a private limosine. The driver popped pills all the way down. After the Suez tunnel, checkpoints were heavily manned and armed. The big cat miaowed and panted for the first 9 hours as I let him out, sit in the bags at the back, crawl under the pasenger seat, sit on my knee, be cuddled and stroked. Miaow, miaow, pant, pant…
Back to Morsi – he has to leave whether he wants to or not. The army has given him a 48-hour ultimatum, just enough time to clear his desk and ship out. Many of those who voted for him last year are on the streets again. His supporters were bought off with free chicken and cooking oil.
What an embarassing legacy. He banned ballet, ‘naked and shameful’, took action against top comedians and chat show hosts, turned a blind eye/ear to Shia insults which allegedly led to horrific lynchings in the Delta. The country ran out of fuel. Daily electricity and water cuts are getting longer and longer. His biggest mistake was to try to Islamicise the country. The people just won’t stand for it.
The rest of the world can support Egypt at this difficult transition and hope that the initial demands of the revolution are met.
Expat in Egypt 