Even though I was born and raised in Egypt (not far from the now-famous Tahrir Square), after nearly seven bewildering years away from Home, I can finally say: I don’t know what the average Egyptian wants. I am not an admirer of either the Muslim Brotherhood, or Morsi, yet wept the day he was “elected.” Why? Because, watching the sea of Egyptians flooding the square, I was overcome by the joyful noise of these long-suffering people who felt that, for the first time in decades, they had been heard and their dignity somehow restored to them. Of course, the other choice, old regime and military rule, was no choice at all, merely more oppression with impunity. Still, I hoped, this was a step towards discovering what they did not want; give him enough rope and this Morsi will eventually hang himself. Well before the recent uprising, he had been making outrageous, and paternalistic, remarks eerily reminiscent of his predecessor: police never attack citizens; up to 90% of the people support him, and, no, Christians have not been fleeing the country. In view of such provocations, the new Time magazine with his mug on the cover and the headline: ‘The Most Important Man in the Middle East’ was regarded by many as a bad joke or, worse, an insult (another US-backed-dictator-in-the-grooming). Mercifully, Egyptians did not wait three more decades to stand up to their new “Pharaoh” (as he has been dubbed). With his latest power grab, Morsi fatally miscalculated both the intelligence and mood of his subjects. [And the learning curve is steep this time around; these mass protests come less than two weeks after the presidential decree issued by Morsi granting him powers above judiciary review.]
Living under Emergency Law since 1967 (except for an 18-month break in 1980), Egyptians had, psychologically, crossed a point of no return during the January 25 Revolution in 2011. Taking their cue from the Tunisian uprising before them, and courage from one another, they cleared a fear barrier and deep-seated apathy by taking to the streets, en masse. Since then, protesting has become a way of life and, after decades of feeling disenfranchised, everyone has had a crash course in politics and is willing to risk life and limb to engage in the decision-making process and self-determination. To be sure, there is confusion and fatigue, but as a popular slogan has it, which was demonstrated in practice this week The Revolution Continues. And, while Egyptians continue to battle for their soul and figure out who they want to be and whom to trust, they do know what they will not tolerate any longer. Anything that smells of dictatorship is flat-out unacceptable. So, as riot police fired tear gas on peaceful demonstrators, bitter jokes circulated about Egyptians having become immune to tear gas, and left with no more tears to shed. The cry of the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, from all walks of life, that converged on the presidential palace and drove Morsi into hiding was simple enough for anyone to understand: Hurreyya (Freedom). While throughout the rest of the country echoed another fairly blunt chant, made popular during the ouster of Mubarak: “the people call for the downfall of the regime.”