January 25: The eve of Egyptians' fight for civil rights

As the anniversary of Jan. 25 approaches, Egyptians wait with apprehension for the events that are about to unfold. While some carry within them an excited anticipation that something will happen to restart a new round of confrontation with the military dictatorship, others pray silently that the day passes with no bloodshed. Many people debate whether the revolution is still alive, others try to predict what the Muslim Brotherhood and opposition groups are planning for the occasion, and some are wondering whether they should participate in the events that will take place.

THE MARTIN EDEN WAY

I went to the streets on Jan. 25, 2011 by pure coincidence. I scorned the calls for street protests on that day because, in fact I was actually thinking of how to leave the country. That day, my younger brother passed by, inviting me to join him, and after trying to dissuade him I decided to go with him because of my chivalrous feeling of having to look out for my younger brother. We were not going to Tahrir because the organizers announced that protestors should gather at several locations, however coincidentally, we had to pass through Tahrir since we had chosen to go to a location in downtown Cairo. As we headed towards the square we saw the usual image of a whole police regiment blocking the entrance to the square we intended to go through. However, as we walked closer we noticed with a mixture of surprise and doubt that the regiment had left a narrow pathway on one side of the street for people to go into the square. Both of us decided to go on, after all we both knew that going to the streets would inevitably lead to a clash with the police.

When we entered the square the first thing we saw was a young man bleeding from a nose injury and being treated by two of his friends. As we looked at the other side of the square, we saw traces of tear gas in the air and a few seconds later we heard the sound of pellet guns being fired. We quickly ran to the other side noticing that there were thousands of people in the square. Most of those gathered were standing in the middle of the square chanting against Mubarak and the government; a smaller group had gone towards the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior and was confronted with a police regiment that was holding them back. We found out later that a couple of hours before we had arrived a few hundred youths had managed to break into the square to stage their protests there, but by the time we arrived and for the following few hours hundreds started arriving and by sunset two things happened at the same time. The first was a spreading agreement among us that we would take over the square and sit-in until our demands were met. The second was the memorable chant of "The people want to depose the regime." Both actions appeared out of nowhere and spread like fire among those in the square. Everyone started calling their friends telling them to come in and informing them that the square was ours and that this was our moment to start a change. I remember the spirit of overwhelming confidence and hope among us, it seemed to come out of nowhere and was building by the second. As I looked around, my immediate thoughts were disbelief and wonder. How did this happen? Were we really going to confront the dictator? What's the plan beyond taking over the square?

FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS

At 12 p.m. that day, the security forces had surrounded the packed square. We had already heard the news that orders had been given to police to evacuate the square. As I looked at the thousands of people in the square who were fiercely debating what to do, I realized we had no plan on how to face the oncoming brutality. Some of us went up to the gathering forces challenging them in the typical male chauvinistic manner and others were trying to convince the poor soldiers that we were doing this to alleviate them from suffering at the hands of their corrupt leaders. As I looked around I noticed how families had come with their children to join in and I was humbled by the spirit of optimism and faith. A few minutes later the police onslaught started with waves of tear gas and iron pellets. For the large majority this was their first time smelling tear gas and they immediately fell to the ground. Thousands started running away and a stampede had started. Right next to me and my brother a man found his wife and young boy collapsed. We ran to them, my brother helping the man carry his wife while I carried the young boy, and we ran towards one of the entrances away from the gas. As soon as we were out of reach of the gas we laid the woman and her son on the ground and started waking them up to help them escape the chaos. As the woman regained her consciousness she looked around asking where we were and my brother told the man to take his family and leave. At that moment the woman looked at her husband pulling him towards the square shouting "we won't leave the square tonight even if we have to die, this is our moment." We were all stunned. I will never forget the shiver that ran down my spine as I heard the woman shouting to all three grown men urging us to go back and fight and stand for our rights. At that moment something in my heart told me that something different was now taking place in Egypt. I remember looking at her pleading eyes that seemed to say now is the moment, wake up and go for your dreams, and that is what we exactly did.

DOMINO EFFECT FOR FREEDOM

I am writing those two stories from my memories about the revolution as my friends ask me questions about the anticipated events of Jan. 25 this year. Is the revolution still alive? What will happen on Jan. 25? Will the revolutionaries put their hands together and face the new dictator? My answer is I really don't know and I think the message I am trying to send from the two stories above is that we didn't know then either. Revolutions are not political processes like elections or five-year government plans. They are spontaneous social change mechanisms that are sometimes triggered by small planned events like what happened four years ago in Cairo and sometimes they are triggered by sporadic events like what took place in Tunisia. As experts in change management would describe it, they are the unintended consequence of change interventions. So it is naive to assume that there is a single group or groups that can believe they can set a date, time and plan for how the revolution will take place. What happened on Jan. 25, 2011 was only the starting point of the events, because the country only came to a standstill three days later on Jan. 28 when the security arm of the regime broke down in the face of millions who had taken to the street knowing that they might be facing a massacre. When I hear political groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and April 6 and political individuals issuing statements to overcome their differences and align together, I really feel they are missing the point. Revolutions don't work like that. True revolutionaries regardless of age gender or social class are not waiting for political initiatives or statements, they are waiting for a sincere action of courage and hope to join in and rally behind it. Between 2 p.m. and 12 p.m. on Jan. 25 people poured into the square from all over Cairo because we literally called upon each other and everyone felt that we were all genuine and true in our effort to bring about change. We did not think about our ideological backgrounds or class or gender or any other form of human stereotyping that typically divided us. We rallied behind one simple slogan made out of four words that defined and set out our demands.So what happens on Jan. 25 this year really depends on how sincere and daring we decide to be. It depends on whether we can capture the spirit of that woman to go back to the battlefield with the feeling that this is our moment to change and we are willing to die for it. Some might think that I am implying that the revolution has died or its moment has passed. If you think so then you don't get it. A social change process is a long journey that does not occur according to linear trends, nor has a start and ending point. What took place four years ago was triggered by injustice that had been taking place for at least half a century before. With the first drop of blood that was spilled four years ago I knew that a new phase of the revolution had already been ignited and will remain until the injustice is dealt with and the corruption is eliminated. Let us not fix our hopes and expectations on certain dates or groups. Let us gather ourselves and gather our energies to rekindle the right ingredients of a revolutionary spirit. I believe that the revolution is very much alive within us, lurking in the shadows of our hearts waiting for us to unleash it on the new tyrant and the unjust regime.

*Egyptian writer