January 30th, 2011

Two years ago, my family and I were sitting around the dining table, discussing the fate of Egypt. That's what people in Egypt do, they talk about everything and nothing. You would speak about politics as if you have years of expertise in the field. You predict events that are very unlikely to happen. You judge. You gossip. But that's what we have learned to do. We have learned to talk and talk and talk. Sometimes with no basis to our judgment. Sometimes with first hand knowledge.

Most of the people I'm associated with back in Egypt are, what you can say, members of the high-middle to high class. In other words -- sheltered.

We have grown up in a small modern community. Embedded in a much larger yet awfully disenfranchised population. We constitute a very small percentage of the population, yet we have all the influence. I don't need to tell you about how the world is run, because I won't pretend to know. But all I know is that money buys everything. Money buys your status, money buys your friends, money buys your influence, money buys your politics.

Our families have always sheltered us from the "savage" part of Egypt. They protected us from the uglies of Egypt. Little did we know that that has become the essence of Egypt. Our home isn't the flowery, pampered, modern environment we were seeing before us. Egypt was hungry, stepped upon, taken advantage of, and so unbearably oblivious to it all.

But I digress. Back to my story.

That day while speaking to my family, I felt confident saying that our country will undergo a revolution. And one that is coming very soon. We were too deep in to rely on electoral reform alone. Things were going to get ugly because our own government has officially pushed it that far. It wasn't much longer for the people to erupt demanding social justice. One that they have been denied ever since the death of Anwar Sadat.

Two years later, subsequent to the Tunisian revolt, we have finally followed suit. We're not a sitting duck anymore. The people of Egypt have woken up.

I need to point something out, however, something that I found the most disturbing in the midst of all that's happening.

There is a huge number of "Egyptians" right this very moment calling this a "Poor People's Revolution". In other words, excluding themselves from the events by dubbing it inconsequential to their social stance and/or political future in the Egyptian society.

I was absolutely infuriated. This is not about patriotism or even nationalism at this point. It's about being a cog in a system where exploitation and nepotism is paramount to justice. I'm sad to say that the fact is, in Egypt you're either being stepped on or you're the one doing the stepping. There's no in between anymore. We are purely a population of haves and have-nots.

This is not about mere dissatisfaction with lifestyles. This is about Egyptian dignity in citizenship. I said it before and I will say it again, the Egyptian citizen is currently nullified in terms of political practice.

Our political system is monopolized, terrorized, and capitalized. Pluralism has become an extinct concept since 50 years ago. We're not a democracy and never really were. At this point, I'm doubting there has ever been a democracy anywhere. We are conquered by dirty capitalism and hidden agendas. Giving people power is a glorified concept. Something politicians feel compelled to advocate to win ballots. But it is simply not existent.

People are tired, disenfranchised, taken advantage of.

Right now Egypt is at a crossroads. It's either we do get what we want, which directly translates into Palestine's benefit. Or the system prevails, securing relations with Israel and the US. What they don't understand is the people's resilience. They have nothing to lose anymore. They want their country back. A country with the richest history on earth. They will stop at nothing.

Yesterday at the protests in Washington DC in front of the White House, we kept chanting one statement over and over: The Egyptian nation is not a coward.

Egypt will not back down. We will reclaim what's ours. Our children and grandchildren will look back at this in pride. And the world will give no credit to a once proclaimed "world's policeman" United States of America.