It’s never been safe to protest in Egypt. They call in the anti-riot police whenever a couple of dozen kids take to the sidewalks and start to disturb the peace by shouting inflammatory slogans like ‘Freedom.’ Now, these young rabble rousers should have known better. There is such a thing as Emergency Laws that explicitly prohibit free assembly and that just happens to be the law of the land. And if eighty million Egyptians keep their mouths shut – why should a few dozen agitators have any special privileges. Whatever happened to the concept of egalitarianism? Every law abiding Egyptian has had thirty years to come to terms with the fact that it is just plain illegal to demonstrate. In Egypt, freedom is not free. In fact, it looks like it’s going to be very expensive. If you want to demonstrate, the government will be glad to accommodate you in some dark cell somewhere or let you off easy with a beating. That’s a stiff price to pay for spending an afternoon shouting slogans and every one of those kids who was out there today knew they were taking a huge risk by showing up. Call them courageous, call them idealistic and patriotic – but I’m sorry – I don’t care what you call them – what they did just happens to be illegal. This is Egypt under Emergency Laws – not Sweden. And I want to be absolutely clear – I have zero sympathy for the journalists who got beaten up and detained for trying to cover the story. From the footage I’ve seen, it looks like there were more journalists than demonstrators. It’s not that I don’t understand the novelty of the whole idea of demonstrating in a place like Cairo. I’ll grant that it’s earth shattering news. But, come on, let’s be reasonable. There should be some kind of sensible ratio between journalists and demonstrators. The Emergency Laws need to be amended. I say for every dozen demonstrators, there should be one journalist assigned to report it. So, these kids crying their hearts out for ‘freedom’ should have been allocated a maximum of three or four journalists. I’ll throw in one foreign journalist because I’m in a charitable mood. All the excess journalists who showed up deserved what they got. Now, I don’t want anybody to think I’m taking the side of Mubarak’s government on this issue. Nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve actually thought of saying a few things against the government myself but I’m sort of shy and I’m sensible enough to obey the Emergency Laws because we always have some kind of emergency or other in Egypt. And I’m certain they wouldn’t have these laws if there wasn’t a reason for them. Just look at the track record – demonstrations are so rare in Egypt. And nothing succeeds like success. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. These laws have worked just fine for thirty years. If it wasn’t for the Emergency Laws, tens of thousands would have joined those kids demonstrating for freedom. And you know the first thing these agitators would ask for – an end to the Emergency Laws. Thirty years of political tradition down the drain. Not thanks – there’s something to be said for tradition. I understand that a lot of the commotion these days has something to do with next year’s presidential elections and whether some guy by the name of El Baradei gets to run and whether the elections are going to be fair. That’s not really an issue for me. I’ve never voted and I’ve never even met an Egyptian who bothers to vote. This is the honest truth – I don’t even know a single person who is even registered to vote. I’m sure some Egyptians vote but since it’s such a ridiculous thing to do – they probably won’t admit it in proper company. Anyhow, that’s not why I’m writing this. I want to go out on the limb and accuse the security forces of causing traffic jams. Just like there ought to be a reasonable ratio of journalists to demonstrators – it makes sense to set a similar ratio for security forces. I don’t see why you need more than three or four policemen to club or arrest a demonstrator or detain a journalist. In fact, any self respecting military strategist would agree that two policemen should be more than sufficient to assault and arrest a female demonstrator. And three plainclothes operatives can be trained to can handle any journalist unless he has a camera that can be used as a weapon. In which case, there might be some justification for the use of light artillery. Both the demonstrators and the officers need to do their business on the sidewalks. From what I saw in the footage, it wasn’t the demonstrators who blocked the streets – it was the security forces. Was it really necessary to dispatch two divisions to stage an invasion of El Tahrir Square and bring traffic to a standstill? Can’t the government find a more practical way to make the point that the Emergency Laws will be ruthlessly enforced against anybody who dares to assemble? How much did this security operation cost? We can all agree that freedom is not free but does the enforcement of these repressive Emergency Laws have to be so expensive? I was stuck in that traffic jam – did anybody think of me? Was the government sending me a message not to demonstrate? I already got the message – thirty years ago. I wasn’t out there with those kids. I don’t assemble with anybody in Egypt. I’m prepared to make a deal with the government – you stop blocking traffic with your goons and I’ll keep my mouth shut. One more traffic jam like today and I just might get crazy enough to assemble. And just a little advice for the brains behind this security operation – those kids got a lot of coverage – didn’t they? Good for them. If you’re willing to get clubbed and risk jail to shout for freedom – the least you deserve is a few international headlines. BM
