CAIRO - When the clock chimed 12:00, Ayman Abdu, an Egyptian political activist in his late thirties, went to Al Tahrir Square, the epicentre of anti-Mubarak protests, as he did every Friday over the past three months. This time Abdu did not hold the Egyptian flag, or even a photo of Mubarak under which the tag “dictator” was written. He, however, held the Libyan flag. Raised high, the red, black, and green flag of Libya's monarchy fluttered strongly in the breeze of the Egyptian capital in this Stalinist Square, which was adorned also by the flags of Palestine, Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, and even Saudi Arabia. They were held by thousands of people who chanted songs advocating freedom for peoples in these countries. “We must offer help to other Arabs, so that they can get rid of the despots who rule them with iron and fire,” Abdu, a sales manager, told the Egyptian Mail. “Egypt has always been the pulsating heart of the Arab world and its revolution must inspire all other Arabs.” Having swept away a president who ruled them for 30 years, Egyptians strive to inspire other Arabs with determination to at best get rid of their rulers, or at least extract principal reforms in their political systems. Egypt's revolutionaries, who depended on social media to spread the word about their revolt against the Mubarak regime in January, are busy trying to help the Libyans, the Syrians, the Yemenis, and even the Bahrainis to make their revolts a success. They hold conferences of support for revolutionaries in other Arab countries and training courses for these revolutionaries in Egypt. They give the revolutionaries tips in peaceful protest, evading tear gas, and confronting riot police. “In the past, Egypt inspired other Arabs to resist the occupation of their countries,” said Saad Eddin Ibrahim, an Egyptian-American sociology professor and a long-time opponent of Mubarak. “Now, the same country inspires Arabs to revolt against despotism.” Ayman Abdu, the sales manager, and a group of other revolutionaries have organised training courses for Libyans, Syrians, and Yemenis in Cairo. When they brought activists from these countries to give them training in Egypt, they had the Egyptian revolutionary model in their mind. This was why they focused on the role social media could play in connecting activists everywhere, delivering news about the revolutionaries, and making the sites and the times of anti-regime protests known to these revolutionaries. But when the situation in countries like Libya went nasty, Abdu and his colleagues made efforts to send medical supplies and foodstuffs to the rebels. “We will continue to support these people until they regain their rights,” Abdu said. “The people in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, and all other Arab countries deserve better governments.” A large number of Egyptian charities, including the Medical Association, send tonnes of supplies and medical equipment to other Arabs in turbulent areas, particularly in Libya and the Gaza Strip to ease the suffering of people there. Huda Saleh, a Libyan who escaped the bloodshed in Tobruk, northeast of Libya, and came to live in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria, has seen the supplies on their way from Egypt to her country. “Egyptians were very quick to answer the call for help in Libya,” Saleh said. “They have sympathy for the people of my country.” But sympathy does not seem to be the only motivating force for Egyptians in this regard. Shared pains and aspirations are rather what move the people of this country into action. The same things stood behind a recent invitation for Egyptians to march towards Rafah on the border between Egypt and Gaza to ease the Israeli blockade on the densely populated strip. Fathi Sabeel, an Egyptian activist from the Sinai Peninsula, saw hundreds of Egyptians move on the way to Rafah, but they were stopped by the army kilometres away from the border. “Revolutions are like an influenza virus, nobody can stop them,” Sabeel said. “This makes me certain that Egypt's revolutionary spirit will find its way to other Arab countries whether we plan it or not.” In Cairo, scores of activists were injured last month when they tried to enter a barricaded area outside the Israeli Embassy, prompting the Egyptian army to fire live rounds in the air and tear gas. Lack of security and dwindling revenues from tourism, exports, and foreign investments might render Egypt incapable of spreading its revolutionary model across the Arab world. A senior member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which been ruling Egypt since Mubarak's stepping down has on February 11, revealed shocking facts in March about the Egyptian economy on Monday. Mahmud Nasr, the assistant defence minister for financial affairs, said Egypt's poverty rate jumped to 70 per cent, including 6 per cent of the 80 million population who live in abject poverty, and 17 million people who live under the poverty line. Nasr added that Egypt's foreign currency reserves of US$ 28 billion would run out in six months if the lack of security, labour strikes, and religious tension persist. Attending the graduation ceremony of a new Police College class on Monday, Defence Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi described the conditions of the Egyptian economy as “dangerous”. These facts do not seem to be absent from the minds of Egypt's revolutionaries who make efforts to help other Arabs take a copy of their revolution to their countries. Egyptians had initially planned to march in their million towards the border with the Gaza Strip on May 15, but later said they would postpone such a march until Egypt's conditions improve. “We have decided to focus on rebuilding our country first and then think of Palestine,” said Safwat Hegazi, a famous TV preacher and one of the people who advocated the march on May 15. “But this march must happen one day.”
