The Revolution Continues?*

Headline: The Last Dance of Satan

As I sit in my apartment in the Dokki district, a middle class neighborhood on the Western bank of the Nile across from Downtown, traffic crawls through the major streets. The gridlock has gotten so bad that many taxis refuse all together to take people to the area. The cause of the congestion is the a gas station situated on the Midan al-Galaa at the corner of Shariah at-Tahrir, the main east-west corridor, and the Nile Corniche. Trucks, vans and cars line both sides of the street, blocking the flow of traffic from all directions. The drivers fan themselves in the hot afternoon sun, hoping to buy gas on which many of their professions depend. This is just the most obvious evidence of the gas shortages that plagues Egypt's faltering economy. Tempers are short and fistfights are not uncommon.

This scene of frustration that has dragged on for days is adding to the general tension in Cairo. In the best of times, Cairo is a lively and chaotic city of over 30 million people, the largest in Africa. It often seems to walk the fine line between joy and insanity. In the last few days, its hard not to feel the tension is about to boil over. On Sunday, 300 Salafis in Giza dragged four Shias from their homes and beat them to death, lighting their home on fire. Evidence of deep rifts that are brewing below the surface. On top of this violence, clashes broke out between regime supporters and opponents in the city of Mansoura on Wednesday resulting in one deaths. More clashes were reported overnight outside of Cairo and an office for The Tamarod (Rebellion) Campaign was burned down.

At times it is hard to understand this potential for violence along side the passion that Egyptians feel for their country and the creative ways in which they are expressing their discontent for the current government. The Tamarod (Rebellion) Campaign  have gathered 13 million signatures demanding early presidential elections and promising to uphold the goals of the revolution in order to achieve a society of dignity, justice and freedom.

A few weeks ago, dozens of prominent artists and intellectuals broke into Egypt's Ministry of  Culture, declaring an open-ended sit-in inside the building until the controversial Minister Alaa Abdel-Aziz was replaced. The street outside of the Ministry became an open air carnival for several days as artists and activists preformed in the street. After a Shura Council MP calling ballet "art of nudity," dancer preformed the Zorba ballet as part of the protest. Video

On Wednesday, President Mohammad Morsi gave a two hour long address, admitting that mistakes had been made but also denounced enemies of the Egypt for sabotaging the democratic process. Either way, he not did provide any concrete steps forward. Before the speech, I was watching Al-Jazeera. They were live broadcasting the opposition gathering in Midan at-Tahrir to watch the speech one side of the screen and a pro-Morsi rally be Islamic Forces on the other with giant banner behind them that read "Yes to Shariah." It struck me as how representative this image was of the current political situation and the political divide in Egypt. The speech did little to convince the opposition. In fact, a professor of mine claimed it... زايد الطين بلة.  Roughly translated, it added insult to injury.

I have met almost no one here that claims to be a supporter of the Morsi government. In fact, the majority of people I have asked plan to join the demonstrations on Sunday. This may be partially a productive of the kind of Egyptians with which I am in contact. However, there seems to be deep rooted anger about the lack of security, the weakness of the economy, the gas crisis, growing fundamentalism and the general lack of solutions. More than one person has claimed that 70 percent of the country is against Morsi now. A cab driver told me that all of Egypt will join the protests on Sunday because people are tired and things are getting worse. The majority of people are clearly holding the Muslim Brotherhood responsible. When discussing the situation, a friend said يقتل قتيل ويمشي جنازته when referring to the Brotherhood.  This roughly translates as "murdering someone and then going to his funeral." It is used to claim that someone is deeply hypocritical which seems to be a sentiment shared by a lot of Egyptians about the current government.  

This is the context for a massive demonstration planned for Sunday by opponents of the current President Mohammad Morsi, calling for early elections.  Small political actions and demonstrations have been happening throughout the week. Today rally is planned to start from Cairo’s Al-Azhar district, marching to Tahrir Square protesting the use of mosques in urging people not to rebel against the president. Political representatives for the opposition said that several demonstrations are planned to snowball through the different parts of Egypt culminating in the massive demonstrations on Sunday that may continue into next week.

While activists get ready to challenge the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood,  we are planning in our own way. Many expatriates are evacuating Cairo all together, heading for elite beach communities that are unlikely to be effected by the demonstrations. The rest of us are planning to bunker down and wait to see what happens. Currently, we are being advised to limit our movements to familiar neighborhoods and avoid area in which demonstrators are likely to gather including Midan at-Tahrir. The American University suggests that we have food and water for a week on hand as well as phone credits and flashlights. The CASA program has taken the extra steps to map the location of all of our apartments and is prepared to send people out to check on us in the event that the cell phone and internet are taken down. Preparing for several days in our apartment, we also ordered a healthy supply beer and wine to survive the coming week. The only thing that I can compare these last two days is to a hurricane preparation. No one is really clear what to expect.

While I am not usually a worrier, this last few days have been pretty tense in the CASA program as they try to make sure we all stay safe. In contrast, I have been designing a menu of possibly dishes to cook, including chicken with freekeh, pumpkin curry and couscous with summer vegetables in case we are at home for several days. I am making sure my kindle is charged in case we loose power. All the while Al-Jazeera plays on a constant loop behind me. Honestly, there does not seem to be much else to do. At times like this, I am acutely aware of the ways in which I am outside of Egyptian society. Like many Egyptians, I would like to be down in Midan at-Tahrir but I will be watching the unfolding events on TV rather than first hand. To stand at a moment of possible revolutionary change and to not be able to participate, is deeply frustrating.

I have been asked a number of times in the last couple of weeks about my opinion of the Muslim Brotherhood. I usually reply that I stand with the interests of the Egyptian people. Right now, I am hoping for the best both in terms of the immediate events and in terms of the future of Egypt. These are likely to be the largest demonstrations since Mubarak's government fell in 2011.

In the mean time, I mostly wait... wait to see what the next few days will being....

*Disclaimer: While I have lived in Egypt and the Arab World previously and I speak Arabic fairly well, I only arrived in Egypt a few weeks ago. This blog is generally the perspective of an outsider. I apologize for any lack of nuance or mistakes. They are mine alone.

Revolutionary Grafitti

This is just a small sample of the graffiti, stencils and street artwork that are visible around Cairo.

Street artwork commemorating an activist killed during the revolution outside of ACU's Tahrir campus.

A similar piece of graffiti.

A piece of graffiti depicting the revolution.



A piece of graffiti denouncing homophobia.

A stencil from my street that reads: The People's Revolution, the People's Power.
It was part of campaign in January 2012 to oust the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and hand the power to lower house of the Egyptian Parliament

 A stencil that reads: Blood for Blood

The Destruction of History: A Memorial to the City of Aleppo and the People of Syria

Greg and I in the Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo

Between September 2009 and May 2010, I lived in Damascus, Syria. While the goal of my time there was research, I must confess that I spent more time studying Arabic and sharing tea with friends at one of the many restaurants in historic houses in the Old City than doing actual research. In spite of this failure in productivity, I do not think this year was a waste of time. It remains one of the most meaningful periods of my life.

The Minaret of the Aleppo Mosque in 2010

Outside of academic circles, people often ask me about my time in Syria with a look between surprise and bewilderment. They are sometimes equally surprised that I found the people of Syria open, friendly and passionate about their country.

It was only a short amount of time after my return that the Arab Spring broke out and spread to Syria, but hope quickly changed to despair. Syria was not Tunisia or Egypt and  Bashar al-Assad was not Ben Ali. I have remained largely silent of this issue. Mostly because I find it hard to find the words to express my feelings. Words fail us when we watch from afar as our friends are tortured by the regime, their family members killed and many of them flee to other parts of the region or to Europe. In the end, it is easy to be left with a sense of helplessness for a country ripped apart by a callous despot.

Two days ago I woke to discover that the minaret of the Grand Umayyad Mosque of Aleppo had been destroyed. In 1986, the Old City of Aleppo was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in recognition of its “rare and authentic Arab architectural styles." The Grand Mosque, at the center of the Old City, had already been severely damaged during cashes in October 2012. The minaret was the oldest surviving part of the mosque complex dating back to 1090. For almost a thousand years, it was the most recognizable feature of the skyline of Aleppo. It survived a fire in 1159 and the Mongol invasion in 1260.  However, it fell on April 24th, 2013 to regime missiles.

The Aleppo Souq on fire.

I usually do not focus on the destruction of architecture especially when people are dying. I scoffed at those that wrung their hands about possible damage to the Cairo Museum but remained quiet as the former regime of Hosni Mubarak beat and gunned down protestors in Egypt. It reveals a lack of humanity to mourn the destruction of things and remain indifferent to the deaths of actual people. That being said, I mourn the loss of that minaret and the destruction of the Aleppo Souq by fire in 2012 and all they stand for. I mourn the destruction of a thousand years of history. I mourn for the lives lost, the women raped, the people displaced and the futures destroyed. I mourn for a country that I love and cannot help.

The destruction of the minaret is a symbol of all that the people of Syria have lost and all they will never be able to regain. I still hope for the victory of the Syrian Revolution and a democratic future in which Bashar al-Assad is brought to justice for all of his crimes against Syrian people.  

تحيا سوريا

 

Aleppo before:

The Grand Umayyad Mosque of Aleppo in January 2010

My boyfriend Greg, his family and I outside of the Mosque of Aleppo.

A few more photos of the way in which I remember Aleppo and its historic Souq.

 

The Aleppo Citadel

The City of Aleppo

This blog is dedicated to the people of Syria and all those fighting for freedom and democracy in the region.

Support Katrina's Arabic Studies

For whose who are interested in donating, please got to FundRazr.


A photo of me in Luxor, Egypt in July 2009 during the CLS Program.

No One Gets There Alone

 Mohammad Ali Mosque, Cairo, Egypt

To My Nearest and Dearest,

Many of you may have heard that I have been accepted to the Center for Arabic Studies Abroad (CASA) program to study Arabic in Cairo, Egypt starting in June. I have been lucky enough to also receive a fellowship to help defer the cost of the program. However, there are additional expenses that are not covered by this scholarship. As part of this new chapter of my life, I will be revamping and renaming this blog to reflect my time in Egypt.

I have been blessed to have the support of my friends and family throughout my academic progress without which I would not be in a PhD program or heading to Egypt this summer. I am asking my community and maybe even a few generous strangers for a little more help.  I am trying to raise $500 in the next two weeks to help pay for additional expenses that are not covered by the fellowship including required medical insurance and costs for travel preparations (visa, passport renewal, medical exam, etc). No donation is too small. You will gain my eternal gratitude. In addition, I promise to pay forward all the money that I raise to another person in need when I am able. For whose that want to donate, you can do so through PayPal using the link on the right side of my blog or through FundRazr.

Please let me if you have any questions. Thanks you in advance.

Kind Regards,
Katrina

Siwa, Egypt. July 2009.

PS
If you would rather purchase an item that I need for the trip rather than donate money, I have set up a wishlist on Amazon with a few things that I need. You can access it here.

Items can be mailed directly through Amazon or to the following address:
Katrina Yeaw
Department of History,
Georgetown University
ICC 600
Washington, DC 20057-1035

Kabob Bil Karaz - Cherry Kabobs - from Aleppo

When living in Syria, my favorite dish was Kabob Bil Karaz or Cherry Kabobs, which are a specialty dish from the city of Aleppo. Here is the closest recipe that I have been able to find since returning from Syria. When I made it, I used fresh sour cherries - the kind used in cooking. However, these can be difficult to find in stores so you could try substituting dried cherries, canned sour cherries or sweet cherries.

Kabob Bil Karaz Recipe
(Serves 4)

1 pound ground lamb
1 pound sour cherries
1½ teaspoons of Bharat (See below for recipe)
1/4 cup of pine nuts, toasted
3 tablespoons sugar
Juice from half a lemon
1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses
2 rounds of flat Arabic bread
1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley
Salt and pepper

Wash the cherries and soak them overnight with enough water to cover. The following day, pit the cherries and put them in a large pot with their liquid. Add the lemon juice, sugar and pomegranate molasses. Taste the sauce, adding sugar or lemon juice as required to get the right balance of sweet and sour. Bring to the boil then simmer for 15 minutes or until the liquid has reduced and thickened a little.

Mix the meat with the spices, season with salt and pepper then roll into marble-sized balls. In a shallow pan, saute in butter over medium heat until evenly browned.

Add the meatballs to the cherry mixture and cook over low heat for 15 minutes until they take on the cherry color.

To assemble, cover serving dish with Arabic bread with light side up. Spoon the kabob onto the center of the bread and cover with the thickened sauce. Add a sprinkling of toasted pine nuts and decorate with parsley leaves.

Traditionally, the dish would be eaten with the hands using the bread on the plate to soak up the sauce and pick up the meat. Serve with a few Syrian dips and a salad. For ideas, see Syrian Cooking.


Bharat (Mixed Spices)
This spice may also be purchased in some Middle Eastern specialty shops.

Ingredients:
1 T freshly ground black peppercorns
1/2 T ground coriander
1/2 T ground cassia bark
1/2 T ground cloves
1 T ground cumin
1/4 t. ground cardamom
1/2 T ground nutmeg
1 T ground paprika

Instructions:
Combine all ingredients and store in an airtight container

The Strangers Among Us

Wandering the narrow, vine-laden streets of the Damascus’s Old City one is likely to run into ones share of ajaanib (foreigners). You can pick them out from 50 yards (Hint: the shorts are a dead give away) shopping in the souq or frequenting one of the many restaurants located in historic Arab houses. We poke fun at them from time to time but they are generally nice and somewhat adventurous people enjoying a pleasant holiday away from home. However, there is the other kind: the annoying, trite and obnoxious kind that most of us avoid like a bible salesman with a flesh-eating virus. Every place attracts its own variety of ajaanib depending on its location and Damascus is no difference. Below I have included a list of the most common (and annoying forms) of these species to roam the streets of the Old City. For the sake of clarity, this list is mostly confided to those varieties that are found among foreigner under the age of 30.

1. The Tourist
The most common variety of foreigner in any city in the Middle East the Tourist is easily identified by their ridiculous choice of dress. In spite of the fact that they are in a major city, they seem to always be convinced that they are actually on safari through the Australian outback and therefore in need of 20 pounds of gear. They never leave their hotels without a backpack or fanny pack, three lenses for their camera, a floppy hat of the fisherman variety and water bottle. The look is incomplete if at least 50 percent of what they are wearing is not khaki in color. While the older variety tends to travel in packs that are always 10 feet behind a tour guide, the younger ones often travel on a shoe string budget in groups of 2 or 3 with a guide book always in hand. They stay for a few days and are then off to some new location.

2. The Free Spirit
The Free Spirit is probably the most common form of foreigner living in the Old City. They tend to be rather disheveled in their overall appearance, with the men sporting T-shirts and shorts (those shorts again) and the women preferring long flowing shirts and tank tops. Common accessories include: kaffiyahs (Arab scarves), various kinds of bracelets and Middle-Eastern rebel chic items (Hezbullah instead of the more common Che. ) They tend to live in dilapidated apartments in the Old City for a few months with others of their kind for which they dish out a few hundred dollars while living on the staples of shawarma, saj, falafel and beer.* If they ask them about the reason for being in Syria, they give vague answers about learning Arabic. You can at times find them attending classes at the University of Damascus but they never study much or stick around long. Before you know it they are gone, probably off to some new location to continue their Arabic “studies.” Some of them keep up this routine for years until their money runs out –or their parents’ patience.

3. The Nativist
The Nativist and The Free Spirit often have a great deal in common in terms of habits and dress but with some very important difference. The Nativist prides him or herself on his or her knowledge of the Middle East, which tends to be the kind of understanding gained froma year or two of Arabic and a freshman introduction course on Middle Eastern culture taken two years ago. Committed to being “sensitive” to Arab culture they tend to adopt an image of Middle Eastern as stagnant, reactionary, and extremely religious and therefore act accordingly. At the same time, they are always trying to adapt and fit into a culture that they fundamentally do not understand, and are always in search of some authentic Middle Eastern experience that does not really exist. They can often be heard making wide and often unintentionally negative (usually wrong) pronouncements about Middle Eastern society. Women that have fall into this category are often seen wearing the hijab (headscarf) around Damascus, a habit that greatly confuses the majority of Syrians. For example, I once heard a woman describing how shocked she was to see prostitutes hocking their wares out in the open in Bab Touma (The Christian neighborhood). Someone else had to explain to her that women she was describing were not in fact prostitutes but simply Syrian women out for the night.

4. The Opportunist
Unlike the previous categories, the Opportunist cannot be identified by any particular way of dress or behavior but more by his or her attitude. The Opportunist views the Arab language and an understanding of the Middle East as future marketable skill to land a job. They tend to be more serious Arabic students that their free spirited collogues and some are actually rather good. However, there knowledge of the region tends to be heavily biased by their intractable worldview. Beyond Arabic studies, they can also occasionally be found padding their resumes with internships at the many embassies. Overall, they tend to dislike the Middle East and consider their time as a necessary evil that will help their future advancement. This negative attitude makes them some of the least pleasant people to spend time around with and colors their view of everything in Syria. They often subject you to their own analysis of Middle Eastern politics at social events, which usually included an overly loud defense of US foreign policy or Israel. The Opportunist has no greater dream than to one day land a lucrative government job - preferably for the CIA.

5. The Future Academic
Like the Opportunist, the Future Academic is also identified by their overall attitude. Serious students of Middle Eastern politics, culture and language, they hope to one day land a comfortable university position based on their research. Often the most knowledgeable, they are frequently able to look at Middle Eastern society critically and avoid the idealized view of the Free Spirits or the overly negative view of the Opportunists. The younger ones are committed to their Arabic studies and are always planning on starting advanced degrees in the near future, or at least that is what they claim. The older ones sometimes live in Syria for year and are always working on some great research project that they are happy to talk about endlessly with anyone that will listen. However, avoid asking them about their actual progress unless you want to see a look of absolute panic. At their best, they are interesting, engaging and well-thought people that can talk endlessly about a variety of topics. At their worst, they are over caffeinated, socially awkward know-it-alls that are incapable of holding on a conversation that does not include their own obscure area of research that they and three other people actually understand.


* Saj is flat bread similar to a crepe, which is cooked on a flat stone and then filled with sweet or savory ingredients such as cheese, meat, Middle Eastern spreads or chocolate and honey.