Occupation… from outside and inside the country.
My mother resisted foreign occupation in the mid-twentieth century, and in the 21st century, I resisted our internal occupation.
Let me take you back – to the year 1956
What a year!
In July, President Gamal Abd El Nasser took back the Suez Canal – which was and still is the most important water passage in the world. He nationalized it.
In October three countries – France, the United Kingdom, and Israel – the tripartite aggression – attacked Egypt seeking to depose President El Nasser, to occupy Egypt and continue their colonial reign over the Suez Canal.
The three most powerful nations on earth attack one country with full force – from the air, the ground, and the sea. However, what these three nations failed to consider was that the Egyptian army didn’t only consist of our military, but also the Egyptian people!
Egypt had to defend itself – there was fighting in Cairo, Alexandria, the Sinai, and the cities along the canal.
Hundreds of Egyptians were slaughtered, thousands were injured, and the old beautiful wooden houses of Port-said and Ismailia burned to ashes.
The Egyptian military, forced to fight on several fronts, was going through a hard time and needed help!
And here…the Egyptian people decided to become a second army!
This year, my mother is young and in her prime.
People saw that the attackers were coming from the direction of Port Said. They wanted to fight back and defend their cities. So, they get organized. They formed the New People’s Army. And it’s not just men. Women were also ready to fight.
My mother was one of the first to enlist in the People’s Army.
She did not shy away from using her weapon against the colonial troops. She fought courageously and won. Not only that, but she even took down some parachutes arriving from the air.
My mother soon became a leader. Her battalion was made up of housewives from Port Said. Each woman took to the streets armed with kitchen utensils. If she encountered a foreign oppressor, she would viciously attack him with a frying pan, a metal tray, or a pot… The pot and pan army was born!
9 days… Only 9 days! That’s how long it took the Popular Resistance Army in Port Said to dislodge three of the world’s most powerful armies. In a great epic battle that changed the map of the Middle East and shook the so-called balance of power in the world.
And as we say in Egypt…. ابن الوز عوام or The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!
My mom stood up to the external occupation of Egypt.
And I had the honor of standing up to the occupation…
However, this time, the occupation was internal – from within our borders.
It is the year 2011, I am young and in my prime, and part of the people’s opposition movement (Kefaya! Enough!) against the internal occupation by ex-president Mubarak and his military regime.
This corrupt regime lasted 30 years exploited Egypt’s resources and sabotaged our education system and healthcare. Any dissent was suppressed and unjustly imprisoned. People were starving – in a country that was once the breadbasket that fed the world!
The regime had degraded my people and dragged them through the mud. They treated us as if we were intruders in our home!
People lived in terror because Mubarak’s policemen were truly evil.
But all fear is bound to end, and all dictators are bound to fall!
January 25th, 2011 – a day written in the hearts of every Egyptian with gold ink.
The date of the Egyptian revolution started. Hundreds of people gathered at Tahrir Square, including myself. We chanted in opposition to police brutality and loudly demanded the police institution be completely reformed.
It was 1 a.m. The police forces have infiltrated the Tahrir square with their teargas, bullets, and sticks – as usual!
Most of the protestors managed to escape, but a small group of protestors and I just couldn’t get away in time. We hid in the Tahrir subway till 4 AM when a national security officer accidentally bumped into us (they’re usually very kind people) and helped us out before we could get arrested.
January 28th,2011…. My sister and I decided to join the protestors in Giza, near the pyramids. The plan is for us to take part in the Friday prayer and then walk to Tahrir square.
We made it to Giza, where the police forces were present in huge numbers, with all their weaponry and cars and tanks and troops…as if they were getting ready to fight the tripartite aggression…not a group of unarmed civilians – there to pray.
We started praying, Allahu Akbar, God is great – and we kneeled praying for Egypt, praying for our home back, pleading with God for bread, freedom, and human dignity.
And before we could stand up again, cold water hit us with force, we stopped praying, we were soaked to the skin, we found ourselves, surrounded from all sides by police troopers – they were spraying us with ice-cold water….in the middle of winter!
– at least warm it up a little before you shower us! –
As we scrambled to our feet, we found ourselves in a cloud of choking smoke, hearing the hiss and thud of tear gas canisters, and the sound of rubber bullets being fired. But the weird thing is that this time we didn’t run away from them, we started running towards them!
It was an odd scene, like from a Hollywood movie. Unarmed people chasing armed people in full SWAT gear. This film’s a comedy!
What luck! The national security troops were terrified and ran away from us, trying to hide in the tanks. In case you don’t know, the national security troops – they are a bunch of young villagers that the police force enlists and exploit for little to no financial compensation – and orders attacking protestors.
I caught one of them, and he was horrified. I told him not to be afraid, that we’re all in this together, that he’s one of us, and that we’re all victims of this system….don’t worry, I said. The man has pulled himself together and is standing next to a wall. We continued marching, in small groups, towards Tahrir square. And because Mubarak’s regime never thought anything through, they decided to cut off the internet in the whole country that day. To prevent protestors from communicating and finding out where to gather.
As a result, the rest of the population also took to the streets to find out what was happening.
Thus, our numbers went from hundreds…to thousands, and by the end of that day we were millions!
What had been a protest against the Home Office, turned into a protest against Mubarak himself
He allowed the police to arrest and torture the people with his blessing.
We finally arrived at Tahrir square. The real battle started, with the people on one side and the police, snipers, and mobsters on the other.
During the first three days, a series of street battles took place in every Egyptian governorate, and several violent exchanges happened between us and the police.
For the second time, the residents of cities along the Suez Canal proved that they were the strongest people’s army in all of Egypt!
After that, every day saw a new strategy by the regime, attempting to forcibly remove us from Tahrir Square.
One day, a group of mobsters threw rocks and empty bottles at us, and the next, they attempted to scare us off – by attacking us on on horseback and camels.
So, we split up into groups, one group responsible for protecting the entrances to Tahrir square from enemy forces, and a second group responsible for catching intruders who managed to infiltrate the square. I was part of the group that hunts down intruders
Another day, snipers were stationed on rooftops of buildings around the square, so they could hunt us and take us out from above. We climbed up to the rooftops ourselves and caught these snipers, such confrontations led to much bloodshed.
On other days they spread rumors about us. Saying we were spies and traitors. Or they said we were throwing orgies in our tents – not realizing, that such claims attracted even more protestors!
After that, I took the initiative and created the People’s Revolution Awareness Committee to find and deconstruct the lies, and then spread the truth about our revolution.
For a few days, they blockaded our resources, banning any food or water from entering Tahrir Square.
So, I created another group called Loqmet E’ish or Piece of Bread, and we went around the houses and apartments in the Tahrir Square area, asking the residents for food. People were willing to help us – but could only give tiny amounts as they had a very limited supply of food themselves!
18 days….18 days passed by as if they were 18 years…bullets, teargas, hunger, cold, rain, psychological wars, and a lot of bloodshed…..hundreds were slaughtered and thousands injured, young people like blooming flowers lost their eyes because of the snipers’ aggression! I have many friends and loved ones, who lost their sight, limbs, or lives. May their souls rest easy.
18 days was all that the Egyptian people needed for us to impeach Mubarak in a great, epic act that took the world by storm!
We won the first round, but….there are still more rounds to come…and still, the revolution continues until we fulfill its purpose…Bread, freedom, social justice, and human dignity.
Rania Refaat