Students sat clustered in the hotel lobby, staring wide-eyed at the events unfolding on the news. Outside, the occasional eruption of tear gas bombs was punctured with the staccato of rubber bullets. Barely two weeks after we had arrived in Egypt ready to spend the semester at the American University in Cairo, the unimaginable had happened: the country had erupted in a wave of popular protests in what would become a Revolution.
Although my stay in Egypt was ultimately cut short, the experience taught me more than I had ever hoped to learn. It was deeply moving to watch people my own age take enormous risks to fight for their rights and civil liberties. Wit- nessing my peers at AUC risking their lives in the face of vio- lent brutality, I became keenly aware of how often I take for granted my rights of free speech and participation in my own government.
I also became aware of the many assumptions of security and autonomy that I operate on daily. Living under a state that had little concern for individual liberty or expression–even outside of the overtly political realm–was rattling. Of course, the inconveniences or potential danger that I faced dwarf significantly in comparison to that experienced by the Egyptian people. Even my limited experience, however, was really eye opening.
I realized that I have an enormous expectation of individual autonomy. That the government could turn off my phone and prohibit me from communicating with my family, and could physically restrict my movement by implementing a 16-hour day curfew, was absolutely foreign to me. Furthermore, the government’s impressive ability to limit access to information–both by blocking internet access and by turning off news stations one by one–made it nearly impossible to find an accurate assessment of the situation. The resulting uncertainty was undoubtedly one of the most stressful aspects of the experience.
I also realized tangibly what a privilege it is to live each day assured of personal security. Violent interactions be- tween the people and police, followed by the complete lack of police presence when the government pulled forces off the street, ruptured my operational assumption of physical safety. On a personal level, our defense against potential looting devolved to a fire hose and men armed with sticks. On an observational level, I saw new friends return suffering from the effects of tear gas and distributing brochures on how to protect yourself while protesting.
In addition, there were basic challenges to autonomy that I had never even considered. Tasks as simple as purchasing everyday goods become uncertain when ATMs run out of cash and the banking system is essentially non-operational. Even with cash, each day the grocery store shelves got a bit emptier as more people stocked up and no resupplies came through.
Too often I take my ‘rights’ for granted. Because I consider them ‘rights’, I feel that they are owed to me, just as I believe they are owed to people in the world. While I still believe that access to civil and political rights as well as financial and physical security should be available to all, the obvious reality is that they are not–neither within the global community nor within our national and local communities. My experi- ence demonstrated to me just how precious and vulnerable these rights are.
The difficulties that I faced were mere annoyances when compared with the true suffering that others would endure. Additionally, I did not have had to leave my own community to witness disparities in the distribution of rights and security. The dramatic nature of my two weeks in Egypt, however, made these realities tangible to me in ways they had never been before.
My time in Egypt impressed upon me the importance of not taking rights and security for granted. Watching my class- mates take such extreme risk for the betterment of their society, I was forced to ask myself very difficult questions about how far I would go to defend my personal convictions. The strength of the protesters in upholding values of peace and dignity in their struggle, even when countered with brutal violence, was truly awe-inspiring.
