Dahab, South Sinai during the Egypt Revolution 2011 Part I

Jan 22 – Jan 29 2011 Part I

I have decided to share some of my experiences, thoughts and feelings during the 2011 Egypt revolution and it will continue in episodes as and when i can get them down.

I will start from the few days prior to the first day of protest. Dahab was exceptionally quiet this January. Usually the town is fairly busy until the middle of January and it gets a bit quieter but by the 22nd this year it was very quiet. There was a strange feeling in the air over of the 22nd Jan – 26th Jan.

It started as a strange calm, it was almost deadly quiet. This is unusual and i felt this might have been due to the shark problems in Sharm El Sheikh in December 2010. Many people had cancelled their holidays even though there had been no shark sightings in Dahab. We had Dolphins in Dahab during Christmas period, swimming around the Lighthouse, Eel Garden and Canyon area. definitely not a problem here but anything to do with Sharm El Sheikh always seems to effect Dahab.

So there was a feeling in the air, it was calm but tinged with unsettled energy. None of us could put our fingers on it. One friend started talking about the corruption and the extortionate prices in the local supermarkets. It went onto a deep conversation that ended up involving some 15 people, some local Egyptians, Bedouins and Expats. The conversation never progressed to police or other corruption. Maybe because too many if us had been too scared to talk politics too much in front of people we don’t know very well. Such is the life of an expat in Egypt, also living in the same box as the locals but not to such extremes.

The night of the 24th most people in Dahab knew there would be a demonstration of some kind. The 25th January is a national holiday for the police and civil servants. No one expected the demonstration to come to much, why should they have. The last demonstrations had been ended by force. No one felt they could safely protest, most people expected it to be a small thing without much of an impact.

On the 25th January 2011 most people in Dahab carried on as normal. Not thinking much about what might be going on elsewhere in Egypt. There was no protesting going on here, everything was calm and peaceful as usual.

By the early evening a few of my friends in Cairo were starting to post images on Facebook of the demonstrations. By 8pm Tahrir Square was full of people, difficult to know how many people were there but it was a lot. It was when i saw these pictures i knew this was not just a little demonstration that was going to be all forgotten about tomorrow. I knew this was going to carry on, the people were on a mission to make things change in Egypt and i was in support of them. I had seen the suffering on the streets of Cairo, i had seen the pain of a mother whose son had been wrongfully arrested, i had seen the pain of the wife whose husband never made it back home. I know a lot of people who have experienced the bad side of the government. Too many people, too much injustice.

Jan 26th 2011

This was Wednesday and i was due to do my DJ show on our local internet radio for South Sinai on www.radiosinailive.com We always used Facebook as a means to communicate our shows to our friends in Europe and Abroad. The radio has listeners from all over the world. Usually my show is jovial and upbeat and i play uplifting tunes. But this show i felt something was badly wrong i didn’t feel my usual self.

When i arrived in the studio i heard that Facebook had been blocked in Egypt as well as twitter. I was shocked but not surprised. We had heard this was coming. So people started sharing work around methods for people to still use Facebook. I did my show but i felt wrong, i wanted to speak in support of the people but part of me was afraid to say it. Worried we were being listened to by some high security or something. I kept it down, but played some songs that i hoped would prove i supported the cause of my friends in Cairo and around all of Egypt.

I said to a friend that the internet would probably be pulled off line completely soon. I hoped no, but i thought to myself it they can stop people using Facebook and Twitter then for sure they will try to stop all internet communications. I had hoped i would be wrong about that.

By 27th Jan our work around methods for Facebook were being stopped as well. I sensed the worst was yet to come. People were starting to talk about leaving Dahab! But still nothing at all had happened here so i wondered why they were being so worried. Everything was happening over 400 kilometres away. There seemed to be nothing to worry about as far as i was concerned.

At the end of the 27th Jan everyone was talking about a big demonstration in Cairo on Friday. Everyone was saying it was going to be the biggest yet. Some people were really looking concerned.

I spoke to many of our local Bedouins to see what they thought about what was going on. The majority seemed happy and wished they were there in Cairo. A few of them did go to various places outside of Sinai to join in the protests. One of them said they liked Mubarak, he had bought more tourism income to their family (most of them are safari guides and drivers) so they were happy with him, although he did agree he had been unfair to many of his tribe.

The morning of the 28th January my fear from the days before returned. We found the internet across the whole country has been cut.

To be continued soon ……..

Advertisement