Page 8 of the March 28th issue of Al Masry Al Youm -
'Tracking People's Behavior After the Revolution'
For long, Egyptian citizens’ social conduct has been criticized by many. In post-revolution Egypt opinions are divided. One side says people will never improve enough so that democracy can take root, and the other says time and effort of citizens will bring change to society.
Hassieb AudioDoc The January25 Revolution and Changes in Egyptian Society by IngyH
Total Length: 14m15s
Research for this project was conducted using Gamal Hamdan’s Shakhsiyyet Masr, and from the A-U-C archives the document ‘The American University in Cairo: A Period of Rapid Change. The Presidency of Raymond F. Mcclain from January 1955 to July 1963.’ Special thanks to Ebony Coletu, Michael Reimer, Jehane Ragai, and Sarah Shabayek for lending their voices to this documentary. Thanks also to Sporting Club in Alexandria, Egypt for hosting the Belal Fadl Public Lecture.
Protesters march through downtown Alexandria on Feb. 11
Photo: Ingy Hassieb
The songs used in this documentary are:
Revolution by The Beatles, Al Ayam by Omar Khairat, Come Together by The Beatles, Free Your Mind by Digla, Money by Pink Floyd, Highlights by Digla, People Are Strange by The Doors, Sout El Horreya by Wust El Balad.
Interview with Michael Reimer (March 22nd 2011) for: The January 25th Revolution and Changes in Egyptian Society
Were you in Egypt during the protests?
Yes, I was in Egypt during the entire period of the protests.
Did you actually go to Tahrir Square?
I was in Tahrir Square a few times. Well, actually just twice before the president's resignation. And, it was February 1st or February 2nd I was there, just before the incident with the camels and the horses and such. I wasn't there on that day. And one other time and I can't remember the exact date but anyway... We did see, and I was with some other people, and we did see on the first occasion some clashes between police and demonstrators, and then the second occasion was actually a very peaceful day. It was the Tuesday before the clash with the Baltagiyya.
The history course that you're teaching right now, Isqat al Nizam, this was your idea to start teaching that?
It was actually an idea that was sparked by the provost. Because the provost here at AUC, Dr. Medhat Haroun, had circulated to all the faculty a suggestion that we set up some special, either, courses or workshops or seminars relating to the revolution as a way of contributing as a university to the dialogue about what had happened and what was going to happen in Egypt as the constitution was changed and as the discussion about changing the political and the cultural atmosphere in the country, so it was my idea originally to set up some kind of course where we could compare Egypt's revolution with other revolutions. But it could not have happened without the support of my colleagues and so it's a team taught course, and every week we have a different lecturer who is presenting on a different topic of comparison for Egypt, with Egypt's revolution.
Can you tell me what are you hoping to teach students through that course and what you are hoping they will learn.
Well I think what we want the students to learn is that there are many different trajectories that a revolution can follow. There's not just one kind of revolution as it were, there isn't a single pattern that all revolutions conform to, in other words. And one of the things that came out in our discussion on the very first day, we had a panel, and some students wanted the panel, which consisted mainly of professors, although we did have a student on the panel as well, to sort of tell them what should happen now or what had to happen thinking that there's somehow a law that all revolutions have to follow. And what we tried to convey to the students was, first of all, there is no such law that the revolution has to follow, or a pre-ordained path, and secondly what happens is determined to a large extent by what the students and other Egyptians actually want to happen, what they're willing to sacrifice in order for something to happen. So, we wanted to stress the fact that there is a certain open-endedness to any kind of revolutionary situation. And one can look around and see models of things, or revolutions that perhaps Egypt wants to follow, and other models that it wants to avoid. But in each case there are, by studying revolutions we can sort of see, well, who benefits, who doesn't benefit, what groups tend to be involved, what groups tend to be excluded or marginalized by revolutions. I would say one thing that I certainly hope our students would learn is that a determined minority often times can, you might say, take hold of a revolution and lead it in a particular path. Unless people are willing to stand up, to object, or to try and lead it into a different way, often times revolutions do actually tend to be taken over by one group that has a very clear ideology and a very clear goal in mind, whereas other people are sort of dithering and not following through. Yes that can happen with a revolution, it doesn't have to happen, there have been revolutions where that hasn't happened but it is a potential outcome of a revolution.
SOT_Michael Reimer - History Professor at the American University in Cairo: Democracy is what produces the changes in behavior that we have seen and that I think will continue to improve people's behaviors in all sorts of ways.
ANNC: The January 25th Uprising has undoubtedly affected Egyptian politics, but how and if it's going to affect society remains to be seen.
Attend the listening session at AUC's New Cairo campus on Sunday May 22nd and Wednesday May 25th at 10 a.m. each day, in the BEC building room 1060.
