Erin and Tony in Cairo!

Artwork by Erin Currier

Wednesday evening

Masahalhir!

I flew in to Cairo yesterday on a nearly empty Middle Eastern Airlines flight from Beirut; in a city of 26 million, Tony and I are two of a handful of foreigners.  It is an extraordinary time to be here– in this moment between governments, between constitutions, between Law itself– in which th streets are alive with throngs of proud and ecstatic Egyptians.

Hundreds of people have shouted “Welcome!” to us, or have come up and asked us if we feel comfortable and safe here, have assured us that we should feel welcome, and have thanked us for coming to bear witness to this time of inspired social transformation.

All of the corrupt police departments have been dissolved, there are few if any, police, and yet there is little, if any, crime, and civilians are directing traffic, painting curbs, ensuring that life here is more or less functioning in the same 24 seven chaotic, cacaphonic, and smog-soaked way that it always has.

I have never seen anything quite like sprawling Cairo.  It feels like the very heart of the world– throbbing and pumping with sheer Life. The filth, the millenia-old oxcarts, herds of goats, bedoiuns, of cities like Kathmanu or Mumabai, vie for space on cramped sidewalks with the most stylish Muslim girls and women– decked out in a million variations of Hijab, denim, rhinestone, and veils– not unlike those of Istanbul or Marrakesh, alongside the grand gothic 19th century architecture of Buenos Aires, or among the cinder block favelas of Caracas or Rio de Janiero, but with more mosques than mecca, coated with gold Saharan dust, and all happening at once along the incomparable Nile– plastic dumping ground of the world.

I find myself walking the streets in a state of delirius intoxication which every square centimeter affords: the scent of lotus blossums, coriander, and biological waste; the sounds of a thousand honking horns, vendor’s bells, Egyptian music blasted from tuk-tuks and takicabs.

The military maintains a presence in key areas– huge tanks around the Egyptian museum for instance– but the element missing from international news sites is the fact that the military and the people are one and the same: cousins, brothers, nephews, and friends– a far less tenuous trust thn I had previously imagined; furthermore, tens of thousands continue to congregate at Tahrir Square, to demand that the new government being created will be a democratic one: one with rights, jobs, transparency.  The people we have spoken to, especially youth, seem ready and aware of the hard work that awaits them.

Today, Tony and I toured the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx all alone– we were lone travellers rubbing hieroglyphs and sketching: it was a once in a lifetime experience.

Last night, some young organizers interviewed us for YouTube; Anthony said that Egypt is the light of the world right now and has proved that an oppresive government can be toppled in one month; I said that if there is ever a moment in history to visit Egypt, now is that moment.

So please come support the Egyptian people!  Vamanos!

Ojala and Enshallah…Erin