Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif reflects on the determination of
Egyptians, after the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak, to rebuild
their country and reclaimtheir national identity.
I have friends on anti-depressantswho, over the last 20 days, forgot
to take their pills and have now thrown them away. Such is the effect
of the Egyptian Revolution.
On Friday night, Egypt partied. Chants and songs and drums and
joy-cries rang out from Alexandriato Aswan. The defunct regime was
only mentioned in reference to "we want our money back".
Otherwise, three chants were dominant - and very telling: One -"Lift
your head up high, you're Egyptian" - was a response to how
humiliated, how hopeless we'd been made to feel over the last four
decades.
The second was: "We'll get married, We'll have kids," and reflected
the hopes of the millionswhose desperate need for jobs and homes had
been driving them to risk their lives to illegally cross the sea to
Europe or the desert to Libya.
The third chant was: "Everyone who loves Egypt, come and rebuild Egypt."
We have a lot to learn very quickly. But we're working. And the
people, everywhere, are with us"
Ahdaf Soueif
Newborn revolution
And on Saturday, they were as good as their word: they came and
cleaned up after their revolution.
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:-:'' Translator '':-:
http://translate.google.com/m?twu=1&sl=en&tl=zh-CN&hl=en:-:
