My Time Working for Egypt - Part 3 - Revolution
A month that changed Egypt also changed me
As the year 2010 drew to a close, a Tunisian man lit himself on fire to protest the policies of his government. It seemed like a relatively unimportant event at the time, but for whatever reason, this was the spark that lit the flame of the Arab Spring. Within weeks, the government of Tunisia had fallen.
My employers in Cairo were very worried about this. We commissioned our consulting firm to help us draft a document for immediate release to the U.S. media and politicians titled “Egypt is not Tunisia.” Although there were certainly differences between the two countries, not the least of which was sheer size, I distinctly remember reading over those talking points and thinking, “Actually, Egypt seems a lot like Tunisia.”
One day in January, protests broke out in Egypt, with young people leading the way. They were upset about police brutality and emergency laws, food shortages and low wages. Basically, they were upset that Egypt’s proud history had left them with no present or future.
The government did not immediately begin shooting the protesters, and this proved to be rather decisive. When people saw that they were not likely to die, they came out in even larger numbers. Soon, Tahrir Square in central Cairo was the center of a 24/7 protest movement. No one knew exactly what would happen. It was thoroughly unprecedented for such protests to occur during Mubarak’s presidency.
I happened to be taking a couple days of vacation when the protests broke out, as my sister was in town to visit. This was a relatively important event in my life, as it was the first time one of my family members met my new boyfriend, Jai. Nevertheless, I could not get away from work entirely, as I saw scenes of protesters marching along the Nile River whenever I turned on the TV or checked my computer. I was not looking forward to returning to work.
As the days went on, the security forces began to crack down on protesters. Things got very ugly. One of our employees, my best friend in the office at the time, quit and left us with a big hole to fill on top of everything else.
I began to keep a running list of the interview requests I received from nearly every major media outlet in the Western world. The Obama administration seemed to be initially supportive of Mubarak, but there was no telling how long that would last as the body count increased. The Americans would not want to be on the wrong side of history. Memories of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, in which the United States supported an authoritarian leader and paid a heavy geopolitical price, haunted decision makers in Washington, D.C.
It was hard to imagine in that first week that Mubarak might actually bend to the protesters’ demands and resign. Indeed, our imagination was all we had to rely on, because the communication coming out of Cairo had slowed to a trickle. If anyone knew exactly what Mubarak’s plans were, they certainly did not tell us, and we were just about the only Egyptian officials in the world taking phone calls from journalists.
I will never forget a conference call with the Egyptian Press Office in London in which an Egyptian official complained, “Now, I’ve got to go on the bloody BBC!” Indeed, the BBC was very interested in what we had to say. I received an interview request for Jeremy Paxman to speak with someone on Newsnight, and knowing Paxman’s habit of badgering guests into submission, I mischievously wanted to recommend that we grant the interview. In the end, it was only Christiane Amanpour who managed to gain an interview with President Mubarak.
For this reason, anyone who spoke English called our office, regardless of their country of origin. I was completely stressed out. Even my friends at church, who knew hardly anything about Egypt the week before, were talking about the protests. There was no getting away from it. Unsurprisingly, the consulting and lobbying firms which had been happy to take Egypt’s money for years dropped them like a hot potato. (A founder of one of these firms nevertheless became involved in a very high-profile scandal of another kind, giving the lie to their protestations of integrity.)
This experience resulted in my first real visit to Twitter. The officials in Cairo had finally realized that the protests were being organized through social media. I was assigned to monitor any tweets being made by the protesters in English. I felt rather bad doing this, but it was publicly available information, so I wasn’t exactly snooping. I mentioned in my report that the protesters were sharing login information for different WiFi servers. In hindsight, I should not have done this.
I awoke the next day to news that the internet in Egypt had been completely shut down. Was it because of my report? Probably not. The majority of the protesters’ tweets were in Arabic, and the officials in Cairo could read those easily enough. Still, I felt terrible. This situation provided another example of how the government was very incompetent in its authoritarianism. I arrived at work and found that we had to do all our business by fax because the government had not been clever enough to keep its own internet service functioning.
I was quite concerned about Mr. K at this time. Despite having announced that I was leaving in the near future, I still felt a certain amount of loyalty toward him, as he had never treated me with anything but kindness and respect. He was burning the candle at both ends and then some in an attempt to stem the tide of media requests.
One day, I walked down to his favorite lunch place and bought him several things, which I then presented to him and invited him to eat. He was in one of those states when people tend to forget about such basic necessities of life. To my surprise, he actually took a moment away from the phones and came and sat in my office to eat his food. We had a brief conversation in which it became clear that he sympathized with some of the protesters’ demands, though I was fairly certain he did not favor the chaos of regime change.
Mubarak attempted to pacify the protesters by making a number of concessions short of their demands, such as appointing a vice president. None of this convinced them to go home. There was a rather extraordinary episode in which several men rode into Tahrir Square on camels and horses, beating up protesters. These were apparently men who gave rides to tourists at the Giza Pyramids and had been paid to come in and scatter people. It was a vivid example of the kind of bizarre and backwards mentality to which the government continued to cling.
Finally, we received the announcement that President Mubarak was going to make a public statement. I think it is safe to say that, without having heard any official word from Cairo, the people in our office all assumed he was going to resign. Two of our employees invited their wives to come to the office for emotional support.
It was an incredibly odd situation. Journalists were demanding to know what the president planned to do, but we honestly had no idea. As it turned out, Mubarak did not resign. He doubled down on his earlier position: a limited amount of concessions. The protesters were in an uproar and felt as if they had been slapped in the face. I was quite angry as well. I left that day in a huff.
The next morning, I returned to work still frustrated. I remember walking into Mr. K’s office to hand him something. His eyes were fixed on the television screen, where it appeared that some official statement was about to be made. My heart started to beat a bit faster as I left him alone and returned to my own office. There I saw Vice President Omar Suleiman, who had been in his office for less than two weeks, flanked by military officers. “That can’t be good,” I thought.
I could not understand the Arabic, but I gathered from the translator and Suleiman’s body language that Mubarak had been forced out. Soon after this, there was another statement from a military official saluting the protesters and assuring them that the military was on their side. (The upshot of all of this was that there had been a military coup. The top military brass decided that Mubarak had become a liability, so they removed him and hoped to pacify the protesters with a minimal amount of changes. I only realized this fully at a later date.)
The phone on my desk rang immediately after the announcement. It was some journalist wishing to know what would happen next. I wanted to say, “Lady, I have no better idea than you do. We’re getting our news from the same place.” Instead, I said, “I’ll have to call you back.”
The rest of that day was spent attempting to unravel a mess that we couldn’t fully comprehend. One of my colleagues simply picked up his briefcase and left. Mubarak had been president for his entire adult life. I don’t think he knew how to function under those circumstances. My boyfriend, Jai, left work early and came to sit with me. I’m not sure if Mr. K even knew he was there. Jai was an officer in the U.S. Air Force, and thus technically an agent of another government. Oh well. No one asked.
There was much jubilation in Egypt over the next few days. Everyone seemed optimistic about the future. However, I received a terrible call from someone at CBS saying that one of their female reporters had been sexually assaulted while covering the celebrations in Tahrir Square. This story was later featured in an episode of 60 Minutes, and it is sadly representative of the experiences of many women in Egypt.
Overall though, the news seemed good. The interim government announced that Egypt would have truly free elections. Even members of the Muslim Brotherhood would be allowed to officially stand for office, for better or for worse. As things seemed to be improving, I informed Mr. K that, if he was willing to keep me on, I would like to stay. “I’m happy to hear it,” he told me.
Out of Egypt
I continued working at the Egyptian Press Office for another two and a half years: long enough to see the rise and fall of Egypt’s first truly democratically elected president. We had very little funding after the revolution, so we could no longer afford the services of a consulting firm. The number of employees in our office was reduced. My ethical concerns likewise diminished, and instead I simply became frustrated with the inefficiency of the government and lack of any interesting work. In my final year there, Mr. K left and they sent a woman to do the job of two men without the higher title or salary. The sexism in our office seemed to increase. I wanted out of there.
In summer 2012, Jai and I were married, and I was so thankful to have a week-long honeymoon. Sadly, this was only partially for the obvious reasons. I was as glad to have a week off of work as anything else. As it so happened, the Air Force told us in 2013 that Jai’s next assignment would be in Dayton, Ohio. I did not really want to leave the D.C. area. I loved my church and had made some very good friends. I loved our life there. Nevertheless, the transfer gave me a convenient way to quit my job without hurting anyone’s feelings. During my last week on the job, I trained my replacement. I couldn’t help thinking that the poor young man didn’t know what was about to hit him.
On my final day, the other two ladies in the office were rather teary eyed. I had been a major help to my new female boss when she came to the U.S. I think she felt rather forlorn at the prospect of my departure. Nevertheless, when that door closed behind me and I walked out onto the street, I felt a wonderful sense of relief. As it so happened, I ended up saying good-bye to my entire career in international relations. I had given four years of my life to the Middle East and suffered for it mentally. That was enough.
In scripture, people often go to Egypt for a time of testing and growth. The Lord then calls them out of Egypt to something better. I cannot help but think that, in some small way, this echoes my own experience. There is so much more I could say about my time working for the Egyptian government. The bottom line is that it taught me many things, it allowed me to form some of the most important relationships of my life, and it caused me to cling to God in new ways. I hope you have enjoyed reading my story, and should you ever find yourself caught in the middle of a revolution, you know who to call.
P.S. With respect to those who protested in winter 2011 and all who continue to fight for civil rights in Egypt, what happened there was not a revolution in the fullest sense. The country is currently ruled by another military strongman who receives a ridiculously large share of the vote. The military had the real power in the beginning, and they have the real power now. It is still a police state with a corrupt justice system. Therefore, it was not truly a change of regime, but a change of government. Until the human infrastructure of the country is built up and the education system is improved, it will be difficult for Egypt to become a full-fledged liberal democracy. Let us hope and pray for the future of Egypt, and particularly for harmony between Muslims and Coptic Christians.
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Weeeiiiird times at ridgemont high 🤣 enjoyed this random corner of the interwebs!
I really enjoyed reading about your time working for Egypt. Thank you so much!