“If you change the environment, that in turn will change people. But if you change people without touching the environment, it will slip back.”- Jacque Fresco

Mubarak, you are guilty.”

This passage is beautiful.

A few years ago, I sort of gave up on Egypt. What I saw on TV and read in the papers made me think that Egyptians have been brainwashed and made superficial beyond repair. Seriously, what you saw on Nile and ESC whether news or programming (like when they played bits of a stupid movie and some woman “discussed” the movie for an hour) made me think that it was OVER. Even the trait for which Egyptians are known — humor — seemed to have disintegrated and what remained was this stupid unsophisticated comedy that to me became symbolic of the disintegration of everything in Egypt.

And then with the advent of blogs and citizen journalism a different picture of Egypt started to emerge. I started to learn that what I saw before may have represented some part of Egypt but that the real Egypt was still there. I stumbled upon this blog among others and started reading about activism in Egypt. The voices of those like you, Hossam, and many others came through despite all attempts to muzzle them. Egypt’s living heart and mind came through the Mediterranean and across the Atlantic.

As for predictions of the revolution and people being taken by surprise, only those that were making the revolution or were themselves the living breathing revolution, like you, could predict it. As though someone like me could have predicted the revolutions just sitting in a coffee shop in the US and reading about Egypt and the Arab World, just like others pretended that they did.

As things continue to be rough for those that want to reach the goals of the revolution despite all the pressure, your resolve reminds of a Ghassan Kanafani saying: “لن أرتد حتى أزرع في الأرض جنتي أو أقتلع من السماء جنة أو أموت أو نموت معا
And you the youth of Egypt are indeed creating a paradise for people even though they do not know it and may not know it for a while. In fact you made me believe that one day not so far away justice will come to Palestine.

Finally, when I visit Egypt later this year (since I can only spend my vacation money on worthy places) I will bring all the good karma I can muster! But more importantly, I hope that Mubarak’s trial will still be going on and still being televised (I know it is selfish of me to hope for a long trial) because I want to sit in the street with everyone and watch history…