Dispatches From Cairo: Return of the Revolution

Lauren Unger-Geoffroy Courtesy: truthdig

Courtesy: truthdig

We asked Lauren Unger-Geoffroy, an Arabic-speaking American who lives in Cairo, to share her perspective of life in Egypt after the revolution. In this entry, she writes about the rekindling of violence and revolutionary spirit.

 
CAIRO—In the surreal dawn of Tahrir Square the sun is purple-gray through the mist of tear gas, a building a block away is burning, the black carcass of an overturned truck smolders as a few people hover. Other people arrive with more blankets and food and bandages.
 
The dizzying thrill of battle is a heady pheromone that obscures the grief and fear and infuses the masses here with a trembling excitement and pride in their combat against the “oppressor.” The Egyptian people have once again found their value and purpose, which was waning in the last few months of revolutionary inactivity. Some have come to the center of conflict for the first time. Many others here were present in January, February, July, and are back to reclaim the wild exhilaration of being part of an intense unity. ... Some do not even agree politically with their comrades of the day, and have come only to help or offer solidarity to fellow Egyptians.

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