“I was born when I came to Tahrir Square”: Interview with a volunteer doctor
Cairo Rising | 09.02.2011 08:18 | Anti-militarism | Repression | Social Struggles | World
The most striking thing about Egypt’s ongoing revolution is the ecstatic expressions on the faces of the the people who are creating it. Everything that happens on Tahrir is the result of real self organisation. “There are no political parties present here, just people”, one man tells us , “we are doing everything for ourselves because we want to create something for the people”. The sense of empowerment this gives is nowhere more evident than in the busy medical centre located just outside the square. Normally a Mosque, the building is now buzzing with doctors and nurses who treat patients around the clock. At prayer time the building still fills up with worshippers who pray there, but once they are finished the work continues. All the medics are volunteers, many of whom have made significant sacrifices in order to be there. Being a doctor is one of the best paid professions in Egypt, but the three doctors on call did not hesitate to leave their jobs so that they could come here and treat the wounded.
Mosque converted into medical clinic in Tahrir Square
The medic clinic at work
Interview with a doctor in Tahrir Square
Q: So, you said that you left your work to come here?
Yes. I am a surgeon and I left my job, which is over 200km away from Cairo, to come here. After what has been going on, how can I continue to take money for my work? How could I chose not to come? In Tahrir everybody works for each other and helps each other. We are like brothers and sisters. I never felt happy to be Egyptian until I came to Tahrir Square. Now I’m very proud. Finally I feel proud to be Egyptian. This is the free state of Tahrir -the real Egypt. I am not even sure I have a job to go back to in my city now.
Q: How long have you been at this clinic?
I came here before the worst police violence on the 28th of January. When all that happened I was very scared and ran away to stay with relatives, but then I came back and I have been here since then.
Q: What kind of injuries have you seen here? Has it been very busy?
You come at a quiet time today but the clinic has been very, very busy. After Wednesday there were people laying everywhere, with all kinds of wounds. It was horrible and very hard. We have treated people with bullet wounds. People who have been shot in the leg, arm and abdomen by the police and by the thugs who came last Wednesday. One person died in the clinic from bullet wounds. We also treated a large number of people for tear gas inhalation.
Q: How does it feel to be a doctor here?
Before I came here I was not free and I never knew real respect. Here, in the sovereign state of Tahrir, we are all free. I was born on the 28th January when I came to Tahrir Square. We have organised everything here for ourselves, we have done things we never thought we would do and felt things we never thought we would feel. There is an old saying that says that, in life you should ‘make your friends happy and your enemies angry’ and that is what we are doing in this revolution. I will be here until we succeed.
Cairo Rising
Homepage:
http://reportsfromtheegyptianuprising.wordpress.com/2011/02/08/i-was-born-when-i-came-to-tahrir-square-interview-with-a-volunteer-doctor/
Comments
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Middle-class/Brotherhood revolution
09.02.2011 10:51
Where are the poor in this so-called revolution?
The focus is on Tahir Square precisely because there is no widespread, active movement supporting this revolution.
Why, when we hear from protesters on the UK mainstream media, do we not hear demands about improving the conditions for the poorest? Why do we not see people saying how wretched their lives are due to poverty?
The revolution is being conducted by the well-off. They are well dressed. They speak English. They have Twitter and Facebook. They are the well off middle-classes.
This is why the demands fit into approved Western liberal demands: an end to dictatorship; an end to corruption; democractic elections; the removal of Muburak. All very necessary but they are also bourgeois demands.
The other group is the Muslim Brotherhood. The UK media say they are not involved but we can see with our own eyes that this is not true. We receive pictures of large numbers of people praying in Tahir Square. They are the Muslim Brotherhood. They help to make up the numbers but have been instructed not to admit that they have been organised by the Brotherhood. Former US army intelligence officer and prosecutor, John Loftus says he has seen the CIA files. The Muslim Brotherhood was taken over by the CIA in the 1950s. Before that they were controlled by the British.
Muburak is a dictator. He should go and Egypt should get democracy. But also, it seems that the West no longer wants Muburak in power and has organised the Twitter students and Muslim Brotherhood to get rid of him.
Simon
re middle class/brotherhood revolution
09.02.2011 14:23
However, about the brotherhood - just because people are praying in the square does not mean they are Muslim Brotherhood - this is total rubbish
People in Tahrir Square are at pains to point out that this is not a revolution of any political party. In fact Mubarak has skillfully used the bogeymen of the Muslim Brotherhood to ameliorate Western criticism of his regime...
Cairo Rising
Homepage:
http://reportsfromtheegyptianuprising.wordpress.com
Secret Brotherhood backing
09.02.2011 16:52
However, about the brotherhood - just because people are praying in the square does not mean they are Muslim Brotherhood - this is total rubbish.
Don’t know what you’ve seen but I’ve seen on Youtube video of crowds bravely taking on the police with their water cannon on a bridge. You see lines of men adopt the prayer position while water is being fired at them! Then, of course, you see men adopting the prayer position in the square when there was no conflict with the police or army.
You don't see people praying in any of your photos.
So, who are these people?
Students? The middle classes? Are we meant to believe that in the middle of a protest with the dictatorial government, the protesters would kneel and pray?
No, they are Muslim Brotherhood. This is why the Egyptian regime is having to talk to them. Why else would they?
We've had Western media spin about how the protests represent "all walks of life" - accurate if you limit this to middle-class life. They also tell us that the Muslim Brotherhood has nothing to do with this protest.
I don't want to belittle the demands of the middle-classes. Their demands are progressive. We have to hope that those behind the scenes take them seriously. But do their demands conflict with the interests of poor Egyptians or indeed African Egyptians in the south who appear to be totally absent from this revolution.
Many suspect that Mohammed ElBaradei is a Western tool, or rather George Soros tool. Who are the Muslim Brotherhood supporting? You guessed it.
Read more: U.S. 'held secret meeting with Muslim Brotherhood'
JERUSALEM – The Egyptian government has information a diplomat at the U.S. embassy in Cairo secretly met yesterday with a senior leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the nation's major Islamist opposition group, WND has learned.
The topic of the meeting was the future of Egypt following the "fall" of President Hosni Mubarak, an Egyptian intelligence official told WND.
simon
Some information on strikes around the country
09.02.2011 20:05
"This eruption of strikes and working class protests shows the deep social roots of the Egyptian revolution. The demands for jobs, decent living standards and social rights will not be resolved by the ouster of Mubarak, followed by a shuffling of officials at the top. They can only be realized through a transformation of social relations, bringing the productive forces of the country under control of working people, throwing off imperialist domination and recovering the multi-billion-dollar fortunes accumulated by Mubarak and his cronies at the expense the masses of workers and oppressed."
Rich
strikes
09.02.2011 23:12
thanks. Let's see to what extent working-class protest grows. If this happens, Muburak will be out a lot quicker.
Simon
simon