History of the day-to-day, and the night-to-night

The New Yorker recently published an article about how Ma'adi remained largely unaffected by the events that have unfolded in the last week. I appreciate the author's point -- that the areas outside of town had an entirely different experience than that of Tahrir Square. In the article she discusses a variety of encounters -- a young French girl who has kept a "revolution journal," a group of Egyptian men sipping tea and describing many of the events as an American conspiracy fuelled by journalists, and finally a British couple who said nothing had happened in Ma'adi. She describes a Ma'adi theme of "passive compassion."

If the author means that Ma'adi was passive because residents did not actively participate in the demonstrations, then she is only marginally correct. I know several residents who went downtown to participate, or to deliver medical supplies, food and drink to the those protesting. Many of the foreigners did not want to actively join in the action, because they knew the government would try to discredit the movement if it appeared littered with too many foreign faces. I went near downtown myself, attempting to deliver water, antispetic and other medical supplies to the demonstrators on Friday, Jan. 29. (something I'll elaborate on later)

More than that, the article fails to capture that while Ma'adi remained quiet during the day, by nightfall it would transform. Neighborhood militias formed after that first Friday of demonstrating, when Mubarak called off the police force. Armed with clubs, tent stakes, some firearms, and even a bow and arrow, men quickly organized to defend their homes. They erected barricades and stopped cars attempting to pass through their streets after curfew. Part of the reason Ma'adi has been especially quiet in the mornings is because the entire schedule of one's day changed -- as people stayed vigilant at night, and slept at odd hours in order to be ready to stay up the next night. All of these events are worth more detailed posts. What I am struck by after reading this article, however, is that you cannot accurately assess the life of a place in the morning -- that the rhythm of night and day has to be taken into account.

Ma'adi residents rose quickly to defend the lives they were used to, and were quite desperate to return to some sense of normalcy. Perhaps part of the reason that British couple said nothing had happened in Ma'adi, was because they, like so many of their neighbors wanted things to go back to the seeming comfort of the lives they knew before. In that desire, they had not fully realized the significance of their own actions -- that whatever becomes normal as these events continue to unfold, will never be quite like it was before Jan. 25. They also have to realize that their desire for normalcy, if they are not careful, would also entail the return of Mubarak to power. Perhaps more and more of us will consider carefully the changes that have occurred in our daily lives, and see them as experiences of what remains hope for positive change.