Egyptian Freedom Fighters Back on the Streets and May Prove That Mobs Can be the Instruments of Freedom

Thirty-three people were killed this weekend at Tahrir Square in Cairo during the worst clashes between protesters and the Egyptian military since the revolution began last January.

The protesters are angry with the army’s inability or refusal to turn over power to a civilian government and get on with the promised parliamentary elections which ought to begin later this week.

On the streets surrounding the Square, thousands of protesters are milling and trying to figure out how to unblock the political situation in Egypt. Many believe that ousted president Hosni Mubarak is still in charge, directing the military from his jail cell. Others think the army will not voluntarily turn over power and want to step back into a military government much like that which was in power before (and perhaps during) Mubarak’s reign.

Tonight, there are rumors in Cairo that the cabinet appointed by the army council has offered its mass resignation. What and who would be acceptable to Egyptians as their successors is not clear.

The protest leaders have put out a call for a Million Person March tomorrow, which is likely to bring about even more confrontation and violence.

It is easy to be mesmerized by the TV images - to watch CNN or BBC and be caught up in the ‘theatre’ of protest and response, as if one were watching a good guy-bad guy war film. But, the images are not fake. They represent lives and families and the future of Egypt as a democratic nation. The protesters have already once put themselves on the line to rid Egypt of its military dictatorships that are sustained by army force and finally take over the army’s always weak intention to make Egypt stand for freedom.

And, then, one thinks about mobs…mob violence…the impersonal nature of protest and repression. Often, we hear and read about the nature of mobs, that they are capable of malicious and violent acts that no one human being would be able to commit alone.

Certainly, there is truth in this, for often mobs are taken over by anarchists (in G20 protests that turn into city-smashing sprees) or by sinister forces that use them for unannounced ends (South African apartheid police infiltrating marches and making them violent as an excuse to attack and kill black protesters).

But, in Egypt, perhaps the mob is not sinister or malicious, but simply human. Maybe they realize that alone, each protester would be shot or arrested and tortured or simply ignored. But, together, in the thousands, they can send a message to the Egyptian army that they will not endure another round of dictatorship. Together they can signal to the world that their voices are important, that they are serious and are willing to put their bodies on the line for freedom, demonstrating that mobs can be the voice of freedom and democracy.