Omar Khairy
900060364
Story Corp Transcription
Today I’m interviewing Ezzeldin Kharma (Ezz), an AUC student activist in his early 20’s, living
in Zamalek. Ezz took part in the protests of the Egyptian revolution every day with his best
friend, Taymour Emam (Timmy), who, on the 28th of January, got shot in the eye with a rubber
bullet, causing him to lose sight in his left eye; an incident that turned Ezz and Taymour’s
motives to protest from shared reasons to personal ones. Taymour could not make it due to the
fact that he is in Germany for a check-up, but Ezz willingly agreed to share their bleak story and
personal experience of the revolution with us.
1. To what extent were you involved in the protests that started on January 25th, 2011?
Ezz: I was there every day till February 11. The curfew didn’t stop me us from staying in
Tahrir Square (which translates to “liberation or “freedom”), and fighting to overthrow
Mubarak and his regime. We set up tents and made it clear to our parents that we’re not
leaving. The BBC interviewed my cousin, Nazly Hussein, a former AUCian. She talked
on our behalf and pointed out: “I either leave here free or dead”. The only time I left the
area was when I needed to shower and get food. So yeah, basically I was there the whole
time from January 25th till February 11th.
2. What were your personal reasons for protesting in Tahrir?
I started off protesting for the general public and the less fortunate who used to go to bed
hungry everyday; for all the people and journalists who were imprisoned and tortured for
expressing their opinions and criticizing our flawed and unfair government. That was on
the 25th, but three days later, on the 28th, my best friend, who I also consider as an older
brother got shot with a rubber bullet in the eye. We stood there in shock not knowing
what to do, and the person who shot him just looked at us and started shooting others in
their legs, as if what he did was normal. My friend was screaming hysterically, and we
actually saw the hole in his eyelid. We had no car and had to walk him to a hospital.
People helped us and two strangers made sure he found a doctor before they left. Luckily,
the hospital wasn’t too far away, but still, it was a horrifying experience, and I would
never want anyone to go through what we went through. I’ve never witnessed anything
so brutal in my life. For me, personally, the protests turned bleak and stirred anger. From
that moment on, this anger was my weapon for change. Till this day on my friend still
can’t see from his left eye and walks around with a patch on his face. The doctor here in
Cairo said it’s too soon to find out whether or not he’ll ever see from it again, but it
doesn’t look good, which saddens me because he still has his whole life ahead of him.
He’s only 27!
3. Some foreign media outlets branded the revolution as “peaceful”. Do you agree with
that?
I actually don’t. It started off peaceful, like a celebration for change and freedom, but
things did turn ugly. It’s not just about the violence that the government brought or the
weapons used or the deaths that occurred because if it was just that I might have agreed
with calling the revolution peaceful, but that wasn’t the case. After Mubarak announced
that he won’t rerun for presidency in September, pro-Mubarak people got so angry and
went down to the streets the following day to fight with anti-Mubarak’s. Yes, some of
them were hired, but not all. My relatives actually went down to support Mubarak and
some even got injured in the process. Once conflict rises between civilians, you just know
for a fact that it’s not peaceful anymore. It’s funny cause freedom of speech is actually
one of the things we were fighting for, yet people threw rocks at each other for having
opposing political views.
4. I was going ask you more about Timmy, but since you already told us what happened to
him that day, could you share with us whether or not this incident stopped him from
protesting more?
It actually motivated him to fight more for our rights and for this government to step
down. Like I mentioned before, this “anger” within us forced us to stay and refuse to
leave the square without putting an end to this corruption. Of course he had surgery
performed on him and had to stay home for a few days, but as soon as he got better, he
came back to Tahrir and joined us once again.
5. So for you this whole thing was a dark experience rather than a celebration?
Actually, no, of course bad things happened to us and I doubt no one went through
obstacles of their own, but everyday brought hope. First Mubarak got rid of the
government then the police left the streets, but as unsafe as it was, it made us believe that
change after thirty years is possible, and that with each passing day, more and more of
our demands were being met. We knew that we weren’t going to leave until all of them
were met.
6. What about February 11? That must have been a celebration.
February 11 was more than a celebration. I was never happier than I was that day. Still, I
would describe this day as bittersweet. Seeing people holding up pictures of martyrs with
“you can smile” written on their foreheads made me tear up. It’s actually funny because I
was standing there crying, and Timmy was with me. Everyone else was screaming and
celebrating. They must’ve thought I was a pro-Mubarak. Timmy’s eye doctor advised
him against any efforts that have to do with his eyes so I had to snap out of it in order not
to make him feel all emotional. I felt bad as it is because it was my idea to go down that
day. I woke him and forced him to come with me the day he got shot, but he told me he
would’ve joined me anyway.
7. So do you still protest these days?
Definitely not. It’s enough and more protesting will only do harm to our country. We got
almost, if not everything we asked for and Mubarak and the NDP were both our main
concerns, and now they’re gone. Now everyone will protest when anything goes wrong,
and that’s definitely not for our country’s best interest, It’s simply a reason to stay in
Tahrir and ask for more. Ahmed Shafick wasn’t given a fair chance, but now everyone
wants change right away. They’re too impatient. It’s actually sad because Cairo now is in
chaos. Reports of assaults and robberies, even rumors about rape and kidnaps have
circulated. I just hope people can distinguish between what’s good for us and what isn’t.
Otherwise, everything we fought for is worthless. We certainly wouldn’t want to be
blamed for this chaos when the whole point of the revolution was to get rid of it.
Thank you for your time, and for sharing this with us. I can’t imagine how hard it might
have been and I hope things get better with Taymour.