LEAD IN : January 25th 2011, a day that changed many lives in Egypt. The uprising that
resulted in the toppling of Hosni Mubarak's 30 year rule. But after he stepped down on the
11th of February, the change was not only affecting the government and the political
spectrum, but significant changes took place at one institution in particular. The American
University in Cairo.
February 13th, 2011, the first day of the spring semester, many were concerned about
political freedom on campus. President Lisa Anderson then announced there will be a
taskforce consisting of AUC faculty, staff and students to write a new freedom of expression
policy.
Rebecca Campbell an anthropology graduating senior, member and chair of the student
senate and a student activist was part of this task force.
Rebecca: the taskforce created a policy which has now been passed through the
faculty senate, so as far as I am aware, its being implemented at this point.it
generally looks at there being freedom of expression on campus, it does have a few
thing or two about hate speech, which was one of the topics taht we discussed
heavily within the committee itself, was how do we include this, do we include hate
speech, what does hate speech entail? (:25)
By putting certain rules on paper, a lot might change, but what kind of activities can happen
on the AUC new campus now with the new policy (:07)
Rebecca: we can now print material without it being approved by teh office of
student develpment, we can have protests or sit ins without prior approval, you do
have to notify the security office and that can just be a quick email, of we are having
a protest at this time on this day at this area, whether its 5 minutes before of 5 days
before (:20)
students spoke up against the university employees that were implementing the old policy,
blunt protests took place on campus against head of security Ashraf Kamal, who was a state
security general before working at AUC, he allegedly monitored a lot of student activists and
is associated with the old regime, and the , and Mohamed Dabbour the head of the Office of
Student development, responsible for student activities, and a prominent member of the
now dissolved national democratic party. (:20)
But before the january revolution happened, things were different, the oppressive Mubarak
regimes directly affected the lives of student activists.
Rebecca: we werent allowed to protest, we werent allowed to do, you know, public
announcements or gatherings, without approval and without having a formal
univeristy recognized club to front you (:10)
NAT: Zabaleen
Noor Ayman a student activist ,studied politics at AUC from fall 2006, to spring 2010
Noor: several times i thought of tarting my own club that ws mainly tailored for such
a thing, however after reading the, either the student constitution or the rules and
regulations for student organizations on campus, I kind of felt it wasnt worth it(:20)
Noor learnt to be an activist since his childhood, as both his parents are opposition figures.
Although he never used his parents for university activism and vice versa, Noor was
successful in becoming an active student leader himself.
NAT Sound: Noor in a "el balad baladak" sit in spring 2010
Hossam Al Hamalawy, studied economics from 1995 and graduated 1999, and finished his
masters degree in 2001 Hossam learnt about politics from his late father, a university
professor who was careful enough to teach Hossam, about history, economics, politics and
life lessons.
Hossam: You would fill out this activity sheet, and then get permission from the
student Union and from the OSA, now, it was such a hassle to get any sort of
permission from dabbour or OSA at the time. (:15)
(NAT Sound: typing )Hossam is a prominent Egyptian blogger, known as Arabawy, and works
extensively with wage laborers around the country
NAT sound: Hossam speaking at Marxism in 2008.
That speech was delivered in 2008, but when Hossam was a student, he had to maintain a
low profile with his activism.
Hossam: It wasn’t till 1998 and that’s when I joined the revolutionary socialists as an
undergraduate student in my third year in university
It was a total clandestine organization at the time, completely underground, because
of the oppression that existed in Egypt ( :25)
While Noor didn’t feel it was necessary to operate as an activist through an extracurricular
activity, Hossam found it to be a way to spread awareness about topics he's passionate
about.
Hossam: at the time I took over the philosophy club which was one of the clubs on
campus that had already existed but wasnt active in the prvious semester, and we
used the philosphy club as a platrform for our leftist and liberal activities on
campus.(:25)
Noor, also a musician, decided to start a band a long with 6 other members that focuses on
political and social issues.
NAT SOUND: Music: Zabaleen- yasqut qanun el taware'
While, Hossam tried to spread his message through the philosophy club he faced some
difficulties
Hossam: we used to have lots of fights, at some point they completely banned out
newsletter, thats in 1999, so what we did, on clubs day infront of our booth, we were
distributing blank papers, and we were telling everyone come watch, come read our
newsletter and we would tell them it got censored. (:35)
With all the rules and regulation, student activists throughout the last decade, did not have a
way of channeling their energy, except through symbolic self expression.
Noor: On April 6th 2008, the first day the April 6th movement was formed, and I
went to campus with a big sign that had "against corruption" and obviously walking
into campus with his huge sign and try to put it up, immediately all the security
guards surrounded me (:30)
Hossam: I had gone up with a group of students and we took down the US flag from
the roof of the presidential building facing tahrir square (:12)
Self expression was not for free before the January 25th revolution, activists had to pay a
price.
Noor: I ended up visiting the head of AUC security but managed to get permission
from the OSD, it was this big complex story (:10)
But it never ended there, Noor's friends would get approached by state security, advising
their parents not to let their kids see Noor outside campus walls.
But for Hossam, his activism did not only lead to threats by the state security, but matters
were taken a little further
Hossam: I was detained on the 8th of October, 2000. We were like one week into the
protests on Campus, So I was driving then in my car, I was then driving with my ex
girlfriend, you know I was heading with my car, suddenly two cars cut the road in
front of me, people in plain clothes left the two cars and asked me to get out, I
thought in the beginning at first they were thugs they blindfolded me with the
Palestinian scarf at the time, they searched the car, then threw the key to my
girlfriend at the time and told her to drive the car. they put me in n of the cars, they
put me in the back seat, two informers were by my side and they put my head down
so now would see .they took me to Lazoghly, of course I didn’t know where I was
and in the beginning I stood in some corridor blindfolded I could see anything around
me. (1:20)
Hossam was taken to the Lazoghly State Security building, blind folded for four days, Hossam
was interrogated, these four days, he was asked about who he worked for, what protests
were planned, and who aids his activity
Hossam: I stayed silent refused to answer and my automatic reply was I will not
speak and say anything except in front of the prosecutor and in the presence of a
lawyer. and that’s when the beatings started, they were beating me on the head, on
the shoulders on teh thighs, while I was on the floor, the interrogator, he was hitting
me, and there were other guys also in the room who were hitting me, and then the
beatings would stop, and you wouldn’t hear anything for a minute . Then they asked
the same questions, and my answers were the same, so the beatings would continue.
Of course the beatings are accompanied with insults against me and my family, my
father my mother. Threats of rape against my family, and then at some point, they
said if I wasn’t gonna speak then they’re gonna start electrocuting me, and they
indeed took off my shoes. and they left me for 15 minutes and you know you're just
waiting to be electrocuted and that’s the most torturous thing, it’s not the beatings
themselves, because you get numb after a while. And you don’t really feel the
beatings, but its the psychological torture your mind and your imagination going
wild, what’s gonna happen a minute later, what’s gonna happen a minute later.
They stripped me off naked, and they threatened they will bring a gay soldier to rape
me if I don’t speak. (1:25)
State security officers played good cop bad cop with Hossam, and every time he refused..
Hossam: they said I wasn’t gonna sleep tonight, they deprived me from sleep, they
took me to some corridor. still also blindfolded, and I was made to stand all night,
and I remember at some point I collapsed, because number one, the scarf on my face
was not making me breathe well, I was breathing with so much difficulty from the
scarf, and I was tired of course from the beatings. I collapsed on the floor, and I even
started hallucinating I was tripping tat I was standing at the Greek campus at the
platform, but I was blindfolded, but I was still talking to my friends that were
activists agreeing on the protest the following day and I recall that I was upset that
they didn’t notice I was blindfolded , I was hallucinating completely, I fell on the
floor, only to be with one kick, I mean somebody came and He said " I told you not to
lie on the floor ya ebn el" and he slogged off my mother and he gave me a kick that
threw me up and I kept on standing. (1:20)
Hossam was finally released with 1000 pound bail. Since then he was always hassled by
university security, even after he finished his masters, he was not allowed to enter the
campus for a year.
That was then, this is now, both Noor and Hossam had recognized role in opposing the
regime, and participating in the revolution.
As for Mohamed Dabbour and Ashraf Kamal, they have both decided to leave the university,
after protests called for their removal.
Many stories of students that tried to speak up against the regime and were oppressed,
havent been told. perhaps the revolution may bring out exposure to such stories... and
history may finally be written by the people. ---
The Sound of Struggle, an audio documentary by Sarah Abdelrahman
Interviews of Rebecca Campbell, Noor Ayman, and Hossam Al Hamalawy
Music by El Zabaleen Band, and Dark Chocolate Chips band
Additional Nat sound was used from Marxism 2008, AUC protests Spring 2010 and 2011.