Al-Jazeera's live stream has been playing throughout my Middle Eastern Studies classes and I cannot divert my attention. My dominant policy is to keep political science at arm's length, yet I've been talking about Hosni Mubarak and Mohamed El-Baradei all day.
More than anything, I want to yell and scream and write and know and watch and help. I want to rip things, run into the streets, and throw rocks. I want to set cars on fire, run toward guns, and make signs.
What I can't figure out is why I feel this way.
I HAVE NO TIES.
I AM NOT A MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES MAJOR.
I AM NOT HISTORICALLY OR POLITICALLY EQUIPPED TO ANALYZE THESE TRENDS.
I AM A FLEDGLING STUDENT OF ARABIC.
I KNOW NO ONE IN EGYPT.
I HAVE NOT SPENT SUBSTANTIAL TIME IN THE COUNTRY.
I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY I CARE.
And yet I do, almost overwhelmingly. I don't want to do anything but watch/read/follow international (and almost totally non-American) media as Cairo burns, hoping that from its ashes will arise--what? A populist regime? A softer line from the brutal police state?
I am grateful to live in the United States of America where I can speak freely and live fearlessly under a stable and well-maintained government. I am grateful for our social, legal, economic (yes), and political infrastructure.
To succeed, this Twitter rebellion, this uprising largely organized by social media (which will shape the theses, books, and papers of my generation; I hope someone somewhere is taking screenshots) needs an ideology, a plan, and a face. Here's to staying on the edge of my seat as things play out.
God be with Egypt.
الله يبارك فيك يا مصر
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