I had to head down to Cairo for the Nile TESoL Conference. I was really happy to see about 50 other fellows from my program from all over the area; Turkey, Russia, Serbia, Syria, Israel, Jordan etc.
I was going to have some time to do some traveling afterwards, so I wanted to get together with an Egyptian guy I knew from 3 years ago named Aladin. He was a travel agent and I figured he could get me a good deal for Luxor and Aswan.
My friend Steve, who is a fellow currently serving in Syria wanted to find a cheap hotel room downtown, so I said I would take him. We did end up finding Aladin who no longer worked there, but runs a hotel and works for another travel agency. Fair enough. He said he'd hook me up.
My friend liked the looks of the hotel and decided he would be moving there after a few days. It was the night of the finals for the Africa Cup of Nations between Egypt and Ghana. Steve and I went out and had some Mousaka at an Egyptian restaurant. They had the game on and Egypt won for an unprecedented third time in a row. The whole city went nuts. Steve and I headed to Tahrir Square which is in the center of downtown Cairo where I lived 3 years ago and near the Egyptian Museum. I just wanted to get a few pics of the pandemonium. I got way more than I
bargained for.
We hung back from the main crowd and watched in awe for about 90 minutes while people jumped on buses, shot off fire works and made huge flames with a lighter and cans of hairspray. We also saw two dudes get run down by a cab that went barreling through the crowd. Could you imagine if these people were allowed to drink alcohol what it would be like? After we had enough, we needed to determine an escape route to catch a cab and get back to our hotel. I figured it would be a very bad idea to walk through the crowd, and suggested we go a
round. We then saw 3 European people emerge from the crowd unscathed and with smiles still on their faces...so we figured it would be ok to go that way. WRONG!
At first it was fine. Yes, a lot of people were yelling at us, but it wasn't hostile. I said in Aarbic, "Ana Mosrea, Mabruk!" (I'm Egyptian, congratulations!) Some guys wanted me to take their picture, but they got WAY too close. I told them to back off and did snap a pick when I suddenly felt someone grab my ass from behind. I spun around and yelled at the person that I thought did it, when suddenly I was assaulted a
gain. I went from mad to scared as it happened probably 3 more times (that is a conservative number). Steve hugged me against him while guys tried to kiss him on the mouth. People were putting their Egyptian flags right in our faces so we couldn't even see. It was getting really scary. Steve said, "Mob mentality." I wondered what they were capable of. I realized we were trapped with no where to go but to press on through the crowd. I was contemplating jumping in a random c
ar when suddenly a random Egyptian Good Samaritan came over and put his arms around us for protection. He yelled at the men to back off and get the flags out of our faces. It worked! We finally made our way out of the crowd as he apologized profusely to us, "I'm so sorry. So sorry." It wasn't his fault that his countrymen were acting like animals. Attention men, women father, and mothers of Egypt: This kind of behavior is NOT ok!
We jumped in the very next cab and had to duck down a bit because people we still yelling at us through the windows. Our cab almost hit a guy that jumped in front of us, but we finally made it safely back to our hotel. Scary stuff!* The last picture posted here (before the videos) is the last one I got before being attacked. I wish I had gotten it all on video, but I was too busy trying to protect myself.
I am not the only person this sort of thing has happened to, and even worse, this isn't the first time this has happened to me - only it's never happened at this magnitude. I don't know if it's an Egyptian thing, or a Muslim thing, (men were generally more respectful when I lived in Syria, but I got felt up now and then) but these men seem to think that all Western women are loose or sluts or something and thing it's perfectly ok to sexually assault us - that's what it is - sexual assault. I was dressed conservatively (as usual) with baggy pants, long sleeves and a scarf around my neck. Not only that but I was with a man who could have been my husband! We were outnumbered, so what could he really do about it? I, at least party, blame their religion. If these men weren't so sexually repressed would they be so disgustingly desperate? I don't believe so. No sex until you are married (and for many of these men it means waiting until you are 35 years old) is not normal. It seems that the men that engage in this sort of behavior usually seem to be between the ages of 10 (yes, I said 10) and 35, sometimes older, but not often. Coincidence? I think not. UPDATE BELOW after the videos:
Egypt's winning moment!
Partying in Tahrir Square.
Vying for the camera.
I was going to have some time to do some traveling afterwards, so I wanted to get together with an Egyptian guy I knew from 3 years ago named Aladin. He was a travel agent and I figured he could get me a good deal for Luxor and Aswan.
My friend Steve, who is a fellow currently serving in Syria wanted to find a cheap hotel room downtown, so I said I would take him. We did end up finding Aladin who no longer worked there, but runs a hotel and works for another travel agency. Fair enough. He said he'd hook me up.
My friend liked the looks of the hotel and decided he would be moving there after a few days. It was the night of the finals for the Africa Cup of Nations between Egypt and Ghana. Steve and I went out and had some Mousaka at an Egyptian restaurant. They had the game on and Egypt won for an unprecedented third time in a row. The whole city went nuts. Steve and I headed to Tahrir Square which is in the center of downtown Cairo where I lived 3 years ago and near the Egyptian Museum. I just wanted to get a few pics of the pandemonium. I got way more than I
bargained for. We hung back from the main crowd and watched in awe for about 90 minutes while people jumped on buses, shot off fire works and made huge flames with a lighter and cans of hairspray. We also saw two dudes get run down by a cab that went barreling through the crowd. Could you imagine if these people were allowed to drink alcohol what it would be like? After we had enough, we needed to determine an escape route to catch a cab and get back to our hotel. I figured it would be a very bad idea to walk through the crowd, and suggested we go a
round. We then saw 3 European people emerge from the crowd unscathed and with smiles still on their faces...so we figured it would be ok to go that way. WRONG! At first it was fine. Yes, a lot of people were yelling at us, but it wasn't hostile. I said in Aarbic, "Ana Mosrea, Mabruk!" (I'm Egyptian, congratulations!) Some guys wanted me to take their picture, but they got WAY too close. I told them to back off and did snap a pick when I suddenly felt someone grab my ass from behind. I spun around and yelled at the person that I thought did it, when suddenly I was assaulted a
gain. I went from mad to scared as it happened probably 3 more times (that is a conservative number). Steve hugged me against him while guys tried to kiss him on the mouth. People were putting their Egyptian flags right in our faces so we couldn't even see. It was getting really scary. Steve said, "Mob mentality." I wondered what they were capable of. I realized we were trapped with no where to go but to press on through the crowd. I was contemplating jumping in a random c
ar when suddenly a random Egyptian Good Samaritan came over and put his arms around us for protection. He yelled at the men to back off and get the flags out of our faces. It worked! We finally made our way out of the crowd as he apologized profusely to us, "I'm so sorry. So sorry." It wasn't his fault that his countrymen were acting like animals. Attention men, women father, and mothers of Egypt: This kind of behavior is NOT ok!We jumped in the very next cab and had to duck down a bit because people we still yelling at us through the windows. Our cab almost hit a guy that jumped in front of us, but we finally made it safely back to our hotel. Scary stuff!* The last picture posted here (before the videos) is the last one I got before being attacked. I wish I had gotten it all on video, but I was too busy trying to protect myself.
I am not the only person this sort of thing has happened to, and even worse, this isn't the first time this has happened to me - only it's never happened at this magnitude. I don't know if it's an Egyptian thing, or a Muslim thing, (men were generally more respectful when I lived in Syria, but I got felt up now and then) but these men seem to think that all Western women are loose or sluts or something and thing it's perfectly ok to sexually assault us - that's what it is - sexual assault. I was dressed conservatively (as usual) with baggy pants, long sleeves and a scarf around my neck. Not only that but I was with a man who could have been my husband! We were outnumbered, so what could he really do about it? I, at least party, blame their religion. If these men weren't so sexually repressed would they be so disgustingly desperate? I don't believe so. No sex until you are married (and for many of these men it means waiting until you are 35 years old) is not normal. It seems that the men that engage in this sort of behavior usually seem to be between the ages of 10 (yes, I said 10) and 35, sometimes older, but not often. Coincidence? I think not. UPDATE BELOW after the videos:
Egypt's winning moment!
Partying in Tahrir Square.
Vying for the camera.
UPDATE: February 2011 South African reporter Lara Logan was in Egypt covering the Arab Spring and the subsequent stepping down of Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak. Everything was fine for the first few hours. She describes it as a celebratory atmosphere. When their camera's battery ran out, her bodyguard heard someone in the crowd say, "Let's take her pants off." And subsequently she was attacked, raped, and almost killed by a crazy mob. The only things that saved her was that she fell into a crowd of women that protected her with their bodies. I am 100% sure that if that kind man hadn't come out of the crowd and saved me, I would have ended up just like her or worse. Here is a link to the one an only interview she gave to 60 Minutes after the attack.
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