Sibilant Egypt

I know Mohamed Mahmoud Street quite well, albeit in more tempered times. I used to traipse down it back and forth while a student at the American University in Cairo. This is not meant as an introduction to a piece along the lines of Mohamed Mahmoud through the eyes of an Aucian, merely to point out that it is a street I am familiar with, by virtue of having attended a university whose two main campuses line the street.

Admittedly it was off-putting to see tear gas crack through the glass of what used to be the library on the Greek Campus last November during the first Mohamed Mahmoud clashes, but the street has become much more than just the path between one classroom and another. It’s become the main locale for a fight, both real and symbolic, over this country, interrupted by concrete walls and shattered shop facades.

Depending on your mood – inspired or despondent – Mohamed Mahmoud is a street of struggle, of great bravery in the face of a heavily armed adversary, of sacrifice, not just of life but also of limbs, of eyes. It is also a street of death, of senseless loss, blood spilt yet to be paid for. The murderers get away time and time again. Read more…