Pro-government thugs at Tahrir Square used clubs, machetes, swords and straight razors on Wednesday to try to crush Egypt’s democracy movement, but, for me, the most memorable moment of a sickening day was one of inspiration: watching two women stand up to a mob.
So begins a remarkable column by Nicholas Kristof in today's New York Times. You simply must read it. You will encounter sisters with quiet courage. You will read about what are undoubtedly government-sponsored thugs.
You will see a picture of the two sisters, Amal and Minna, and should be clear at a glance that the men with whom they are talking are not merely ordinary Egyptians of a different persuasion.
Read Kristof, perhaps then review the tapes. You will have only one question - how much longer will it take, how much more of the thuggery, before the Obama administration takes the steps within its power to stop the slaughter about to happen? Or is it too late already?
There is powerful language and imagery in what Kristof writes. He describes the nature of those there to "battle" the pro-democracy forces, and how the two middle-aged sisters quietly confronted them, even when he and the press gave them wide berth - while watching the bodies of the injured being removed from Tahir Square. He then writes
Yet side by side with the ugliest of humanity, you find the best.
You will learn that Kristof and his camera man may have helped the women escape from being seriously injured - or worse - at the hands of the thugs. He had approached them after the first time they confronted the pro-Mubarak thugs, interviewed them and got their names, and then
But when I tried to interview them on video, thugs swarmed us again. I appeased the members of the mob by interviewing them (as one polished his razor), and the two sisters managed again to slip away and continue toward the center of Tahrir Square, also known as Liberation Square, to do their part for Egyptian democracy.
as one polished his razor - ponder that for a moment. Do you have any doubts?
The very next paragraph is powerful in the simplicity with which it frames the day:
Thuggery and courage coexisted all day in Tahrir Square, just like that. The events were sometimes presented by the news media as "clashes" between rival factions, but that’s a bit misleading. This was an organized government crackdown, but it relied on armed hoodlums, not on police or army troops.
Those armed hoodlums arrived by buses " that mysteriously were waved past checkpoints. " Similar events somehow magically occurred simultaneously in Alexandria and Cairo. They targed foreign journalists, especially cameramen.
Kristof reminds us that the world condemned similar actions of government thuggery in China and Iran, and directly addresses our President:
Come on, President Obama. You owe the democracy protesters being attacked here, and our own history and values, a much more forceful statement deploring this crackdown.
our own history and values - here I agree with the sentiment even as I find I must remind readers that in far too many cases we acquiesced in such brutality when done by regimes whose brutality we ignored because our government found them useful to the interested we pursued. After all, such tactics are nothing new to the Mubarak regime. Perhaps that is why after even the mild statements of support for the demonstrators and the supposed more direct words to the Egyptian leader by emissary Frank Wisner and directly via phone from the President, a lack of public condemnation now would seem to indicate an abandonment of the values to which Kristof refers. It is those values, the aspirations they inspire in others, which is why Obama was received with such interest and even enthusiasm by young people around the world, including the students he addressed in Cairo, the very city from which Kristof writes.
Read ALL of the Kristof. Read it in one pass through. Then go back and reread and consider each part of what he offers.
I want my government to do all in its power to force Mubarak and his thugs out now. Tell the Egyptian army it is time, and that the continuation of the funds and materiel we provide them are dependent upon what they do.
I will end, without adding further comment except my usual single word, simply by offering Kristof's final paragraph.
But for me, when I remember this sickening and bloody day, I’ll conjure not only the brutality that Mr. Mubarak seems to have sponsored but also the courage and grace of those Egyptians who risked their lives as they sought to reclaim their country. And incredibly, the democracy protesters held their ground all day at Tahrir Square despite this armed onslaught. Above all, I’ll be inspired by those two sisters standing up to Mr. Mubarak’s hoodlums. If they, armed only with their principles, can stand up to Mr. Mubarak’s thuggery, can’t we all do the same?
Peace.