Scene 2
20 February, 2002, the start of the Holiday season in Egypt. An overcrowded train, carrying around 3000 passengers is travelling from Cairo to Luxor. The passengers on the train are heading home for the holidays. The bulk of the passengers have rural migrants backgrounds, and as such, are one of the poorest and most marginalized segments of society. A gas-cooking stove in one of the carriages catches fire, causing the carriage to burst into flames. The train continues to travel for four miles before the driver realizes the catastrophe. The flames spread through the train, leading to the death of 360 passengers, mostly burned alive. Graphic pictures of the charred corpses appear in the media. It is the worst train disaster in Egyptian history. Many among the public see it as a symptom of the deep-seated corruption in the political system. The public implicitly blames Mubarak.
Scene 3
4 February, 2006, a ferry is carrying 1400 passengers across the Red Sea, from Saudi Arabia to Egypt. The bulk of the passengers are Egyptian workers returning home to see family. The boat is full of women and children. In the middle of the voyage the ferry catches fire, the outdated fire control system is unable to control the fire. Rescue efforts are too late to save almost 1000 passengers who drowned.
The scenes are tragic as entire families are lost at sea. The poor condition of the boat and the belated rescue efforts are blamed for the disaster. The owner of the shipping company, a rich business man, Mamdouh Ismail, with close connections to the political elites, fled the country. It was believed that he was allowed to flee because of his political connections. The disaster is blamed on Mubarak, and his inner circle, since Ismail was closely connected to them. Mubarak is later caught joking about the disaster, in a staged “casual” conversation with an Egyptian, warning the man not to get on the “ferries that sink”. The joke remained in public memory for years to come.
Scene 4
The inaugural session of the 2010 parliament, the last of the Mubarak era. These parliamentary elections were fraught with fraud, more than the expected usual, which completely shut out the largest opposition group in the country, the Muslim Brotherhood, from parliament. In response, the opposition attempted to create a parallel parliament. Mubarak responded with a quid saying, mockingly, “let them have fun”. In less than two months, millions would flood the streets, and his 30-year rule would come to an unexpected end. The quid caused public outrage.
Opening Scene
28 January 2011, which would later be known as the “Friday of anger”. The country is on edge, as the call for nationwide protests are expected to be met in large numbers. On 25 January, a protest against police brutality had attracted much larger numbers than expected, signalling the public`s willingness to engage in popular political action against the regime, on wide scale.
Print
Maged Mandour | Radio Free (2020-02-27T23:00:00+00:00) Mubarak dead: the age of silence. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2020/02/27/mubarak-dead-the-age-of-silence/
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