Arab Spring Generation

Tunis, Photo/Salma Amer.

*I happened to be in Tunisia on the 14th of January, which not only marks the 5th anniversary of the Tunisian 2010 revolution; a date that sparked all the 2011 Arab countries' uprisings, but which also marks the 5th anniversary of interrogating my generation: the Arab Spring generation. Despite my excitement for visiting Tunis for the first time, the anniversary matter poured existential questions all over me; and the fact that I was in Tunis to take part in a two-weeks training course on Human Rights advocacy along with a number of participants from several Arab countries did not ease my troubled mind. "Has Tunis revolution achieved anything?" headlines of newspapers, TV programs, radio shows, etc asked on and on that day. "Has the Arab Spring achieved anything, for that matter?"


Traveling to Tunis felt like traveling to the starting point of the Arab Spring, the first chapter in the ongoing written novel of the 2011 uprisings. Tunis, where it all began. Part of me thinks that I owe this country a great deal of my political awareness, and another part laments: why did you let the genie out of the bottle, Tunis? why?

Tunis, Photo/Salma Amer.

Even though I hold a belief that Tunisians made a great achievement in their revolution, e.i. avoiding to slip into a civil war or massive armed fights, the Tunisians I met during my stay, probably everyone I met, were not satisfied with the post-revolution changes. Lots of the old politician faces are still leading the system, marginalization of youth is still an issue, unemployment has become higher, the emergence of terrorist groups and lack of security worry most of the Tunisians, the implications of the several terrorist attacks witnessed in the country over the past 5 years have hit its economy so hard. The current riots in southern Tunisia are one of the latest examples of people's continuous anti-government sentiments and dissatisfaction of how the country is managed currently. Walking around the capital, seeing military trucks, police cars, etc filling the streets was a reminder of how things are on the edge in the country.

"Tunis did great with its revolution. At least, you did not experience a war like many parts of the region following the uprisings in 2011," with a ridiculous simplification and with my traumatized brain by the war in Yemen, I tell a Tunisian friend.

"Change is a process. We started the change but that does not mean that everything will get changed immediately. The only aspect where we see some progress at is that we have a greater space for freedom of speech," replies (A)** my Tunisian friend. Freedom of speech is the pillar of all changes in all walks of life. Any change starts by expressing your thoughts, desires, fears, hopes, freely and without any fear of what can happen next to you after you uttered your words. I realized this once again while being in Tunis.

Tunis, Photo/Salma Amer.

Unfortunately, a great deal of regression on freedom of speech is being seen in Egypt as it's witnessing the 5th anniversary of its 25Jan revolution on Monday. As I get texts on my phone the bad news that a teenage cousin of mine along with his father are in the process to be recruited by the Houthis in Sana'a to go and fight, my troubled mind again asks (S)**, my Egyptian human rights activist fellow at the training if their revolution did fail? Mind you, (S) had to change the route of her travel to Egypt from Tunis for security reasons, as the Egyptian government is having unprecedented paranoia and conducting massive arrests of young people. And instead of being bitter and all negative, her response astonishes me.

"No. The revolutions did not fail. In fact, it is unfair to judge these revolutions in a holistic way. One must consider the contextual factors of each country. For instance, illiteracy is a key factor in comparing the different progress between the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions. More importantly, we're dealing with dictatorships that lasted for 3 and 4 decades. How can anyone expect to fix the situation in a matter of 2 or 5 years!" in her crispy and confident Egyptian accent says (S).

I belong to a generation that will be remembered in history as not only a generation that amazed the world with initiating massive uprisings across the MENA region but also as a generation that its ability in making a revolution a successful one was constantly questioned. An email after another sent by journalists asking me to respond to the question, "did the revolutions fail?" make me wonder; that's not an innocent question. It's rather a statement; it is an accusation that my generation is to be blamed for wrongdoings.

I belong to this generation which took the first bullet for the next Arab generations. We have our moments of agony manifested in understanding violence is the current loudest language, in seeing our friends vanishing one after another to be forcefully ripped out of their youth to be spent behind bars, in understanding that warlords making exile our new home, in skipping years of youth that were supposed to be spent foolishly, in being incapable of starting a family, in constantly doubting the value of life, in struggling to not see our life as a chain of breaking news, and many other painful moments. And yet, we chose to resist because we began revolutions that next generations will thank us for. I joined Yemen's 2011 uprising and the Arab uprisings because of many reasons; one of them is because I thought that revolutions were a cool anarchy act. Today, struggling to see value in life in such bleak time is another cool anarchy act.

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*The piece was originally published on the Huffingtonpost.com
**For their privacy's sake, names were kept anonymous.

Postcard From Alexandria: Glory to Mahinour

*I hesitated very much before writing this piece for what I would write might deprive me from entering Egypt ever again. Egypt is today ranked as the second world's worst jailer of journalists after China. Over the past two years, Egyptian government has been extremely aggressive towards its critics; and I thought better be silent and non-aggressed. Nonetheless, it agonizes me to not write and pay respect to my revolutionary friend who risked her life for others' rights to be respected. She, who defended many people's rights including my own people's right to peace, is today behind bars for saying No against oppression and injustices, and I mean here Egyptian political activist, Mahienour el-Massry.

I was in Egypt earlier this month for, the once popular and gradually fading, pan-Arabism reasons. It's been almost five years since I left Yemen and had not gotten the chance to visit again. The war erupted in March this year and I had to endure my life's greatest disappointment of not being able to see Yemen as soon as I thought. Thus, Egypt was my choice of destination to recharge my Arabism heritage away from freezing and calm Sweden. I went to Alexandria, and on my way in the plane I couldn't help but think of that I was traveling to the hometown of Mahienour el-Massry. Watching 'Mandela' the movie in the plane did not also give me a break from thinking of Mahi, for she's also our freedom fighter.

Mahi (as we, her friends, like to call her).

Filmmaker, Islam Kamal's video-interview with Mahienour el-Massry a year ago.

This was my second visit to Egypt. My first trip was in November 2011, during theMohammed Mahmoud street crackdown. It was during the peak of the Egyptian revolution that I had the privilege to meet Mahi in person for the first time. My first impression was what a considerate lovely person she was, as I noticed how genuinely interested she was in knowing about Yemen's uprising through her sympathetic questions. I wanted to always keep in touch with this lovely person. 'Let me follow you on Twitter!' I said. She typed her name on my twitter search box. I found her. I was surprised to find that she was already following me. Now, this might sound trivial thing but when you understand that most of the Egyptian activism scene then was un-interested to follow the situation in Yemen, you would realize how considerate Mahi was comparatively to the other young Egyptian activists. Ever since, I'm humbled to call myself one of her friends. In the following year, I had the chance to have her company during her visit to Sweden.

Watching the movie 'Mandela' made me think of Mahi, the political tireless activist and lawyer, who's serving a 15-months prison term after being jailed, alongside several others, for participating in a protest outside El-Raml police station in 2013. Mandela served 27 years in jail for a cause he believed in. I could see some of Mahi in Mandela's character. This is the second time Mahi is put in jail. In both times, she was jailed for her peaceful political activism. She's been one of the fierce voices against police brutality, the military trials for civilians and Egypt's notorious protest law. Today, Mahi is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for peacefully exercising her rights to freedom of expression and assembly, as well-described by Amnesty. I used to jokingly tweet her: don't get arrested soon until I come and visit you in Alex! She used to laugh and promise me: I will postpone all my imprisonment plans for you, Afrah.

The reason I had the urge to speak up is that, hopefully, my love can reach Mahi wherever she is. Mandela survived all these years of isolation because of the love he got from his wife, children and community, and the international community. I'm certain Mahi is getting lots of support worldwide because she frankly deserves all the love in the world.

This is a young lady who has put others' rights before her's. She did not only fight for her fellow citizens, she has even -as I was told by a journalist friend in Egypt- been sleeping at police stations along with refugees to make sure that they did not get assaulted or abused by police officers, following the rise of xenophobia in Egypt in 2013 against Syrian refugees who sought safety in the country and many of them were being threatened with deportation. Mahi started to act and co-founded an organization to show solidarity with refugees in Egypt. And when the war erupted in Yemen, Mahi started a petition demanding an end to the war in Yemen and Egypt withdrawal from the Saudi-led coalition.

Once my foot hit Egypt's soil, I tried to find a way and visit Mahi in her prison. My attempts failed for security is extremely tight on Mahi. I wanted to see her and thank her for all what she represents: the revolutionary spirit and defiance. Even though I think that for Mahi to spend this time in prison at her prime life is a tragedy, I'm certain she's undergoing an opportunity where her political consciousness is enhanced day by day. During her first time in prison, a leaked audio message from Mahi was a true testimony of this young lady's political awareness, in which she discussed other female prisoners' plight and the need to abolish Class Discrimination in the country.

I can see that Mahi will be free; sooner or later, and I'll definitely visit her in Alexandria.

And, until then, glory to Mahinour!

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*This column was originally published on huffingtonpost.com.