Clashes between pro- and anti-government demonstrators turned violent in Cairo, Egypt, this week. News networks have reported seeing groups hurling stones, fire bombs and a multitude of other objects amid rapid gunfire.
Most of the ACU community only watches this news from a distance. But for ACU’s only Egyptian student, Lily Assaad, the conflict hits closer to home.
Assaad, sophomore management and psychology major from Cairo, said her parents and much of her extended family, who are living in Cairo, are doing fine despite the outbreak of violence in the city.
Protests in Egypt erupted last month, with many Egyptians angered by the country’s poor economic conditions and President Hosni Mubarak’s plans to name his son Gamal as his successor, according to The Telegraph. Violence in Egypt escalated last week as the Egyptian government blocked Internet access in the country and imposed a curfew on residents, mandating that they must be in their homes between 3 p.m. and 8 a.m.
Initially, after hearing about the conflicts, Assaad said she was worried when she hadn’t heard from her parents. But as soon as the Internet came back on, they called her and told her they were fine, relaxing in their building.
“The Lord, in crazy situations, has always taken care of my family,” Assaad said. “When things seemed ridiculous, he saved us every time, so for nothing else but that, I’m not worried.”
Dr. Neal Coates, chair of the Department of Political Science, said the events in Egypt are momentous enough to fill a chapter
in a book on the history of Egypt.
“People are saying, to a 30-year power, that we’ve had enough,” Coates said. “This is a continuation with what started with the United States and the Declaration of Independence, saying that just because you are born into monarchy, you don’t get to be king forever. People get to decide ultimately what is right.”
Assaad said she cares more about how her friends and family in Egypt are doing than following the politics of the situation, but she still understands what’s going on.
“I don’t have an opinion on what is going to happen, but I think that Egypt as a nation has a right to have a democracy, and I don’t think that what they’re doing is unexpected,” Assaad said. “If you had been under a dictatorship for 30 years, you’d probably want a democracy too.”
The conflict in Egypt should remind students that social media works, Coates said. Not only has Assad been able to communicate with her parents now that the Internet is functioning, but protesters are able to spread information to each other, and journalists are able to report what’s happening.
ACU students can see this in their own lives through the iPhone and iPod distribution, Coates said.
“Things are faster, and things are better when you can communicate widely,” Coates said.
Coates also encouraged ACU students to use social media to reach out to English-speaking Egyptians and, in appropriate ways, talk to and encourage them.
“It’s important that we remember, as Christians, we aren’t passive observers of the world,” Coates said. “We actually have a calling to convert others, and when people in Egypt find out there are Christians in Abilene who are praying for them, it has a big effect.”
