Dear fellow people of America,

I am Egyptian. I have been ruled by the state of emergency for 30 years…yes 30 years. During these thirty years, 40 percent of my people have lived under the poverty line; 30 to 40 percent are illiterate.

During these black years, and unlike you, we never had fair and transparent elections; we, unlike you, have never chosen our House Representatives nor our President. In the newly formed parliament (November 2010), 96 percent of the elected members of the parliament are from Mubarak’s party. Under the dictator’s gloomy years, the average daily wage of my people is $3, the average daily wage of university graduates is $4, and no health insurance is provided to the have-nots.

During these dark years, Egypt’s universities have lost their independence and the state security police boldly interfere in the university’s affairs. So professors cannot teach, talk about, or hold conferences that impinge on the regime’s dictatorship. The students are blocked from freely forming their own clubs and activities and, more than several times, they are detained, jailed or even dismissed from the university because they dared to stop and run against the regime’s student-candidates for campus elections.

Under these morbid years, my people have not tasted the feeling of safety or security. A friend of mine spent nine years behind bars (he was released in 2004) and no one knows why he was there. Although I was a university lecturer, I have been harassed (by unwelcome dawn visits) and detained by the state security forces for nothing more than being an activist in civil societies to help the poor and the needy. When I was in Egypt, I used to be awoken during the night whenever a rumble of an engine came close to my house, thinking it was the state security police paying me a visit. There are too many horrible stories to be counted.

Under these dreary years, 10 percent of the people possess 90 percent of Egypt’s wealth. 90 percent of my people are striving to feed, just feed, their families while 10 percent own private jets. The wealth of Mubarak family’s exceeds $40 billion.

Dear fellow people of America,

My people are, like you, human beings. They aspire for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. My people are out in the streets today to peacefully get their rights. But the police started using force (tear gas, rubber and live bullets) against totally civilian people.

My people are civilized and have a complete dedication to their country. During the protest and after the shameful, planned and total disappearance of the police from the streets, looting started to engulf Egypt’s capital. Immediately and strikingly, the youth set up neighborhood guards to protect public and private properties. In my own neighborhood, my family told me that people formed groups that take guarding shifts day and night, and the families provide them with food. People are feeling the dews of freedom dropping down fresh…I can smell it from here.

On Friday, January the 28th, the Tahrir square was full of clutter and litter (from the rubber bullets and the tear gas) and water. But people, in a striking scene, started working together to remove the litter and beautify the place. Just watch theYoutube video “Egyptian national pride” for more information.

When the Egyptian’ national museum started to be a target of looting, the brave Egyptian people formed a human fence around the museum, and when the looters were arrested and handed to the military, it was revealed that they were from Mubarak’s secret police. It was also uncovered that it was the (secret) police that set fire in public buildings and police stations to spread chaos and horror among the people.

An official hush-hush document that belongs to the Egyptian Ministry of Interior was leaked to demystify the complete disappearance of the police and the start of looting incidents in the afternoon of January 28th. The document describes the plan of the ministry in detail. Sadly enough, all the police personnel were asked to retreat to a few headquarters, to equip all criminals in prisons with guns and assault rifles, and then conspired with them before setting them free to spread fear and terror among people. But with the interference of the military, which sided with the people and approved the legitimacy of their demands, together with the alertness on my people, the plan of the police was discovered and foiled.

Dear fellow people of America,

My Egypt will NOT be Afghanistan and WILL NOT be ruled by Taliban. This is the pretext that Mubarak and all dictators in the Arab world have been marketing to the West and the U.S.; that they are gatekeepers of peace and stability in the area.

What you are seeing now in Egypt is the bitter harvest of the U.S.’s wrong foreign policy; that it let this regime live for these long years. Your government did know that Mubarak is a dictator, that his is a corrupt regime, and it let him go because he is working for their interest, but against his people’s and country’s interests.  It is also against your interest. Your government is telling something here — and doing something different there.

Dear fellow people of America,

Start now by showing support to your fellow humans in Egypt in their pursuit of freedom that you are enjoying and in their pursuit of happiness that you are pursuing. Tell them that history will not forgive them if they do not support the people. Tell your government to side with the people because that is the side of the future.

God bless us all. 

The author is an Arabic and Linguistics professor at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn.