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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

Egyptian revolution continues to touch students’ lives

Ahmed

As the protests in Egypt turn from violent clashes to labor strikes and a Google executive arises as a leader, the popular uprising against the government of Hosni Mubarak has turned into a long-term struggle.

While for most Americans this means fewer newspaper headlines and less cable news coverage, for Egyptians in the United States the conflict is still fresh.

Five local Egyptian students, including two sisters, waited days to hear from relatives after the start of protests. Several of their relatives wanted to join the protests, only to be stopped by parents who didn’t want them to get hurt.

One student had two friends die. All of them support the ideas behind the protests, and some have joined online groups and said they hope to join protests in the U.S.

The movement for democracy that began in Tunisia and spread to Egypt on Jan. 25 continues for those students today. Beyond the headlines, their lives in America have changed forever because of events more than 6,000 miles away. After 30 years of rule under Mubarak, the people of Egypt want to rule their own country.

Marissa Habeshy
Year: Junior
Time in U.S.: Since birth (father moved to U.S. at age 17)
Connection to Egypt: Lived in summer 2010 with family near Tahrir Square
First contact After Jan. 28: 
Jan. 29 from family (after a dropped call from relatives in Tahrir)
“They’re fine. It’s dangerous, but they’re fine. I heard from them Saturday afternoon (Jan. 29), which actually felt like a long time. They’re scared, and that’s the only thing that bothers me. ...One of my cousins wanted to protest, but my parents wouldn’t let them.”

Norhan Bassiouny
Year: Junior
Time in U.S.: Three years
Connection to Egypt: Family in Heliopolis (suburb of Cairo)
First contact: Immediately
“Everyone, at least from my family, is pro-protest because it was time for him (Mubarak) to leave... Everyone wants him to go. He’s been a dictator for the past 30 years, so people want change, and it was time I guess.”

Aya Bassiouny
Year: Graduate student
Time in U.S.: Three years
Connection to Egypt: Family in Heliopolis
First contact: Immediately
“My family has always been critical of the regime, because they are doctors... They would speak about how horrible everything is and how people would die because of diseases because the government and the system is so corrupt that they don’t care about the poor people.”

Amr Talaat
(husband of IU senior Rania Talaat)
Year: Freshman at Ivy Tech Community College
Time in U.S.: Four years
Connection to Egypt: Family in Alexandria, friends in Queens protested in New York
First contact: Immediately and continues to talk with them almost every day
“If you look throughout the Middle East, most of the countries, they’ve been ruled by presidents or kings for very long periods, and they are not even fair with the people, and none of the people even voted for them. It’s something we’re forced to live with, so people just get fed up and are like, ‘We won’t take it anymore.’ And Tunisia started, and then we took over, and then Jordan is on the way now.”

Ahmed Kadous
Year: Preparing for MBA at Kelley School of Business
Time in U.S.: Three months
Connection to Egypt: Family in Cairo, two friends died in protests last week
First contact: Night of Jan. 29
“Every revolution has some bad things, but I’m optimistic... I had two friends die last week... In the protest, someone — snipers, or something like that — shot one of them in their chest or their head, or the tear gas — someone had an allergic from the gases or something like that. But I’m proud of them. They changed something, and their family is proud of them... I don’t like American government to interfere Egyptian affairs. I know it’s good for America to support people, but it’s not good for America to interfere into internal affairs.”

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