{"id":82,"date":"2011-09-25T05:58:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-25T04:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wordsfromarevolution.com\/index.php\/2011\/09\/25\/underwater\/"},"modified":"2011-09-25T05:58:00","modified_gmt":"2011-09-25T04:58:00","slug":"underwater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wordsfromarevolution.com\/index.php\/2011\/09\/25\/underwater\/","title":{"rendered":"UNDERWATER"},"content":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m invited by Ahmed to see a film at the Akmal bookshop in Roshy district. We arrange to meet the Library and find him talking to a small gathering of young men holding the Palestinian flag. Their T-shirts urge the UN to recognise Palestine\u2019s application for membership. \u201cPlease tell your country not to vetoe the vote with America,\u201d a bearded man pleads when he realises I\u2019m British. Ahmed jumps around photographing them. We all pose around the flag. \u201cIt\u2019s International Peace Day,\u201c he says clicking away. \u201cWe can go to the Citadel before the film. <\/div>\n
There\u2019s a Peace event there organised by the liberals. I want you to see it. \u201c <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Ahmed was living in the oasis town of Siwa, running a tour business when the revolution sparked. \u201cI couldn\u2019t leave, so was stuck in the desert watching it on the telly. When Mubarak left, I closed the business and packed up. I had to be a part of what was happening,\u201d he says as we walk along the Corniche.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
We pass a university building where striking teachers and students protesting against Alexandria’s mayor, wave placards and banners under our noses. Ahmed starts clicking again. \u201cI take photographs all the time. I have to make a record. But don\u2019t know what I\u2019ll do with them. It\u2019s too early yet. This could go on for ever.\u201d <\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In his fifties, Ahmed says he wanted to come to England to be part of the UK\u2019s Swinging Sixties. \u201cI was too young, but knew it was a revolution. Everything changed from then on. Our revolution is similar \u2013 lots of new things coming from change in the people, music, art, everything. The Beatles. I love the Beatles. I\u2019m excited and optimistic.\u201d <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Peace demonstration is a low-key affair with loud music. Young people gather in animated groups. Everyone is talking politics. There’s a huggy, clappy feeling in the air. A wheelchair race is organised, but as there is only one person in a wheelchair, it\u2019s cancelled. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cMore people will be coming,\u201d a young man with an American accent assures me. \u201cWe\u2019re having a peace conference at the Library with Norwegians and Germans. They\u2019ll come later. It\u2019ll be quite a party.\u201d <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Ahmed clicks away at his fellow liberals. He looks oddly out of place; everyone else is young. His camera brings him into the gathering, but it can\u2019t be lost on him that this is another revolution he has missed out on.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
A couple of men stand shout at the gathering. \u201cRadicals, \u201c Ahmed says clicking furiously at them. Later he shows me photos he has taken of cars being overturned in Alex during a Friday march. \u201cRadicals,\u201d he scowls. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
We walk back along the Corniche. Another gathering has taken root in protest at the military trials. Men and women stand on the edge of the kerb shouting slogans at passing cars. The Mediterranean thrashes behind them. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I decide not to go with Ahmed to see the film. \u201cYou\u2019ll like it,\u201d he says. \u201cit\u2019s about underwater archaeology in Alexandria.\u201d <\/div>\n
Squeezed into a micro bus on my way home I thought of Ahmed watching his film – the ruins of the past lying on the ocean floor and a camera pushing its way through the murky depths, unable to see very far ahead.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m invited by Ahmed to see a film at the Akmal bookshop in Roshy district.…<\/p>\n

Read the postUNDERWATER<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsfromarevolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsfromarevolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsfromarevolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsfromarevolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsfromarevolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsfromarevolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsfromarevolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsfromarevolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsfromarevolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}