Egyptian student: Don’t forget protesters

Student Randa Elbih said she wishes she could join her family members who have taken to the Egyptian streets.

Elbih participates in the local effort to support the Egyptian people. She is a UNM Ph.D. student and studies language literacy and socio-cultural studies. She said she regularly attends and organizes protests in the area.

“I was feeling like I needed to go and be there, and that there were people sacrificing their lives there for us,” she said. “And I’m not doing as much as they’re doing.”

Elbih said she is concerned that the international media will stop covering the Egyptian protests now that they’ve been underway for more than two weeks.

“I wish the international community would still stand beside the protesters and would not lose interest because the time is getting longer,” she said. “I want them to still pressure the Egyptian government because the protesters have no weapons, nothing. They’re doing the demonstrations in very peaceful ways.”

Amnesty International Co-President Adrian Carver said the organization is hosting a candlelight vigil for Egypt today at Smith Plaza. It’s intended to draw attention to the 1,200 protesters who have been detained since Egyptian protests began.
“We’re doing this to stand in solidarity with them, so that our community knows … that we are in support of their basic rights,” Carver said.

Elbih said the protests have given cultures the chance to unite.
“One of the scenes that really made me cry was there were Muslims that were praying during prayer time, and the Christians were surrounding them,” she said. “To me, this is something that has been achieved that is even better than people’s lives.”

Elbih said the Egyptian government is not fulfilling its duty to its people. She said Egyptians are being asked to serve the government, as opposed to the government serving its people. She said the U.S. has not been direct enough in asking Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down, even though it ordered the Egyptian army not to harm the protesters.

“We are not servants or peasants to the government,” she said. Carver said college students need to speak out against human rights violations.

“The people who are standing up in the East are a teaching model for Americans as a whole,” he said.

Elbih said that people have lost their lives standing up for Egyptians’ freedom.

“I know the government is pushing them to go home and go on with their lives as if nothing has happened,” she said. “For them, I don’t think life is going to be the same anymore.”