I have always been captivated by religions and their impact on societies and human beings. Therefore, I naturally chose to focus my interest on this issue, and more particularly on the Arab Spring, to cover my beats, due for my Advanced Journalism class at the University of Northern Colorado.

My first article had to be a “Day in life story”. Clearly, I had to follow someone related to my beat during an entire day. 

Because at that time Egyptian people were celebrating the first anniversary of their uprising, I wanted to highlight the evolutions that occurred since the revolution happened. But I found myself stuck because there was no Egyptian community in Greeley. Not even an exchange student!

My reaction was to contact Syrian persons living in Greeley. Remember: Syrian people are currently fighting for liberty against the tyrant Bashar Al-Assad. One more time, however, I could not find any Syrian in Greeley.

My third choice was to talk with Libyans. Like Egypt and Tunisia, Libyan people overthrew their president. In the case of Libya, an angry crowd killed Muammar Gaddafi, at the head of the country since 42 years, after months of civil war.

When I met Nasser Almsmari and his wife, I was captivated by what they told me. The freedom they experienced since Gaddafi died was shocking. Almsmari even confessed that he would not have done this interview before the revolution, even being in the US.

The second part of my beat is quite different. After having highlighted the political side, I want to bring on the forefront the conflictbetween Sunnis and Shiites in the Middle-East, more precisely in Saudi Arabia. To cover this subject, the help of my friend Mobarack Al-fawaz is precious: he will tell me all about his childhood and what being Sunnis means today in the US.

“Tahrir, square of Liberation”: a documentary in the heart of the Egyptian uprising

One year ago, Tahrir Square was a place full of ecstatic Egyptians. Men, women, young people, old people, bosses, peasants, believers and atheists: people were unified to put down a dictatorship.

Early at the beginning of the demonstrations, an Italian called Stefano Savona decides to take his little camera out and joins the strikes. Immersed in the same uncertainty like the people he films, Savona wants to capture the happiness of the moment.

“You should be in a sarcophagus, with pharaohs, stay here, you are old…The difference between you and us is that we are the people that work, who are starving, and to whom everything is forbidden…Egyptians, what do you want ? You want democracy before the old man steals the Nile.” These slogans were yelled by hundreds of thousands of voices for days upon end.

What was really going on within this crowd? Where did the strikers find the bravery to stay up when being attacked by tanks and the army? Savona offers the opportunity to share the daily lives of those persons who change the history of their country.

He listened to their claims, their stories, their hopes, but also their fears when they were being chased by the army. Hour after hour Savona witnessed, with his camera, the realisation of a new page of history.

Interrogations about democracy rose amongst the crowd as the euphoria of the revolt spread. A year after the uprising of the Egyptian people how could we not feel a hearty pinch watching the eagerness of people who were tortured and oppressed for ages?