Like most people I've been following the events in Egypt with some interest, hopeful that violence wouldn't come into the proceedings. As soon as Murabek said that he wasn't going to go until September the violence somehow became inevitable.
The speed of the events in Egypt reminded me of a conversation I once had with a Bosnian friend of mine. She talked about how quickly war came upon them. Sure there were plenty of signs of what was to come and the politics had looked pretty nasty for a while, but no one actually thought that there was going to be a war there. She and her family and friends all thought that the issues facing the country were serious, but that they could (and would) be resolved politically. After all Bosnia had suffered hugely during WW2 and no one wanted a repeat of that violence.
Then she said that things changed in a day. One solitary day. One day was all it took for everything to change. The day before there had been freedom of movement, goods in the shops and a sense of togetherness, of society. The very next day people were stockpiling food, were suspicious of their neighbours and society had gone. Everything was different, and although all the portents were there, as a citizen it appeared to happen overnight.
I feel the same could be happening in Egypt. 2 weeks ago there was no hint of what was to come. Now there is violence and curfews, division and bloodshed. Tanks are on the streets, no one is sure what is going to happen next. So fast, it all happens so fast.
I'm also reminded by another conversation I had with a different Bosnian friend. He talked about how we Europeans all think that war won't come to us again. We have the EU, common markets and trade, a common currency. It will never happen, we are too intertwined now and we have learnt from the past. Velid pointed out to me that Yugoslavia was a country with heavily interlinked trade, the same currency and a sense of togetherness. The Yugoslavs never thought that violence would come to them again. But it did. He is convinced that there will be conflict in Europe again and sooner than we would all think.
That conversation has stayed with me a long time. Every now and then I worry that he might be right and that the speed at which it would happen would mean we wouldn't spot it coming either.