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there's no consensus about the numbers involved. no-one was really able to count. a couple million in cairo, approximately a million in alexandria---but there were mobilizations in every city in egypt.
at the same time, it's the case that political actions in capitals have disproportionate weight.
everything that i've read and heard from people who are in cairo points to overwhelming popular support for the ouster of mubarak, even if many people are not willing to put themselves physically on the line by turning out at tahrir square. the levels of logistical support is pretty remarkable--you don't hear a whole lot about it in the press because most of the talking heads are pinned in what they take to be "the center" of the "action" and are interested in the type of story that fits well with the micro-attention span of television viewers. but the popular support for the protesters is pretty remarkable---consider for example the fact that people are opening their homes for folk, feeding them, letting them use bathrooms, that sort of thing...
beyond that, though, there is a sense of things i suppose.
no social movement is exactly equivalent to the number of people who turn out for this or that action.
political mobilization is not like a table. it is not like a thing.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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