Egypt Today- Changing the Face of History 4

although Egypt has always been and will remain an active spot for cultural events... but today, something is different.. before the revolution, the most popular form of culture or events that people maybe anxious to attend were the soccer matches, the TV series, movies, theatres/ opera or similar to those who can afford it... seminars and discussions, talk shows were there, but they lacked the spirit, stamina or inertia to attract people or to draw their attention. Either because of the content, because of the lack of interest or because it was all rhetoric with the same faces on and on and on..

now, after the revolt of jan 2011, the top of the list has changed.. we have on top the seminars and talk shows.. they are now attracting more Egyptians than ever.. even those who are real fans of soccer, they are not killing themselves for it at this stage... the Euphoria of nationalism is still there in the air.. and due to the lack of grey areas in the lives of the Egyptians, people are eager to know what will happen and they want stability quickly...

if we examine this last statement, we would either be extremely frustrated or extremely astonished at the least... however, let us assess in a simplistic manner the Egyptian personality;

1. Egyptians, since the dawn of history, barely experienced long periods of grey areas in their country's life... they are not used to uncertainty and it is not part of their comfort zone. whatever takes place, a quick fix and life gets back to normal.
2. upon the previous point, one can't fail to acknowledge that Egyptians were all their lives depending on the Nile... smooth, subtle, flowing until the sea and providing them with their living.. that is also assisting Egyptians in the continuity of their lives upon certainty.. we have low tides, high tides and a flood.. calculated in a very precise and accurate manner since pharaoh times in order to continue with the certainty in the daily life of the people.
3. when it comes to jobs, Egyptians adore and back so much the governmental work.. not because it is less or not in comparison to the private sector.. the load of work only depends on one's luck what job and in which authority one works.. however, even if it pays little in comparison to the private sector, but you can remain there until you retire.. again another form of uncertainty.. many Egyptians would rather live on a small amount of money in their salaries in the government rather than work in the private sector for 10 times a salary because it might not be sustained.. so, let us just stick to the certainty.
4. due to this, most of the Egyptians speak of what takes place in their country.. listen to the talk shows and debates... but they were rarely active in the scene.. we preserved the Egyptian personality against loads of occupation forces that invaded us since Hyksos times until the brits and the Israelis.. we closed our doors and hid in our homes and left them do what they want as long as we have the sustainability of our daily lives... this, of course, did not stop others from acting.. if you are courageous or crazy enough to go fight.. go ahead.. but for the regular Egyptian who calculated the water flow in the Nile to manage the land and crops, he/she didn't care about all what is going on among the ruling elite/power.
5. Egyptians are blessed but they miss to see it.. in a quick comparison to what took place in Egypt in 1967 and what took place in Europe during World War II, the first, the people were able to find bread, beans, sugar and tea.. Nasser even ordered his people to make sure that there is enough sugar and tea in the cafes, when they got scarce, saying it shouldn't be dark from outside and inside (literal translation to his words.. he meant that Egyptians are suffering internationally and it is dark enough to live in such circumstances, so they shouldn't suffer further) however, moving to Europe, some European countries that have extreme weather, their people didn't find shelter so they froze, others didn't find even the bread and they became miserable because of the scarcity of food products..
6. Cairo and its influence on the whole territory can't be missed... we call Cairo as Misr.. why? because of the centrality of our system, the populace of Cairo .. it is the centre of attention.. and everyone has to connect to Cairo in order to be heard.. that doesn't mean that we don't have good educated people around Egypt, or they don't make a difference.. no they do.. but when things are too centralized.. Cairo is the centre of gravity of Egypt. (newspapers, TV stations, government which is too centralised, offices of big companies.. business tycoons... all these are based in Cairo)

there are of course many other factors to mention, but to move ahead with the argument of this blog.. i would say that Egyptians are too scared of the unknown that they can't tolerate living without a pharaoh image... maybe they would rather not have the content behind the image.. but that is what they were used to as a sign of stability..

the Jan revolt brought them out of their comfort zone of living their lives and running their daily business as usual, in a new grey area that they are not used to.. that is why they resort to their TV screens and stuck watching talk shows.. many who were never active politically are willing to be... others, who were not interested in seminars now they are.. we have seminars on daily basis.. in different locations with different goals.. but they are all addressing what is happening and what will happen during the transition... all these are relatively healthy signs... yet.. what does the majority say? again, judging on Caireans, enough is enough and we want stability.. many are not willing to pay any price .. why should i suffer losses just because of a dream to go for transparent political process.. who cares if i am able to afford my living.. others, believe it might be a cheap price to pay for our freedom.. but we have to look for a future.. better than the present.. others, majority i would say, would prefer to stay with what they have, even if it is soooo little, rather than keep pondering of the unknown.. ( a bird in hand is better than a flock on the tree)

we are used to quick fixes and getting back to the known.. certainty.. maybe that was also a reason that people resorted to religion when they failed to understand the content of the constitutional amendments... if religious leaders say yes or no.. then this is the certainty.. they know better.. they studied the word of god.. let people stop the demonstrations and get back to work.. we have lost enough and let us build our country...

i don't disagree that we need to work and build our country.. but which one.. the one that we are living in now.. that is still under curfew, with the military ruling, with a cabinet that is supposed to conduct a national dialogue that is taking ages to commence, keep the thugs around, the NDP leaders at large causing more damage to the political life of this country, the business tycoons, not all, that had stolen our lives, money, wealth and lived in mansions are doing their best to run away or bring more money out of the country .. in containers!!

In my mind, we should work towards building a new Egypt... not the ruins of the old one.. we have to make a plan to what we want to see Egypt in the coming 5yrs.., in the coming 2-3 yrs, stability will remain a myth... but the real change will come along if we work hard for it.. we can aspire for a healthy political life, equality, security and business to flourish to bring a smile on the Egyptian faces..

In fact, and back to Cairo as the centre of gravity... Tahrir should be filled, even only Fridays and Saturdays until the demands of the revolution are met... i liked a statement yesterday by Mr. Amr Elshobaky, when he said the concept of a revolution is against stability per se... and Dr. Samer Soliman stated that in our case, a sect from the old regime is kicking out another from the same regime.. which is true.. today, the army leaders who are ruling and belong to the old regime are and should be kicking out or at least dealing with others from the same regime in order to fight corruption... our role is to remain alert, monitor whatever is taking place among the military council and the council of ministers to ensure that the revolution demands are met and if not let us go back to Tahrir and keep on fighting for our demands to ensure that we get our smile back in our sunny Cairo.

من على ضفاف النيل.. تأملات

فى موقعى الجديد والذى كان والدى رحمه الله يتابع من خلاله الحياة اليومية للعابرين على كورنيش النيل او ممن ينتهى بهم المطاف فى احد المراكب التى عادة ما تطربنا بموسيقى يصعب على امثالى التعرف على مصدرها، وجدت انه فى ظل الظروف الجديدة التى قلبت شكل الحياة فى العاصمة المصرية، يمكن اخذ صورة تعبيرية للمصرى وذلك على النحو التالى:
1. الضوضاء: نظراً الى ان الكورنيش بجانب ماسبيرو عادة ما يعج بالضجيج قبل الثورة كان المرجع هو الازدحام المرورى ولكن اليوم اضيف اليه عنصر جديد وهو الاحتجاجات والاعتصامات بجانب مبنى الاذاعة التلفزيون.
2. ثقافة البلطجة: ويمكن متابعة هذه الثقافة مرة اخرى بمتابعة حركة المرور، حيث يصر من يريد الدخول يميناً فى مسابقة السيارات التى تقف امامه فى الزحام المرورى وذلك عن طريق خلق صف ثالث ورابع وعاشر حتى يسد الطريق لمن يرغب فى المرور هن الجانب الايسر وبالتالى يظل من يرغب فى الوصول الى مطلع كوبرى اكتوبر "مزنوق" ويستخدم كل الاصوات الممكنة ولا حياة لمن تنادى لحين تحرك الجانب الايمن من الشارع... طبعاً هذا الى جانب ان الكورنيش غير مسموح بالركن فيه الا بجانب المبانى وليس على الصف الملاصق للنيل وذلك للحفاظ على الانسياب المرورى.. بس على مين .. اليوم تجد الجميع يصف سياراته بجانب الكورنيش.. يما فيها سيارات الجيب التابعة للجيش يعنى ( من نفسهم برضه) . ما هو مفيش مخالفات اليومين دول.. الاضافة الجديدة طبعاً كما ذكرت هى المظاهرات التى يتحلى المشاركون بها بالصبر الشديد والكياسة وعدم الرغبة فى اضافة متاعب لكل المارة ... لذلك اصبح هناك موضة فى المظاهرات امام مبنى التلفزيون باصرار المتظاهرين على قطع الطريق امام السيارات.. فسيادتك تجد فجأة انك بين الف انسان وغير قادر على التحرك لانهم ليس لديهم رغبة فى الاعتصام على الرصيف.. امال ازاى احقق مطالبى.. ده ناهيك طبعاً لو حظك سئ وطلعت عايش فى المنطقة دى زى حال العبد لله.. لان النتيجة انك بتطلع عينك ويمكن تتسب كل ما تحاول تخرج بسيارتك من جراج بيتك او العودة اليه.. من ماسبيرو للحامدية الشاذلية رايح جاى فى 3 ساعات!
3.الفرفشة: كفاية كآبه كدة واسرد بقى حال المصريين فى الفرفشة... شباب الكليات أو الموظفين ييجوا ويفقوا يحبوا امام النيل.. ولد وبنت على رأى محمد منير هو المنظر المألوف هنا.. ولو فى حد بيبيع ترمس، ذرة أو شاى ميمنعش... منهم اللى بيركب فى النص الاتوبيس النهرى ومنهم من يظل يتحدث ويضحك شويه لحد موعد المرواح... ده من ناحية اما الفرفشة الحقيقية تلاقيها بقى فى المراكب ذات الموسيقى الغريبة.. تلك الموسيقى يجمع بينها شئ واحد انها موسيقى رقص شرقى مع اختلاف نغماتها... وتلاقى البنات والاولاد بيرقصوا ويفرفشوا على تلك الموسيقى.. اما فى فترة المساء والسهرة وعلى الرغم من وجود حظر التجول واننا المفروض فى شتاء مصر والجو يعنى ساقعة شوية الا ان كوبرى اكتوبر يتحول فى المساء الى مقهى ، كراسى ومشاريب ولب وسودانى وغيره والناس اللى على رجليها او اللى فى السيارات (اللى بتركن 3 صفوف على الكوبرى) قاعدين يتسامروا ويتحاكو لحد بعد الساعة 12 وده ميعاد حظر التجول .. بس مش مهم.. خلى الناس تنبسط.....

يعنى الخلاصة ان دى صورة مبسطة للشعب المصرى.. ناس نفسها تنبسط وتفرفش لكن عندنا ازمة زحمة وسلوكيات مرورية محتاجة معالجة بشكل كبير...
السبب وراء سردى لهذه السطور هو الانباء التى ترد حول تطلعات السلفيين فى تحويل مصر الى دولة مغلقة.. وكذلك الانباء التى تواترت ان غدا سوف يشهد حملة سلفية ضد السيدات اللاتى لا ترتدين الحجاب.. ادعوهم للقدوم على كورنيش النيل ليروا ان الجميع هنا محجبات لكن بيعرفوا ينبسطوا... تحويل مصر لابيض واسود بسبب الجلاليب لن يصلح حال مصر.. ولكن يجعلنا نستورد شكل مش بتاعنا وغالبية المصريين يلفظوه... 90% من المصريين مسلمين.. بيصلوا ويصوموا وبيدعوا لربنا و10% من باقى الأديان برضوا بيعملوا كده بس بتعاليم اخرى.. يعنى الخلاصة مصر من عهد الفراعنة دولة بتعرف ربنا وبتدعيلوه ولكن طول عمرها وسطية.. وان شاء الله هنعيش ونموت فيها وهى وسطية.. ولن نصل الى حد التطرف والرجعية التى تطالب به هذه الجماعات.. والله الحافظ لك يا مصر واسلمى من كل سوء

Egypt Today- Changing the face of history 3

where is the Police?

In the streets of Cairo, life seems to get back to normal during the day, except for the tanks that i see from my balcony, eveyrthing is back to the regular hustle and bustle of the daily life here... nevertheless, in reality it is not... let me shed the light why not?

- guiza, sabtia, tahrir, doki, zamalek and beau lac... 3 police soldiers were spotted for traffic.. no other presence of police officers are around... yet, it works.. traffic was heavy but in fact it works better than when we had officers around..
- cars double parked, without blocking the street.. they would have done the same in the presence of the police officers but they would have paid the police officer or the soldiers to avoid the fines.. so, the only difference here is the pocket of the citizen, who would have broken the law and ran away with it for few pounds.
- 6 army soldiers, not from the military police but from the regular military, captured 2 and running with them to probably a place where they can detain them... those 2 were either thieves or thugs.. we couldn't have known because we were not at the crime/problem scene.
- stories about people mugged by using knives under the bridge next door... this is few steps away from the presence of the military and the tanks!
- thugs fightings we hear of that takes place every night around cairo and even in tahrir square.
- thugs with live ammunition fight on daily basis in different quarters in alexandria at night... we were told that until now, not a single night has passed without the sounds of gun shots.
- 2 days ago, an officer fought with a driver in Maadi, the driver was shot but survived, the officer was hit by the other drivers but survived.. and all of a sudden the revolver that the officer has used in the incident disappeared from the crime scene!
- also, a general saying that the police officers are the masters of the people and whoever dares to raise his voice should be beaten ... by using shoes! we have heard he got transfered.. that was his punishment... no one knows even to where he was transfered!!
-news about some of the State Security officers are on track and not losing time in further torturing those who were tortured and jailed so as not to confess that they were tortured!

to sum up, i have one observation derived from the title of this blog... where is the Police? we all know that there are many things that need to be done with the whole establishment of the Ministry of Interior.. between accountability and rebuilding trust between the people and the police that will take time.. but for the time being the officers have to change their attitude with the people and start working.. otherwise, they shouldn't get salaries for staying home because their salaries are paid by the people from their taxes... I hope not everything we say falls on deaf ears!