In this page I will talk about issues and causes in Egypt today. I will
talk at length about what I think of it. The reason I think my opinion
counts is this is my homepage :-)
Halayeb and Shelatin:
Conflict: Halayeb and Shelatine is a small
triangular area in Southeastern Egypt on the border with Sudan. Sudan claims
this territory but so does Egypt.Currrently Egypt has defacto control over
the whole territory and the Egyptian army has posts allover.
Sudan's side: This territory is mainly
inhabited by ethnic groups that are centred mainly in Sudan. The hunting
and grazing grounds of these black nomadic tribes extend across the border
and it is inconceivable to cut these people's resources down the middle.
Egpypt's side: The south border of Egypt
is defined by the 22nd latitude and that's the end of the story. Ethnic
and tribal claims can be settled but all agreements between Egypt and Sudan
are very clear on where the border is.
My humble opinion: Well, but Egypt's side
of course :-) Seriously, no one wants to live in Sudan, just ask those
bedwins who all have Egyptian ID's now, that settles it for me.
Democracy:
Egypt is not a democracy. It's a half hearted
attempt that is neither a good democracy or a functional autocracy.
Government: Egypt
is living under unqualified democracy that it has never seen before.
Opposition: You've
got to be joking.
Me: LOL.
Women's rights:
Okay, this one is tricky. Women more or less
have equal rights and responsibilities by law in most areas in Egypt. The
constitution is very very clear about this principle of unqualified equality
regardless of sex or religion (race isn't that much an issue here). In
practice of course matters are very different and whether or not a woman
enjoys equal rights, more rights, or less rights than men depends on social
class, location, and job. For example in medicine and education women have
pretty much absolute equality in practice. But what about law, why is it
that till only one year ago there were no female judges in Egypt. The whole
issue is tricky but the trend is very good, women are not going back home
and they are now more ferocious than ever. The reason is very pragmatic,
economic pressures means most people can't afford anyone staying at home!
Major issues facing women in Egypt today are: education levels are much
lower for girls, female genital mutilation, and citizenship. Look below
for details.
Female education:
While male literacy is around 80% female literacy
is still less than 40%. Why? And where are all those girls who are forced
to stay at home, why are they not visible? Most of these girls are in the
countryside where they can be illiterate and unnoticeable. Most of these
peasant families have a large number of children, they are also very poor.
The result is that there is no way that everyone in the family can get
an education. When these families think about it they'd rather educate
the boys than the girls because girls get married and find someone to take
care of them. The government is probably all wrong on this one, what these
people mean when they say they can't afford to educate everyone is that
they need someone to help them in the field during the day. So free education
is not the answer as years and years of free education and years and years
of no result have shown.
Female genital mutilation:
FGM is still a dominant practice in Egypt. This
practice has no origins whatsoever in Islam so the futility of the fight
against it is perplexing. There is striking ignorance about this issue
in Egypt and advance is very very slow. FGM causes major problems, it scars
its victims emotionally and leads to a cold distant sex life. People probably
don't know it here but FGM could be responsible for most of their marital
problems.
Citizenship:
The Egyptian citizenship law is very curious,
it passes citizenship automatically from an Egyptian father to his children
but not from an Egyptian mother to her children. This means that children
born to Egyptian mothers and non-Egyptian fathers are not Egyptian and
can not become Egyptian. Curiously this law is unconstitutional and several
cases have been won in the constitutional court but the law still hasn't
been changed.
Parliament and people against changing the law:
changing this law has two main reprecussions. The first is economic, wouldn't
all these poeple be a great strain on the Egyptian economy when they get
citizenship? The second is national security, is it not true that these
people will owe more allegiance to their father's home, they can get into
parliament or join the army, what then?
Women's rights organisations, me, and people
with common sense: These people are suffering.
They are mostly single mothers who have been abandoned by their husbands
and now can't get education or health care for their children. Sometimes
they can't even get residency for their kids! And the law is unconstitutional,
this is undebatable. As for the brilliant objections presented against
this law; First all these people already live in Egypt and are already
part of the economy. Ther are a large enough community (almost 500,000)
for their suffering to be significant, but not too many for an economic
impact, there are more illegal Sudanese in Egypt!!! Second, what national
security, none of the spies caught in Egypt were half Egyptian.
Copts:
Copts are a religious minority in Egypt and like all religious minorities
they have grievances and concerns.
US congress and Copts abroad: Copts in
Egypt live under a systematic oppression and a genocide equal to that of
muslims in Bosnia. Some claims even go so far as to say that 6 million
Coptic women have been raped by muslim men (which is a bit hard to satisfy
logistically since there are less than 6 million Coptic women overall in
Egypt according to most estimates).
Egyptian government: There is absolutely
no problem and this is an internal affair.
My humble opinion: Copts definitely face
problems here, there is no doubt and to claim otherwise would be unrealistic
because minorities by definition have problems. These problems are serious
in upper Egypt and especially in certain villages with a history of feuds,
these are the only places where there may be violence. In the cities and
in lower Egypt there may be discrimination but it is a lot less than that
faced by muslims in the US. The claims of systematic rape doesn't even
qualify for a response. What I wonder about is:
-How can the Egyptian government claim that all is sweet and keep a
straight face?
-How can Copts in America be so bitchy when the richest man in Egypt
is a Copt. Egypt's largest mobie phone carrier is Coptic owned, over 90%
Coptic staffed but over 85% of it's customers are muslim. Also why are
there more Coptic ministers in government than needed for proportional
representation?
Minorities:
Conflict: There are several ethnic minorities in Egypt including Nubians,
Africans (Sudanese), Europeans, Armenians, etc.. How are these minorities
doing in Egypt, is there racism?
Afrocentrists: Egyptians are white supremacists
who oppress the indeginous black population in an appartheid regime.
White supremacists: Egyptians are mongrelised
bastards who oppress and harrass Europeans.
Nubians: no problem, just stop stereotyping
them as good singers.
Bedwins: Stop the stereotypes and improve
image.
Europeans: No problem, just stop hassling.
Berbers: A serious problem about preserving
native language and culture.
Blacks: Other than Sudanese Africans claim
serious discrimination, racism, and verbal abuse in Egypt.
Egyptian government: There is absolutely
no problem.
Me to Afrocentrists and white supremacists:
!!!
Me on Nubians and Bedwins: there may be
cliche and image problem here, some of them are positive (especially with
Nubians) and some are negative but all are inaccurate. These stereotypes
are cultural rather than racial or religious, if a Nubian or Bedwin loses
his accent and blends in no one would care to make a joke. This is not
good news because it threatens the language and culture of these people.
Me on Berbers: Sorry you're too few!
Me on Africans: There are some serious
problems here, but most of them don't come from genuine racism. Most of
the time Egyptians think they are joking when they make comment about sub-Saharans.
Recent reports claim that these Africans, who are mostly asylum seekers
in transit to Europe, and who number in the millions, are now hated by
many Egyptians because they crowd them out of low-paying jobs which
they take illegally.
Palestinians:
Conflict: Palestinians have been kicked
out of their land by Jewish immigrants to establish the state of Israel,
what is to become of them (the Palestinians).
Israelis, orthodox Jews worldwide, Fox News,
and all Israeli governments: There is nothing called Palestinians,
they are just a bunch of terrorists who never lived on this land, never
ever lived in Jerusalem (the mosques and churchs just self replicated,
you know), and they have no rights. Israelis are kind enough to let them
live. Arabs are against Israelis because Islam, Arab media, Arab genetics,
and Arab governments are by nature anti-Semitic and hate hate hate all
Jews.
Egyptian government: Flower power everybody,
salam. :-)
Egyptian public opinion: Israel is a racist
state that has no moral or historical right to exist. Palestinians are
the original inhabitants of this land. America is biased by religion and
by her will to implant a cancer in the heart of the muslim world. The suffering
of the Palestinian people is very real and solid and helping them is a
duty. Palestinian resistance is not terrorism, it is resistance of occupation
which everywhere and at everytime has is and will be legitimate.
My not so humble opinion (strong feelings coming
up): I am a secular guy so I never view this
conflict as a religious one. First I seriously can't see any moral, ethical
or historical right for Israel's existence. I just need one person to convince
me why these people who all come from and trace their ancestry back to
central Europe should come here and kick out the original population just
because they converted to the religion of a people who lived in this land
for 300 years two thousand years ago!! The only reason people give me is
that god gave them that land, well not good enough for me, whose god? How
is that a moral or ethical reason? That's a religious reason that simply
doesn't work in a secular world.What I know is that the Palestinians have
been there first and they have been there longest!
I differ with most people in this country though,
because I do see one right for Israel and that's the right of inertia.
Israel is here, the shit is done and throwing five million people (at least
half of whom may turn out to be good neighbours) into the sea is not a
good idea. Israelis have a right to live in peace because they are here
and it's done. But what about Palestinians? Why should they pay
for this? Why should they live in refugee camps all their lives and see
no prospect of anything changing for generations to come? Why is it that
refugees everywhere have a right to go back home excpet Palestinians? I
don't know how, when, or if this conflict will ever be solved. I tend to
think that it won't and that a two state solution will never work. If a
secular state is declared within the whole of historical Palestine and
all 20 million Jews worldwide plus all 7 million Palestinian refugees worldwide
are given right of return then maybe the problem will rest but not with
a two state solution.
About anti-semitism in the Arab world. I don't
know about all the Arab world but I know for sure in Egypt there is no
real anti-Semitism. Don't look at cartoons in newspapers now and start
pointing fingers, don't forget that just across the border Sharon is firing
missiles into children's bedrooms and claims he is doing it for the Jewish
people. You have to look at this at a calm time, like for example right
before Rabin was assasinated. There was good prospect for peace and Palestinians
were gaining rights every day. At that time everyone from taxi drivers
to professors really had nothing bad to say about Israelis. Personally
I have absolutely no opinion of Jews, to me they are like Hindus, muslims,
Christians, Wiccans, etc.. There are good Jews and there are horrible Jews.
They have the mass murderers and they have the hillarious comedians. They
are not devils but neither are they god's chosen!