Protests misdirected ?

[newcastle]

I thought this article by Mohamed Khairat was interesting and perhaps tells us something about the Egyptian psyche.

MOHAMED KHAIRAT
APRIL 16, 2016

On Friday, several thousand Egyptians gathered in Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities to demonstrate Egypt’s recent decision to declare two Red Sea islands as Saudi Arabian.

Across the country and the world, the protesters were hailed by some for their courage and for “keeping the revolution alive”.

However, commentators, analysts, and the protesters themselves have failed to realize the fact that this level of anger only came after a decision that actually had significant merit.

While many have argued passionately that the islands should remain Egyptian, it is difficult to deny the wealth of evidence supporting the Egyptian government’s claims that the islands have historically belonged to Saudi Arabia.

Instead, #Land_Friday trended worldwide and protesters were hailed for campaigning for what appears to be a legally debatable cause.

Demonstrators have been silent to the many vital problems across Egypt that have impacted the lives of millions. Television shows, parliamentary members, and even political leaders who have been silent for years, suddenly came out of the dark to express their outrage at this decision, yet have provided a muted response to many other real, life-changing issues.

There have been no demonstrations against the quality of Egypt’s educational system, which is continuously ranked among the worst in the world for primary education. Schools continue to lack proper infrastructure, with some even lacking enough desks and chairs for students. Meanwhile, child labor prevails as more than 8.8 million children have never attended primary school.

For health care, while Egyptians passionately took to social media to demonstrate “horrendous” health care conditions across Egypt’s hospitals, little progress has been made since the #So_That_He_Won’t_Be_Surprised_If_He_Visits campaign, despite reports that billions have been allocated for upgrades. It was only when a doctor was beaten by several policemen that Egypt’s doctors united to demonstrate.

There has been little to no progress towards empowering women and tackling sexual harassment, which plagues 99.3 percent of women in the country. Women make up just 23 percent of the country’s work force and remain underrepresented in government and parliament, despite promises for change.

Egyptians remained silent when a doctor, who was supposedly jailed and fined for conducting female genital mutilation that killed a young girl, was in fact still openly operating on other girls with no repercussions. More than 27 million women are victims of female genital mutilation, yet thousands have not campaigned on the streets for stricter laws or for change.

Despite rising prices on basic commodities, no one is talking about the struggles Egypt’s poor encounter on a daily basis while attempting to simply feed their families. With half of all young Egyptians living in poverty, their hope was the January 25 revolution. However, the calls for “bread”, which were echoed by millions across Egypt in 2011, have been drowned out. Instead, we have news articles and greater concern about privileged middle-class Egyptians complaining about not yet being able to buy their Mercedes Benz.

The country’s roads continue to steal thousands of lives, yet road officials are adamant that bad road infrastructure results in more careful driving – and no one protested otherwise.

Egypt, with its Pyramids and two-thirds of the world’s monuments, is unable to provide a decent tourism experience for foreigners once they actually decide to ignore travel risks and come to the country. Tourists continue to face significant and despicable harassment at ancient antiquities sites, which are poorly maintained and run, yet Egyptians are happily tweeting #ThisIsEgypt while ignoring the realities that are around them.

Even worse, while the 2011 and 2013 protests that ousted two leaders were meant to finally unite the Egyptian people, the divisions are once again brewing between the people and the police. In particular, low ranking policemen, who until today do not have to undergo the same training and study as police officers, continue to be accused of sexual harassment, assault, and even killings. Yet, five years after the revolution that kicked off on Police Day in 2011, there have been no calls for reform of the Ministry of Interior or of policing practice to ensure compatibility with human rights and with the values Egyptians demonstrated for in 2011.

It should not have taken two uninhabited islands, whether the cause is legitimate or not, to push Egyptians to protest or to express outrage across the media. Egyptians should have filled Tahrir Square with chants for solutions to high illiteracy, the deteriorating public health network, and the continued abuse of women in society. Campaigns should have kicked off on television and educational institutions to educate the public about the values of human rights and the law. Egyptians should be calling for real debates and laws to be passed in parliament that will actually change the lives of millions.

Egypt should have become a beacon for change and enlightenment across the Middle East. Instead, we’ve only managed to unite for all the wrong reasons while ignoring and fighting over those with true merit and value.

http://egyptianstreets.com/2016/04/16/w ... rotesting/

[Glyphdoctor]

It tells you what some kid in his dorm room in Melbourne thinks, because that is who the author is.

[newcastle]

I realise you're no fan of ES Glyph.....and perhaps one needs to take the "opinion" element of an expat Egyptian with a pinch of salt. But is there anything factually incorrect about saying that there's been more fuss about these two islands than the rest of Egypt's other unsolved problems?

[Glyphdoctor]

Absolutely factually incorrect. There are protests every day all over the country over a number of issues besides the islands.

http://www.thecairoreview.com/tahrir-fo ... e-numbers/

http://www.madamasr.com/news/economy/11 ... ter-report

The fact is the foreign journalists don't get far beyond central Cairo to report on things and unless there are certain well known tweeting activists involved, the protests don't make the international press.

[newcastle]

Protests on the scale of the islands one....numbers....tear gas etc.??

I think not!

The anti-regime protests have been spasmodic and muted, for obvious reasons.

I don't recall anything significant on the major social issues highlighted in the above article...just random industrial disputes. Another matter altogether.

[Glyphdoctor]

Look at the laundry list of issues he presents. They are the kind of issues the Western media loves to focus on, but you would have to be completely delusional to think people would go to Tahrir to protest female circumcision. And it wouldn't make sense either. Because the government doesn't force any girl to be circumcised. It's a personal choice of the parents. Same thing for illiteracy. Yes, the education system is bad but if someone is motivated to learn to read, they can. Again, a personal choice.

And you have to understand something. A call for protests in Tahrir may be sparked by an issue that seems small to you, but the choice of this location always implies something bigger. Dates and locations are extremely important in understanding the meaning behind a protest. The islands are just the spark for a bigger fire. It is also the kind of issue that can unite everyone across classes and political persuasions, even if they otherwise wouldn't agree on issues related to religion or women or people's personal bodies.

[newcastle]

You highlight FGM.....

What about the other items on the laundry list:

education; healthcare; sexual harassment of women; poverty; road safety; police brutality; freedom (of the press & generally)...

Maybe you're right and the population is too apathetic to protest for improvements or change in these areas.

I appreciate that the islands....Egyptian territory generally.....seems to be an extremely sensitive issue at street level. The logic of it ,however, escapes me.

It seems to me like there's more than just patriotic land issues fueling the furore and all the usual suspects are climbing on the band wagon. It's an opportunity to protest about everything under the banner of something that essentially doesn't matter much and may not even stand up to rigorous legal inspection.

[carrie]

I thought FGM was actually illegal in Egypt?

[newcastle]

I thought FGM was actually illegal in Egypt?

(not at you Carrie)

So is reckless driving, sexual harassment, arrest without cause, mistreatment of those in custody etc.

The Constitution "guarantees" all manner of personal liberties......

But, as a tourist, it's none of my business.

[Who2]

Iv'e never been enticed to go on a protest marches ever, probably due to my sister being a beatnik and ban the bomb fanatic.
And waking to find various hippies & priests in sleeping bags in one's front room on a sunday morning.
F**kin load of layabouts listening to sh*t music, and trying to stop the bomb in duffle coats..
A million man march and we still get shite politicians, what's the point ?...
A lot to be said for Guy Fawkes...

[Glyphdoctor]

But what you have to realize Newcastle is these issues may be national problems but they affect people at a local level in different ways and therefore the protests/solutions are local.

Take healthcare. There's a machine used in orthopedic surgery at the Qurna Hospital. It could be used to save people during traffic accidents so it is a vital machine. The same machine at the International Hospital broke down and the minister of health ordered the one in Qurna Hospital be transferred to the International Hospital, even though some have said it is illegal to do that because it is not a MoH hospital whereas Qurna is. The people in Qurna were protesting outside the hospital and putting up a blockade to stop the machine from being taken away and clashes occurred.

Some people went to the police station to file a complaint to stop the machine from being transferred.

Shaykh al-Azhar convened a meeting with the director of the International Hospital and the people to try to convince them it was for the greater good to move the machine. The local MP called up Shaykh al-Azhar and said I represent the people here and they want the machine to stay so it should stay.

Is that apathy? I don't think so.

[newcastle]

I take your point entirely GD and regret using the pejorative term 'apathetic'. It was uncalled for.

As the link you posted illustrates, Egyptians generally are possibly more proactive in protesting about this and that than your average Brit. Considering the difficulties they face, day in and day out, and the possibility of suffering physical damage if they 'step out of line', you have to admit a grudging admiration for the fact they do anything at all.

It's also true to say that they have a different 'take' on the various matters mentioned .....something a foreigner is prone to forget.

[Hafiz]

For Glynphdoctor there are no dormitories in the (prestigious) University of Melbourne or its (famous) Law School. Unlike US universities most make private accommodation arrangements. A small percentage are housed in high status colleges which you might characterize as dormitory accommodation but most would emphasize their shared toilet and bathroom facilities. Maybe the boy is rich or very bright and in a college.

The news article implies that the protest is for a range of reasons and only sometimes for the stated reason. There is also fluff. This is not far different from recent scholarship on the French Revolution which points to food famines as a contributory reason for revolution. In any event the article is well written for a 20 year old law student and a lot better than al Ahram.

Wa.....rs (if he is a wa....r) at a distance must be a real trial (particularly given your circumstances of local knowledge) but that doesn't mean that everything they have to say is wrong. Voltaire (and this kid is no Voltaire) sat out the decades before the French Revolution in Switzerland but that did not mean that his ideas were irrelevant to France.

[Glyphdoctor]

It's not the first English language "news" outlet related to Egypt that comes out of nowhere started by a one man nobody that appears to have no explicable source of funding. But of course, there has to be funding coming from somewhere and it probably has an agenda behind it but it is all shadowy and unclear.

Bikya Masr comes to mind as another example that was like this.

There's so many hacks out there today that you really don't know who is feeding you propaganda.