Imagine this – you are sick, in a foreign country, confused as your ride to the tour bus does not appear to be present and it’s after midnight. Across from you, a man starts to speak, and for once you pay attention, rather then pretend to ignore a strange man speaking to you at night. He tells you about his work and his family, but then asks – what do you know, in America, about the treatment of my people?
What he actually asked was what was said in America about the treatment of Coptic Christians. Did we know that six were killed leaving church while celebrating Christmas? Did we know that violence was escalating against this minority that represents about 10% of the population but is often treated as a scapegoat? [1] I tried to reply politely but honestly, therefore Id did not want to say America ignores much of the rest of the world and I have not seen one news report on the killings around Coptic Christmas, so I relied on Obama and the Cairo speech. I recalled seeing a news story that Obama was putting pressure on Egypt to stop the persecution of Copts, but the man scoffed, much as a cynical American might – those are just words.
This was but one of many conversations, most of which were brief, I had (or overheard) in which people expressed frustration with the current political state in Egypt. (In many of these conversation, people also expressed frustration with the “crazy” behavior of Egyptians – the middle class treat the lower classes with disdain, but do not seem to offer fixes that might provide better lives or promote industry instead they complain often while acting just as “crazily””). Almost all of these conversations had a theme – things are screwed up here, and may get worse, and while we like Obama it not enough something needs to change. . I agree – and feel I have moral duty to stress some of the issues this man faces as Copt, and that the regime has brought to the region as while.
For example, both my guides in Aswan and Luxor went out of their way to discuss politics. The guide in Aswan, a good natured man who was sort of bumbling, asked me whom I voted for – in all elections I could vote. This lead to a short discussion on president Bush, but all was quickly curtailed by the British couple in the back seats, and exhaustion; before the conversation ended the guide turned to me and with an ironic smile informed me that “I voted for Mubarak.”
My other guide, in Luxor, brought up politics in a more round about way. As we sat in a café where he took me while observing I needed rest due to my asthma, he told me about his family and village. He was obviously a religious man, and was excited about getting married for the first time in May and having his wife, who arrived in his village in late February join him and his mother and brother in their house (each had a floor). He was describing to me how tolerant his village was, by explaining how many Western women lived there as wives to some of the men because, “we are all entitled to have fun when young.” These women are incorporated into the village, some forming long-term marriages with children and conversion – others only there for a few years, but all become part of the culture. His town also had a pair of German women living in it as artists – and many who work the land. Many have their own plots of land.
The people of his village benefit from being on the irrigation canals and near the Medina Habu and the Ramsessum, which provide preservation projects (they are moving one of the canals to prevent it going under the temples), excavation workers and tourists, but fortunately have thus far not been built upon. But he also pointed out to me what happens to those not as fortunate. In the more desert areas, between the Valley of the Kings and other archeological sites, many people had constructed houses and built up shops to attract the tourists. According to my guide some had been in these houses for many generations – possibly back to time immemorial people had lived on this desert and walked to the nearby canals for water and farming. Recently, the government determined, though archeologists, that the humans were harming potential excavation sites – thus all were forced to move (though a few Alabaster shops and some hold outs remain) and force d into a government village – which no one seems to like.
What was perhaps the most striking conversation I mostly overheard had to do with the tourism industry and the lack of trickle down effects or even preservation associated with it. The Egyptian in the conversation was bemoaning the expense of going to any of the major sites associated with Pharonic Egypt (although not exorbitant by our standards (most are under $30) they seem high while in Egypt and the sites do attract a fair number of visitors). He pointed out what poor shape the Egyptian Museum was in, how the Government Guards at any monument did not protect the antiquities (or stop harassment by solicitors) but instead just seemed to be there, often spending up to six months away from their families – being paid well to just stand, and according to him, have affairs. He then asked where the money was going if not to preservation or paying the poor guide type workers.
His only answer was the regime; to him the governmental officals seemed intent on lining their own pocket using the tourist collecting to do so. To add insult to injury – governmental officials proposed setting up a train near the pyramids taking people to the most popular panoramic setting (not the one we went to) and attempting to forbid the carriage and camel rides – thus putting many locals out of business, while further enriching themselves. His anger, like that of my guide in Luxor who was subtly pointing to the fact that men were staying with the Western Women for money, was almost palpable.
After listening to all of this – I had a few conversations with my host about the political situation – who pointed me to a book (Inside Egypt:” The land of the Pharaohs on the Brink of a Revolution by John Bradley), which I picked up and started while at the AUC library. This book – which had in tally been banned by the government – attempts to explore many different factions of Egyptian life including the frustration of Copts and Bedouins, the power of the Muslim Brotherhood (as well as the potential exploitation of the group, as the government skillfully uses fear of it to get the West to aid the regime, the rise of a more conservative Islam as more people become influenced by Saudi Arabia, and a sense that most Egyptians don’t fit in any of these categories but are moderate welcoming people with no outlets, frustration, and a sense that Mubarak and his regime have created a percent structure that they are powerless against. While I did not agree with all of his conclusions (for example I walked all over Luxor and never felt like I was walking through an area of male prostitutes for men or women – though my guide did touch on the women shacking up with men who use them for money), I did find the book insightful – and scary. He does not assert all hope for a moderate Egypt is gone – but he does lament the loss of the cultured Egypt lost with the rise of the military dictatorship, and while many of the people I met were open and welcoming – the beauty that used to be Cairo and the way the government has let the city and its monuments be treated speak to the truth of his claim. All that I really know after visiting, speaking with people, and thinking about it a while is that this s a complex culture one that wants to be vibrant and relevant but that’s own government is preventing a true flowering economically or culturally – and people are frustrated and searching. They act out against each other, Copts being attacked by Bedouins, Bedouins being persecuted and uprooted from traditional practices by a government who barely recognizes their humanity, people being brutally arrested and tortured and accepting it as part of a rough reality (that the United States has used to its advantaged in cases of Extraordinary Rendition to our shame), and yet they search for anything that gives them a chance – be it sloth, Islam, education or fleeing.
This is a country straddling modernity and the past. One where, despite recent laws to the contrary, a majority or women are still circumcised, but one that has tourists pouring in to explore its ancient and Biblical sites, and is exposed to Western ideology. Its past of inclusion, creating an area where Christians and Muslims lived together, Cairo was clean and beautiful and full of intellectuals, and a more mystical form of Sunni Islam was practiced is all but forgotten. Maybe if we stop treating the country as we wants to see it – a democratic partner in the war on extremism who is tolerant of Israel – but instead talks of Egypt as it is both good and bad (most of the 9/11 terrorists have ties to the country, and extreme Islam is gaining a strong foothold here, in contrast to the more open mystical version traditionally practiced in the country). While we encourages practices that will promote a real middle class and growth a future extremist state will not appear and Egypt will return to its more tolerant practices From what I saw of its people this is what they want – they want the US to not encourage the worst of Mubarak and the regime, but hope that Obama will shed light on the persecution and poor practices – allowing for host discussion and the potential for change without destroying what is left of the traditional openness of the culture., preserving a beautiful country, culture, and historical specimens for the future.
[1] Since leaving Egypt there has been at least one more attack on Coptic Christians I have seen in the press, and a great piece on Public Television’s News Hour on this while I was laid up – the full piece can be accessed here http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/february-26-2010/egypts-coptic-tensions/5786/.
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