Monday, September 3, 2007

If it were a man ,................

If the poverty were a man , I would kill him

Ali Ibn Abi Talab

really wise words from a great wise man ,it makes you feel  how poverty is so bad that even Ali Ibn Abi Talab wanted to kill him if it were a man , sure the world would have been a better place if that had happened !!

It is not only the proverb of Ali Ibn Abi Talab that shows how horrible poverty is , in fact we got our own collection of Egyptian folk proverbs that describes how bitter poverty is

"If poverty comes from the door , Loves jumps from the window"

still I always remember Ibn Abi Talab's proverb every time I hear or I read about the humiliation many Egyptians are suffering from because of the poverty

The poverty rate in Egypt is exceeding in a very fearful rate , those who are living under the poverty line are exceeding every year , the fearful thing is that it is happening too fast , it is one of the achievements of 26 years of Mubarak rule I am afraid

It is now too common to hear and read that a woman sold her children for some sum money

It is now too common to hear and read that some young men sold their organs to get some small sum of money , for God Sake Egypt became to a hot spot for Kidney trade

It is now too common to hear and read that some  young men committed suicide whether by throwing themselves to the Nile or the Sea , in fact now whole families have the joined the club , I can not forget this tragic accident where a whole family a father and his two daughters ended their own lives because they were broke after their land was stolen in the country side and they could not return it back spending every penny on useless cases and lawyers !!

It is now too common to hear and read that young men began to sell their bodies to old foreign tourist ladies , it is a huge problem no one wants to speak about because the fear that will affect our tourism ,but we must speak about it ,it is the same as the old problem of poor Egyptians girls who marry rich gulf men for summer vacation ,it is the same thing ,some thinks that it is nothing and they are just men who fool old ladies ,well still it is a problem and these young men won't fool these old ladies if they are not in a desperate need for money

The new fashion which makes  me so sorry and angry is that young men now are working as belly dancers to escape from poverty and unemployment by degrading their manhood ,wearing belly dancers suites and shaking their butts forgetting that they are men , forgetting their dignity

I was shocked when I read about them and believed it was individual case ,one or two but then I found there are several young men in Cairo and Alexandria who are taking the same path , I won't talk about their sexuality but I am talking about the principal itself , look I may sound old traditions girl but like any Egyptian I refuse this

The fearful thing is that the Egyptian society ,some of its members do not see that this wrong and the proof is that these young men still are working and even are doing numbers in the weddings instead of female belly dancers just like Mr. "Shakira" who made appearance in "Ein Magazine"

I won't speak about how this became the hot dish for the Gulf and Lebanese press in the lifestyle ,gossip women silly magazines ,it kills me like it would kill any other Egypt

Of course these young men got more issues in their personalities than poverty and unemployment ,and surely there is something wrong in how they were brought up but still this did not exist in Egypt from 10 years ago ,this is not the Egypt I know , I was raised on

And where are the government and the president from all this ?? I do not know they are just giving the same old promises in the old statements in the same old speeches that people got sick from hearing them over and over

How many times per year does President Mubarak say that those who got limited income are his number one priority ?? same thing for all the prime ministers in his era !! Please if you are Egyptian like me answer me

already tell me who are those the regime considered with "limited income" because I don't see any improvements for the real "limited income" people , on the contrary in Egypt people are either getting poorer or getting rich and in between the middle class seemed to be from the endangered species that is needed to be put in a national preserve away !!!

Look do not expect this government or this regime to feel with people's agony as long as they live in the ivory towers in their palaces and resorts , I am not a leftist or a communist but this is a reality , naked truth , they do not even try to communicate with those sufferers ,they are enjoying themselves ,the power they got , when the President or any VIP visits a poor place , you will find the government sending its men to clean the poor streets , decorate these streets with flowers pots and hide the old buildings that sooner or later are going to fall down with red tents of Khaimaya !! I had seen this by my own eyes ,they are hiding those poor people as if those big VIPs do not know that those people exist in Egypt !!

These regime men are not like Caliph Omar Ibn Khatab who was a white man turned in to a brawn man from eating oil in one of the years Arabia suffered from a terrible draught ,he did not have a piece of bread in his home and this is not an overestimation from the Muslim historians , of course there is a huge difference between Ibn Khatab  and the pharaohs of their time !!

Image source : El-Shabab monthly magazine

6 comments:

  1. Poverty is indeed an ugly face that no one wants to see...easier to look away and pretend it doesn't exist...or sweep up those dirty streets...U R right there is something v. wrong with this phenomenon of young men becoming involved with older wealthier foreign women. I watched a show called El Beyut Asrar on the dish here and a 28 yr old man stated on tv that he would marry a 60 yr old woman no problem...What the...? It was gross to hear this but I personally know 2 of my mother's cousins that met Egyptian men on the internet and have since gone 2 Egypt and married them. One man is 11 yrs young and the other 21 years younger...this is not the natural order of things..and it's sad really that young men have to marry older women to support them..i can't tell you how many men that I met in Egypt that were a good 10 and even 15 years younger that proposed marriage..my main attraction being my citizenship...not that I'm cute cuz I am ...lol...but really I felt like some sort of prize at the fair...Zenobia u r right..at this moment in time your government doesn't care about it's people...just look at the water situation in the Delta...it's sad but true...it will be interesting 2 c what happens when the old pharoah dies but American Hegemony won't allow 2 much change...however, remember.. nations are like people's lives...they have happy propersous periods in which they usually forget that they are not invincible and think they will live and last forever...this usually leads to their collapse and then they become the beggars of the world...

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  2. @n.american princess,agree 100% with you but I do not know about the last part ,about the nations when they are propersous , strangely we did not have this condition from a very long time !!
    it is the shame when out young men go after the rich foreign ladies because of the need
    and it is more shame that the society does not do anything , only tabloid shows discuss it !!

    @ Amr , I do not why you are attacking N.american Princess ,she is saying true things that are taking place in Egypt ,you are away for a long time that you do not know what is going on , again do not attack my guests!!

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  3. Dearest Zeinobia,

    I am awefully sorry for trsspassing accept my deep appology for it.

    It all stemmed out of some strange comments I have been recieving from someone called " Persian princess" most probably Naj because it came as response to my attacks on Iran she says things like" Thus spake Amr.Albino" " you are an Egyptian bastard and Iam a persian princess" and shit like that. The line of argument of that woman, her English and the anonymous name she picked indicates that she is an Iranin shitting in her pants from the idea of an Arab intervention in Iraq to throw and feed Iranian terrroists tot he polluted fish of the gulf.


    Also,in one one of your posts where we had a long back and forth debate on the issue of Iranian terrorism, the one called " North American princess" replied angrrily to me. That is why Iam sure that she is an Iranian full of grudge on Egypt.

    And even if she was not Iranian. It is very rude that a NON-ARAB FOREIGNER SPEAKS CRITICALLY ABOUT EGYPT ON AN EGYPTIAN BLOG. fPREIGNERS SHOULD SAY GOOD THINGS OR LSE KEEP THEIR MOUTHS SHUT.

    ONLY ARBS AND EGYPTIANS ARE ALOWED TO CRTICISE EGYPT

    Again Egyptian princess accept my deep appology.

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  4. well she is not an Iranian , I am sure of that and I will not say more , please stop this Iranian complex , I am not speaking about Iran or Iraq ,I am speak about my country

    Second I am sorry But I disagree with you foreigners are just like us must complain from the wrong things in Egypt , with my all respect you cheer up when any American attacks Iran why the double standard

    third the issue N.American princess is speaking about is a foreigner-Egyptian related ,You do not what is happening in Sharm or Aswan or Luxor , 21 years old boys marry 65 yrs rich ladies ,they need to speak ,we need to hear ,stop this stupid arrogrance

    Fourth I will not accept any argument away from the topic

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  5. I am actually a Canadian by birth and have lived in North America all of my life but I had a wonderful father who was Egyptian and had a lovely history that he passed on to us. What is going on in Egypt makes me sad more than anything. The Egypt my father used to speak of was beautiful. As the years passed and as he used to come and go to and from Egypt he noticed the changes and the deterioration and it made him sad. I would tell him to stop visiting but he always said despite living most of his life here he was Egyptian and always would be. It's my country he would say. And on my last trip to Egypt I finally understood what he meant. Egypt gets in your blood and when you drink from the Nile you will always long for it. Egypt is my blood...heck I even have one of those funky id cards...v. nice photo if i do say so myself...

    I want to see an Egypt where little children are not walking in the streets with barefeet and in ripped nightgowns, where handicapped people don't have to beg to make a living and where people can live the lovely middle class existence we live here in North America. Inshallah...ya Raab...maybe not in my lifetime but there is hope...

    Zenobia...what I meant to relay was that every civilization has it's time and glory and then another civilization takes it's place..i hope this is clearer...

    Amr...there is enough anger in the world and in people's hearts...go say and prayer and forgive the people who say things you don't want to hear...Egypt has a lot of things wrong with it..but it still has kind, generous, friendly ordinary sweet people...and I'm hoping that you are really one of them.. :0)

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  6. Amre: Also...check out Big Pharoah's blog...he works in Luxor and he also commented on the fast rising trend of young Egyptian men meeting and marrying older foreign women...as Zenobia said, this was not the Egypt of 10 years ago...

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