Alaa Al-Aswani: "Is the law coming back from the holiday ..?!"
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Alaa al-Aswani is a tireless advocate for
democracy in Egypt. He speaks to all
who seek more democratic alternatives
to authoritarian systems.
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Date June 5, 2018
(Via Deutsche Welle, browser translation.)
Yesterday an Egyptian citizen complained to Facebook that her neighbor in the apartment opposite was receiving garbage bags in the street instead of putting her in the place assigned to her at the entrance to the building, which led to the breeding of insects and the resurgence of unpleasant odors, as well as the cats that change the garbage bags. The complainant spoke to her neighbor repeatedly but continued to take out the garbage in the same way. The complainant asked her followers to suggest how she would behave with her neighbor.
Of the 20 proposals submitted by the page's observers, there were only two suggestions that the complainant resort to the police or district administration. The majority of the proposals were violent punitive ideas. A follower suggested that the neighbor's door be stained with rubbish and suggested that the neighbor's door be smeared with tar and suggested another follow-up to smear the neighbor's apartment. The most violent suggestion was a follow-up proposal advising the complainant to dump the garbage bags with gasoline and then burn them daily in front of an apartment. The neighbor.
This Facebook incident shows first that Egyptians do not trust the ability of the authorities (or their will) to enforce the law as evidenced by the spread of violence in our daily lives. This excessive violence is reflected in our social behavior even in the way we drive cars that are no longer art or taste And not moral, but rather rely on the imposition of fait accompli and bullying.
Driving means taking a place in the middle of a car and bypassing it regardless of the rules and traffic lights. In the whole world when the driver of the car runs a side signal that the drivers understand behind him that he is about to turn away from him. In Egypt, once the drivers see the side sign, they will break into you so they can get past your car before you start.
The behavior of Egyptians is now more violent than ever before. The question here is: Does our behavior arise only from our own upbringing and moral values or dictated by the social conditions in which we live? Our moral upbringing is undoubtedly our behavior, but the social conditions are capable of producing the best or worst of our actions.
We all recall the situation of tolerance and moderation that prevailed in Egypt after the victory of the January revolution and the overthrow of Mubarak. Then tens of thousands of young people came to Egypt to sweep and wash the streets themselves and re-paint the sidewalks at their expense. Their message was: We did not care about the cleanliness of Egypt because we never felt that it was our country, but now that we are prepared by the dictator, we will be the most careful people to clean it.
Achieving justice gives us reassurance and motivates us to deal with others in a positive and polite way. Justice in Egypt is now absent. The current system does not allow any different view and anybody who opposes Sisi is arrested and tried on fraudulent fake charges such as spreading false news and joining a banned group. This was the case with Hazem Abdel Azim, Shadi Ghazali Harb, Wael Abbas and thousands of peaceful opponents.
The Sisi regime considers all opponents to be traitors and agents whose aim is to overthrow the state. The Sisi himself is narrowed by any different view because he believes that God has created him to understand the causes of any problem in the world and to reach an immediate solution.
Since the military seized control of Egypt in 1952 and "the law on vacation," as one of the Free Officers once said. The law does not apply to everyone in Egypt, but it is used against people who are not in accordance with the system. We are all reminded of the security announcer who was sentenced to a final sentence of imprisonment but nevertheless traveled with Sisi to Germany. No one stopped him at the airport to execute the sentence while the opponents of Sisi were arrested and harassed as punishment for not being dazzled by the genius of the inspiring leader. President Sisi is the first to break the law, has not yet submitted for example, financial disclosure as stipulated by the Constitution. All the procedures of arresting opponents of the Sisi are contrary to the law and the constitution, but who dares to object and what is the best objection to a system that brings together all the authorities and practices against repressive people is definitely the worst in the history of modern Egypt.
All this injustice is covered by a huge amount of lies broadcast by a huge propaganda machine spent billions of pounds on the system to beautify his oppressive face, but no matter how distracted Egyptians in television series trivial and misleading political programs and football, they can not forget their daily suffering. Millions of the poor in Egypt have become difficult because of their high price and they are silent only because the grip of the system lurks to crush them at the slightest objection, as happened to those who object to the cost of the subway ticket.
Most Egyptians feel helpless and frustrated and know that the law is absent and that they have no value and no rights in the eyes of the regime and therefore they seek to wrest their rights in their hands as they could unload their energies of aggression in each other rather than uphold their legitimate right to peaceful protest.
The picture is really bleak in our country but it should not lead us to despair. History teaches us that the revolution is not a 90-minute football match, but it is a long stage of achievements and break-ups. It is certain that if the revolution takes place, it must continue because everything in society changes and never returns. The revolution may falter and its results may be delayed but never defeated. The revolution continues and will inevitably win even after a while.
Democracy is the solution
Of the 20 proposals submitted by the page's observers, there were only two suggestions that the complainant resort to the police or district administration. The majority of the proposals were violent punitive ideas. A follower suggested that the neighbor's door be stained with rubbish and suggested that the neighbor's door be smeared with tar and suggested another follow-up to smear the neighbor's apartment. The most violent suggestion was a follow-up proposal advising the complainant to dump the garbage bags with gasoline and then burn them daily in front of an apartment. The neighbor.
This Facebook incident shows first that Egyptians do not trust the ability of the authorities (or their will) to enforce the law as evidenced by the spread of violence in our daily lives. This excessive violence is reflected in our social behavior even in the way we drive cars that are no longer art or taste And not moral, but rather rely on the imposition of fait accompli and bullying.
Driving means taking a place in the middle of a car and bypassing it regardless of the rules and traffic lights. In the whole world when the driver of the car runs a side signal that the drivers understand behind him that he is about to turn away from him. In Egypt, once the drivers see the side sign, they will break into you so they can get past your car before you start.
The behavior of Egyptians is now more violent than ever before. The question here is: Does our behavior arise only from our own upbringing and moral values or dictated by the social conditions in which we live? Our moral upbringing is undoubtedly our behavior, but the social conditions are capable of producing the best or worst of our actions.
We all recall the situation of tolerance and moderation that prevailed in Egypt after the victory of the January revolution and the overthrow of Mubarak. Then tens of thousands of young people came to Egypt to sweep and wash the streets themselves and re-paint the sidewalks at their expense. Their message was: We did not care about the cleanliness of Egypt because we never felt that it was our country, but now that we are prepared by the dictator, we will be the most careful people to clean it.
Achieving justice gives us reassurance and motivates us to deal with others in a positive and polite way. Justice in Egypt is now absent. The current system does not allow any different view and anybody who opposes Sisi is arrested and tried on fraudulent fake charges such as spreading false news and joining a banned group. This was the case with Hazem Abdel Azim, Shadi Ghazali Harb, Wael Abbas and thousands of peaceful opponents.
The Sisi regime considers all opponents to be traitors and agents whose aim is to overthrow the state. The Sisi himself is narrowed by any different view because he believes that God has created him to understand the causes of any problem in the world and to reach an immediate solution.
Since the military seized control of Egypt in 1952 and "the law on vacation," as one of the Free Officers once said. The law does not apply to everyone in Egypt, but it is used against people who are not in accordance with the system. We are all reminded of the security announcer who was sentenced to a final sentence of imprisonment but nevertheless traveled with Sisi to Germany. No one stopped him at the airport to execute the sentence while the opponents of Sisi were arrested and harassed as punishment for not being dazzled by the genius of the inspiring leader. President Sisi is the first to break the law, has not yet submitted for example, financial disclosure as stipulated by the Constitution. All the procedures of arresting opponents of the Sisi are contrary to the law and the constitution, but who dares to object and what is the best objection to a system that brings together all the authorities and practices against repressive people is definitely the worst in the history of modern Egypt.
All this injustice is covered by a huge amount of lies broadcast by a huge propaganda machine spent billions of pounds on the system to beautify his oppressive face, but no matter how distracted Egyptians in television series trivial and misleading political programs and football, they can not forget their daily suffering. Millions of the poor in Egypt have become difficult because of their high price and they are silent only because the grip of the system lurks to crush them at the slightest objection, as happened to those who object to the cost of the subway ticket.
Most Egyptians feel helpless and frustrated and know that the law is absent and that they have no value and no rights in the eyes of the regime and therefore they seek to wrest their rights in their hands as they could unload their energies of aggression in each other rather than uphold their legitimate right to peaceful protest.
The picture is really bleak in our country but it should not lead us to despair. History teaches us that the revolution is not a 90-minute football match, but it is a long stage of achievements and break-ups. It is certain that if the revolution takes place, it must continue because everything in society changes and never returns. The revolution may falter and its results may be delayed but never defeated. The revolution continues and will inevitably win even after a while.
Democracy is the solution
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