An American's View of The Culture of Conspiracy in Egypt

As an American, I am used to politics being partisan and even at times vitriolic. But at least there is usually some agreement on the rules of the game and the validity of the constitutional system. Although political opponents criticize their adversaries as being servants of particular agendas, these cries generally do not descend into the realm of conspiracy. Yes, some on the “Left” believe there is a theocratic effort to take over the US government, and some on the “Right” think liberal secular humanism is bent on destroying “traditional” American values. Yet on the whole, the mantra proves true: Politics is the art of compromise. Following the vitriol, most American politicians do just that, and most Americans appreciate it.

In contrast, an American resident in Egypt – if he pays attention to local politics – will find the entire political culture awash in conspiracy theories. The tendency is to be dismissive; it is the response of a paralyzed people seeking to blame others for their problems, and a government actively encouraging the paranoia. Yet as a respected Egyptian journalist friend with experience on both sides of the Mediterranean told me, foreign hands have been meddling in Egypt for centuries. In other words, the palpable paranoia in this country is fueled by reality.

The View from Tahrir: What Comes After September 9th?

An earlier version of this article appeared on YearinCairo.com, on September 10.

Pulling into the Sadat Metro station in downtown Cairo at around 1 pm as Friday prayers reached a close, there was near silence and little sign of the budding protest above ground.

Political groups of various persuasions increasingly fed up with what they believe to be lackluster reforms and authoritarian policies by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) called for the September 9th protests in the name of “Correcting the Path of the Revolution.” Issues ranging from the timetable of upcoming elections to rising street crime have been particularly contentious issues.

July 4th in Cairo

Sadly, Egypt is in a slow downward spiral. The military government clearly does not feel empowered to do much. Crime is up. Even basic enforcement of parking laws is down. The country really needs elections and a strong president to come in and start rebuilding society. Oddly enough, this is exactly what Omar Sharif told our church even before the revolution - Omar is a very smart man!

It is easy to wonder at this period of instability, but we Americans tend to forget the time and uncertainty between our Declaration of Independence and the ratification of the Constitution, or the host of issues that were not fully resolved until the Civil War. Egypt is in that transition. We can only hope is does not take hundred years to get through it, as it did in the US. Farouk, Nasser, and Mubarak all missed real opportunities to get Egypt where it needed to be (Sadat had his hands full with the aftermath of the 1967 war with Israel). I still have faith that eventually the current population will do what needs to be done.

I often ask myself if I would recommend people visit Egypt as tourists. The reality is that Egypt is desperate for tourism, but it is not the same place it was. A friend of mine had a daughter of one of their friends come recently. The interesting thing is that the daughter was visiting as part of a Jewish High School trip. All went well. They had an organised trip that had Tourist Police assigned to their group (they tend to be some of the best trained police in Egypt), and they were smart about what they said and wore. Even now, Egypt is probably more safe than many cities in the US or Europe.

Cairo, A City Stuck in Limbo

At first glance, Cairo doesn’t seem like it just hosted a revolution against a decades-old regime. But stop and wander its streets, and it quickly becomes apparent that the city has a tense, uncertain calm.

Four months after the Egyptian people ousted Hosni Mubarak, Cairo has not radically changed. The traffic is still a crazy flow of cars with no real order; people go about their daily routines, most of them doing what they can to make ends meet. But that does not mean that the revolution is forgotten. On the contrary, walking around the city it is hard to not be reminded of the revolution’s success and the challenges that lie ahead.

With that, Cairo does seems stuck in a post-revolutionary limbo. Mubarak is out, but the Supreme Council of Armed Forces is running the interim government with a level of indecisiveness that suggests they themselves do not have a specific plan for the country.

Parliamentary elections are set for September, but there remains a sense of uncertainty as to whether or not the military will give up its leadership role (Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak all ruled over a security state and came from the military. The prospect of civilian rule would upset more than 60 years of Egypt’s governing structure). At the same time, cracks in the united front that brought down Mubarak are starting to appear, and fears of an Islamist takeover led by the Muslim Brotherhood are on the rise. Nothing is definite, things are unclear and instead of looking forward, Cairo seems to be hanging onto the immediate past.

Letter From Egypt: News From the First Election

Amazing how quickly Egypt went to second tier news. Events here have been overshadowed by Japan and Libya (perhaps with good reason). However, things do continue to change here.

Egypt survived the first real vote last weekend. People voted overwhelmingly for the changes to the constitution. It was interesting to hear how this was interpreted as a vote for change.

The reality is that no one was voting against change. What the yes votes are really saying is that even if they do not fully agree with the draft as is, they want to have elections soon and get back to "Normal" sooner rather than later. The more thoughtful Egyptians I know voted against it (both Christian and Muslim) because they think the current draft still gives too much power to the President and they want more time before the elections. To be fair, some of the Egyptians I really respect voted for it - why? Because it will allow for elections soon. Besides they say, a brand new constitution will be written in the fall, so why worry too much about this draft. Perhaps a bit naïve?

Boy Meets Girl....and then comes violence

The recent Muslim/Christian violence was a bit disconcerting as my family was coming back just as it all got going. Some people want to sugar coat relations here and say that things are always great between the religions. Some would have you believe that the Christians are always under siege. The reality is somewhere in between.

During the entire time the police were gone there were no churches burned - so why now? It all started in a village just south of Cairo. Life in the villages is still VERY tribal. It was a story as simple as boy meets girl. A Muslim girl and Christian boy got together in a way they were not supposed to. The girl's parents found out and decided to find the boy and kill him. The boy's family hid him, so the crowd decided to burn the church (interestingly one of my Muslim friends at work said the big mistake was that the girl's family should have just killed her and been done with it...).