[NOTE: The paragraphs below were written in mid January, well before the current crisis, but I had a lot of trouble with the shape of the posting; the solution was to excise about 3/4 of what was written, including the fifth expatriate Sayed Qutb, which will be used in a future post]
1. The Engineer
The Engineer was not optimistic about Egypt’s prospects: Too many of his compatriots lacked foresight and had too many children, and Egypt, with its current population of eighty million or so, was going to end up with significantly more, all competing for scare resources. “But look at Italy”, I ventured. “Heavily religious with large families but when the education rate rises things can change very quickly; one or two generations and the population rate plummets -- it’s now way below replacement level.”, and “My mother was one of six children; now there’s only my brother and me, and three cousins in our generation”. And look at the Engineer himself: one of eight children, but with only one of his own, so far.
He was not convinced. One in three Egyptians undertook higher education, but it was of very low quality. After he completed his degree in Egypt, he went to the UK, where he discovered that he had not been taught the things he needed to know. “Equations?”. “Everything. I had to study for another three years there to learn everything I should already know”. His voice dropped to a whisper so that those around could not easily hear: “You know what the real problem is? Corruption”.
2. The Hawker
The Hawker was deeply concerned by corruption, too: “The funds from Suez should be used for the good of all; it should belong to everybody”. As a fervent believer in Islam, with bushy black beard, white robe and skullcap, it wasn’t only the issue of institutional corruption that was on his mind, however, but corruption of body, mind, and soul as well. “The problem is secularism... and materialism”. He’d spent time working in Europe, but had returned to Egypt half a decade back in search of a simpler, purer life. And his solution to Egypt’s problems? A Caliphate: once more a single state headed by a Caliph -- one who does not seek power but nonetheless is chosen by all -- should unite the Muslim world under Sharia law.
But isn’t Denmark the country acting closest to his ideal of ensuring that funds from a country’s resources being used for the good of all, and whose citizens are the happiest, but which is particularly non-religious? And hasn’t Iran, for instance, been close to the ideal of a country governed under sharia law? Well no - “Iran is not a good example of a Muslim country” - he’s Sunni not Shi’ite.
I can’t say that I was converted. On the one hand it’s easy to agree that materialism is bad -- or at least isn’t good. On the other hand, theocracies have rarely been particularly utopian for the majority of believers, sooner or later leaders who do seek power tend to acquire the rule (with accompanying murder and/or debauchery), and (most importantly on a personal level) theocracies of any religious type have traditionally not been particularly healthy places for us disbelievers - or even for believers whose beliefs are deemed heretical, often enough.
3. The Writer
Alaa Al Aswany had to study for another 9 years after arriving in Chicago in order to earn his Masters in Dentistry at the university there. On returning to Egypt, he tried to get his first novel published. He writes (in his introduction to The Yacoubian Building):
I took the manuscript to the General Egyptian Book Organization (GEBO) withe the idea of submitting it for publication and completely confident that it would win their attention, and perhaps a warm welcome, because my novel, in the opinion of those who had read the manuscript was better than many the Organization had published. But there, in the Organization’s sumptuous building on the Corniche, Egypt’s corrupt cultural establishment dealt me my first shock. It turned out that it was the custom at the GEBO to divide authors into three categories. The first consisted of well known authors, and these had their works published straightaway. The second consisted of authors who came with a recommendation from someone important in the state, and their works were published too, depending on the degreeof influence of the person making the recommendation and without regard for the quality of the work or the author’s talent. The third category, which constituted the vast majority of authors, was made up of the obscure ones -- authors who were not famous and came without recommendations. These had their works referred to reading committees. The strange thing was that the members of the committees were not professors of literature but ordinary employees of the Organization -- workers in various departments , such as accounts or legal affairs -- whose bosses had wanted to flatter or reward them and had therefore put them on the committee so that they could earn extra remuneration.
4. Income
Pay for a number of government employees has been so low that many have apparently had to take on extra jobs after hours just to make ends meet. The minimum wage for Egypt’s government employees, for instance, was EGP289 (less than $2 a day) at the start of last year. In October last year this was increased significantly by court-order to EGP1200.
If the minimum wage of government workers has been woefully low, the general minimum wage was abysmal. It had been set at EGP35 a month back in 1984, and never raised until late last year, when it was increased to EGP400 -- and observance of this pay rise has not been universal. Inflation has been around 10%, and it’s not clear just how much the wage jump will affect this.
In a system with low incomes, baksheesh - payment of cash gratuities - keeps things moving. One can remain perfectly pure, for instance, in paying for use of a maintained toilet or tipping guides who’ve volunteered their services at particular archaeological sites but it’s a slippery slope. What if the guide takes one into a roped-off area, for instance? Or if one wants to see a locked tomb, but the guide/guard has the key? And how about climbing one of the pyramids at Giza? It’s not strictly allowed anymore, but is apparently still doable with sufficient payment to its guardians. Or what if the location is unambiguously okay to enter, but your voluntary guide happens to be a nice submachinegun-toting on-duty policeman? And should one fuss if a ticket seller deliberately gives a student ticket rather than an adult one, returning precisely half the difference, or shrug and move on?
5. The President
Hosni Mubarak has been President of Egypt for nearly 30 years, after an illustrious career in the Egyptian Air Force, including two and a half years spent in the Soviet Union undergoing bomber pilot training. He inherited the Presidency after the assassination of Sadat, and subsequently won four elections. He was the only candidate in the first three, but did gain 88% of the votes in the multi-candidate 2005 election, although for some reason there were suggestions of irregularities. It is not clear yet whether the 82 year old plans to run again in this year’s elections, or if his son Gamal will, or if succession won’t be along family lines. Indications are, however, that there will be no requirement for international observers to confirm that the election is free and fair. President Mubarak, his wife, and his two sons have now reportedly accumulated over USD 40 billion worth of assets, which isn’t bad going.
