Hart on Egypt

Emma Hart writes at Public Address:

So it turns out the longer I’m home from Egypt, the harder it is to write about. Everything I was going to say becomes hedged around with caveats. I kept telling people how lucky we were, seeing it the way we did, but was it luck? We made a conscious, and on my part pretty much agonised-over, decision, and that was the payoff. No, we didn’t get shot, but I’m not sure that was any more of a risk than it would be anywhere else at any other time. 

I’m going to write about the politics elsewhere, so I don’t want to get into that too much. I will say, though, that I had to rethink a lot of things once I was actually there, and get a bit embarrassed re: Western paternalism. I will say that if your view is basically “Democracy = Good, Army = Bad”, you need to understand that, very broadly, the grassroots democracy movement supports the army and sees it as an ally. There’s an Egyptian pop song thanking the army for coming to the aid of the people against Morsi. 

Hart says it is complicated, and it is.  One can only hope that eventually they manage to have a democratic government that doesn’t want to turn Egypt into an Islamist state.

The down side was the touts. So many people in Egypt are dependent on selling tat to tourists in order to survive. Middle-Eastern sales tactics can be intimidating to Westerners at the best of times. At the tourist sites in Egypt, and the souk in Luxor, it was off the wall. 

I was there in 2009 and found the touts more aggressive in Egypt than anywhere else I’ve been, except Zimbabwe.

It was interesting to note who coped with this better. For men who’ve never been able to understand why women get upset about street harassment, I heartily recommend a visit to an Egyptian tourist market. See how long you can handle, “Hello! Good morning! Where you from? Welcome to Egypt! What’s your name? Smile!” from men who will not leave you alone. The women coped better because we already knew not to engage, to keep our heads down and not make eye contact, to stick together and walk briskly. Yes, they’re being “nice”. Because they want something.

Sadly I have come to hate a stranger coming up to me, when I am overseas, and saying “Where are you from?” as it is inevitably just a foray into trying to get you to part with some money. Egypt is especially bad and they follow you down the street.

Despite all that I’d love to go back one day when it is safer.