The Egyptian System Wins Again

And Egypt keeps losing.

They did it again! I don’t know how or when (I actually know; it’s by using facetious logic) but the Egyptian System strikes again. And boy did it strike.

Let’s recap; shall we? It’s 22nd of February, 5:30 here in Madrid and these are Egypt’s updates so far:

1. A Policeman shot a tuk-tuk driver in the historic neighborhood of El Darb El Ahmar.

           

the victim's family talking about what happened. (in Arabic)

   2. A four year old, amongst over 100 others, was sentenced to life in prison for murder. He was two at the time of the murders.   Yes, plural.

  

   3. 7 Policemen, who were part of a manifestation for Policemen's rights, were detained right before going on a talk-show talking about said manifestation. Policemen are not happy. 

   4. Ahmed Nagi, an Egyptian novelist, was detained. Reasons: Chapter Five of his novel Estekhdam el Hayah (Using Life) is sexually explicit. That's it. 

All this happened in the past week.

//start rant//

Out of the four absurd updates mentioned above, the fourth hit me the most and here's why: Policemen kill. That's the reality of our daily life. In fact, I know a Policeman who uses his gun both as an accessory and a (funny) threat off duty. No one criticizes him or is appalled by him. Policemen are constantly abusing their power in Egypt. And that is a fact. How long till that changes? I don't know. But I don't see it in the near future, the power play of the Police is a problem in a lot of countries and it needs a deeper research and an even deeper action against it; but right now this is our daily life in Egypt. Police kill. We forget the victim's names, because we're just human, but we never forget the killers. I hope I don't see the day where death in Egypt becomes another number, as much as the cynics say and repeat online, death still means something, and it will forever mean something even if we stop fighting for the victims. 

Now that that's off my chest; a quick brief on the second (and probably most shocking) update. As of now, it seems that the sentence was meant for another person who has the same name as the four-year old. But since Mathematics are not a big part of Law school, the Judge didn't realise that the boy would have been two years old in the time of the murders. (It appears Law Schools in Egypt aren't big on Human Life as well since over one hundred were sentenced to death in the same court ruling). 

So, this is the big moment, the worst update of them all: the Ahmed Nagi case. 

Ahmed Nagi

Ahmed Nagi was sentenced to two years in prison for writing a sexually explicit chapter. The infamous Chapter Five in his book Estekhdam el Hayah. If you're an Egyptian and you can't realise the impact of this specific case this rant is perfect for you: This is a major setback in what little we have accomplished these last five years, Whether you see the revolution as a success or a failure (or in progress), you can't deny the social changes that have happened ever since the first time the first person stepped into Tahrir Square back in 2011 and shouted his heart out for a change. Change has happened. Change is happening. You can't deny it, The youth is moving forward in a rapid and frantic speed, and this case is a big bump in the road that we must approach with caution. After last month's "Condom Controversy"; this comes as another blow with a very clear punchline: Screw your Freedom of Speech. If a comedian can't make a joke, a show host can't speak in front of a camera and an author can't write; who will voice us? Where do all of our voice echo? Are we all left to post sardonic posts on Social Media, hoping against hope we're not tagged in the next "Missing" post? If we aren't even allowed to write explicit content in literature, are we to take in the Orwell Method and resort to expressing ourselves using pigs and donkeys, mask our political and social rage as children's tales?

I'm very sorry if this is incoherent; but that's how it is with rant. They're raw and straight from the heart, by the end of this rant though, I really hope anyone who read this takes a moment to think, really think, about how this impacts the future of literature and journalism in the near future.

//end rant//

لا شئ يدوم

this too shall pass