Luxor4u

January 2021 and much of the talk centres around the Covid-19 pandemic, vaccines, and just how serious the problem is, or not, in Egypt.
Many deny that there is virus. If they accept that it exists it is not something that is going to effect them. If a death occurs it is 'their time' 'they are a martyr' 'it is the will of Allah' - it has little or nothing to do with Covid.

January 2011 and almost without exception the talk was about Revolution in Egypt. Rallies and riots were taking place predominantly in Cairo, but in other cities and towns across the countries.

Lawlessness in the present and Hope for the future seemed to go hand in hand.

People in Luxor were often dependant on hearing news from their friends overseas of just what was going on in Egypt because their own news was being so censored.

Young men were optimistic that the overthrow of the Mubarak government would bring democracy overnight. Life would become ideal. They would have jobs. They would have money. The tourism industry that had been flagging for many years would suddenly increase. Egypt would become the utopia.

It didn't happen.

The government was overthrown. The buried roots of Democracy seemed to grow new shoots. A new President was elected. More rallies; more riots. The new President was swiftly overthrown, imprisoned. The new shoots of democracy were trampled underfoot.

A new President took his place. A new era began. Or did it? Changes took place. Or did they?
Democracy became a buzz word again. Hope was rekindled. Yet nothing really changed. Or did it?

Has the life for the average Egyptian really changed in the last ten years?
Has it improved?
Has it stood still?
Has it deteriorated?

January 2031 seems a long way off, but I can't help but wonder what people will be discussing then.
Will Egypt finally know democracy?
Will the lives of the average Egyptian have improved because of better education and employment opportunities?
I can't see into the future. I don't expect things to have drastically changed from what they are now. I hope that I'm wrong.

Lot of questions.

I can answer one....

January 2031 seems a long way off, but I can't help but wonder what people will be discussing then.
Will Egypt finally know democracy?

Never.....unless you define it simply as one man, one vote and disregard all other trappings of true democracy.

It makes me so very sad, I remember the hope the optimism that prevailed after the overthrow of Mubarak. In the entrance to the International Hospital there was a large photo of a young man who had been killed during the Camel Charge incident. Flowers had been laid beneath his photo and people were determined that he wouldn't be forgotten and his death and that of many others wouldn't have been in vain.
Then Morsi took over and the fear expressed to me by many members of the Coptic community was incredible. Many who could were leaving the country, the same people who had stood with their Muslim brothers in Tahrir Square, Cairo.
Now we have another President who looks likely to be in power for some years to come.
What has changed, not a lot what will change in the next 10 years, well my one certain prediction is that if I am still alive I will be 10 years older.

newcastle wrote: Tue Jan 26, 2021 6:28 pm Lot of questions.

Perhaps it does look like a lot of questions. Mainly rhetorical, but these questions were just a few of the many that were cluttering up my head yesterday.

I think they will still be discussing the tsunami that washed Luxor and its people away when the newly elected Democratic Resistance Party finally gave the go on blasting the new Renaissance out of existence in 2027.

One thing that is sure, it was a very interesting but ultimately disappointing time to be living in Luxor. However I'm glad we experienced it at our age.
We will never permanently live in Luxor again but in time after the eventual end of the pandemic will come back to visit for short periods, insha'allah.

You have so many questions, Hepzibah. Sadly I have no real answers, other than it was, and will be forever so! England (Great Britain, the United Kingdom) has a long tradition of (so called) democracy at different levels but the best that any country can hope for is that we end up with a government which won't do us any great harm, whichever side of the political spectrum we adhere to. I truly believe this to be true, but feared that the opposite may have become fact if we had persevered with the European experiment.

Although for me, living here in Egypt and having no intention of ever going back to the UK, leaving the EU holds no interest for me, but I do think that things will vastly improve over time for the now independent UK. People just have to give it time before shouting out their negative thoughts and views. Same with the vaccines, everything needs time and take no notice of all the ' Nay sayers' .

During the Mubarak years Egypt could best be described as an oligarchy/kleptocracy.

What we have now is definitely an oligarchy....but perhaps not so much of a kleptocracy. Or maybe they’re just better at disguising it.

Ever since I’ve known Egypt, it’s never struck me as a country in which western-style democracy would work. Too large a proportion of the population are uneducated and , by nature, they seem incapable of compromising. They are probably best off with a dictatorship ....or an oligarchy dominated by one strong man.....providing that man is reasonably honest, intelligent and has, as his objective, the long term betterment of the people.

Whether Sisi fits the bill...ask me in another 10 years.