Treat others as you want to be treated

Egypt has many intolerable ills, but what I have seen in the last few days have really dealt a blow to my capacity to empathize with Egyptians ever again. It's very tiring constantly attempting to reaffirm the simple notion that not every Egyptian is as rude, crass, and vile as the ones on the streets, those who go out of their way to make the lives of others miserable. This is an exceptionally difficult task when I do not see anybody, not a single person, coming to reprimand the bastards who have inflicted some degradation to some innocent pedestrians. This has been the case with the treatment of foreign travellers, women, and Sudanese.

I have spent some time amongst a group of Sudanese refugees living in Maadi, a neighborhood in southern Cairo. The abuse that they are subjected to on a daily basis is disregarded by the Egyptian society because the abusers and violators of human dignity are Egyptians. I must admit, I could not scarcely believe how barbaric the Egyptians were capable of being.

Walking down the street in their proud company, an Egyptian on a bike rode by giving us the middle finger yelling out "Fu** you!". Further along the street, a group of Egyptian youths yelled out obscene insults in English and Arabic. The projectiles of hatred, sounds and gestures, did not cease and came from all directions. Those who did not yell added to the racist bonfire by staring down the Sudanese with suspicion or remaining silent while their neighbors spat on the idea of humanity.

Upon reaching our destination, a coffee shop, we began reading together some material that I had brought for my friends. The Egyptian employee came to me and explained that he nor his [Egyptian] customers appreciated "them" studying in the shop. As if this was not enough of an insult, the attendant treats the group with sheer contempt and bare minimum service.

In the midst of our discussion a nail dropped down from above. Seeing no construction and only apartment houses above us (we sat outside) I can only assume that someone had deliberately attempted to harm or annoy us. When we told the attendant about the incident, he scarcely gave any attention or thought and took the nail from my friend's hand and threw it behind his shoulders. Such vile contempt, where does it seep from?

Have the Sudanese not suffered enough? And yet it is the Egyptians who accuse the west of mistreating Egyptians, Arabs, and Muslims. I must conclude that Egyptians must believe that they are superior and thus should receive preferential treatment above others. When an Egyptian woman is murdered in Germany this is clearly a precedence for an all out international tribunal, not something that the German courts have the right to deliberate upon. Yes, Europe may have bits and pieces of racism that lead to violence time to time, but never forget that there were many Germans who testified on behalf of Mrs. El Sherbini.

Is equality not a universal concept? Either Egyptians are drowning in some misguided superiority complex or the masses are too thick to recognize the hypocrisy of their actions.

While I am on the point of hypocrisy, a word on the Arab reaction to the French attitude on the veil. If the Egyptians have the right to harass and reprimand women, foreigners or their own, for wearing clothes that they do not deem appropriate for their country, do the French not have the same right to comment and reprimand things that they do not deem appropriate in their society? I have some reservations regarding the full ban of veils in French public schools 5 years ago, but at least the French are taking legislative measures and deliberating upon these issues.

It's so sad to see a society so far behind from being able to integrate into a borderless world. And Egyptians wonder why immigration into Europe or North America is so difficult. tsk tsk, Looking at a mirror is a good thing, one notices dirt on one's nose time to time.