Somali Piracy

One of my articles on Somali piracy was published on Bikya Masr.

Enjoy.

End of the Middle East?

An article from Asia Times Online from May 8, 2007 caught my interest the other day.

Titled "Are the Arabs already extinct?" Asia Times Online columnist Spengler mercilessly divulged a starling state-of-being of the Arabs and all those in the Middle East. The esteemed columnists introduces Adonis, a Syrian poet who laments that "[Arabs] have become extinct ... We have the masses of people, but a people becomes extinct when it no longer has a creative capacity, and the capacity to change its world".

One may shrug off the poet and criticize Spengler for taking a literary comment too far, but the article delves much deeper. For example, the Arab world "translates only a fifth as many books per year as does Greece, with a 30th of the population. Arab writers of global stature are a tiny number, and their importance is disproportionately great." Indeed these figures alone place much doubt upon the capacity of the Arab world to integrate into the vastly diversifying and mobile world around them.

Adonis places some blame upon Islam which "not only suppresses the possibility of poetic expression... but with it the capacity of the individual to have a personality. It is an astonishing, terrifying, and absolute indictment of [Arab] culture." I cannot say whether this perspective from one poet stands true in Syria as well as Morocco, Indonesia, or Senegal, all prominent Muslim societies. To call Islam the root of societal decline is an incredibly dubious claim. However, from what I have seen in Egypt and in the United States, I must agree with certain aspects of Spengler and Adonis' claim on the suppression of expression.

Riding on the Cairo subway one always notices a number of people reading. An Arab society is a literate one regardless of whether or not it is consuming foreign thoughts and expressions. (They may still be functionally illiterate, the inability to read beyond the text in order to interpret and critique for themselves... something many Americans have succumb to) Yet, the vast majority of the people reading on the subway are reading the Koran. A vast jump from the DC metro where vast numbers of people seem to read newspapers or works of fiction. Interpret this as you wish.

Another feature is in the way in which many Muslims in the United States preach "plural monoculturalism", a term I came across in works by Amartya Sen. Many Muslim organizations in the United States (especially student ones) utilize the shield of pluralism against any critiques or criticism against the Arab/Muslim world and religion. They accept the benefits of a plural society but refuse to alter their interactions with other cultures within this plural society. This seems like a bigoted conclusion by someone outside the Muslim community, but this is the predicament of Muslim communities in Europe and the Americas. It is essentially what Sarkozy points out in his (in)famous remark. Plural monoculturalism is divisive and we eventually end up with a society that is exremely suspicious of one another. Domestic terrorism in Britain is an advanced symptom of this issue.

While I am on the issue, I have noticed that Muslim student organizations that have observed often utilize the defense that terrorists and insurgents are not acting in accordance with their faith. I have always felt that this was a double edged argument. It indicates that there is a certain way in which a person of the Muslim faith should act. It does not offer an alternative individual identity other than being Muslim. This would mean that a terrorist who is Muslim can only have a single misguided purpose of purging the world of sinners and apostates. Nationalism, political and economic equity, and dignity cannot be the primary motivating factors. Of course many claim to represent Islam when committing acts of terror, but to extensively classify how a Muslim should act like is a means of devolving into gross puritanicalism before which many American muslims will appear hypocritical.

Back to the Arab world, the issue of uncreative construction is one which branches from society and culture into politics and economics. A more open and discursive society is necessary.

In terms of where Egypt can start... before we even get into fair elections and ridding the country of the dreadfully inefficient subsidies... the government needs to bring down its bloody knuckles upon those that harrass women. When half of one's country is left without proper dignity on the streets, discourse or anything will get nowhere. Only stagnation.

Of Garbage and Coppers

It's been quite a while since I wrote a post, my apologies. Usually when people first start a blog they tend to write voraciously then begin to tardy. Egypt is full of social woes to write about, so I will do my utmost to expunge my excess thoughts and rants at a timely manner.

Anyways.

Cairo is less than descent in terms of sanitation. Rarely does one see trash bins on the street and in places where one can marvel at the evanescent sights, the garbage itself collects dust from seasons of discontinued usage. Just the other day I was near Tahrir Square when I saw a car pull up at a curb just to throw out a bag of trash. Sure the street cleaners may sweep away some of the shit, but much remains to form the distinct pavements of underdeveloped nations. Such sturdy roads, Romans be proud.

Another unwelcome and perhaps just as unsightly scene is the excess policemen lounging about the streets of Cairo. A few stand in attention at embassies and a lesser number actually direct traffic. Yet those inadequately attempting to control the irreversible flood of irresponsible and less-than-respectable drivers of Cairo dwindle in number compared to those that sit in the shade and sip tea day-after-day.

Not to be entirely too unfair, the police that I have encountered when needing directions have been more than friendly despite the solid language barrier. At the same time, they contribute to social woes of this country by contributing to sexual harassment and having a hand in prostitution and drug trade. Yet one cannot blame the police for attempting to utilize their position to financially better themselves at the expense of social order; they too have hungry mouths to feed.

So we have two distinct problems: 1. excess trash and 2. lots of under payed police, some behaving criminally.

We have an easy solution. Supplement the wages of the police through fines on littering. And who better to levy the fines than the primary beneficiaries themselves. No, not the denizens of Cairo who will enjoy the clean streets, clearly they do not care about trashing their own country. The police of course will be delighted. They are sure to be highly motivated.

Adam Smith noted that: "Public services are never better performed than when their reward comes only in consequence of their being performed, and is proportioned to the diligence employed in performing them." (The Wealth of Nations, Book V, Chapter 1, Part Two)

Clean streets are essential for a healthier society and drawing out tourists from the five-star hotels into the streets of Cairo. The spread of their lucrative capital among Egyptian enterprises will enrich the masses and hopefully lower the ghastly high prices of luxury restaurants and hotels.

Of course this needs to be complemented by a public incentive to efficiently utilize their resources. This may seem like a jump, but a reduction and eventual suspension of food and oil subsidies must be enacted (I promise you more on this later) to best accommodate for the public good.

Perhaps with a little more police motivation, the traffic can be controlled as well. If trash and traffic is under control in Egypt, recycling is not far in the horizon. Then a more powerful private sector driven by green economy followed by democracy and roads paved with gold... ah I rant

Spontaneity

I will not lie, I pass judgment too easily. On people, on cultures, on the world. It’s not the matter of hailing on the side of skepticism, I am just too damn judgmental sometimes.

I’ve been in Cairo for a little over two weeks and I can’t say I viewed this city or its denizens with eyes untainted with contempt. But this is slowly beginning to change. Where there had once been nothing but doubt, specks of admiration are forming. From the most optimistic and far fetched areas, my mind yells out: There is yet hope!

There should be no objection to the assessment that Egypt is underdeveloped. However, the city of Cairo has all the underpinnings to lurch forward unto the global stage as a city of preeminent wealth.

Cairo has spontaneity. A deep and intrinsic social connection bind the people of this city to coexist. While riding the Cairo metro I noticed an elderly man step into the train. A soldier sitting nearby immediately stood up and invited the old man to sit in his seat. Nearby a child bolted up to let the soldier take his seat. A few minutes later, a woman with a baby in her arms got on and people made room for her. Try observing that kind of compassion on the metro in DC or New York.

Egypt bustles with tourists and its population is closely followed by the tour guides. The amount of entrepreneurship utilized to attract customers is amazing. Their tenacity and advertisements are extreme to those from anywhere else. It shows terrific yearning to become successful and expand the enterprise into a larger one. Many of those that start off on the street, enticing tourists, manage to eventually run their own hostel and tour services. It’s not just the tourism industry either. From Tahrir square in downtown Cairo to El Maadi in the far south (and no doubt beyond) there isn’t a single block without some business or shop nestled amongst the homes. Cairo is alive with entrepreneurs and businesses that are willing to go far to be successful (like the taxi service, literally).

This ancient country has both the entrepreneurship and the moral sentiments (compassion and sympathy as evident on the metro). So why has it not lurched forward into wealth?

I feel that both the government and society are at fault for some of its immediate setbacks. But let me speak on the government, for I can speak on that most readily.

Cairo is devoid of trash cans. I’ve discovered a few in wealthier parts of town like in Zamalek, but overall to say that Cairo has an inadequate trash disposal system is an overstatement. Trash is disposed by its residents by simply leaving them on the street. Street sweepers may or may not collect it when they go by, but this is hardly an efficient system to keep the city clean. Even residents of the city do not have dumpsters, they leave trash bags at a designated location where they are picked up at night. The appalling amount of trash inhibits tourists from spreading their vast capital on the wider entrepreneurial population outside the five star hotels and museums.

The government can do much more to set up trash cans and educate the public on using them. However, the funds are most likely used up to maintain the standing police force and military police that guard every corner of the city. Yes, Egypt is a socialist dictatorship and its government is the greatest hindrance to the wealth of this particular nation. The police perform certain critical duties like traffic guidance. This does not seem like much, but having experienced the harrowing roads of Cairo, these rare forces of authority are a welcome influence. The rest of the police force seems to be doing their utmost to 1) stagnate the society by squelching social and intellectual movements and 2) taking part in a growing problem of harassing women.

Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights in July 2008 reported that 98 percent of foreign women and 60 percent of Egyptian women are harassed on a daily basis. Another report from the government stated that 47 percent of married women between 15 and 49 are subjected at least once to physical violence. The police and the military police are a large contributing force to these appalling figures.

There are other government policies that are problematic like food and oil subsidies, but that’s for another time. I think I make my case clear here.

The Egyptian people have the will and the potential to make the money and communally share the benefits of the wealth; however, the government is a large part of the reason why the country cannot take that final leap into spontaneously turning their efforts into capital.

Nonetheless, the most important thing for me to realize was that there is yet hope. I am sure there will be more on the social and political roles of development soon.