Middle East, Europe, and their mob mentalities

On July 1st, Marwa El Sherbini was murdered in Dresden by a racist. The Egyptian, Middle Eastern, and Muslim responses have shown how easily mobs can be incited to march in step to the drums of hate. This in turn will bring equally negative responses from the far right denizens of Europe who are increasingly turning towards nationalism and protectionism. We have all taken a giant leap in the wrong direction.

The seeds of this rift have become more evident earlier this summer when the Dutch, British, and other denizens of the EU opted to elect some members of the far right nationalist parties to represent their states in the European parliament. All this amidst increasing tensions surrounding Sarkozy's statements surrounding the Muslim veil.

Mob mentality does not merely signify the narrowing of one's own identity, but the narrowing of others' identities regardless of the others' desires to prioritize one identity above another. Simply put, it's a form of oppression.

11 days after the tragic death of Mrs. El Sherbini, Shia Muslim Pakistani student activists marched in a protest rally in Karachi, burning German, Israeli and American flags. There could be no better example of an incensed mob attempting to make "Western" nations indistinguishable. (The spectacle of a flag burning deserves more anthropological and philosophical analysis - much like Foucault's analysis of the scaffold)

According to Al-Ahram newspaper Mrs. El Sherbini's brother declared that "The assailant should be sent to Egypt and stand trial in an Egyptian court; otherwise [Marwa El Sherbini]'s blood will have been shed in vain... Diplomatic relations with Germany should be broken off, and the trial should be held in an international court at the very least... The government is not doing anything more than it has to... their reaction is merely proportionate to the size of the incident."

Alright, one may say that this is the voice of a distraught brother in a house full of bereaved, but his outrageous demands are supported by the empathetic Egyptian masses. This is the mob's demand for justice most familiar to them (and why should they expect less in a society where tortures and deaths are so whimsically bestowed by the most generous leader - a comment for later)

This far fetched anti-western rhetoric is aimed at not just the one crazed German man who went berserk, but also at all the Germans who testified on behalf of Mrs. El Sherbini, Bosnian Muslims, and German Muslims of Turkish descent... Who and what is this "West" that the Middle East points to?

El Sherbini family is not the only one using the vague identity to materialize a monster which does not really exist. In the opinions of Khaled Abu Bakr, the lawyer representing the family of Marwa El Sherbini: "Apparently the Western media's (apparently he reads all of them) depiction of Muslims as aggressors and terrorists has so blinded German people that they could not see that this Muslim woman was being attacked,"

Well said, then what about the murder of a 50-year-old German man in Istanbul on the 20th? The Germans accept the fact that a crazed Turk committed a vile act and we do not see German students burning Turkish, Iranian, and Egyptian flags on the streets of Munich calling for the German government to take things out of proportion. The German people have all the rights to be incensed, but they react based on precedents set by the political system within the country. A rational people with a rational political system. Something that will hopefully prevent further victories for the ultra nationalists in the future elections for the EU.

Interestingly enough, I hardly believe every Egyptian fuming over the death of Mrs. El Sherbini cares about her. I think the public is having fun with hate, with the sudden sense of purpose and the opportunity to be publically enraged. This taste for unity and anger may bring much more anti-western rhetoric, but there also will be a time when all the anger and rage of the Egyptian people spill inwords at their own dysfunctional political system.

This whole "murder of an Arab woman by the West" drama shows the public's capacity to overract in a normally complacent nation of Egypt. But when the dust settles, expect nothing less than sheer brutality and pain. Democracy would be something too stable for the unleashed beasts of anarchy.

Ah, what is your cruel, crude, and arbitrary judicial system doing to you now Mr. Mubarak?

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.