Lazy Ducks

This was the pithy State of the Nation review by my weathervane over the years on all things Egyptian politics.

‘So, how’s Sisi doing,’ I ask, employing the Sisi thumb-o-metre of old.  His thumb wobbled in the horizontal position.  ‘Tell me more.’

‘Well, look at the road out to the Pyramids, it’s three lanes wider than before on each side, and the kerb stones are all painted nicely in black and white.  And the half-constructed mono-rail that will link 6th October and New Cairo will reduce travel time between them from over 2 hours to 30 minutes.  And he’s moved ministries out to New Cairo, so overall the traffic is less congested.’

‘Who’s paying for all of this?’

‘The Chinese, he’s smart that way.’

‘Ok, so it’s a bit easier to get around.  Any downsides?’

‘Of course!  A bag of flour has gone up from 3LE to almost 40LE in the last couple of years.  Families can’t reach the end of the month and can’t save for unexpected expenses.  And forget about taking your wife and kids out for an ice cream . . . it costs an arm and a leg!’

‘How long will Sisi be here for . . . are we back to the thirty-year span of Mubarak?’

‘When he won the elections after he overthrew Mursi, the maximum time was two terms of four years.  He changed that to two terms of six years. With that and other adjustments he’s safe until 2030.   He’ll change something again, so a Mubarak term is a certainty and, like him, he’ll win every election by hook or by crook!’

‘What gives him such strength and power?’

‘He’s an army man, the state within the state, and he was deep inside the Mubarak regime.  He supervised every complaint that come in.  Some folders went to Mubarak if he thought the then president could make political capital out of ‘solving’ the issue.  But Sisi knew the contents of all the other folders, as well, and that gave, and still gives, him extraordinary power.  He knows everything about everything!’

‘What about Adely Mansour, who was the interim president and who oversaw the massacre of 900 Muslim Brotherhood supporters in their Cairo encampment shortly after Mursi was overthrown?’

‘Ha!  He was paid by Sisi to do the dirty stuff in return for political and other recognition.’

‘Like what?’

‘There’s a station on the new metro line that runs through Zamalek named after him.   He’s what we call, here, a lazy duck.

‘So, can I ask for a ticket to Lazy Duck!’  We laugh.  ‘But, seriously, what about the young folk, like your eldest son who’s 20-years old, I think.  Are they happy?  Prepared to put up with him?’

‘My eldest wants out as soon as he can.  He knows that he can ‘disappear behind the sun’, just like that, and never be seen again, if the police, who have re-emerged as a hard and confident force to baton down all dissent, take a dislike to him.  We have friends whose children have disappeared like this, saying the wrong thing when stopped by the police in the narrow streets on the way home at night.’

‘That’s terrible. It’s not surprising that your son wants out of the country!’

‘Yes, but you need permission to leave!’

‘What about changing things from within?’

‘None of them believes that a vote counts for anything.’

‘So, another revolution is needed?’

‘Look at the last one, and the zero change it brought.’

‘So?’

‘We all keep our heads down.  Put up with it.  Get on with it. Make the most of it . . . we are all lazy ducks.’

This blip collage shows everyone with their heads down or just getting on with it, in one way or another, in Zamalek, today.