Al Youm al Ahid: no day of rest
POLITICO
This afternoon, my group and I comprised a panel on American electoral politics at Cairo University. We learned about the event two weeks ago and planned for it for about 5 hours. It even launched a wonderful at-home discussion about the complexities of the American government and our difficult position as a superpower flailing helplessly in our own hegemonic world. Cairo University is 100 years old and, according to faculty and staff, is the exemplar of learning and research across the Arab World. In reality, Ustadh promised to deliver a speech on American politics and the future of Africa, but as the show went on, it was obvious that he meant to do so indirectly and only promised such a thing to keep us from falling apart. We played to an audience of about 10 men and women, one of whom we discovered is a senator in the Egyptian congress. Jon the lion-hearted opened with a brief discussion on internet networking and its influence on youth. Then a hefty spitfire sitting a few rows behind Elizabeth began to set the pace for the rest of the next three hours by asking Jon to exam the relationship between these networks and Obama. His brain was clearly working within a authoritarian framework: Are these networks something he set up? How did he convince youth to use it (or something to that effect)? And Jon answered, coherently and thoughtfully, that Obama just capitalized on them, enhancing his grassroots appeal. In an awkward succession, each member of the group discussed some aspect of the election in its relationship to the American psyche. Topics included, but I’m sure were not limited to: Africa, issue or non-issue; the pros and cons of intervention; the needs of those who desire it; American antipathy and media, and one or two people fighting for the recognition of John McCain. However, it is interesting to note that these Africans are interested in Obama because of his message for change, and for them, it is not change composed of a new healthcare plan or a restructuring of the Civil Rights Department. It is an increase in aid and an end to the theologizing of politics. It was nerve-wracking to speak and I stumbled during every moment, but it was wonderful. TATAKALYM BILARIBYYA? SCHWIYYA… SCWIYYA An hour and a half after the panel, the group set off to the language center where we take Arabic 5 days a week for 4 hours a day. Today was our first exam. It was simple and comprehensive, but all I could feel was pressure, as if this was the most important thing I would ever do. Will I learn everything I need to know before I go to Jordan? Am I learning anything at all? Why am I still struggling with comprehension? When will I dream in it? More than that, my group did poorly on the proficiency to enter. I’m not really sure why, but my heart and stomach just felt wrenched at the thought of being in some remedial version of a subject that I love, and the language that I am supposed to be living. Everyday is a fight with Arabic. “Do you speak Arabic?” “A little… a little.” ISLAMIC CAIRO When I talk about Cairo, I always complain first. I complain about the pollution and the lack of catalytic converters. I complain about the dirt and the leering men. I complain about the government and its inaction and its money-hoarding. I complain about the lack of facilities and services available to the people. I complain about the factions. I complain about the wheat-heavy food. I complain about the tourists. But I love the hospitality of the people. I love the people. I love their pride. I love the architecture, the history. I love the religious devotion, of Christians and Muslims that I’ve met here. I love the nightlife. I love the children. I love the language. Since we’ve arrived, we’ve been to Coptic Cairo, Giza, and now Islamic Cairo. Al- Azhar is probably the great intellectual and religious and architectural feat of Africa. It is over 1,000 years old and its minarets have the best views of Cairo that I have ever seen. They are perfect illustrations of what I believe to be the failures of modern Egypt and the persistent successes of Egypt at the birth of Christ, of ancient Egypt, and of the Egypt prior to 1948. Because of hefty taxes and some cloudy real estate difficulties, into which I have yet to read, Cairo’s development has remained stagnant for innumerable decades. At a point, it was more developed than any European city, and its layout is telling. The streets are narrow, but the building as close and numerous. Its restaurants and suburbs are plentiful, it’s main streets and bustling areas are not just souks. This was a city for ages. Now, when one looks at Cairo, the residential and commercial buildings are dilapidated. People are living on extreme ends of poverty and wealth. The other day, I saw a child get water from a faucet behind a chain-linked fence in the middle of Kasr Al-Ainy, a busy main street. I had never noticed the fence before. Behind it was an expanse of garbage and single faucet. The pictures I have taken from the minarets of Al-Azhar really illustrate the failures or stagnation of modernity, and the force and persistence of the ancient past. The mosques in these pictures are as firm as the faith of its visitors. Almost everything else, it seems, is crumbling.
