Egypt in Flux , livre ebook

First published in 2013 by
The American University in Cairo Press
113 Sharia Kasr el Aini, Cairo, Egypt
420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
www.aucpress.com

Copyright © 2013 by Adel Iskandar

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

“Geddo and Messianic Football,” “On Marina and Chávez,” “The Simulacra of Religious Intolerance,” “Learning to Mourn with the Poles,” “Never Say No to the Panda,” “Best in Show,” “The Hegemony of Sharks,” “The End of Illegitimacy,” “Coptic Exodus from Disneyland,” “Ablaze the Body Politic,” “Dared to Defy,” “On Constitutional Reform,” “Liberating the Media,” “Who’s Your Daddy?” “The Three-Horned Bull,” “The Conscientious Objectors,” “Morsi’s Debts,” “A Seven A,” “Patron Saints,” “New Face,” “Lemons and Raisins,” and “Blood Ballots” were previously published in Egypt Independent . Versions of “Reclaiming Silence” were previously published in Egypt Independent and the Huffington Post . “The Gravity of Pharaohs” was previously published in the Huffington Post and Egypt Independent . “The Ax-bearers” was previously published under the title “The Baltageya ” in Egypt Independent . “After Maspero” was previously published under the title “Muslim, Christian—One Hand!” in the book Demanding Dignity , edited by Maytha Alhassan and Ahmed Shihab-Eldin (Ashland, Ore.: White Cloud Press, 2012). “Year of the Ostrich” and “A Nation Derailed” were previously published in Jadaliyya . “Tragedy and Farce” was previously published under the title “Egypt’s Shooting of an Elephant” in Egypt Independent . “Media Forms” was previously published under the title “Watching the Demise of Journalistic Form” in Egypt Independent . All reproduced by permission.

Dar el Kutub No. 14035/12
eISBN: 978-1-6179-7354-3

Dar el Kutub Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Iskandar, Adel
    Egypt in Flux: Essays on an Unfinished Revolution / Adel Iskandar.—Cairo: The American  University in Cairo Press, 2013.
    p. cm.
    ISBN 978 977 416 596 2
    1. Egypt – History
    962

1 2 3 4 5 17 16 15 14 13

Designed by Jon W. Stoy
To the motorcycle riders who in November 2011 on Muhammad Mahmud Street shuttled the injured to hospitals and the dead to morgues as battles raged between revolutionaries and the regime. Others were busy campaigning for elections.
And to those revolutionaries who prevented anyone with a university degree from accessing the front lines so they can live on to rebuild the country. They are the guardians of the revolution, not those in the corridors of power nor those who speak in their name.
For Sophia, who arrived in a changing world.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction 1: The End Days  Reclaiming Silence  Geddo and Messianic Football  On Marina and Chávez  The Simulacra of Religious Intolerance  Learning to Mourn with the Poles  Never Say No to the Panda  Best in Show  The Hegemony of Sharks  The End of Illegitimacy  Coptic Exodus from Disneyland  Ablaze the Body Politic  The Gravity of Pharaohs  Dared to Defy  2: Revolution Interrupted?  On Constitutional Reform  Liberating the Media  The Ax-bearers  Revolutionary Fatigues  Who’s Your Daddy?  After Maspero  Of Men and Hymen  The Lost Tribe  The Three-Horned Bull  3: Ad Infinitum  The Conscientious Objectors  Morsi’s Debts  Year of the Ostrich  A Seven A  Patron Saints  Tragedy and Farce  The State of Anarchy  New Face  Media Forms  Lemons and Raisins  Blood Ballots  A Nation Derailed 
Epilogue 
Key People and Events 
Acknowledgments
T his book would not be possible had it not been for the sacrifices of ordinary people in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Yemen, and everywhere else in the Arab world where the call for freedom reverberated in the streets. It is easy to be either cynical and jaded or overly optimistic and delusional about the progress of the uprisings in general and the Egyptian revolution specifically. However, history offers us the context we need to comprehend the present. To parse through this past and disentangle it, I am indebted to my mentor, who to my fortune is also my father, Dr. Talaat Iskandar Farag. A true visionary, a student leader during the pre-1952 revolutionary protest movement at Ibrahim Pasha University (now Ain Shams University), and a graduate of the college’s first class of medicine, he was embroiled in Egypt’s political and intellectual life from his teens. He worked at Rose al-Yusuf under Ihsan Abd al-Quddus, at the Physicians’ Syndicate, and in Yemen, Libya, Kuwait, and most recently in Canada. He has been my entry point into a lost generation of pioneers—a living archive of Egypt’s contemporary history and long freedom struggle. It was through him that I met and befriended the late veteran journalist Muhammad Ouda, the late literary giant Khairy Shalaby, pioneer cartoonist Ahmed Toughan, and many others. It was through him that I conversed with fabled rebel Sa‘d Zaghlul Fouad and learned about President Anwar al-Sadat’s pre-revolutionary days from Sadat’s most intimate friends. I came to understand why the 1950s were a time of phenomenal ferment, with a sharp resemblance to our generation’s struggle. I came to understand how the Free Officers eventually cannibalized their own children. Everyone was suppressed, from the Marxists to the Islamists, all in the name of unity and stability. As Egyptian politics got murky and questionable, my father abandoned it all and redirected his energy toward his vocation. When asked about this past, he would assertively and dismissively declare, “I am a doctor, D-O-C-T-O-R, a DOCTOR. That is all!” He tried to efface or erase the past either as a defense mechanism or an attempt at some semblance of normalcy. Now in his early eighties, he has outlived many of his contemporaries, his compatriots, his friends, their collective amnesia, the fading archives, and now even that most fearsome state apparatus. Listening to him reflect about his sixty-year account of Egypt is among the most captivating of experiences. He is a true intellectual in every sense of the word, and at a time of interreligious confusion he lived as a proud Egyptian Copt, unrestrained by institutions of state or church, fearless and forthright, unapologetic about his identity or his love for his country. His friends hail from the far right to the far left of the political spectrum, all holding him in extremely high regard, and those who recall the old days still call him al-Za‘im (the Leader). Since he remains insistent on not chronicling his own life, I am forced to disclose that at least a glimpse of it lives on in these essays. For his support, insight, guidance, and friendship, I am infinitely grateful.
Many thanks to my brother Essam Farag and his lovely wife Mira Farag, who attended to me during the writing of this manuscript and gave me sufficient fodder for argument and debate.
My late mother Magda El-Badramany, an accomplished psychiatrist who worked overtime until her illness debilitated her, continues to represent in my eyes the quintessential upright, resilient Egyptian woman. She never lived to see this rapture in Egyptian history, but I imagine her reactions to every twist and turn in events, and wonder what she would say.
My life partner, from whom I have learned the meanings of love and honesty, has been my anchor throughout this dizzying journey. This book is as much a product of her work as it is mine. Thank you for tolerating me throughout this upending experience. As has been true for many Egyptians, the revolution’s struggle has taken a toll on us all and thrown us off our tracks. Were it not for her reminding me of my bearings, I would have long ago lost my way.
To my friends, colleagues, associates, and confidants, whom I list in no particular order: Khody Akhavi, Timothy Kaldas, John Jirik, Mohamed Sabe, Aniello Alioto, Ehaab Abdou, Nadine Wahab, Shady Taha, Sarah Faragallah, Bilal Qureshi, Maureen Clements, Karim Eskaf, Wael Ghoneim, Sherif Sobhy Aziz, GemyHood, Sabah Hamamou, Zeinab Abul-Magd, Hafez El-Mirazi, Douglas Boyd, Mohammed el-Nawawy, Ayman Mohyeldin, Hossam Bahgat, Ibrahim El-Hodeiby, Shahira Amin, Sarah El-Sirgany, Omar Shoeb, Sarah Topol, Wael Abbas, Ramy Faragallah, Aliaa Mossalam, Yehia Shawkat, Bassem Youssef, Hicham A. Hellyer, Ibrahim El-Batout, Khaled Abu-l-Naga, Maged Maher Gabra, Paul Sedra, Anthony Shenouda, Vivian Ibrahim, Tamim Al-Barghouti, Mohammed Saeed Ezzeldin, Nancy Okail, Michael Atallah, Mohamed Awwad, Ahmed Gilani, Hala Elshayyal, Ahmed Toughan, the late Khairy Shalaby, the late Mohammed Ouda, Linda Herrera, Bassam Haddad, Hesham Sallam, Malihe Razazan, Kathy Hannah Laughlin, Dena Takruri, Mohammed Shehab Eldin, Nick Oxenhorn, Amro Ali, Dina Shehata, Bassem Hafez, Ahmed Nagy, Ezzat Amin, Jessica Malaty, Hossam El-Hamalawy, Lina Wardani, Fatemah Farag, Sultan Al-Qassemi, Bassam Haddad, Ziad Abu-Rish, Omar Offendum, the Narcycist, Kaila-Lee Clarke, Mayssam Zaroura, Shawn Jackson, and many others. Thank you all.
To the folks at the American University in Cairo Press: thank you, Randi Danforth, for your patience and perseverance, and the terrific Trevor Naylor, Neil Hewison, Nadia Naqib, Laila Ghali, the diligent copy-editor Abdalla Hassan, and project editor Johanna Baboukis.
To the Georgetown University community, which has been my home for the last few years, I am grateful for your kind support and the intellectual haven you have granted me—especially the faculty and staff of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS), including Michael C. Hudson, Samer Shehata, Osama Abi-Mershed, Roch