Patriotism For the First Time

This is a bit of a late post, but I never got a chance to publish it.

I have heard a lot of people say (and seen a lot of Facebook status messages) that they are "proud to be American for the first time" now that Barack Obama has been elected President of the United States. I understand that people have been incredibly unhappy the past eight years under the Bush administration, but does that mean one still cannot be proud to be American? I was proud when firefighters rushed into the burning World Trade Centers, knowingly giving their lives for their country and their countrymen. I was proud of the US olympic team while watching from a restaurant in Morocco. And I was proud to see Americans stand up and make their voices heard, regardless of the result.

The Same 20 Questions

If you were an American wandering the streets of Cairo these days, you might be asked the following questions upon meeting Egyptians:

1. Where are you from?
2. What is your religion?
3. What is your name?
4. What do you think of Obama?
5. What do you think of Israel?
6. What do you think of Bush?
7. What do you think about the invasion of Iraq?
8. Can you teach me English?

American Movies

Egyptians love American movies. A lot. Our friend Mohammed who cuts our hair down the street was just telling me that he noticed a couple of things in American movies and wanted to know if they reflected American society. The first is that there are a lot of gangs in America, and the second is that if people are fighting in the street, for example, no one pays any attention. He must have just seen Goodfellas and Bad Boys 2.

Anyway, the point is that Egyptians get a lot of their ideas about America from our movies. Movies are very popular here, and most Egyptians do not read books. They read newspapers, but that's about it. I can talk more about this later, but let me just quote a statistic from my professor who is an Arabic literature critic. He said that the greatest number of books sold in Egypt in one year written by Naguib Mahfouz, an Egyptian and possibly the most well-known Arab writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, was 3000 copies.

Many Egyptian movies are pointed expressions of Egyptian society. For example, we just finished watching a movie starring Adel Imam, one of the most famous Egyptian actors, in which he plays a business man who at one point buys some poems, releases a book of these poems under his own name, buys all the copies of the book, and then pays some people off to win Egypt's best poet award. The film of course deals with corruption.

So when Egyptians see American movies, they often think they are a direct reflection of American society. Needless to say I told Mohammed that the mafia and gangs are not really the biggest problems facing American society these days, and that although people do not help each other enough, its not as if it never happens.

I'm not sure he was convinced, but he loves Sly Stallone.

Egypt's Top Judge

My program was fortunate enough a few weeks ago to secure a meeting with Egypt’s top judge, Zakaria Abdel Aziz, head of the Judges Club. The Club is an institution to which all Egyptian judges belong, a type of judicial union/syndicate in Egypt, though I am not sure its exact legal status. Regardless, Abdel Aziz came to speak to us about his experience leading this group, his unprecedented legal opposition to the government (Unlikely Reformers: Egyptian Judges Challenge the Regime), and about women's legal issues in Egypt, an Egyptian man just being put in jail for sexual harassment in a landmark case(Egyptian Gets Jail for Sex Assault in Milestone Case).

Abdel Aziz began by giving us an interesting history of the Judges Club. He talked about when it was formed, how it works, and how it has historically dealt judicially with Egyptian politics, through times of both relative freedom and of intense political oppression. He was supposed to also speak to us about women’s issues in Egypt, but after giving the history of the Club, instead opened the floor up to questions. A student asked about the relationship between Egyptian law and Islamic law, called Sharia. A very good and fair question, as Egypt’s law is commonly known to be a mix of French civil law as a result of France’s colonization of Egypt, and elements of Sharia law, as Egypt is a Muslim country. Apparently the common knowledge in this case is wrong, as the judge explained that Sharia has nothing to do with Egyptian law. This is plainly false. Even my professor was surprised by this answer.

Abdel Aziz

The judge then went on, frankly to an astonished audience, explaining how although Egypt does not follow Sharia law, it is the best and most advanced type of judicial system and, yes I am serious, would even be a good system for the United States to adopt. He explained that the Jews failed morally under laws given to them in the Torah, and hence God sent another messenger to his people, Jesus, to give them new laws to follow. The Christians, of course, failed in this respect as well, leading God to send the Prophet Muhammad with the laws of the Quran. His proof of this was that it says in the Quran that Muhammad is the last messenger of God, bringing God’s final and complete message.

Slightly shocked, I thought I might change the subject and ask him about something we were supposed to be discussing. My question was “Do you have a comment on the recent ruling regarding the sexual harassment case, and what do you think is the future of this issue in Egypt politically, culturally, and socially?” I received a two part answer. The first part was that yes, there is a problem with sexual harassment in Egypt, but there are these same problems all across the world. In fact, there is an international phenomenon of moral decline, which is causing this problem. Even in America you have these problems. Next, he told me that if I go up to a woman on the street in Egypt and say something to her such as “oooh, you are so pretty,” or hiss at her, then I will get thrown in jail for a week because that is Egyptian law. Sexual Harassment in Egypt really deserves its own post, in fact, one could write an encyclopedia about it, but let me just say that it is sometimes the police officers here who are doing the harassing, and when my classmate got spit on the other day, and my other classmate got her crotch grabbed multiple times in broad daylight, no one went to jail.

So unfortunately, what could have been an incredibly rewarding discussion on the challenges to the judicial system in Egypt turned out to be, for lack of a better term, complete and utter bullshit. My classmates and I were not only disappointed, but angry as well.
What the judge talked about is indicative of a lot of social and cultural problems in Egypt. First, the view that Islam is the be all and end all, that is has the answers to everything, and that one is silly not to embrace it, is manifested in a myriad of contexts and as this educated, influential judge has proven, at all levels of society. Second is the lack of responsibility in Egyptian culture. Even in the Egyptian dialect, one does not say “I missed the bus.” The actual translation would be “the bus missed me.” The judge, who of all people should be willing to take responsibility and admit that Egypt has a problem with sexual harassment, blamed it on the rest of the world and of course, which brings me to my final point, brought the US into the discussion. I realize that because I am American, Egyptians may whole-heartedly want to discuss America with me, or relate what they are saying to the US because they think it might be useful for me or help elucidate a point. But even though the sex that Egyptians see in US movies certainly has an effect on their sexual behavior, it really is not an excuse for the terrible sexual harassment problems in Egypt.

It is a sad state of affairs in my opinion when the man who should be representing rule of law, accountability, and the democratic process refuses to deal with important issues facing his country and preaches his religion in place of a constructive discussion on the role of the judiciary. Not to mention he didn’t answer my question.

The Power of the Judicial System

My Uncle Gary has a PhD from Northwestern in psychology, received a law degree from Vanderbilt while in his 50's, and is a ranked US chess player. He now works as a public defender in Nashville, Tennessee.

"Teen is Acquitted of Double Murder"

I don't know if this kid is guilty or not. Neither does my uncle. The point is that in the United States of America one has the right to a fair trial and is innocent until proven guilty. No matter if your bloody fingerprints are at the scene of the crime.

I am proud of my uncle for doing what he does. To me, this is a great example of what being an American is all about. Serving your country, fighting for justice, and doing what is right, no matter the circumstances.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

In a few hours, history will probably be made. I have been reading lately about the American Revolution. I wonder what the Founding Fathers would have thought about today. I hope they would be proud. These men, along with their wives and families, and the thousands of other Americans who contributed, who worked, who fought, and who died, stood up and were counted. These were ordinary people. Booksellers, farmers, and fishermen. Many of them owned slaves. Today, Americans can still stand up and be counted. Today, ordinary Americans can still make a difference.

Living abroad in Egypt has obviously made me think about the United States and what it means to be American. People here are amazed that the President only serves two terms, and consider Americans lucky that they can not only afford to take the time out of their workdays to vote, but that their vote will actually be counted. America is not perfect. She will never be. The Founding Fathers realized soon after America was born that the struggle for freedom is never ending. This is our challenge as Americans, to always strive for freedom. We owe this to the people who built our nation, and we owe it to ourselves.

I am so proud to an American.

Gym Talk 2 "Why do Americans Think that all Arabs and Muslims are Terrorists?"

One of the questions I am most often asked by Egyptians is "why do Americans think that all Arabs and Muslims are terrorists?"

Most Egyptians I have spoken to believe that Americans have a very negative view of Arabs and Muslims (can I just write A/M for now if I am refering to both?) . Some of them do. But just like some Americans have stereotypes about Arabs or Muslims, Americans shouldn't all be stereotyped either.

Tonight in the gym, the Captain asked me why I was studying Arabic. I told him the usual, which I actually think I have explained to him before, the crux of which being that for whatever study or work I am going to be doing in the future, understanding Arabic will be crucial to understanding the politics, religion, culture, and people of the Middle East. With Ahmed, Walid, Mario (Mahmoud), and the Captain (whose name is also Mahmoud), we continued the conversation and spoke about Americans' ideas about people in the Middle East. Of course I get very worked up about this topic and although I talked a lot, which I know I normally do in these situations, I thought we had a good conversation and in the end, I think we all learned something and for the most part agreed with each other. I wish I had a transcript of it so as not to miss anything, but I'll share what I can remember write now.

Ahmed said that Americans believe stereotypes about A/M because of American media. This is interesting, because I having been watching more Al-Jazeera lately and although I think it is a good news channel, it is no doubt biased. So I explained that I think all news and every person has biases, and that the challenge is to gather as much information as possible and then sort it out for oneself. Fox News vs. Al-Jazeera. Neither are perfect, but I learn from both. Ahmed seemed to agree. I explained that part of the reason I am here in Egypt is, in this sense, to get as much information as possible and then go home and try to help Americans understand this region better.

You know what? I realize I sound pompous with some of this and frankly I am sick of writing about this stuff. What I really want to say in this post is how awesome it is and how lucky I am to be able to joke around, talk politics, and make friends with a bunch of Egyptian guys my age in a "ghetto" gym in the middle of Cairo. For me, that is such an important part of what this experience is about. That is the learning that takes place outside of the classroom.

Saddam and America

I've just bought a copy of a book that has been prominently displayed at my local bookshop for the past few weeks. Because it has a free video CD that comes with it, I just couldn't resist. The book is titled "Saddam was Not Executed," and it is by an Egyptian author named Anis Al-Deghidy. The book is in Arabic, but here is a picture of its English cover:


I don't know anything about the book yet other than the fact that the guy in the store told me it is very popular. I asked him if he thought Saddam was still alive, and when I asked where he thought he might be, he gave me an answer along the lines of "Saddam surrendered Iraq to America...he is under American protection."

I then went next door to buy my food staples, which by the way include whole wheat bread, cheddar cheese, orange juice, Ritz crackers, ice cream, and bad Egytian potato chips. I also make salad sometimes, so don't worry.

I showed the cashier my newly purchased literary masterpiece and he said "yes, Saddam was not killed. Saddam is good. America made Saddam, and then he stood up to them." He wouldn't really get into it any further than that, but as I walked outside, my roommate was finishing a conversation which apparently began with one of the grocery store workers telling my roommate that he had a German-Jewish friend. Neither of us are sure where that information came from, but regardless it led to him telling us how all people are the same, whether Muslim, Christian, or Jew, and that we all go through the same things in life. For example, America was nothing, and now it is powerful. Egypt, too, was nothing, and then it was powerful, and now it is nothing again. He was very nice, and we couldn't really disagree with him, and despite the fact that I sometimes wonder how genuine these kumbaya street discussions are, it left me with a good feeling. We wished him a happy Ramadan and walked home.

Iftar at Amani's

Today the roommates and I went to iftar at our landlady's home in 6th of October City, about a 20 minute car ride Northwest of Cairo proper. Iftar is the meal traditionally eaten to break the fast during Ramadan, and it is common to invite friends and family to one's home or to eat at a communal meal (some of which are subsidized) at a mosque. Our landlady, who I am happy to say is very nice and easy to deal with, which is not usually the case in Cairo, had invited us a long time ago to come to her home for a meal and to meet her family. She lives in a beautiful, modest (but quite nice by Egyptian standards), white stone house which was actually designed, both inside and out, by her husband, who is a doctor. They grow olives, mint, and hibiscus at the house and have a pool and a quiet back porch with a wonderful breeze that, frankly, makes you forget you are in Egypt.

Her family was of course very nice and she has two married daughters, only one of whom we met, who like most upper class Egyptians her age is well educated and fluent in English. The food, shown below, was completely home cooked and delicious. And as usual in Egypt, they pretty much forced us to keep eating. I had 3 bowls of soup and 1 and a half plates of everything else and now I feel sick. It was well worth it, though.



We also had an interesting conversation with our landlady's daughter, Pakinam, and her husband, Ahmed, who is also well educated and fluent in English and who does advertising for Coca-Cola. Our landlady's grandmother was Turkish, and she gave her kids, Pakinam and Ingi, Turkish names. Pakinam asked us what we thought of Egyptian culture, on which I happened to have many opinions, so we all got into a discussion about it and it was very interesting. I won't go through the whole discussion now, but I wanted to share Ahmed's thoughts about American culture as he has lived and done business there. Ahmed said that Americans are generally very straight forward and helpful and they are willing to help strangers unless they are given a reason to mistrust them. I asked him for some negative impressions and he brought up an issue which I often hear Egyptians talk about which is Americans' ignorance regarding world affairs.

I think this is a fair criticism of American culture as there are way too many Americans in my opinion who know nothing about what is going on in the world and yes, who do not know where Iraq and South Africa are and whatever it is that woman said. However, what I do object to, and I don't think Ahmed really meant it this way, is when people from other countries call Americans ignorant as if they are more ignorant on average than people from other countries. That is ridiculous. Just because way too many Americans do not know where China is on a map does not mean that fewer Americans than say, Azerbaijanis, do not know, for instance, the square root of sixteen. It seems to me that Americans are often chastised for their lack of geographical knowledge. This is no excuse, but in the Middle East for example, geo-political issues are much more domestically salient than they are in the United States. It makes more sense that the average person in Beirut would know something about what is going on in Amman, for example, than an average person in Salt Lake City would know about what is going on in Guatemala City. What is happening in Amman is more likely to have an effect on someone in Beirut than what is happening in Guatemala City would have on someone in Salt Lake City.