Nobel Peace laureate and democracy advocate Mohamed ElBaradei called on American television for Mubarak to step down, telling CBS' "Face the Nation" that, "He absolutely has to leave ... The American government cannot ask the Egyptian people to believe that a dictator who has been in power for 30 years will be the one to implement democracy."

Well, they say timing is everything! I don’t know who “they” are but, as most of you know, we just returned from a trip to Egypt and India.  We left Cairo just days before it exploded in civil strife and unrest. Several friends and family have texted, e-mailed, and Face-booked me on what we saw and experienced related to the unrest there now.

Now let me be Frank, or Sally or whoever, and explain that this is my account and experience and in no way am I a political pundit, analyst or foreign affairs expert but simply a tourist who witnessed this part of the world just days before the unrest. While most of us formulate our opinions about these far away events in parts of the world unfamiliar to us, I actually got to speak to Egyptians, briefly discuss political situations there, and witness the city of Cairo, and the surrounding region, just days before the Egyptian riots started. We were actually in Egypt about a week before the Tunisia events started to unfold, so I feel we got to experience the true frustrations and situations in Egypt before the harbingers of trouble began with the riots in Tunisia.  

So, here’s my story...

Let me say from the  moment we landed in Egypt and drove the 40 minute drive from the airport to the hotel, I was pleasantly bewildered at the modernization and western-like atmosphere of one of the largest populated Islamic countries in the world. Stores and billboards sporting the likeness of suave, sophisticated, and  modern models who looked glamourous.

It was the same story in the hotels but more pronounced and less covered. They were beautiful Arab women and men dripping in Gucci, carrying Louis Vuitton luggage and purses, Ray Ban sunglasses, Coco Channel fashions, short skirts, occasional cleavage, drinking of alcohol in the bars, loads of jewels, and smoking of cigarettes and cigars. The only time I have seen people that designer-conscious was in New York on Madison Avenue. These were the wealthy Egyptians and locals. In fact on my Jan. 6th blog, (which I know you all remember), I commented on the my biggest surprise was this glamour element in Cairo.

When our tour group left for the pyramids and drove 40 minutes to Giza, the stark reality of how the “other half lives” slapped me in the face like a cold fish. The drive out of Cairo in daylight (we arrived late at night from the airport), was shocking! Litter, smog, traffic, and living conditions were startling.  We saw families living in abandoned and dilapidated apartments and lack of modern conveniences for most.  The drive through the village of Giza, home of the only surviving seven wonders of the world, had dirty-faced children, closed shops, abandoned hotels, litter, and more donkeys than cars. It was like stepping back 150 years in time. The adult vendors were aggressive and a large percentage of the hockers of trinkets were children not in school. It was depressing. All of the tourists and wealth funneled into that country and it’s NOT being trickled down to the people through a free market or capitalism. When the Cairo museum opened to the public, thousands of people poured in paying an admission, but it was the saddest museum (I noted that in my Jan. 9th log) with some of the oldest artifacts in the world. The money pouring into that museum is NOT going to the museum or jobs.

In short, too late for that I know, I saw a huge disparity between the rich and poor, a lack of an evident middle class, and I saw poverty with out hope. I heard comments from Egyptians over the concern over the Islamization of their country, stories of corrupt elections, how they missed the “old Cairo”, horrific unemployment, daughters being pressured at work to wear religious head coverings, non-potable water situation, massive pollution and litter, educated people who leave their country for the hope and opportunities not found at home, lack of centralized services like trash pick up, civil servants who supplement their low incomes with small briberies, rising food costs, and a lack of hope among the people. A major sense of “Marie Antoinette attitude” of let the poor eat cake. 

Never once did I sense or hear an attitude of a “religious/extremist take over” of their country, but secular wants and needs. They want food, jobs, and education for their families. No one wants an extremist group to take over of their government. When 40% of your people live on less $2 a day, then whoever steps up and offers them food and jobs over basic human rights they will cling too. There’s an old saying that Democracy is for those with full stomachs, the hungry just want to eat. Let’s hope they find food and true democracy in Egypt. 

Most Egyptians are skeptical about the process of democratization and the intent of the election rules.  Less than 25 percent of the country’s 32 million registered voters (out of a population of more than 72 million) turned out for the 2005 elections. -Gomez, Edward M. Hosni Mubarak’s pretend democratic election. San Francisco Chronicle. September 13, 2005.

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write- Source: CIA World Factbook - Unless otherwise noted, information in this page is accurate as of December 30, 2010
total population: 71.4%     male: 83%     female: 59.4% (2005 est.)    Rank: 165

In closing, in every city, highway, road, and village there were hundreds of posters of President Mubarak, as if after 30 years the people still needed a daily and constant reminder of who was in charge of their country. I think they know whose in charge and they want change...

Melissa    Jan. 30th, 2011