You might not know it if you follow the English-language Western media, but Egyptians are experiencing a new positive mood, no thanks to its enemies’ unrelenting scathing propaganda. Where there were once cities blighted by violence, looming bankruptcy, daily electricity cuts and shortages of petrol as well as cooking gas, today there is hope. As one of my friends on social media wrote, you have to live here to feel it.
Carmen Gindi, writing on the “Egypt Om El Donia” website, noticed the changed atmosphere during a recent visit. “I was genuinely impressed,” she writes. “Compared to five years ago (which is when I was there last right before the revolution), Egypt is less congested, more developed in terms of infrastructure—more roads, highways, ring roads, bridges etc.—and it appears comparatively more prosperous.
She further notes “El-Sisi’s popularity is soaring. People can easily sense a difference between life today and life only two years ago.” She’s right. Those who were skeptical that he could fulfill his pledges have been won-over by tangible improvements. Yes, the country faces many security and economy-related problems, which the government is working hard to overcome and for the first time in a very long time the Egyptian people are on board.
Anyone who was here last Thursday when the new Suez Canal, “Egypt’s gift to the World” was launched would be foolish to conclude otherwise. The streets and the squares throughout the country resonated with pure joy. Kids with faces painted in the colors of the flag, women dancing and ululating, young men zooming along on flag-decked motorcycles, singers on impromptu stages and cars on which were mounted replicas of ships screamed renewed love of country.
Western journalists with massive chips on their shoulders when it comes to Egypt would decry this outpouring of national pride as “nationalistic.” But so what! Two years ago, the majority of Egyptians were going around muttering “el balad bize” (the country’s broken). Today their collective despondency has been replaced with optimism. And, indeed, there is much to look forward to.
For one thing, countries that were hostile when the stranglehold of the Muslim Brotherhood was ended are now actively courting Egypt as a strategic partner in the fight against terrorism, and as a country of 90 million offering unlimited investment opportunities.
Whereas, the Bush administration had been hobnobbing with Brotherhood leaders against Cairo’s objections, Secretary of State John Kerry, during a recent visit, accused the Brotherhood of stealing the legacy of the Jan. 25, 2011, revolution and acknowledged its members have engaged in terrorist activities.
As a sign that Egyptian politicians are wary of foreign meddling in Egypt’s internal affairs, Kerry’s meeting with opposition leaders didn’t go as planned. They told him very politely that while they welcomed America’s friendship, they were not prepared to discuss their country’s business with outsiders.
Importantly, the US and Egypt are reigniting a formal strategic dialogue, the first since 2009. The president has made state visits to France, Italy and Germany and has received an invitation to visit Britain, the country’s biggest foreign investor.
However, unlike his predecessors, the president is avoiding putting his nation’s eggs in one string-laden basket. The government has diversified its weapons-suppliers and its military might has been bolstered with advanced French Rafale fighter jets, Russian MiGs as well as American F16s, Apache helicopters and Abram tanks kits.
A strong military is crucial at a time when the nation is not only fending off threats from its porous border with Libya and in the northern Sinai where Daesh has set-up shop, but is also committed to the security of GCC states, in particular, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, which sheltered Egypt through tough times both financially and diplomatically. The Suez Canal project is set to provide 90,000 new jobs once hundreds of new factories and industrial parks are built alongside that, according to banking and economy expert Ezz El-Din Hassanin, have the potential to generate $150 billion annually. Russian and Chinese companies are queuing to assist with the area’s development.
In the meantime, the authorities are replacing slum dwellings with affordable homes, providing clean waters to villages and constructing or renovating schools, hospitals and factories. Symbolizing the country’s renewed sense of national pride is Cairo’s Khedive downtown that’s receiving a transformative face lift; the facades of buildings have been repainted; roads repaved and made pedestrian only, street vendors relocated and garish publicity signs taken down.
There’s much left to do. Change can’t occur in one day and one night but as long as this can-do spirit prevails, “New Egypt” won’t be just a slogan, and the sour grapes bunch rooting for the country to fail will be proved wrong.
Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.
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Flowering of a strong Egypt
Posted on August 12, 2015 by Linda S. Heard
You might not know it if you follow the English-language Western media, but Egyptians are experiencing a new positive mood, no thanks to its enemies’ unrelenting scathing propaganda. Where there were once cities blighted by violence, looming bankruptcy, daily electricity cuts and shortages of petrol as well as cooking gas, today there is hope. As one of my friends on social media wrote, you have to live here to feel it.
Carmen Gindi, writing on the “Egypt Om El Donia” website, noticed the changed atmosphere during a recent visit. “I was genuinely impressed,” she writes. “Compared to five years ago (which is when I was there last right before the revolution), Egypt is less congested, more developed in terms of infrastructure—more roads, highways, ring roads, bridges etc.—and it appears comparatively more prosperous.
She further notes “El-Sisi’s popularity is soaring. People can easily sense a difference between life today and life only two years ago.” She’s right. Those who were skeptical that he could fulfill his pledges have been won-over by tangible improvements. Yes, the country faces many security and economy-related problems, which the government is working hard to overcome and for the first time in a very long time the Egyptian people are on board.
Anyone who was here last Thursday when the new Suez Canal, “Egypt’s gift to the World” was launched would be foolish to conclude otherwise. The streets and the squares throughout the country resonated with pure joy. Kids with faces painted in the colors of the flag, women dancing and ululating, young men zooming along on flag-decked motorcycles, singers on impromptu stages and cars on which were mounted replicas of ships screamed renewed love of country.
Western journalists with massive chips on their shoulders when it comes to Egypt would decry this outpouring of national pride as “nationalistic.” But so what! Two years ago, the majority of Egyptians were going around muttering “el balad bize” (the country’s broken). Today their collective despondency has been replaced with optimism. And, indeed, there is much to look forward to.
For one thing, countries that were hostile when the stranglehold of the Muslim Brotherhood was ended are now actively courting Egypt as a strategic partner in the fight against terrorism, and as a country of 90 million offering unlimited investment opportunities.
Whereas, the Bush administration had been hobnobbing with Brotherhood leaders against Cairo’s objections, Secretary of State John Kerry, during a recent visit, accused the Brotherhood of stealing the legacy of the Jan. 25, 2011, revolution and acknowledged its members have engaged in terrorist activities.
As a sign that Egyptian politicians are wary of foreign meddling in Egypt’s internal affairs, Kerry’s meeting with opposition leaders didn’t go as planned. They told him very politely that while they welcomed America’s friendship, they were not prepared to discuss their country’s business with outsiders.
Importantly, the US and Egypt are reigniting a formal strategic dialogue, the first since 2009. The president has made state visits to France, Italy and Germany and has received an invitation to visit Britain, the country’s biggest foreign investor.
However, unlike his predecessors, the president is avoiding putting his nation’s eggs in one string-laden basket. The government has diversified its weapons-suppliers and its military might has been bolstered with advanced French Rafale fighter jets, Russian MiGs as well as American F16s, Apache helicopters and Abram tanks kits.
A strong military is crucial at a time when the nation is not only fending off threats from its porous border with Libya and in the northern Sinai where Daesh has set-up shop, but is also committed to the security of GCC states, in particular, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, which sheltered Egypt through tough times both financially and diplomatically. The Suez Canal project is set to provide 90,000 new jobs once hundreds of new factories and industrial parks are built alongside that, according to banking and economy expert Ezz El-Din Hassanin, have the potential to generate $150 billion annually. Russian and Chinese companies are queuing to assist with the area’s development.
In the meantime, the authorities are replacing slum dwellings with affordable homes, providing clean waters to villages and constructing or renovating schools, hospitals and factories. Symbolizing the country’s renewed sense of national pride is Cairo’s Khedive downtown that’s receiving a transformative face lift; the facades of buildings have been repainted; roads repaved and made pedestrian only, street vendors relocated and garish publicity signs taken down.
There’s much left to do. Change can’t occur in one day and one night but as long as this can-do spirit prevails, “New Egypt” won’t be just a slogan, and the sour grapes bunch rooting for the country to fail will be proved wrong.
Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.