Jimmy's Corner

In Al Gomhuria Newspaper's Saturday January 26th issue Mohamed Ali Ibrahim writes what supports what I have previously stated here in the last post. In other words, I was not being a hardliner as many thought. I could find the same point at Sandmonkey's, that is to say, if someone is being blinded to see the truth, they are those who can't see beyond their nose tips.

In brief:

1. The day Israel announced plans to set a blockade on Gaza, Hamas were planning to invade Egyptian borders.
2. First, they coordinated with Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to take it to the streets to put pressure on the Egyptian government. An action that the government could abort and arrested many Muslim Brotherhood members.
3. Then, Hamas uses explosives and a bulldozer to flatten the border fence. Putting women in the front as the first to pass into Egypt. They know Egyptians would not stop women who are seeking food and supplies for their children. (Al Gomhuria same issue)
4. There were plans to kidnap Egyptian soldiers and take them into Gaza to put pressure on the Egyptian government to press on Israel to relieve the blockade. (Al Gomhuria same issue)
5. Under any circumstances, Egyptians will not use force to stop the people flowing into their country to not to cause a public relations crisis. Thus, if things started to tighten up, Hamas militants would shoot and use the same stones they used to hit the Israelis with against Egyptian soldiers. Result: Egyptians will pull back.

The result is clear. It was a well prepared plan that is still in action. The Palestinians who are supposedly in Egypt to find supplies for their families in Gaza are like these ones:

One Palestinian bought a camel in the Egyptian coastal town of el-Arish for his wedding day and rode it all the way home to Gaza City, a distance of more than 80 km (50 miles).

Another one:

"I bought a motorcycle, cigarettes, biscuits, corn chips, cheese and a small generator. I think they can close the border now," said 38-year-old Saeed al-Helo after crossing back into Gaza. "I think Gaza has enough food supplies for a month."

That was from Al Jazeera, and on BBC:

...The Palestinians of Gaza will continue to move freely across the border, to shop and meet old friends and family. Some are even using the opportunity to leave Gaza altogether.

This post is dedicated to those who called me a maniac, blinded, crazy, super-traitor and stupid. Back at you. This video shows the situation now:

Labels: blockade, egypt, egyptian, gaza, government, israel, mubarak, palestine, palestinians, stupid, war

As a whole new year starts, hopes and wishes become the spirit of the world; specially in the first few days of January. In Egypt, we replaced hopes and wishes with brain farts....

Earlier last year, the government announced that a citizen who earns 45 Egyptian pounds (EGP)a month is not officially considered poor. With very little calculation we come to the conclusion that a citizen that earns 540 EGP a year is not considered poor. Thus, basically the Egyptian government believes that a citizen that earns what is equal to 97 USD a year is not poor.

When I first read that piece of news I did not think about its impact on people as much as I thought of what kind of ivory towers the government in Egypt is living in. If you do not know, 45 EGP can hardly help you survive a day in Egypt; satisfying your daily needs only. And if you consider taking a quick view of the payment-versus-prices scale in Egypt, you will find out that 540 EGP a month are not even enough to help you lead a minimalist life where you just satisfy your daily needs and pay your bills. So what about 540 a year?... Yeah, true! Bullshit.

In order to help you imagine the life of a man who earns 45 EGP a month, I list the following prices:
Metro/Subway ticket: 1 pound one way. (Note: it was only 50 piasters until the government took control of the facility)
Bus ticket: 50 piasters. (Note: it is not a bus as much as it is a destroyed garbage can)
Bread: 25 piasters a loaf (Note: you need at least 4 for your 3 meals)

Water bill: Nothing less 10 pounds.
Phone bill: Nothing less 45 pounds.
Electricity bill: Nothing less than 20 pounds.

Now you are an Egyptian that eats only bread and uses only one bus a day (saying that you go where you to earn your living once in a bus and then walking back home) and you are not paying your water, phone or electricity bills: you are not a poor man. Therefore, if you pay the rent to your landlord, take the luxury of using the subway, take the adventure of using cheese with bread for your breakfast and decided the help the government by paying your bills you will not only fall short of your 45 EGP a month budget, but also you will go to jail. And still, you are not a poor man to the government.

What is worse is to find people who believe what the government pucked into the media mics. I have seen a conversation today where one of my relatives was arguing so hard that Egypt has no poor people. He was also arguing that no one is poor in Egypt that is why the government does not consider a guy with a 540 EGP annual income to be poor. People believed that shit.

My uncle replied back that when they were making a survey about the situation in Cairo's poorest districts they found people who live beyond what we can call "the life of animals". They do not have a stable income and leading a life that produces only criminals and thugs. They survey concluded that these families have income that is higher than 45 EGP a month. However, despite their vivid need of help, the Egyptian government do not treat them as poor.

And there are assholes who believe and make their own 2008's brain fart: Egypt is the land of the rich.

Labels: egypt, egyptian, government, poor

Well this is the first time I bring up a topic that actually affects me personally. Egypt needs scholarships. In every 'respectable' country in the world there are businessmen, companies, institutions, individuals and governments who give scholarship grants to their countrymen. In Egypt it is totally different.

Being an Egyptian young man that is actually dreaming of the day he has the chance to study abroad in a 'any' university where he can have his masters degree, I have come to face the truth that you have to be a millionaire or superman to win a scholarship in Egypt. My wish was to study applied linguistics in either the States or UK, a simple dream that actually puts me a step ahead to the future I want to live. I found out that I have to have at least 250.000 Egyptian pounds in order to achieve my dream. And keep in mind, a 250.000 Egyptian pounds to an Egyptian is like a 250.000 US dollars to an American or a 250.000 Sterling pounds to a UK national. So I am talking a lot of money here, money that a young man like me cannot afford because unfortunately my father is not Bill Gates of Arabia and my mother is not Queen Elizabeth and I am not living in Utopia. Therefore, I started searching for a scholarship as I know my academic record is quite honorable. And here I smash into the truth.

The Egyptian government does not offer scholarships but to very very very few people and they have to be working with the Egyptian governmental universities. Therefore, I am out. Egyptian businessmen do not offer scholarships, except for Onsi Sawiris who offers a scholarship to a handful of engineers. And I am not an engineer. Therefore, I search for the foreign scholarships:

• British Council, you have to have experience (not less than 2 years), outstanding academic record and be lucky.
• Fulbright Commission, you have to have experience, outstanding academic record and be ready to stay at least a year till your role comes in if you have the power to pass and be chosen.

I have spent the whole past year looking, applying and trying to get anything. I miserably failed. And there are thousands like me who are ready to what it takes to have the chance of going on a scholarship abroad to achieve their dreams.

The question is: why do not the Egyptian businessmen offer scholarships like the way things are all over the world? Why does not the Egyptian government give a helping hand to those who really want to serve their country by have the chance of receiving an education that helps them grow rather than be buried? It goes without an answer.

Labels: businessmen, egypt, egyptian, government, personal, scholarships

Guys, we have received more than 192 billion dollars of aids from the world during the past 30 years. Can you feel the difference??

How did we get these tons of money?
10 billion dollars from the Arab countries. (1971 to 1979)
50 billion dollars from the USA. (1979 till now)
20 billion dollars of aids from the World Bank.
25 billion dollars from the EU.
10 billion dollars from Japan.
27 billion dollars from the Arab countries after the end of the boycott.
50 billion dollars of dropped debts according to Paris Treaty.

Total: 192 billion dollars/30 years

And the government is complaining from the economic cession. Viva Corruption.
(Sources: Al Masry Al Youm)

Labels: aids, corruption, dollars, egypt, government, usa

The Human Rights Watch's latest report about Egypt seems to have reached a conclusion about what Mubarak has been doing in the country for 25 years. The guys in this organization have just come to terms with what the Egyptian street realized 10 or 20 years ago. Ironically, the report is released at the peak of the farce of constitutional reformation that Mubarak is directing. I really like the following quote in the report:

“The government has for decades used the political parties law to fix elections before they begin,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Egypt needs a new political parties law that respects Egyptians’ rights to form political parties and to vote for whomever they choose.”

Where was the report decades ago then??

Anyway, this report will remain a matter of ink on paper as long as there is no real kicking in the government's butt to apply real democracy.

Read the report here

Labels: democracy, egypt, government, human rights, mubarak, report