The ladies referred to in the title are Mona Eltahawy who is
an American writer of Egyptian origin, and Michelle Dunne as well as Katie
Bentivoglio, both of whom are of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace. All three ladies
seem unhappy with what is going on in Egypt when they should be happy for what
has been accomplished so far, and what is in the offing for this magnificent
civilization.
Dunne and Bentivoglio co-authored an article that came under
the title: “Egypt 's
Student Protests: The Beginning or the End of Youth Dissent?” published on
October 22, 2014 on the website of Carnegie Endowment for Peace. As to
Eltahawy, her article came under the title: “The Mirage of the 'New Egypt,'”
published on October 24, 2014 in the New York Times.
Mona Eltahawy speaks of “continuing the goals of our
revolution.” As I understand it, she was in Tahrir Square when the revolution erupted
more than three years ago but I saw no indication that she was associated with
any of the movements that brought about the revolution. If she means to say she
speaks as an Egyptian, then she must accept what the majority of Egyptians
want, and that is illustrated in her article even though she seems to tweak
reality a little bit – not by commission but by omission.
Here is the pertinent passage: “On the same day that Mr.
Sisi was selling the world a shiny, prosperous 'New Egypt,' Farag Rizk, 48,
hanged himself from a billboard overlooking a busy highway outside Cairo .” She went on to
explain that suicide is a huge taboo in Egypt , and that Mr. Rizk was denied
a raise “leaving him unable to afford his children's school fees.” What she
omitted saying is that Mr. Sisi was speaking of a prosperous Egypt he wants to build, not an Egypt that
exists at this time.
This being the case, all those in Egypt facing a hard time
to the same degree as Mr. Rizk would rather hear Mr. Sisi's speech at the UN in
which he pleaded for foreign investment to rebuild a country that was badly
hurt after more than tree years of revolution, than read the words of a former
young Egyptian, now an American living the cushy life, and making tons of money
romanticizing the memory of a youth movement that will not add one loaf of
bread on someone's table, or send someone's child to school before a desperate
father commits suicide.
And this brings us to the Dunne and Bentivoglio article in
which they make the following point in the very first paragraph of their
article: “popular support for President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi comes largely from
older Egyptians.” Yes ladies, these are the people who put bread on the table
of their families, and they are the ones putting their kids to school so that
they get as good an education as Mona Eltahawy ... but hopefully remain a
little more mature about the realities of life.
The two authors, Dunne and Bentivoglio, go on to document
what the universities are doing to dampen the revolutionary fervor which
continues to motivate some students, and causes them to put in jeopardy the
future of the other students as well as the country. They make it sound like
this is very bad for the country because they seem to believe that a body
hanging from a pole is a more cheerful sight than a loaf of bread on the table
of a family in need, or the sight of a child going to school.
In addition to the title of the article in which they
express their yearning for the “youth dissent” they witnessed in Tahrir Square more
than three years ago, they have two subheadings that tell of their concerns.
One subheading reads: “Police raids, expulsions, and bans;” the other reads:
“President Sisi's youth problem.”
There are two things to say about this. The first is that
Michelle Dunne seems to have learned the lesson that if she wants to be taken
seriously, she must never, ever again end an article on Egypt by
calling on the American government to punish that country for not listening to
her.
The second thing is that the youth movement in Egypt was
supported by the older generation which thanked them, even encouraged them to
have it. While a handful of young people want to have a never-ending
revolution, they are in the minority. The rest want to go to school, and so do
their parents – all of whom have seen enough revolution for now.