Is this it?

Is this it? A question I ask myself everyday. Is this the culmination of all the dreams and aspirations I had for this chapter of my life. Did I put in all this time and effort just to be admitted into this glorified rat race.

Everyday I wake up and put in all the effort I can muster just to retain my spot in that race with the only outcome being barely enough money to cover the essentials. Completely wrapped up in achievements that mean nothing seen in their proper scope. Slowly climbing the hierarchy becoming a part of the system I loath. One day if I'm lucky I may even head this sweatshop managing younger slightly less depressed versions of myself... That's the best case scenario.

Designed to entrap you within the system is built to foil any attempts to escape it. Once you are in you grow dependent on it, gradually losing your grip on the bigger picture and at one point start believing that this bubble is the entire universe and even start resisting anybody who tries convincing you of anything else.

A Dark Hot Summer is Ahead

Rolling blackouts are back, people all over the city reporting electricity blackouts, and its only the second hot day this year. The country is already suffering from this crushing diesel outage and its impacting all facets of life, and now as it seems we are heading towards a gas shortage induced electricity outage.

The diesel outage which is impacting all facets of our lives started around a month ago slowly getting worse, already there are 10s of cars queuing up for any gas station that has diesel, the real problem is that this country is running over diesel. The entire logistical system runs on diesel and now we raw materials and merchandise are stuck where they are. The future looks even more grim when you realize that farms actually run on diesel as well. sowing machines, water pumps and even tractors, everything runs on diesel. The 3 ministries responsible for power are playing a blame game with one another each pointing at the other claiming their responsibility, while in reality its a matter of lacking the funds needed to import the required diesel. Simply speaking we don't have the money needed to keep this country running.

Natural gas requires a lot of time to import, it takes 4 or 5 months. On January we were supposed to import the gas needed for this summer, that didn't happen, the direct result is that we don't have the gas needed to run the electricity stations during this summer. The reason is mainly lack of foreign currency and the fact that since our credit classification was lowered several times over the last 2 years, and now we need to pay in advance. We are out of money, out of gas and out of diesel. Over the next few months I believe its only going to get a lot worse during the next summer.


A dark long summer is a head of us, the question is whether we'd be able to survive it.

The Escape Plan

In the last few days I spent many hours searching for vacancies in the Gulf and Europe, I applied in any vacancy that had the slightest resemblance to my current career track. My main target now is to exit this country before it's eminent financial implosion, eminent is the only way to describe it. I've been even losing sleep over that, imaging what this country has to go through over the next few years makes me feel worried enough to be willing to accept positions that I'd have definitely rejected few months ago.

Most of the people I talked to in my line of business are feeling the same way and I'm sure most of them are spending their insomniac nights going through online vacancies. Survival instinct kicking in pushing every body to search for that lifeline that'd ensure his survival during the financial meltdown, and as a side effect hammering in the last nail in this countries coffin. With all the skilled workers running out even with the devalued EGP multinationals wouldn't be that interested in operating in egypt, especially with the political instability we've been going through lately. This country is becoming less and less attractive by the passing of every minute, and even though layoffs aren't even a possibility right now it's only a matter of time till they are.

During the darkest times after the MOIs dissaoearance act and the state of lawlessness and chaos this country fell into right after the revolution, I was provided with a generous offer by employer at the time to move into another country till things settle down. An offer I promptly rejected citing how I believe in egypt and how I feel I belong here, egypt needed me and I'd never leave it in such conditions I added. Looking back I realize how I felt that I belonged in this country high in national pride and full of positivity. It wasn't much of a surprise to learn later that they extended the same offer to each and every member in my team and they all individually rejected it. Even before that fresh out university I turned down several offers to work in the Gulf always saying that egypt isn't a hotel you leave as soon as you can. I had a duty towards this country and I'm not leaving till I fulfill it. Obviously that egypt I was talking about was nothing more than a figment of my imagination, an illusion I shared with a certain class of people, yet it never really existed.

With every decision the people make I realize how little I know about the locals, a completely different type of people who share little to nothing with me.

Third Reel of The Revolution

Cinema movies come in reels, usually 4 of them, with two projectors cinema houses switch between reels without the viewers even noticing it, usually the reels over lap and a queue is given to the projectionist to switch reels.


Usually the first two reels include most of the plot and the build up, while the last reel include the closure and most of the action, with the third reel stuck in between it offers nothing but a time filler usually including all the plot tie ins which serve nothing but make the plot more believable. In viewers terms, usually the third reel is when most people start feeling bored and sneak out for cigarettes, usually it has more dialog than action. Robert Rodriguez intentionally removed the third reel from his ground house master piece Planet Terror thus shortening the movie and increasing the actions scenes per dialog scenes ration.

Currently I feel like we are stuck in an incredibly long, director cut style third reel of this revolution, where all the plot tie ins happen, lots of dialog no action and instead of moving forward along the plot, time is spent explaining how things turned out to be the way they did...Most of the revolutionary -and even some of the ex regime's- forces sneaked out for that cigarette, Hamdeen has been on omra for over 15 days now, Elbaradei is jetting all over the globe, Shafeek is on omra as well in Dubai where Omar Suliman has spent the last month or two. With an incredibly hot summer around the corner and Ramadan coinciding with it I don't think we are going to get out of this third reel anytime soon.

Denial (Selective Cognition)

I think we are all living in denial, Over the years we trained ourselves not to see whats really going on around us applying what can only be described as selective cognition, over the years we trained ourselves not to see the poverty that surrounds us, the derelict state our country is in. Filtering out all that and only seeing things that costs us nothing to hate (such as the internet speed, availability of parking spots...), This entry is about all these things we choose not to see.

Some luxuries can't be bought by even the richest Egyptians, little luxuries such as going for a walk in the street and knowing that you wont get harassed either sexually or by a never ending stream of beggars / street vendors, even if neither existed the state of the pavement makes it impossible for anyone to enjoy such a walk (do you even remember the last time you went for a walk?). Driving isn't much better, with the state our streets are in, the traffic and the fact that you get extorted every time you park your car, either pay or come back to find an interesting brand new scratch across the hood of your car. Every time you stop you have to fend off street merchants and beggars knocking on your window (which is always rolled up these days) with that look of despair in their eyes. The poverty, the despair can have a toll on anybody's psychological state...filtering out such things is a defense strategy used to avoid feeling how helpless you are towards helping any of them.

The best things in life are free, such as being able to take a long walk and actually enjoy it, or perhaps being able to enjoy sunset by the nile, or even just sitting down in a clean calm place and enjoy the serenity which is a God given right, or even being able to attend a decent Friday prayers sermon without feeling like leaving half way through, unfortunately none of this is available for us here in Egypt, even the pavements have been taken over by thugs who would only rent you the spot you are standing in or harass you till you can't take it any longer.

its all about the lack of the basic governmental infrastructure 

Quality is such an illusive word here in Egypt, no one seems to care enough to do whatever he is doing well. If you are in Egypt you'd better not get sick, cause if you do, even if you had all the money of the world there is no way for you to find proper medical care. Same applies to suffering from car issues or anything that'd require the least possible amount of skills.

I think it all comes down the government not being there and I'm not talking about the regime i'm talking about the services offered and regulated by governmental entities. No one cares to work since no one is accountable to what he does, the country stopped offering these services long ago. Signalling people to find other providers to replace them even if you have to pay twice for the same service (taxes) , services as simple as the phone directory (remember 140 daleel), I wrote an entry earlier about compounds and how people are moving into them only cause they lost any faith they had towards the city they are living in.

Here is a dirty secret, you know channel 1 (Egyptian national TV), the one almost no one watches ? I think its operational costs are a lot more than any other private egyptian channel (most probably even these gulf run channels)

The reason that triggered me into writing this is how half the people living in my street decided to pave their part of the street by renting a loader and a paving crew, they have a point after all the street has been in such a bad street over the last 6 or 8 years, and it has progressively gotten worse over the last year, so they decided to do it themselves, the fun part is, after taking out all the asfalt from the street, and right before they started paving it, the paving crew left. Perhaps they haven't bribed the people in charge and hence they ordered them to stop, Life goes on.

The situation is just miserable

The situation is too miserable to talk about ....

Conspiracy Theory, SAW and the Egyptian Efficiency

These days several things are going on in Egypt, one disaster after the other striking us all where it hurts the most, our hearts. You know that the Egyptians are really hurt about a certain incidents when they don't make new jokes about it. After each of these disasters people start talking about conspiracies being planned and executed by one entity or another, I believe its the one thing that people from all sorts of political backgrounds have in common, each accusing a different entity of course; An entity that exceeds in its efficiency and preciseness anything we Egyptians can produce, planning and executing one event after another at a level only ARIIA from eagle eye can produce.

We all know how Egypt is, we Egyptians have a really good sense of humor, we are kind and generally peaceful what we aren't though is clever, efficient or good at planning/executing. One of our most famous movies (life or death) is about a pharmacist that handed out his customer poison instead of medicine and the entire movie is about trying to stopping the customer from consuming it; Cars that are assembled in Egypt even high end ones are known for these defects that serve as a constant reminder that they were made in Egypt, I mean there is a reason we don't have bunjee jumping or roller coasters here in Egypt. We Egyptians aren't good at planning/executing, we are just not precise by nature. The disastrous events we are going through these days are of really high quality, not a single loose end that can be used to track the conspirators. Perfect in planning and execution and produced as if they come out of an assembly line managed by Americans, manned by Japanese and designed by Germans. I don't think we Egyptians no matter how rich or smart anyone is can design and execute one of these events.

life or death

I believe the events that are unfolding these days are organic in nature, organic in the sense that they are a direct result of the Egyptian status, you know random values can come together to form really structured results, I'm convinced that whats going on these days is just a result of all the things that we've been through coming together and forming the perfect storm that we have to ride through, no one is good enough to start it or stop it, its on auto pilot and can only be stopped when the root causes behind it cease to exist. Our only way out is forward. In SAW the movie franchise Jigsaw the main antagonist tests people, putting them in games where they have to suffer through the unbearable in order to win their lives. I believe Egypt is in one of Jigsaw games, we are in one of his contraptions and we have to go through the unbearable or die, inaction would only result in death, our only way out is forward.

Grateful and Egyptian

A year has passed since the event that our generation is going to be remembered for, exactly one year since a bunch of people decided to turn the negative feelings they had towards the situation in Egypt to a positive act, an act that inspired the rest of Egypt to follow suite thus revolting against the stale negative situation Egypt has settled in. 18 days were all that took to recharge the Egyptians...everything tasted sweeter even the polluted air smelled better back then, each and every single person was inspired in his or her own way. I can't even count the number of people I know who started their own business or started producing art of some form, Even the most negative person ever started blogging/tweeting/posting notes about the situation which is on its own a positive act regardless to the fact that its motivated by negativity.

Arabic regained its status as the first language among Egyptians, I couldn't help but smile as more and more of my friends discovered what an alt+shift can do, and what these arabic letters printed on their keyboard actually did, slowly and over that last year, franco arab started taking a back seat to properly written arabic, a small token yet it stands for so much, language is identity and our identity was being gradually phased out as people just gave up on Arabic. In marketing terms, our brand value was being restored, Egypt became a buzz word again, and you could tell people felt different when they stated that they were egyptian, the tone the word was said in it became different; After all Egypt for a couple of months at least stopped being associated with pyramids and shaggy looking beggars trying to scam you out of any money they can squeeze out of you, instead and for a brief period of time it became associated with pride, political awareness and amazing people who can express themselves on new media..Egypt resurfaced from deep within the septic tank it was locked in.

I don't care about the current situation or if you classify it as good or bad; I trust my fellow Egyptians, now that they know they can think, create, and influence the world around them with their attitude, I know that there is no way to go back to where we've been. Edmund Burke said all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing, and that's what the ex-regime did its best to do, convince us that nothing we can do will change reality keeping us hopeless and helpless making us easy to rule...this has changed. Not to mention how people now EVERYONE, is talking about egypt and politics, most don't know what they are talking about but are quickly learning...things has changed, and for the first time in my life I'm glad for the passport I have and the era I was born in.

كنا دوله محترمة حصلنا ايه؟

I'm quite depressed

I'm quite depressed from whats going on; I believe this is the biggest SCAF achievement so far.

كابتن ماجد يواجه بكار الجزء اﻷول

انا انتمي لجيل تربي علي مشاهدة الكارتون الياباني المدبلج شارلوك هولمز، كابتن ماجد، الصياد الصغير، جرانديزر و مازنجر. حيث يجتهد البطل و يتفاني في عمله حتي يحقق انجاز يسعي له منذ الحلقه اﻷولي كل هذا و هو محافظا علي أخلاقياته خلال كل الحلقات. بطريقة ما عرضت تلك المسلسلات جزء من اﻷخلاقيات اليابانيه في الحياة و العمل، و علي الرغم من سذاجة الطرح لفكرة البطل الميثالي الخالي من كل عيوب فمن منا لم يتمنا ان يصبح مثله. من خبرتي المحدوده من هذه المسلسلات استطيع ان اتخيل ان اليابانين ينظرون الي كل شيء كمسابقه، يحاولون التفاني حتي في ابسط و اتفه اﻷعمال و تحويل الكفاح اليومي لكسب الرزق الي معركه اسطوريه، فخرهم بعملهم مبهر حقا. 

الكارتون يشكل عقل اﻷطفال، لا شك في هذا، اتذكر انني احببت صيد السمك (هواية شديدة الملل للأطفال) بمجرد متابعتي للصياد الصغير، فإذا كان الكارتون الياباني يعكس العقليه اليابانيه، فماذا يعكس الكارتون المصري، بدأنا ببكار، طفل نوبي متوسط الذكاء و معزته يعيشون في النوبه علي ما اعتقد و يقعون في مغامرات اقل ما توصف به هو عشوائيتها و يكفي انه لا يمكنني تذكر ايا منها، مجرد طفل و معزته. سوبر هنيدي كارتون بطولة محمد هنيدي حيث يعمل كمحقق سري (علي اساس ان لدينا العديد من المحققين السريين في مصر) و يعمل علي حل القضايا مستغل الفهلوه و الحظ لا يجد غضاضه في الكذب و ترويج كراهية (السخريه) من اﻷخر(راجع حلقة هنيدي في السودان). لحسن الحظ لم يستمر كثيرا. في كل اﻷحوال لا يوجد اي مثل عليا في تلك المسلسلات و بالتأكيد لا توكد تلك الرغبة الرهيبة في النجاح و التفاني في العمل الموجوده في المسلسلات اليابانيه. بالمناسبه عندما قرروا ان يترجموا مسلسل كارتون تم ترجمة السيمسونز، ذا القيم الهادمه للمجتمع بشكل جعلني اشك ان هذا متعمدا منهم لتلويث العقل المصري. حاليا يتم انتاج مات نام مسلسل كارتون يتحدث عن فشل بطل خارق (نسخه رخيصه من بات مان) في مكافحة الجريمة في مصر، مفاخرا بالعيوب الموجوده  في مصر.

لا عجب ان القيم المصريه لدي الفئات اﻷصغر مختله تماما، فهم جيل تم و يتم تخريب عقله لقبول الفساد و المفاخره به.

القناة الثانيه

كنت اقلب بين القنوات الحكوميه عندما وقعت عيناي علي هذا المنظر، تلك المذيعه مستضيفة شخص للحديث عن مسرحية ما و لمدة 40 دقيقه علي الأقل ظلت مسيطره علي القناه. نطقها و مستواها الثقافي واضح جدا من طريقة نطقها للتاء و للأسامي الأجنبيه. كدت ان ابتسم لكنني تذكرت ان فعليا ان امول تلك القناة، و انا اكاد ان اكون متأكد انها تكلف أضعاف قناة مثل دبي وان، او اي من قنوات ام بي سي. للأسف انا ادفع راتب تلك المذيعه.

الة الزمن

في رواية ويلز "الة الزمن" كان هناك نوعان من البشر، الايلوي و المورلوك. عاش الايلوي حياه مرفهه فوق الأرض حياه مرفهه و كانوا يحصلون علي كل ما يريدون بغير عمل، فعليا لم يكونوا يعرفون كيف تصل اليهم احتياجاتهم و لم يهتموا ان يعرفوا، اما المرولوك فكانوا يعيشون تحت اﻷرض و كانوا يعملون ليوفروا اﻷيلوي بما يحتاجوا ليعيشوا تلك الحياه المرفهه، في لقاء التهام احدهم كل حين و اخر، فعليا كان الأيلوي ماشية المورلوك.تذكرني احداث هذا اﻷيام بالروايه، ثورتنا هي فعليا ثورة اﻷيلوي علي المورلوك.


في تصوري المورلوك هم الموظفين الحكوميين، و المنتفعين بصفه عامه من النظام السابق، المؤيدين للإستقرار لأنهم يعلمون انهم لا يستطيعون الأستمرار إلا في هذا النظام الفاسد الذي انتجهم، فهم و النظام شيء واحد، بل يمكنك ان تدعي انهم هم النظام ذات نفسه. فلسنين كان غرضهم الرئيسي هو خدمة المواطنين لكن فعليا هدفهم الرئيسي اصتياد اكبر عدد من المواطنين للإستفاده منهم، فعليا هم سبب كل ما نحن فيه الأن، فالفساد الإداري هو اصل الفوضي. لكن للأسف بما اننا نحن الأيلوي اي اننا خارج منظومة الحكومه و لا يمكننا تشغيلها بأنفسنا فنحن فعليا يجب ان نعتمد عليهم، و لا يمكن إقصائهم بأي حال من الأحوال.

voting day

For the first time in my life, I went to fulfil my voting duty, thus choosing and for the first time who I'd like to represent me in the parliament, theoretically at least, realistically and knowing that I'm in a mostly MB constitute (Their HQ is right in the middle of it) I decided to take the smarter approach, knowing that they are going to win no matter whom I choose I decided to vote for the most revolutionary unrelenting list, the list that would provide me with -I hope- at least one PM who'd leak out what happens behind the closed doors. Al Thawra Mostamera Coalition was my choice, formed mostly from young people who aren't really into cutting deals I hope they fill that role I chose them for.

Standing in the queue I realized what Mubarak's regime really stole from us, the ability to choose, most people in the queue had no idea how to pick a candidate and what the candidate would do for them, the guy behind of me actually picked one based on his looks, everybody was there to do the right thing however once there no one knew what to do...Freedom and Justice Party (ekhwan) were smart enough to set an assistance pavilion, branded with their logo they'd help you in picking the correct candidate (theirs), if you didn't know your subcommittee or even if you wanted to know whats your number, they'd gladly provide you with a decent looking printout with that information (with their logos and candidates printed on it). In a way they filled that role the government should have filled and they were nothing short of diabolical in doing that, if you asked them to leave people would complain cause they needed them, they were violating the law with one hand while bribing the people with the other.

I'm glad I voted however the entire process resembles the process of picking boxer shorts to wear on any given day, you get to choose any pair you'd like however that choice has little to no impact on you and the people around you, it feels nice to have the freedom to make the choice, however that choice is irrelevant, still I enjoyed that feeling and perhaps for the first time i realize how depressed I was about not being able to make that choice. As for now, and since ekhwan is going to win anyway, I'm going to join ekhwan, and perhaps i'm going to get everybody i know to join as well and then we can change it from the inside out.

فشل الدوله و حكمها

الثورة لا كانت بداية و لا نهاية اي شيئ مجرد عارض من عوارض انهيار النظام، نظام فساده و عجزه منعوه من الاستمرار فكانت النهايه حتمية، تخريب ٦٠ عاما هو كل ما احتمله النظام الحكومي الذي بناه محمد علي. حتي المواطن تم تخريبه فخلال اعوام من الفساد و الفشل الاداري اصبح الطريق الوحيد للاستمرار في هذه البلد هو التعامل مع الفساد بل و الاتكال عليه. اما عن الثوره فهي علي عكس ما تبدو ليس نتاج تحرك مجموعه من شباب ذوي مثل عليا فمثل هؤلاء الشباب وجدوا في كل جيل تقريبا بل هي نتاج لفشل الأجهزة القمعيه في كبتهم كالعادة.

المشكله الان هو ان كل اجهزة الدوله انهارت و لم يعد من الممكن إصلاحها او حتي اعادة استخدامها، حدث ذلك تدريجيا عبر عدة سنين و الثوره هي عارض لها، فلا يمكن اعتبار الثوره حل بل هي ملوثه مثل كل شيء اخر في مصر، مهما انتخبت و مهما كان البرنامج الإصلاحي مبتكر و جديد فلن يجدي اذا حاول اعادة استخدام اي مكونات حكوميه. المعجزة ليسة نجاح الثورة بل استمرار النظام كل هذا الوقت، في رأيي هو فقد كل ما يؤهله للوجود في اواخر التسعينيات.

ميزة الثورة انها سلطت الضوء علي نظام حكومي يعمل بالستر، نظام لا يعرف حقيقته الا من كان جزء منه او تعامل معه. فمثلا استرجاع حقك باستخدام القانون يكاد يكون مستحيل و في احسن الأحوال يستغرق عدة سنين. الشرطة لا تغيث احد و لا توجد لديها ابسط ادوات البحث الجنائي، الاعلام الحكومي فاشل تماماً حتي في الكذب، كل هذا كشف تماماً بعد الثوره. مصر تغرق بسبب عملية تخريب منظمه للمواطن و الاقتصاد، إدارة الدوله او من يحكمها لن يكون العامل الفارق لان اصغر وحدة بناء للدوله (المواطن) فاسدة، أمامنا عقدين علي الاقل من بدأ إصلاح التعليم حتي نستطيع استبدالها، حتي ذلك الوقت للأسف لا يوجد امل في الاصلاح.

الثوره المصريه مجرد عارض ليست نتيجه ولا سبب

في رأي من غير الصحيح اعتبار الثوره المصريه نهاية او بداية اي شيئ فهي ليست نتيجه و لا سبب لأي شيء، واقعيا هي مجرد عارض لنظام فسد من الداخل حتي اصبح الفشل هو الطبيعي فلم يعد استمراره ممكنا. نظام فاسد و فاشل اي ان لا يمكن اعادة استخدام اي جزء من أجزاءه، و الثوره بما انها عارض فهي لا تقدم أية حلول بل يشوبها نفس أعراض الفساد و الفشل، و في النهاية فهي تعتمد علي اجزاء من النظام لإصلاحه. للأسف النظام الفاشل لم يبقي اي شيئ يمكن البناء عليه.

يظهر هذا الفشل في كل تعامل حكومي، فمنذ بضعة ايام كنت أحاول ان اصدر توكيلا قانونيا من الشهر العقاري، اي ان كل المطلوب من الحكومه هو تسجيل ورقه، بل جمله واحده.   تمر علي اول موظف لتخبره عن نوع التوكيل فيعطيك الاستمارة المناسبة التي عليك ان تملأها ثم تعطيها للموظف الثاني ليراجعها و يخبرك ان تذهب للخزانه، في الخزانه موظفان احدهم يخبرك بالمبلغ المطلوب و الاخر يحصله و يعطيك إيصال مكتوب باليد، تعود للموظف الثاني الذي يخبرك ان عليك تصوير الاستمارة ( في الكشك المقابل اي لا توجد ماكينات تصوير في المصالح الحكومية) ثم تنتظر لينادي علي اسمك. اخيرا يبدأ الموظف في نسخ نص التوكيل يدويا في ذلك الدفتر العملاق معطيا إياه رقم تسجيل، أخيرا تذهب لرئيس المكتب ليختم الاستمارة. خمسة موظفين و ساعه علي الاقل لما يمكن ان يفعله الكمبيوتر في ثانيه. بالمناسبه هناك جهاز كمبيوتر علي كل مكتب مغلف بالفوم و البلاستيك حيث انه عهده. اشك ان أيا من هؤلاء الموظفين يمكنهن استخدامه. 

في قصه اخري كنت أحاول استصدار بدل فاقد لوثيقة ما فكان علي عمل محضر و الإتيان بصورته، مبدأيا لم يكن لدي القسم ورق ابيض ولا أقلام! بعد حل بضعة مشاكل من هذا النوع أعطيت رقم و تم إخباري ان علي الذهاب الي النيابة بعد خمسة عشر يوم للحصول علي نسخه من المحضر. بعد خمسة عشر يوم ذهبت الي ذلك المكتب الممتلئ بآلاف المحاضر و اربعة موظفين كل وظيفتهم تحويل الأرقام الي محاضر و بالعكس، مع تحصيل مبلغ معين كرشوه او بلطجه مع كل معامله، اكتشفت يومها ان تم إعطائي رقم خطأ فكان علي العوده الي القسم و الإتيان بالرقم الصحيح ثم البحث ثانية.

للأسف هذه هي الإمكانيات المتاحة لنا جهاز حكومي لم تتغير نظمه منذ الستينيات غير مميكن و يديره ناس اقل ما يكن وصفهم به هو العجز، الجهل و رفض التحديث، موظفين تعينهم الحكومه بمرتبات متواضعه جدا لا تغني و تسمن من جوع تضرهم الي التصرف بطرق اخري (قد تكون غير شريفه) لسد رمقهم، فعليا الحكومه هي التي تعلم الناس الفساد الإداري، طبعا بسبب ضعف قدراتهم الشديد و عدم رغبتهم علي العمل يجب تعيين العديد من الناس للقيام بعل يمكن شخص واحد ان يقوم به، فلا يمكن للحكومه ان تعين اناس مؤهلين لأنها لا تدفع مرتبات تكفي لحياه كريمه، فعليا هي دائره لا مهرب منها. لا اعتقد ان يمكن إعادة تأهيل موظف امضي اخر 10 سنين من عمره يحول الأرقام الي محاضر و بالعكس و يعيش علي الأكراميات، بطريقة ما اصبح هذا الرجل جزء من النظام لا فارق بينه و بين اثاث مكتبه الذي لم يتغير منذ الستينيات.

موظفين الحكومه

كلنا نعلم ان الموظف الحكومي يعين و هو يعلم ان المرتب لن يكفيه و ان من المتوقع ان يعتمد علي الأكراميات او الرشاوي او علي الأقل الأنتفاع من وظيفته كي يستطيع الحصول علي حياة متواضعه للغاية، هكذا صمم نظام العمل في الحكومه فعند تعيين موظف جديد هو فعليا يحصل علي كشك داخل المصلحه الحكوميه يتيح له الحصول علي دخل بأي طريقه يري انها ممكنه و لا يمكن القبض عليه بسببها. انا التمس لهم العذر فمع مستوي التعليم الحكومي لبعض الناس الوظيفه الحكوميه هي الوظيفه الوحيده التي يمكنه الحصول عليها و مع الرواتب المتدنيه للغايه التي لا يمكن احد يمكنه ان يعيش منها لا مهرب لهم من هذا السلوك. مع الوقت يبرر هذا السلوك و يصبح مقبولا تماما خاصة ان الكل يمارسه بغير خجل.

لموظف يحصل علي مرتب 400 جنيه يصبح سبب الذهاب إلي العمل هو إيجاد طرق جديده لأنتاج الدخل، و انا متأكد ان الموظفين يتبادلون القصص عن كيفية استغلالهم لمراكزهم (علي تواضعها) لتحقيق اكبر دخل ممكن، و بالطبع إذا استطاعوا استخدام مراكزهم لمساعدة ابنائهم لن يترددوا في فعل ذلك، فعليا حسني مبارك موظف حكومي فسد، افسد و استعان بمركزه ليحقق اكبر كسب شخصي له و لأولاده، فعليا بالنسبه لهؤلاء الموظفين هو مجرد نموذج ناجح جدا لما يفعلون يوميا و مغ اكتشاف مدي سرقاته و استغلاله لنفوذه يحصل علي احترام هذه الفئه من الموظفين التي تفعل نفس الشيء لكن علي حجم مصغر، لا اعتقد ان يمكن لأحد منهم إدانته شيء يفعلونه و تبلدوا إتجاه حرمانيته، فإذا أدانوه سيكسر ذلك العازل النفسي الذي بنوه حول جرائمهم حتي لا يشعروا بذنبها. فإذا علمنا ان هناك حوالي 6 ميليون موظف حكومي في مصر فإن ذلك يصبح اكبر انتصار للنظام السابق.

الإعلانات في مصر

منذ عدة ايام شاهدت إعلان عبقري عن سلسلة محال بيتزا في كوريا الجنوبيه، هذا الإعلان يبدو للوهلة الأولي كفيلم تسجيلي عن اصول البيتزا الحقيقيه و كيف سرقها ماركو بولو من الكوريين لتصبح اكله إيطاليا. الفيلم التسجيلي مصور و مكتوب بطريقه تجعلك فعلا تشك فيما تعرفه عن البيتزا و تراجعه في ذهنك عدة مرات حتي تضطر لمشاهدته ثانية. في رأيي هو عملا فني اكثر مما هو إعلان.

في نفس اليوم اكتشفت ان إعلانات أكادمية سموحه عادت للعرض، هذا الإعلان يبدأ بأستخدام الدين في غير موقعه ثم ينتقل إلي إدخال اسم جامعة ما لإعطاء المكان الصبغه الأكاديميه، ينتقل الحديث بعد ذلك عن حصولهم علي ترخيصا ما من وزارة ما (طبعا صعب جدا التأكد من هذه المعلومه و حتي إن كانت صحيحه لا يذكرون نوع الترخيص)، يسهب الإعلان بعد ذلك الحديث عن إمكانياتهم الفنيه (المتواضعه جدا في الحقيقه لكن يصغونها كأنهم الوحيدين الممتلكين اياها)، يعقب ذلك عدة مشاهد تظر الدارسين (كلهم مرتدين بدل بالطبع)، و أخيرا يأتي التعهد بأن لن يتخرج احد بغير ان يكون قد اتقن كل فنون إصلاح "المحمول" و "المزبورد" خلال الكورس المستمر شهرين (طبعا هذا مستحيل).

طبعا هذا مستوي اخر من التدني، بالإنجليزيه يسمي (exploitation) و هو إستغلال حدثا ما لتسويق سلعته، و هذا ما تجده بشكل فج في لحاف الثوره، هو موجود لدرجة ما او لإخري في معظم الإعلانات لكن ليس بهذه الفجاجه.

حسب ما اعرف عن الإعلانات في مصر معظمها مقتبس من إعلانات عالميه، هناك بالطبع بعض من الإعلانات المصريه تماما لكن كلها مسئول عنها ثلاث او اربع افراد في مصر (علما بأن هناك مئات من مخرجي الإعلانات).

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يقال ان المنتصر هو من يكتب التاريخ، لكوني من محبي التاريخ اختلف مع ذلك تماما، فالتاريخ لا يزال يذكر افعال سوداء كثير لمنتصرين ماتوا منذ زمن طويل، لم يتكفل الزمن او انتصارهم بمحو ما فعلوه بل تم تخليده ليذكر حتي هذا اليوم.فمثلا خاير بك (النصف الأول من القرن السادس عشر) لا يزال يذكر كخاين بك لخيانته للجيش المصري. محمد علي لا يزال يذكر بمدبحة المماليك، جمال عبد الناصر كتبت كتب عده عن اخطأه السياسيه و العسكريه، التاريخ لا يغفر و لا ينسي حتي للمنتصر المستبد المسيطر تماما علي و سائل الأعلام. هذه الأيام هي الأكثر حيويه في اخر قرن في تاريخ مصر و سيكتب المؤرخين عنها إلي نهاية مصر، خاصة ان الشبكات الأجتماعيه توفر مصدر لا يقارن للمؤرخين.

أيا كانت نتيجة احداث هذه الأيام سيذكر التاريخ اداء الاعلام الحكومي المصري هذه الأيام، كل اسامي العاملين في هذا النظام الأعلامي برأسهم أسامة هيكل سيذكر للأبد، و سيسأل عنها اولادهم و احفادهم و كل من سيأتي من نسلهم عن افعالهم في هذه الأيام الحرجه. وصمة العار لا يمحوها الزمن و لا يمكن إزالتها ابدا، انا مشفق علي هؤلاء الناس في الدنيا و في الأخره، و فعلا لا اعلم كيف يمكنهم ان يعيشوا مع افعالهم اليوميه.

Paul and the Olive Bread

Heading home I spotted the new Paul branch in new Cairo, being a fan of the French bakery shop I couldn't resist stopping by for a casual bite, with their scrumptious olive bread in mind I parked my car in front of their perfectly designed building, I need to explain here that I'm not new to Paul as a matter of fact I've frequented it in at least two countries, I even have a short list of favourite sandwiches that I usually order without looking at the menu, which I did. Choosing to sit outside I quickly ordered my usual roast beef sandwich with a cappuccino.

15 minutes later (7 bites of heaven) I asked for the bill. 80 Egyptian pounds doesn't sound like a significant amount of money these,  but when I factored in the size of the sandwich I realized each bite costs a around 1 Euro, making it by far the most expensive sandwich I've ever had, the champs elysees branch is slightly more expensive, but being right in the middle of the street, and having a French staff on board it makes sense, what doesn't make sense though is having the same sandwich here in Egypt where food and labour is dirt cheap for around the same price. This actually mean that this branch generates a higher return on investment (ROI) than the one in the middle of the most expensive street in the world, I still had their olive bread in mind when I casually signed the credit card receipt making sure to add a smiley face and a couple of match stick men eating sandwiches (I'm currently experimenting with how creative I can get with credit card receipt signatures).

I stepped into the restaurant and instantly realized that it was packed with micro celebrities, I headed to the bread stand and ordered a loaf of their olive bread, now that's something I've eaten in Paris as well as in Qatar, if there is a standard Paul product it'd be their bread with olives by far the most expensive loaf of olive bread I've bought (even more expensive than the French one) I paid 28 le for it and adding in that I just had to get a macroon and that pretentious looking tart I ended up paying another 80 le. Naturally that involved waiting for around 30 minutes till they got my order ready.

Leaving the place I couldn't help thinking about these people queuing up for subsidised barely edible bread, that they can barely afford, my porter's daily salary and how many loafs of that bread can it get him, social injustice is a term that I couldn't escape, he actually pays the same sales tax I did, so in a way the government's bread and Paul's are both taxed the same way, which is rather irritating and unjust.

I don't mind buying expensive stuff, what I do mind though is being taken advantage off...I know for a fact that getting French employees and a store overlooking the Champs is insanely more expensive than getting a store in el tagamo3 el khames and hiring Egyptian employees, also I know for a fact that our produce is sold at a fraction of the price similar things are sold in France (Or Qatar), so why on earth is it more expensive than either, am I being taxed by Paul for liking their products? or the customer segment they target don't really care about the price and don't really care about being taken advantage off.

Finally turns out the olive bread I've been fantasizing about all day was half burnt and barely edible, which means I have a lot in common with the people who struggle everyday to get subsidised barely edible bread, but instead of the 5p they pay I ended up paying 560 times that amount.