Hey everybody, I have lots of stuff to talk about from this month. Let's see where to start. First off the strikes never happened. Let me explain. Here in Egypt the government subsidizes a lot of things. It's a throwback to the fifties when Egypt declared its independence and formed its modern government. At the time they were backed by the Soviet Union, and lots of stuff about communism appealed to the people who had been oppressed by rich capitalists since the country was ruled by British colonials. Anyway, the point is, to this day, people feel the government has a responsibility to take care of them and is obliged to make basic food, transportation, and even entertainment available to all. It's that food part that's the reason that we have what is called "Government Bread." They're cheap little tortilla like things that are sold on the street for about 5 cents. Recently, the prices for food are going up, here as well as the rest of the world, but if the government tried to raise the price of this bread people would riot. So the price stays low, but there is something else going on.
You see, people are saying that there is not enough bread and that there are huge lines to get the government-made bread if at all. This news is in all the papers here, but I have seen an abundance of sellers, selling the bread in the street, so I don't understand what the problem is. There must be more going on, possibly some corruption, like people selling the flour to make more money and not producing bread. In my view, I don't see what they're talking about, but the end result is that the government is not doing anything about it. It's this government apathy that made people decide they wanted to strike. Not in any particular job, but all of the people from all of Cairo want to rise up. They want to take a day and refuse to work. They want to meet in front of the main government building and demand the government do something! Well that was the plan anyway. The AUC said that we weren't allowed to take the day off for the strikes which I think would be fun. It seems kind of against the whole spirit of a strike if the management can just say it's not allowed. Of course it's not allowed! Of course they don't want it! That's why we have strikes, in order to send a message. But it was not just the AUC that canceled the strikes. The government canceled it totally, and like I said, the strikes never happened. All and all, they may have been more like riots had they actually taken place. I remember when Egypt won the African Cup and people took to the streets shouting, and blasting spray can powered fireballs. It may have been the same thing this time, except there were massive arrests the night before. On top of that the military presence in front of the government building was on the scale of a military occupation.
I did get a chance to watch from a roof top, and when kicked off, I wandered around a bit. If I stopped to stand, I was told to move along. No one was allowed to take pictures, although I snuck off with a few anyway. The mood was tense, and everyone was looking at each other, waiting for someone to start something but no one ever did. Or if they did, it was quickly squashed by police. I did see an armored prisoner truck driving by. I could hear the people inside banging against the walls in unison. Well, that's a totalitarian government for you. At least they let the Americans do pretty much what they want.
Ironically, the day of the planned strikes was also the first day of the "Khumseen." The word means "fifty" and it stands for 50 days of dust storms that come the same time every year. I didn't think the dust could penetrate the thick cityscape of Cairo, but this was the only day you really felt the dust storms of legend. It still wasn't that bad, but at some points you couldn't see more than a couple dozen meters in front of you. I bet if I manage to get out to the desert though, I could really feel it. Now wouldn't that be sweet.
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