i n the history of egypt’s artistic work, a renowned belly dancer tahiya carioca stands out. she married several men and the last of them was playwright fayez halawa. their relationship lasted 18 years and ended with her being expelled from her ‘marriage home’ wearing just pajamas.
tahiya ridiculed the end of her marriage in a funny manner by inverting the popular proverb ‘he took her fat and flesh and threw her skin and bone’ and replaced it with ‘he took my skin and bone (as she was a graceful dancer) and threw me fat’ (a metaphor for the weight she had gained during the time she was divorced.
the original example applies to the july 23, 1952 coup in egypt. the ‘free officers’ took over the monarchy in egypt ‘fat and flesh’ and threw it ‘skin and bone’, and lost its freedom. i knew egypt in the 1960s and a little later, i did not visit it setbacks after setbacks and returned later over the past few years.
i knew egypt at the top of its giving, the time it inherited all its geniuses from judges, advisors, artists, sculptors, philosophers, thinkers, great novelists, painters, engineers and summits in education from royal egypt some of whom died with time and then came salah nasser intelligence service to choke freedoms and impose sequestration – equitable receivership – confiscated properties without giving compensations to end any hope of the rise of egypt again.
the situation continued in egypt during the reigns of el-sadat and mubarak to end a state ravaged by corruption and military control in every nook and corner and then came the era of morsi which brought disasters and after things went out of control and egypt almost slipped into abyss and civil war the nightmare ended with millions of egyptians taking to the streets that toppled the rule of morsi – the demonstration was never before seen by the egyptians.
then came the era of el-sisi who in a few years was able not only to produce more than what his predecessors had done but also succeeded in taking fateful decisions which all his predecessors had failed to.
sisi gave egypt the stability which is longed for, got rid of the brotherhood dominance by greatly reducing the power of this group and prevented the collapse of the state. he succeeded in developing the long-neglected egyptian capital, created a new capital away from it and he cared about the heritage of old cairo, which in a few years will become a tourist destination and a model historic city.
for the first time in the history of modern egypt, sisi succeeded in liberating the egyptian pound. he succeeded in lifting subsidies on several commodities such as oil, bread, gas, and others, and cairo did not go up in flames as some had expected.
the five-year and 10-year development plans encompassed all of egypt from the sinai, the oases and the northern coast to the far south, involving the military with the private sector in the construction process, and largely succeeded in reducing financial and administrative corruption in the construction sector, which has never happened before.
it is difficult to agree with president el-sisi in all his policies, but he inherited a legacy that is impossible, at least temporarily, to deal with at the moment.
no one can deny he is the guarantor of the current security and stability of egypt, and the remaining in power is the need of the hour.
he is the fence which will prevent the return of the bloody and backward brotherhood rule in egypt, but at the same time, it is also necessary to expand the boundaries of freedoms and respect for human rights.
the continuation of the rule for a long time in its current form is difficult to imagine.