but they were often full of nonsense: “Foreign nurses inject Libyan babies with
AIDS.” These papers could be shut down at any moment, if only because the government controlled the printing presses, the distribution system, and supplies of paper and ink. It was also rumored that certain independent newspapers were instruments of the secret services, of other Arab leaders, or of prominent oil sheiks. A newspaper can be very useful when you want to harangue and attack rivals and opponents.
One of the top stories during my time in Cairo had to do with domestic terrorist attacks. If a Japanese tourist was stabbed, the Egyptian state television would simply keep quiet about it. Instead you’d get this kind of article in the state newspapers the next day:
While the BBC concentrated on an incident between an esteemed Egyptian and a Japanese tourist, the Minister of Tourism rewarded two students for their honesty, and remarkably enough their honesty was towards a Japanese tourist. The schoolchildren Abdulrahman Sayed and Yusuf Rushdi found a wallet containing credit cards, 150,000 dollars and a passport. They gave the wallet to their teacher, who immediately contacted the security services, who in turn informed the Japanese embassy. The Japanese tourist cried tears of disbelief and relief, and offered the young Egyptian citizens a reward, but to her surprise they were resolute. They said that she was a guest of Egypt and the Egyptians. The Japanese woman left yesterday for Turkey, safe and sound. The honest young Egyptians emphasized that their behavior was normal: “Honesty is the rule; theft is a rare exception.”
In fact, these honest boys represent all Egyptians who know their responsibility towards their motherland and its guests. “The schoolchildren acted out of love for Egypt,”
said the Minister of Education. “It’s a practical application of the norms and values that our ministry is teaching them, and an illustration of the righteousness of all Egyptians.”
Correspondents would be faxed articles like this by the Ministry of Information. At the bottom of my fax about the “incident” with the stabbed Japanese tourist, a civil servant had added in bold letters: “Attention, this is real Egypt.” Not long afterwards, Egypt staged a presidential “referendum,” with a single candidate. The biggest Egyptian paper, Al-Gumhuriya or The Republic , offered the following commentary. It was written by the editor-in-chief, a confidant of the man who won the referendum:
The following event happened to me personally. A friend had been trying for years to get a visa for Saudi Arabia so that he could earn enough money to get married. Finally he received the liberating message that he’d been offered a job in Riyadh. My friend jumped for joy and told everyone the good news. But on the day of his departure there was a referendum in which the Egyptian people expressed their thanks to our leader Hosni Mubarak for being prepared to lead our country for another six years. My friend saw how lucky Egypt was to have such a president. He tore up his visa, realising he belonged in Egypt. 8
Often my editors back home would want quotes—we call them “vox pops”—from the ordinary man in the street. What did he think of the referendum? There I was, sitting down with a certain Nabil, a twenty-something whom I’d once spent a day with in Cairo. “Every revolution, every disaster, economic crisis and war, pornography ... You’ll always discover that
there are Jews behind it. The problem is that Jews only consider themselves to be human. Once, Prophet Mohammed, Peace Be His Name, took a group of Jews captive after a battle. But do you know what’s written in the Jewish holy book? Never take prisoners of war. That’s what Jews are like, it’s in their culture.” He stuck one finger in the air. “But please note, I don’t hate the Jewish. I’ve got a good friend in America who’s a Jew.” He told me about his studies
AIDS.” These papers could be shut down at any moment, if only because the government controlled the printing presses, the distribution system, and supplies of paper and ink. It was also rumored that certain independent newspapers were instruments of the secret services, of other Arab leaders, or of prominent oil sheiks. A newspaper can be very useful when you want to harangue and attack rivals and opponents.
One of the top stories during my time in Cairo had to do with domestic terrorist attacks. If a Japanese tourist was stabbed, the Egyptian state television would simply keep quiet about it. Instead you’d get this kind of article in the state newspapers the next day:
While the BBC concentrated on an incident between an esteemed Egyptian and a Japanese tourist, the Minister of Tourism rewarded two students for their honesty, and remarkably enough their honesty was towards a Japanese tourist. The schoolchildren Abdulrahman Sayed and Yusuf Rushdi found a wallet containing credit cards, 150,000 dollars and a passport. They gave the wallet to their teacher, who immediately contacted the security services, who in turn informed the Japanese embassy. The Japanese tourist cried tears of disbelief and relief, and offered the young Egyptian citizens a reward, but to her surprise they were resolute. They said that she was a guest of Egypt and the Egyptians. The Japanese woman left yesterday for Turkey, safe and sound. The honest young Egyptians emphasized that their behavior was normal: “Honesty is the rule; theft is a rare exception.”
In fact, these honest boys represent all Egyptians who know their responsibility towards their motherland and its guests. “The schoolchildren acted out of love for Egypt,”
said the Minister of Education. “It’s a practical application of the norms and values that our ministry is teaching them, and an illustration of the righteousness of all Egyptians.”
Correspondents would be faxed articles like this by the Ministry of Information. At the bottom of my fax about the “incident” with the stabbed Japanese tourist, a civil servant had added in bold letters: “Attention, this is real Egypt.” Not long afterwards, Egypt staged a presidential “referendum,” with a single candidate. The biggest Egyptian paper, Al-Gumhuriya or The Republic , offered the following commentary. It was written by the editor-in-chief, a confidant of the man who won the referendum:
The following event happened to me personally. A friend had been trying for years to get a visa for Saudi Arabia so that he could earn enough money to get married. Finally he received the liberating message that he’d been offered a job in Riyadh. My friend jumped for joy and told everyone the good news. But on the day of his departure there was a referendum in which the Egyptian people expressed their thanks to our leader Hosni Mubarak for being prepared to lead our country for another six years. My friend saw how lucky Egypt was to have such a president. He tore up his visa, realising he belonged in Egypt. 8
Often my editors back home would want quotes—we call them “vox pops”—from the ordinary man in the street. What did he think of the referendum? There I was, sitting down with a certain Nabil, a twenty-something whom I’d once spent a day with in Cairo. “Every revolution, every disaster, economic crisis and war, pornography ... You’ll always discover that
there are Jews behind it. The problem is that Jews only consider themselves to be human. Once, Prophet Mohammed, Peace Be His Name, took a group of Jews captive after a battle. But do you know what’s written in the Jewish holy book? Never take prisoners of war. That’s what Jews are like, it’s in their culture.” He stuck one finger in the air. “But please note, I don’t hate the Jewish. I’ve got a good friend in America who’s a Jew.” He told me about his studies
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