Is Egypt retreating to the dark ages?

Egypt has always been special to me, not because my grandfather on my mother‘s side is half Egyptian, or because Sudan (where I’m originally from) shares many cultural and geographical interests including The Nile, but because many of my beautiful childhood memories involved something Egyptian.

Our home was full of culture and art; my parents loved and appreciated a diverse array of both. As far as I can remember, my first ever vacation out of Sudan was in Cairo, my first live consort with my parents was a recital by the legendary Oum Kalthoum. Besides Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Elvis Presley and Farid Al- Atrash my parents listened to Abdel Halim Hafez who later became my own personal favourite. As a child I idolized Soad Hosny and till today I watch old movies and plays like Raya and Sakina and Shahed mashefsh haga.

Amongst the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East, Egypt has historically been the hub of art and literature and the gateway to ancient yet evolving civilizations while at the same time the home and the belly of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is where the movement was born then exported to the rest of the Arab world. However, every Egyptian leader from Nassir to Sadat and later Mubarak has fought secretly and openly to control their spread both nationally and internationally, and succeeded. That is until the removal of the Mubarak regime earlier this year.

That control, although weaker in recent years, has allowed Egyptians from all backgrounds and religions to live, work, and worship peacefully side by side. But once the control was lost, the fundamentalist side of the Muslim Brotherhood became free and sadly according to recent reports from Cairo they were able to cause a rift and have a hand in the recent civil unrest.

For many Egyptians and observers what’s happing is a step backwards.

With the first parliamentary poll due next month, there are huge concerns by many inside and outside Egypt that instead of advancing to build a modern democracy the country is back searching for security and stability and worrying about the powers behind sabotaging their forward progress.

Clearly today’s Egypt is not what I remember – but neither is the Sudan or the Lebanon. The region as a whole is on a backwards journey, from the outside looking in, democracy might look like the answer but as someone from within I think it’s as simple as basic education!