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| ElBaradei "Enigma" |
Mohamed ElBaradei knows the father of Yasmine Shihata , the editor in chief of the magazine and he even mentioned him in the interview when we he spoke about our need for a new constitution. “I hope that Yasmine Shihata had signed the demands statement for the sake of his father”
For me it was strange to find ElBaradei in that lifestyle A Class magazine that does not care much about Egypt or the other poor Egypt , it only cares for the high society in Egypt , this very small Egypt that does not represent the country nor it is recognized abroad. When this class is usually mentioned in international media , it is often criticized or even mentioned as an evidence on the the huge gap between rich and poor. In fact if you want to see the real gap between the rich , the poor and the middle class then read this magazine.
It was strange to find ElBaradei when he speaks about the real poor Egypt featured in a magazine that only covers the very rich Egypt , that small other Egypt of GanZ. “GanZ is the hero of Enigma , I will be worried on him if I do not find his mention or his photo or an event he organized featured in the magazine !!”
This magazine kisses the policies committee businessmen, I mean I remember that I used to read their power lists every year except last year and I found that most of these names either needed to be investigated to know from where they got their money or prosecuted for their role in destroying the Egyptian economy .
From Mohamed ElBaradei’s answers I think he wanted to get connected to the readers of Enigma and I hate to deliver him bad news that most of the subscribers of this magazine are the direct product of Mubarak policies and they do not care less about politics. May be they will read it just to know who is that man making a lot of noise and had got a Nobel Peace Prize.
I was surprised that the magazine took the okay for the regime to interview ElBaradei but reading the questions Yasmine Shihata which totally ignored direct questions about his political activities in Egypt , I know how that interview passed.
Yasmine Shihata made a good choice but this interview was less than expected .
p.s : If I am not mistaken Enigma is originally owned by the Mansour Magrahbi group.
not all the haves in Egypt are happy w the regime and the fact that he made it to Enigma means those who have been benefiting from the status quo are realising the regime is becoming a liability and they wont support a regime or a figure that would have then risk their businesses and assets. The ones who wld do that are the ones who are so closely connected w the family itself bec they stand to loose the most.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but wonder, is there even a middle class society in Egypt?
ReplyDeleteits seems non-existent to me, just like my neighboring country back home, Indonesia.
Both have large population of Muslims and the gap between the rich and the poor are extremely wide.
But after the fall of Suharto, Indonesia managed to narrow the gap and produce more intellectual and politically conscious middle class who isn't afraid of any regime.
I hope, Egypt will turn out to be the same, don't be afraid! REFORM!
Some of the 'haves' apparently care way too much for their summerhauses that anything else seems unimportant to them.
ReplyDeleteMiddle class in Egypt still exists but is dwindling, remember in sociology, middle class consists on 3 classes, upper middle, middle middle, lower middle. The lower middle has been pushed into the barely making ends meet[almost poor], the used to be middle are the new lower middle, the upper middle are the new middle and there is no longer an upper middle. in 10 -15 years,you will lose the middle middle and only the lower middle will survive. The lower middle, somewhere between the middle and poor will be the new middle and will survive for a while..perhaps another decade or 2 after it falls completely into the lower class, that is of course assuming the status quo doesn't change but yeah, in a generation; the middle class will vanish and you will have a country chiefly existing of fat cats and starving cats.
@Z, I think you should give ElBaradei a break. The elections are over, but he wants to maintain visibility in Egypt, because who knows what the future holds. Sending a message that he's not the enemy of the rich is the right thing to do for two reasons. First, they are a powerful constituency worth having on your side. Second, spending by Egypt's rich benefits all Egyptians. They are not the enemy of the poor. It's best for everyone that the rich not flee from an ElBaradei-governed Egypt, and this appearance in Enigma sends them that message. I agree with 1/11/2011 07:55:00 PM that loss of a middle class is a problem. A healthy economy creates a strong middle class.
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