Emotional outbursts which express anger and protest have become an aspect of the Egyptian. street. We had hoped that our people had become more aware and mature than to fall into such folly. While it may be understandable that such behavior may originate from groups of limited education and intellect as was the case in Kafr Dumyan and Al Kosheh and Fayoum (two months ago) and Dafash village (last week), yet there could no excuse that the same should come from supposedly educated groups who apply their intellect to their actions.
We have barely overcome the last eruption over the novel "A banquet for Seaweed" a few months ago. Now the unfortunate and barbaric events in Palestine have taken us into a new wave of angry protests by university students throughout Egypt shouting their support for their Palestinian brothers which perfectly acceptable, but these protest marches have quickly deteriorated into anarchism and attacks on property and cars whose only fault is that they happened to be in the way of those who lost all control.
This phenomenon should be studied, it is not enough for law enforcement to simply arrest interrogate and punish those responsible. We must also make them aware, and educate their colleagues in the difference between positive protest and loosing control in violent and destructive anger, the price of which is paid by fellow citizens while on the other side stands the object of their anger watching this immature politics which doesn’t stir a single hair on his head gloating in the spectacle of "this bear which kills its owner"!! [Translator: the reference is to a story of a bear which was supposed to shoo flies away from its master while he sleeps and when a fly lands on its master’s head the bear picks up a large rock and hurls it at the fly perched on its master’s head - the reference is to extreme stupidity]
As for those who call for the boycott of certain products or closure of certain establishments, they should be enlightened that behind those products and establishments are Egyptian homes and families who depend on them for their daily bread. Those Egyptian workers and their families would be the ones who would pay dearly for such a boycott. Allowing the sentiment on the street to rush forward in its emotional excitement without any consideration will severely harm Egypt much more than the others, that is if it harms the others at all!!
I have before a message that was posted on the Internet signed "Galal Fahmy" I found to contain a realistic expression of this concept I wish present parts of it here in the hope some of our youth may read it and stop being emotionally swept away by written words intended to confuse them. The message is titled " For whose benefit is this stupidity" the message says:
We all know about the pamphlets calling for a boycott of American companies working in Egypt with the aim of applying pressure on America. Are we going to close down tens of factories and companies that are in any way linked to America in order to pressure it. Who cares about hundreds of thousands of Egyptian employees, no problem if theses households are ruined and fall apart around them and their kids as long as we are going to pressure America?!!...
I am one of those Egyptians you are calling for the ruin of his household in order to pressure America. I work for Sainsbury-Egypt which is an Egyptian British joint venture and employs 4800 Egyptians. It was rumored that this company is Jewish, no one bothered to check if this out, because it is untrue, and what about the thousands of families that depend on this company? Did anyone prepare other employment for the people who work in this company or is it ok to make them homeless for the sake of pressuring America?!!
Some have called for boycotting the regular consumer products and not the basic necessities. This also is childish. Are the Egyptians working for companies producing products that are not basic necessities second class citizens, and it is OK to ruin there homes?!!
It would be easy to do without a bottle of soft drink or a sandwich from carrying an American name but did anyone think of how to provide those who live of these items with substitute work? Did anyone calculate the effects of such a boycott on America? It wont move a hair on America’s head. But it will ruin thousands of homes in Egypt. Let me make it clear that I don’t feel an different than any of you towards the events that shaken the region. I am not any less frustrated by the arrogance of the aggressors, but do you know that the boycott which would make the other side recalculate its position has a scientific method? Do you know that the price of one military jet is more than that of all soft drinks we could drink a few years? If we wanted to pressure America than we should boycott American weapons, but we must first find a substitute. Do you know that price of a single civilian jet costs more than all sandwiches we could eat in years? If we wanted to pressure America then we should boycott American civilian planes, but first we must find the substitute. Do you know that our partnership with oil producing companies exceeds all the American products we could use for years? So let us stop this partnership, but first we find the substitute. What I am saying does not only apply to within Egypt but throughout the whole of the Arab world. We should stop emotional outbursts which are not well thought out and give in to the concept of the aim justifies the means because in our present condition even the means available won’t achieve the aim.
This the content of the message posted on the Internet I find it has a reasoning we should consider because we should not ask helpless civilians to pay for hasty policies if necessary the we should ask that of nations and governments.
