What happened to Good ol' Egypt....The Egypt before the 52" coupe? Before that horrible coupe' Egypt was a cosmopolitan, glorious, country, where Arts and Fashion were abundant, where most people were happy, where if someone worked hard they could actually achieve...Before the Revolution, people from all over used to migrate to Egypt, specially Cairo & Alexandria, it was full of Greeks, Armenians, and many more people...Most of those migrants worked in the private sector and owned their own business, and they took care of the poor people that worked for them, and paid them well! Then the "Revolution" came and *NATIONALIZED all business, so ofcourse most of those people left Egypt!
What happened to EGYPTIAN JEWS? You know Egypt had over 100,000 Jewish citizens,they were treated just like anyone else during the pre-disaster(revolution) days, I mean why shouldn't they be, they were EGYPTIANS.. Big department stores such as Chiquorelle were owned by jewish families, but ofcourse even though they were EGYPTIANS when the Revolution came, they were discriminated against and pretty much given no choice but to leave Egypt.
Egypt had buildings that rivaled those in Europe and anywhere in the world, beautiful buildings...those buildings still stand now, except that now they have chicken coupes on the roof and are dirty and near tumbling over.. If you look at some of the old buildings in Alex and Cairo you can see how beautiful they must have been at one time, it makes me so sad to see this!
All you have to do is just watch Egyptian movies from the 40's and 50's and you see how beautiful and classy Egypt was, we had Starlets and stars, now we are happy with Mohamed Saad and Elhinidy..The Golden era is over, even in our movies, they are so stupid those slap stick comedies...I recommend watching
Omarit Ya3kobian . This movie shows you how corrupt and lost Egypt has become!
What exactly did this 1952 revolution do for us? NOT MUCH...The officers had great intentions I think, and ofcourse they wanted to help Egypt, but they committed a big mistake by taking over Egypt.. I feel like that day was the beginning of the decline of our Beautiful Country, and look at it now! Even when someone like SADAT came and was maybe ready to make a difference and lead us to prosperity again, Egyptians killed him! That day I believe Egypt lost all hope.. :(
Mr Nasser introduced FREE COLLEGE EDUCATION, what a STUPID idea, how could you just give ANYONE a free education, yes teach them howto read and write and put them through highschool, but not just FREE through college, give that FREE EDUCATION to people that DESERVE it, as in a SCHOLARSHIP system, not just anyone...Now everyone is a doctor, Engineer..blah blah blah, and they can't find jobs ofcourse because EVERYONE has a degree, it doesn't mean anything anymore!!
Egypt ofcourse wasn't perfect before the revolution,the kings were greedy but to an extent, maybe farouk was too much of a puppet, but I think he played his cards right.. But the Bashawat and beys always took care of the poor people, my grandmother tells me back then, Yes some people were struggling but overall the country was a million times better, she said the rich always gave a lot to the poor, and there were many jobs..
If you don't agree with what I'm saying, JUST COMPARE, Egypt Then and NOW, and if it stays on the path it is now, then this will be EGYPT BY 2018, and we definitly don't wanna see that!
It is impossible for a regime change now, so the change must come from within, every person must start by HIMESLF first...and maybe, just maybe in another 50 years we will return to our old glory :( "ya Khosara ya masr"
17 comments:
That is plain silly. You still have a lot of homework and reading to do. You sound just like somebody who sat through hours and hours of hearing his family talk about how great Egypt was before the Youzbashi Nasser took over. Dude, get a life and read. Get some independent opinions. Analyze and think for yourself. Then make up your mind. Read some statistics about the status of the Egyptian people and its evolution during the 20th century.
I am in no way defending Nasser of course but this romantic idealization of pre 52 is just so cliche and stupid.
Anonymous, this comment above Shows how you can't talk like an adult, you have to talk like a complete rude Asshole!
you can't seriiousley tell me that Egypt now is better than Egypt before!
1st anonymous dude ur the one who should do some more reading and stop being plain silly and tell us what do you think about the subject instead of telling us what do you think about the post writer , btw if u were trying to be sarcastic u didn't do a good job cause i didn't find ur comment funny
The Muslim Brotherhood killed Sadat!
Actually "Mechanical C" it was the Gama3at Islamiya that killed him...but they had the same ideas i think!
I just wanted to say I liked the movie. Thanks.
Maybe I don't know much, but just to listen to my parents stories under "old Egypt", is enough to know how prosperous, it was, and how life was easy (you just moved house, not to paint your rented flat!!!); you could be at "night club" on the next table of King Farouk (no streets blocked for hrs, because VIP are going to cross the city, don't know when). All men and women (on pictures) were nicely dressed, and look clean (no beard, jelaba, pyjamas like nowadays). Streets were "empty" and clean (unlike today, where the pedestrians share the streets with the cars). People had good manners, were civilized, and looked happy.
Of course, i would hear about lack of democracy, nationalism, etc. But if all democracies lead backwards like what happened in Egypt (compared to the 50s) i would like to be conolized again (Someone who will force the people to be clean and civilized!)
That last comment was great walahey....All this is so sad!
This flag, w/the crescent an the 3 stars, when was is changed ?
I remember - as a little boy - my aunt brought an Egyptian boyfriend, who taught me how to draw it. Must've been around 1970.
And last anon: I'm afraid the days of "conolizing" are over, sorry :-)
Cheers from Denmark
My parents always maintained that Farouk was extremely popular when he first became King. But lost it for four reasons. 1) His feuds with the Wafd party (He continually appointed minority governments). 2) Failure to stand up to the British when they surrounded the Abdin Palace with tanks and latter when they attacked the Ismailia barracks. 3) The continual corruption scandals 4) Defeat by Israel.
(Oh did I mention that he was fat?)
During Farouk’s reign there was freedom of the press (except when British censored it in WW2), free elections and generally no political prisoners (Except when the Wafd imprisoned the“pro-axis”govt after the British overthrew the govt in February 1942).
Also, under the 15 Farouk’s rule the number of schools tripled.
Farouk’s big problem was details. He was not interested in them. When he appointed either minority parties or bureaucrats to form governments….he would leave the policies to them. He was notorious for telephoning individual ministers with ideas the middle of the night (often from a dinner party) and then leaving it to the minister to sort it out….with the added risk that the King might forget or ask about it six months later.
When forced to appoint a Wafd government (either by the British or popular opinion) he would sulk and spend the next couple of years ignoring them and partying.
The British were the biggest problem. They viewed Farouk’s 39-42 government as pro-nazi, which was an exaggeration….the Prime Minister tried to cut a deal with the Germans/Italians because it looked like the British were about to loose the war. As it was he became too obvious….and the then British ambassador surrounded the palace with tanks. He forced Farouk to re-appoint the Wafd. (Who thus screwed their credibility).
After that people were divided between those who felt sympathetic: that the King had no choice but concede to British demands and those who felt that he should done the honourable thing by defying the British and being deposed.
Throughout the 1940’s & early 50’s there were a series of corruption scandals which involved politicians of all parties, senior bureaucrats and some minor members of the Royal Family. A sceptical public saw the political establishment as increasingly venial and corrupt.
He dismissed that Wafd as soon as he could (1944?) and appointed another government of bureaucrats. They managed to negotiate a brilliant deal over the Canal….and what f*cked it? Sudan. The British Labour government offered to withdraw all British troops but wanted Sudanese self –determination. The MB & Wafd wouldn’t swallow that and so under pressure, Farouk rejected the deal (True!!!!). Then the ’48 war with Israel and we lost.
I think that’s when the MB started assassinating people in earnest….the Prime Minister anyway. (They’d killed a few judges in the forties…..oh sorry…they never assassinate people, any brother who does, did it without orders(?!) or had just left the brotherhood, right I believe that).
Now here something I’ve often thought: the army lost the war. They blamed the government (i.e. King Farouk A guy not interested in details). Now, the govt was THEN made up civilians….not solders. In fact they would have left all the military decisions to the army….how then did the King get the blame?!?!?
Ultimately, yes. He was head of state and had appointed the govt…..but the war was handled by the army and they lost…..yet every school book blames Farouk. Hmmm.
4 years later the military coup (sorry revolution) happens.
Straight after the war Farouk appointed the Wafd and goes off on a sulk and a bender.
The Wafd decide to tackle the British (they’re no longer friends), both in the canal and in Sudan. Also they start the “war of attrition” against Israel.
The Wafd sponsor the freedom battalions to attack both military & civilian targets. (The Brits called them terrorists). The aim was to make life difficult for the 80K troops they had there….and eventually they’d go home.
BUT Churchill was now in British PM (Labour was out) and anxious to prove that their dying empire wasn’t dead yet. The attacks were carried out by the Liberation Battalions which were organized by Egyptian Intelligence from the Ismailia Police Barracks. On 25th January 1952 the British Army tanks & troops entered Egyptian territory to “disarm” the Egyptian Police. They expected no resistance. Instead the police refused to surrender. A pitched battle followed, in which 4 British soldiers and 42 Egyptian policemen were killed.
Only the Interior Minister Serageddin publicly called for popular resistance. Neither King nor the rest of the Wafdist government supported him. Both were intimidated by 80,000 strong British garrison in the Canal Zone.
The Egyptian Army, which was then only 50,000 strong, stayed in it’s barracks(!) and the police fought alone.
Anti-British riots swept the country and the Wafd fell. Farouk was unable to find anyone who could form a stable government.
Four governments were formed and fell between 25th January & 23rd July 1952. It was during this chaos, when public opinion of both King and Parliament were at their lowest that the Free Officers Movement launched their Military Coup.
The Free Officers did inform the American Ambassador (Who informed the British) just before it happened. (Apparently, they’d heard that the military police were going to arrest them so decided to act first, but told the Americans to try and play them against the Brits)
Te British Ambassador & the Military commander of the Canal Zone requested instructions from London. These arrived fairly late and were “not to interfere”.
The British did not like Farouk.
On the whole, I’d agree with you. Farouk was much better than what followed. Yes, he appointed govts. That didn’t have parliamentary majorities……but he never interfered with elections nor ban political parties (MB and communists excepted) nor have political prisoners nor interfere with press freedom nor have censorship.
Perhaps if he had he might have lasted longer.
On the minus side: He was lazy, left too much to subordinates and (worstcrime) had an eating disorder.
Egypt’s Liberal Constitutional Monarchy 1921 to 1952 RIP.
We’d be under Faud II now.
J- That is a great brief history lesson, i hope you dont mind , but i'm going to add it as a blog entry!
thanks
Cool, but Check for spelling mistakes and grammer! ;o)
J, what happened to farouk after he left Egypt? didn't he live in France? and when did he die? what became of him? and what about his Son? where is he now?
Farouk went in (in his yacht) exile to Italy. Where lived quite a luxurious life as a playboy, he spent a lot of time in Monte Carlo. He put on a LOT of weight during his exile (I mean A LOT)
He died, aged 45 in 1965 under suspicious circumstances. (There was an article in Al Ahram that discussed the possibility that he was murdered by Egyptian intelligence.....but dismisses it). He collapsed in the middle of a meal and died on the way to hospital. Newspapers reported that it was a heart attack. But no-one knows for certain, there was no autopsy. The Italian officials told the hospital not too, probably in case something was found rather than an actual suspicion (they wouldn't have wanted an international incident).
Was he poisoned?? Who knows. He was very very fat by then.
Directly after coup his 1 year old son became King Faud II, free Officers appointed a regency council headed by Prince Mohammed Ali Tewfik, which lasted just under a year, before the monarchy was abolished in July 1953.
(Why wait so long before declaring a republic?)
According to Wikipedia* Faud lives in France and has three children .
I know that some (minor??) members of the old royal family live in Egypt.
I'm not an expert on Farouk....but several years ago I did read a biography, which made quite a good impression.
*The Wikipedia stuff on Egypt is in a mess! The Farouk entry takes a very British view point.
modern pharoah,
Egyptian Jews deserve to be expuled as they pray to Iblis and carry on them the guilt of attempting to murder Prophet Muhammad(SAW).
In the same way, I support expuling every Copt from Egypt and make Egypt purely Arab.
Arabic is God's language and even the European Union (EU) has recognised this by declaring that Arabic is a neutral language that can unite the White man.
Should every European reject the polytheist creed called Christianity and embrace Islam, the world will be more moral.
Humanity must understand that Allah(SWT) destroyed the Coptic language of the Christian Copts because of their arrogance.
Prophet Muhammad(SAW) said "An Arab not not by birth nor by ancestry but by tongue. Whoever speaks Arabic is an Arab"
So, every human, even American President George W Bush is born an Arab! Its possible to make Arabic the national language of both the the United States of America and the European Union.
Haydar, you are a crazy Deranged ZEALOT!!! How could you say such things about your fellow Christian Egyptians, and even Jewish Egyptians????? You are what is wrong with Islam, Fanatics like YOU!
Mohamed PBUH, Lived with Christians and jews in peace and treated them with respect, and now MORONS like you are giving ISLAM a BAD IMAGE because you are a FANATIC, a FANATIC of LIES!!
You are abviousley not very well educated to make such INSANE remarks such as expelling the Copts from Egypt....Allah Yil3anak you idiot!
Haydar is a clear example of what is wrong with Egypt today. I will pray for you Haydar to see the REAL truth about Islam.
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