Some believe the land of fear is near. I believe it is here. When Abdel Fatah El Sisi overthrew Mohammed Morsi in July 2013 many analysts believed violence was on the horizon. They didnt have to wait long. But what has unfolded over the past thirteen months maybe even more dangerous than a paradigm of blood letting and dictatorship. Sisi and the gang have sucessfully entrenched fear in the land. You dont have to invest a lifetime of analysis to see reality: while Sisi has his supporters, his detractors are many and growing but there is a defined and increasing fear creeping in.
The Protest Law was the first blow of the iron fist policy that continues to expand on a daily basis. The political prisoners number in the 10’s of thousands. More sinister is the return of a notion many hold to be a truth: ‘the walls have ears’. While a foreign concept to many western ears it is a reality in most Egypt salons if you hold an oppositional stance. Many have lost long held friendships, family relations and found themselves in heated confrontations with virtual strangers-this writer being among the many.
More recently with the prevasivness of an increasinly vocal ultra nationalist camp a truly insidious phenomanon is starting to take hold: people self policing their own. Whether, implicitly or explicitly, those who stand in opposition of the coup or Sisi are being threatened, warned, cajoled and intimidated by strangers, friends and family alike to stay clear of voiceferous opposition to SisiMania.
We will not.
1984 may be gone. Welcome to Egypt 2014.
Words Reign Supreme 