Posted by Hesham on July 12, 2000 at 05:35:58:
In Reply to: Re: Message to Cairo Airport Authorities (Comment on Ashraf's reply) posted by Khaled Samy Ismail on December 07, 1999 at 15:12:45:
Hi everyone, my name is Hesham I have been in dubai for 20 years. I wouldl like to say something here, that in our system is there is something that might not be the right time tio changed, which is getting paranoyd about dual identities, and other stuff, that is lead to by the national security culture that was forced on our political and administrative system. What I want to say is that we have to be more understanding of all views of deferent people and cultures, today no one can exactly belong to the same cuture we had 20 years back. (wether this is good or bad), we have to be smart enough to deal with it. By the way..... I wonder why I only meet people with brains only on the net :)
: Salaam Wafaa, Ashraf , and every one.
: Hope you're all doing fine. Let's start with Ashraf : I think you were too harsh on Wafaa ya Ashraf basha .... just calm down a little bit and try to understand (I don't know where do you live, but I guess you live in Egypt ??).... I can't tell why Wafaa decided to use her USA passport, but we've to admit that in our Arabic region if you show a USA or a "Western" passport, then you will be dealt with respect and most likely the paper work proceeds faster!!!! which reflects a "bad system" in the first place (If you've travelled to any Arabic country with your Egyptian passport, you'll know what I'm talking about). I've not used my Canadian passport yet, and I'm 100% Egyptian from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet, but I might have to enter egypt as a "Canadian" although I never felt like one (never will) ..... why ?? because if I use my Egyptian passport at the entry port, I'll be asked to provide my military certificate and a certificate that proves that I'm not wanted by the Army !!!! (Last time I spent my whole vacation running after paper work, and there is no need to tell you about the Bureaucracy and blood burning to convence the authorities about my status as an Egyptian Immigrant)..... I can be nothing but Egyptian though, but we have to admit that the system back home (and in most of the Arabic countries) doesn't respect your humanity (even if you belong to the same country or to a neighbouring country), and worse of all they respect the "foreigners" more !!!! RIGHT ??
: Wafaa ----> I don't know what your reasons were for entering Egypt as American, but I certainly agree with you that we should not be treated as absolute foreigners, It is a killing feeling if you feel "foreigner" every where, including in your own homeland .... homeland will never be forgotten, and they shouldn't forget us either...
: I think we should contact the "Authorities" some how (if any one is interested, then we can do it as a group), and hopefully "some one" will undersatnd our feelings ......
: Best wishes for you all,