09 February, 2009

Paranoia and Blind Oppression

About one hour after midnight, state security agents went to Philip Rizk's family home and searched it. However, they are not reported to have found any secret stash of arms for Hamas or bomb-making material...

Clearly, this nightly visit was a calculated attempt to terrorize the whole family as a punishment for Philip's activism. If state security actually did believe that Philip constitutes some kind of security threat, why the heck did they wait more than 48 hours before doing this search?

But this whole affair is also a symptom of the serious paranoia that has infected the Egyptian state. After three decades with Hosni Mubarak in power, the regime is starting to show signs of senility. It has bought its own propaganda about Hamas and the Palestinians being a threat to Egyptian national security, to the extent that they fear anyone who dare raise his voice about Gaza. The absurdity of the situation is beyond all imagination: it is actually less dangerous today to go to stairs of the press syndicate and shout "down with Mubarak" than doing a peaceful march in solidarity with the Palestinians.

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