The past couple months, questions like, “what’s next for post-revolutionary Egypt?” or “what does Democracy look like for Egypt?” have permeated many Western news hours and talk shows. These media sources often draw on the on the opinions of Egyptian authors, intellectuals, and activists who are over the age of 30. While the views of such individuals undeniably have relevance for Egypt in its nascent stages of democratization, it was not their generation’s hour. Where are the opinions of the youth of Egypt? I don’t want to hear the rantings of a time-worn, white haired Muslim Brotherhood leader. I want to hear from the average student, like myself, who is watching the future of their country take shape and what that will mean for them as a citizen of a newly forming democratic society.
In the next few months I will be attempting to report the opinions, views, interests of those who you would not see interviewed on an Al Jazeera talk show. With broken Arabic (which will improve after a few months of intensive Arabic classes in shah allah?) I will converse with taxi drivers, fruit vendors, students, and others that I meet while living in Cairo and hopefully get a sense of what the common Egyptian citizen thinks about the transformations that their country is undergoing.
I’m not a political analyst – I follow the news, I think, I write, I’m curious, and probably talk too much… اهلا وسهلا to my blog!
No comments:
Post a Comment