michael slackman in today’s times reports on the ambivalence felt by the egyptian populace towards a recently discovered pyramid that is 4,300 years old. egyptians’ discontent for the current regime is widespread and genuine as captured by this quote:

“Can you believe our government can do nothing for us, and this thing that was built thousands of years ago is still helping me feed my family?” Ahmed Sayed Baghali, 49

slackman tries to place the egyptians’ patience in context. it’s either a byproduct of a zoomed out temporal perspective that comes from living in a country visibly thousands of years old as slackman notes:

Yet growing up and living amid so much history has something to do with that view, too; the abundant antiquities in everyday life are a constant reminder of one’s place in time.

People come and go, pharaohs come and go, even President Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt for 27 years, will go, too (though talk of that certainty is discouraged).

No need to worry.

or down to an islamic faith that teaches all is god’s will. galal amin says it’s a bit of both:

“This deep conviction, ‘Leave it to time, leave it to God, God will resolve it, don’t worry too much, everything will be all right in the end’ — can’t this also be the result of the length of history? When you have a short amount of time, you can’t rely on bad things to be corrected or mistakes to be corrected. But in the long run, things are bound to be all right at the end.”

there is much worrying uncertainty around succession in egypt. the current regime’s stifling policies have left no real alternatives to the ruling party. the choices seems to be gamal mubarak (the idea of hereditary power would i think piss off the majority of egyptians), an army takeover (peaceful i would imagine although i don’t know of anyone with the requried profile) or the islamic brotherhood (who as noted by john bradley are probably not as popular as feared but who are nevertheless reasonably well organized).

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