If there were an award for the ‘world’s best capital city’ issued not on the basis of aesthetics, functionality or value for money but for the inhabitants’ ability to endure the malfeasance of the so-called responsible authorities, then Cairo would win hands-down. Egypt’s capital is both holding together and falling apart; it’s a paradox. Everything functions, sort of, because people adhere valiantly to their daily routines. Asi
A distressing item at the forefront of many minds is the way the current government handled a stream of disasters it either directly or indirectly caused: the military bombing of a group of tourists in the desert last September (blamed on the tour operator for being in a restricted area); the October flooding of Alexandria that destroyed lives and livelihoods owing to poor maintenance of city drainage (blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood); the November 2015 Russian plane crash in Sinai (not blamed on an ISIS bomb, despite international forensic investigation proving otherwise); the torture and murder in February 2016 of young Giuglio Regeni (blamed on a gang of thugs who were summarily assassinated); and the (ongoing) disappearances of hundreds of civilians (not blamed on anyone but vigorously denied).
