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Egypt’s Performative Solidarity with Black America

June 3, 2020

There exist two very distinct, separate realities of life in Egypt. Much like the racial dichotomy of the American experience, Egypt’s parallel realities also come in twos and rarely overlap. In one dimension of Egyptian life, the lucky few enjoy some social and economic privileges and substantial cultural capital; the other, where most Egyptians occupy their spaces, is a dystopian wasteland. A few years back, I was struggling to articulate this social order to a White American friend, when he quickly caught my drift and interrupted me mid-sentence: “class is to Egypt what race is to America,” he aphorized, his eyes narrowing as we exchanged self-congratulatory nods and gazes of recognition. I was reminded of his exceedingly pithy remark as I scrolled through my social media newsfeeds to find many upper middle class Egyptians and cultural elites taking up the cry for racial justice and displaying their solidarity with the Black American community following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and most recently, David McAtee. Black squares stared back at me from most unexpected sources. Long lost friends, distant relations, ancillary acquaintances, luminaries and celebrities whose voices…


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