A young woman stood on one side of the platform in the Attaba metro station, tucked in the heart of downtown Cairo, while talking to her friend who was standing on the other side. Radio messages warning Egyptians to take heed of the COVID-19 outbreak and suggesting tips to wash hands, played on loop, reverberating across the large metro halls. “We were going up to the exit, and that’s when I saw him: a Chinese man.” “May god protect us.” Erupting laughter. For the last weeks, since the reality of the outbreak manifested itself within Egypt, home of the Middle East’s largest population, bouts and experiences of racism, whether online or offline, also reverberated through the country. While the outbreak may have arisen in a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, a common narrative qualifying the virus as a ‘Chinese’ one has acerbated tensions between Chinese people, individuals with “Asian” facial features and many communities worldwide. It is especially a critical issue for Egypt which many believe can be devoid of a racist reputation or narrative despite glaring evidence of the contrary. Racism that touches the full range of…
