All Quiet on the Egyptian Front

(21st August 2006 : CAIRO, Egypt -- Two passenger trains collided north of Cairo Monday morning, killing at least 57 people and injuring 128 others…I knew the real number of the victims the next day..)

The scene has become repetitive, not in a strange way but in a rather boring one… I’ve seen these miserable faces before, I saw them during the sinking of the ferry and the burning of the theatre and even on the first train accident, their astonished faces, torn clothes and separated body parts while they stand between the wrecks of the two trains don’t look strange anymore… did they expect that they will go home? Did they really think that they can ride the train safely? The rules have been changed long time ago, now your death while riding a train or a ferry or a plane is just a matter of time… did they really imagine they will survive? Did they think that anyone cares?

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Few years ago something like this happened in Upper Egypt, everyone saw a train moving at maximum speed with blazes of fire coming from every opening while its passengers are being fried alive, more than 300 of them died that day and the ones who survived wished they did die, back then (after almost 12 minutes of intensive investigation) it was declared that the cause of the accident was a small gas cylinder carried by one of the passengers, and at the end it was no one’s fault except the riders of the train themselves, the next day, (AL AHRAM) published a photo for a perfectly normal gas cylinder placed between the wreck of the train with a genius comment under it saying : “ The gas cylinder that caused the fire ..!!!!” , as if we were that stupid, I wonder what are they going to say this time? Of course they will find some poor escape goat that will be held responsible for the crash, victims and everything, with some luck we may even find that he is the reason behind the mad cow disease and the Ebola virus, and with time, everyone will forget everything and - as usual- all we are going to talk about is the amount of money that the families of the victims are going to receive to compensate their loss.. As if things were that simple..

It seems thought that the script is going to be fast forward this time, within a few minutes from the accident the government said that it is going to pay 10,000 L.E. (1740 US $) to the family of each deceased and 5000 L.E. (870 US $) to every injured… is that the new price for human beings these days? Would you like my dear reader to sell your arm or leg for 870$? How about a 1740$ for your family the minute you die? Why not? 1400 people died when the ferry sank and yet some voices came out, saying that there is no need to worry because the generous company owner will pay casualties for the victims (as if things were also that simple).. But then again, why not? Those who died are of little importance anyway, no one of them can act or sing or even throw a ball into a goal, most of them are workers and we have a lot of those anyway.. What difference does it make if we lose a few dozens , or even a few hundreds.. Maybe if one of the ladies on the train knew how to show some skin or even shake her body she would’ve found someone to drive her in his car instead of riding the train, maybe if had went a little further she would have had her own car in the first place, ,,,it was the passengers fault after all..

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They say that the initial number of victims is 50 persons, it seems that we have been lucky this time, the first train accident took the lives of 300 passengers while the number of those who drowned with the ferry exceed the thousand, I wonder… what is the number at which an accident seizes being an accident and becomes a tragedy? Is it a hundred? Two hundreds? A thousand? ..do you remember Erich Maria Remarque’s novel “All Quiet on the Western Front ” ? the one talking about a German teenager who found himself drafted to fight in the first world war, this kid had dreams, ambitions and goals… he had a life, and when he died his regiment sent a message to command saying : “ Only one soldier was killed today…All quiet on the western front…” , I wonder.. When did all become quiet in Egypt? When did the human life become worthless? Or – to be exact- worth 1740 $ ?...

The strange thing is that the day of the accident was the same day of “Al Isra & Al Miraj”, which is (to those who don’t know) is an important Islamic occasion, the same way in which the first train accident was on Al – Eid? Is it a coincidence? Or is fate trying to tell us something? Is it even fate in the first place? Maybe we are just paying for our mistakes, and that we are just reaping what we saw… All these consecutive disasters is just an indication that corruption and negligence has become so monumental that it can’t be fought or faced, maybe some important people in some important positions discovered the best policy is to keep things the way they are and that the best way to solve people’s problems is to get rid of the people themselves….

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You know – my dear reader- what hurts the most in all this? It is the overwhelming feeling of uselessness and despair, here I stand watching this accident in the same way I watched the sinking of the ferry and the first train crash before them, and in the same way I will stand watching the next disaster, simply because there is nothing I can do, exactly like there is nothing that you can do also, everything happens against my will no matter how much I fought it or refused it, meanwhile, there are people how know exactly what are they doing and when they should do it, that is why you can never find a real responsible for these disasters, you will always find those who can secure themselves, protect themselves or even escape if they had to, there are those who are not like the stupid train passengers who couldn’t save their lives no matter how much they tried, there are those how can survive even if they burned a few hundreds in their trains or drowned a few thousands in their ferries… why not?... They are going to pay casualties to the victims anyway…

It seems, things really are that simple….

A FINAL WORD

“I balanced all, brought all to mind..
The years to come seem waste of breath..
A waste of breath the years behind..
In balance with this life…This death..”

From “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”
By William Butler Yeats

Mohamed Hashem
22-08-2006