April Family Issue (online)

APRIL 2018

Editorial Note Picture a family. The image that comes to your mind is probably of a popular Egyptian TV family standing in line being instructed by the father, or an idyllic storybook picture of parents, a son with an ice cream cone, and a girl with skipping rope all blissfully holding hands in a park. The reality, however, is of slight variation.

Because this family is of a single mother, that family is a dysfunctional wreck and others’ families cannot afford a commute to the park. Her family is a grandparent, his family is his one pet, and others had to be displaced from their families, faraway and exiled. This family is alienation, that family is nourishment, and others’ families can only live inside a picture frame. Her family is standing in line for her performance, his family has him stand in line for performative elections, and other families, thousands of other families, stand in line to weekly visit loved ones kept locked away. His family dismisses his anxiety, her family supports her career, and others’ families are an obstacle to the

selves they strive to become. His family is of a father who wants him to continue his business and very being, her family is of a mother who can only find pride in her imminent marriage, and their families have something planned for the two of them very soon. This family is conventionally frowned upon, that family is a village of a hundred caring mothers, another family is built on nothing but ties of power and gain, and another one is a closely-knit circle of loving and devoted friends.

In our issue, we hope to have you think of all these different forms, these muffled voices and these understated realities of what we call family. We, at AUC Times, believe that as heavily tackled a theme as it is, it is still about time we deepen the conversation about our families, families around us, and “family” as a concept interlinked with everything, from politics to our deepest emotions and human questions.

-Nada Nabil

Contents

The Family Unit: Entrapment

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The Flour Baby Experiment

10

That One Uncle

14

Editor in chief Nada Nabil English Section Managing Editor Farida Hussein

Danya Koueider Laila El Refaie Karim Kadry Farah El Kholy Yasmeen Mamdouh Alya El Marakby

Associate Managing Editor Danya Koueider

Academic Advisor Ramy Aly

Photography Head Georginia Bassily

OC Director Karim Dakroury

Graphic Designer Nada Hesham

HR Head Alaa MAhmoud

English Editors Yasmine Haggag Mahmoud ElHakim Mariam El Ashmawy Mena Salama Laila Abdel Ghany

Logistics Head Omar Abo Hammar

Copyrights All uncredited photography and/or artwork is either used upon permission or licenced for noncommercial use.

Disclaimer AUC Times is a student publication. All opinions expressed in the publication are the writers' own and do not reflect those of the magazine or the AUC administration.

Marketing Head Mostafa Arafa

/ auctimes

Family Idol

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Family Sells: Egyptian Ads You Won’t Skip

26

Ohana Means Family

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AUC Times

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By Danya Koueider

A GUIDEBOOK: HOW TO CENSOR YOURSELF IN FRONT OF FAMILY 101 Disclaimer: This article is not meant for people with families that encourage them to chase their hopes and dreams and that actually ‘care about’1 what they have to say about the world. This one is for the normal families.

The ones that scream at each other across a table filled to the brim with food about their different political views while you’re just trying to reach over to the plate full of wara2 3enab. The ones that tell you you’re wrong before you’ve even opened your mouth to state your opinion.

Bitter children, this one’s for you.

1. Do not, under any circumstances, feel comfortable enough to let your guard down and tell your parents a funny story about a night out with your friends. No matter how much you’ve censored the story, there will be gaps in your imaginative logic and you will get the skeptical eye that makes your skin tingle and your throat tighten.

2. If you’re a Social Sciences or Humanities major, lie and say you’re studying something deathly practical like Finance (I don’t have to ask Finance students not to take offence, I think they will agree). If you don’t take my advice, be warned that will you get comments ranging from questions on what job you can work in with your degree, to them informing you that you will die of hunger.

Okay Uncle, have fun being a corporate slave at 9:00 am tomorrow! (and everyday until you get your epiphany that your job is soul-sucking through a minor heart attack, or some other form of near death experience.)

3. If you decide to tell your family that you have a certain political view that’s different from most of theirs. For example, you want to make fun of the posters of a certain ~someone’s~ face you’re seeing all over town (and even in the burning flesh of your eyelids even when you close your eyes, if we’re being honest) and decide to show them a meme of him as the moon, or crack a joke about what a joke the situation is, well... I’m not going to actually bother with a description here... I’ll recite a small prayer at your funeral.

4. Are you having doubts about God? Maybe you’ve just gotten out of your Philosophical Thinking class and feel like informing them that Nietzsche thinks God is dead and so do you. Instead of doing this, try to include God in every sentence to deflect any doubts about your religiosity. For example, “Thank God I’m so stressed all the time! I don’t know why God is throwing all these obstacles my way, but I guess this is God’s way of teaching me something about patience or virtue or something or the other! Thank you God!!”. Say this with a huge grin as if you’re on tranquilizers so it looks convincing.

5. Do you feel like dating? Ha! When’s the wedding?

6. Try not to hold views in defense of human beings who identify with different sexual orientations. You should listen to your family berate ‘these people’ quietly and not jump to their defense.Yes delusional Grandma, the gays want to hold us all hostage and shove their homosexual agenda down our throats. They sit next to us at the dinner table and aggressively reprimand our life choices. Yes, that’s totally the gays, not anyone else!

7. Do you have friends that choose to live a different lifestyle than the one your family has in mind? Not to them you don’t! You don’t even know what a party is and what happens at one *nervous laughter*.

8. Have you just finished midterms or maybe just returned from a trip and put on some weight? Rest assured, you will get comments that take your low selfesteem to an even new low you weren’t even aware existed! Instead of throwing a hissy fit and informing them of their ridiculous body standards, do that thing where you laugh but you actually really want to cry and try to swallow the lump in your throat instead.

9. This one’s here mostly for laughs, but have you tried addressing the sexual liberation of women? Okay okay I know, this is way out of line. How about trying to dispute the fact that a goddamn tampon won’t be responsible for “taking your hymen”, whatever imaginary value it holds anyways? “But what if your husband doesn’t believe your hymen was broken by a tampon?”. Instead of commenting that they’re all backward thinking idiots, I can offer you the following advice: sit down with your moron of a future husband and inform him, eyes brimming with tears, that he wasn’t your first. A marriage should have total transparency which is why you must tell him you lost your virginity to a feminine hygiene product. “But-but it was a mistake ‘moron husband’! The supermarket was sold out of pads and I-I-I had no other choice! Please forgive me!”.

Your husband will most likely then feel threatened by your sexual experience and divorce you, and you will die shamed and alone thinking if only you’d listened to your family’s advice.

10. I don’t care if it feels like Satan himself has recreated the heat of hell on earth, you will still wear pants and a shirt. Is it 40 degrees celsius out? Well it’s too bad your shoulders and knees are such a turn on! If it’s any consolation, at least you can cook eggs on the hood of your car.

11. If you repeat these simple steps everyday, then you should be able to avoid any form of conflict with your family. Congratulations!2

My editor says I’m not allowed to curse, and I’d just like to say the words I was going to use had much more going for them.

Side effects may include, but are not limited to: Self-loathing, despair, repressed anger and a lot of eye rolls.

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April ‘18 issue

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Photo by Sally Elfishawy

DISCLAIMER:

AUC Times

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Photo by Georgenia Bassily

By Omar Abo Mosallam

We are all familiar with the plight of one of the world’s most distraught groups of people, our younger siblings. Throughout history, they’ve been teased, made fun of and oppressed by their older brothers and sisters. One little sister by the name of Mariam Nabil, 17, along with about fifty more siblings, has had enough and is finally ready to put her foot down. And if that proves ineffective, she and her allies are prepared to do the mature thing and keep on nagging.

For Mariam, her silent contempt for her older brother, Salah, reached its zenith as she drove him home from Campus last week. ‘I’ve been driving him every day! And I can’t even play any songs I like…’ complains Nabil, who decided to end this egregious display of power. “I asked, no wait, demanded I get one song. He shrugged off my protest.” explains Nabil, but she wasn’t deterred. She went on to say, “I kept bugging him about my God-given rights, until I heard those words come out of his mouth… Words that meant, or at least vaguely implied, that change was finally possible, after a month of grueling work!” Mariam slightly teared up as she recalled the beautiful moment that followed, “Salah said, and I’ll never forget what he said, ‘whatever, Mariam.’” She went on to do what she wanted: play her one song. Unfortunately, Salah was on the phone, so he lowered the volume of the song until it was barely audible. In any case, she technically succeeded, and was hungry for even more freedom.

One week later, we checked up on the emerging radical, who told another harrowing tale of a demonstration. Last March 4, Salah demanded that Mariam answer the door; he yelled at Mariam to go answer it, but things instantly went south from there. “He called my name not once, but twice, before I

got up. It was all deliberate. I made him wait, and I think he knew it.”

When asked which of the siblings was actually closer to the door at that time, Mariam admitted, “Well…

I was closer, but I still don’t have to like it.”

Later, we sat down with Mariam to dig a little deeper into her inner self, in order to better understand her approach, greater philosophy and inspirations. “My all time inspiration would probably be Sa’ad Zaghloul, who may have married into the status quo and, yes, could’ve taken a harder stance against the British oppressors, but in reality he was just a well-intentioned liberal. And so am I!” declares Mariam proudly. She then elaborated on her revolutionary plans: “The only way to actually be free, as a people, is if all of my brethren unite and take on their older siblings together, and that’s why I put together the Younger Siblings Union.”

On the morning of March 15, the union gathered outside Salah’s room. After receiving no response after only a few minutes of chanting, morale began to dwindle, yet Mariam had an epiphany. Cupping her hands around her mouth, Mariam threatened: ‘I’ll call mom and dad if you don’t let me in!” Soon after playing her trump card, the door opened. She put forth her demands to Salah, but he abruptly said “Look, I’m busy here, okay? So just go and we’ll talk later.” Upon hearing words she heard one too many times, she promptly turned around and defiantly closed the door, slamming it slightly louder than usual. These two parties truly are on the brink of conflict.

April ‘18 issue

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By Laila Ghoneim

BECOME THE EGYPTIAN TROPHY WIFE HE DESERVES TODAY! Are you a soon-to-be bride looking for a refresher HowTo on submissiveness? Are you having trouble biting your tongue all the time? Do you still think of yourself as your own person? Then this is the course for you!

So you’ve managed to snag a man and get yourself engaged? Congratulations!

You’ve just completed the first step in fulfilling your only worth as a woman! But this is only the beginning of your lifelong commitment to becoming part of your husband’s furniture, and you’re probably wondering whether you’re up for this arduous, but essential, task.

This is why our intensive five-week course is here to strip away all those silly thoughts of independence, so you can truly become the dutiful wife that your man will find irresistible.

The course will begin with an examination of your behavior and discovering why you’ve strayed from your obedient feminine nature. We’ll help you banish all those absurd notions of “having a career”. What if, God forbid, you become more successful than he is? Can you imagine the shame that would bring him? You must never ever emasculate him like that. Then, you’ll know all the best secrets to inflating his delicate ego.

After that, we’ll move on to maintaining your appearance. It’s no secret that you have to stay in shape and look like you never aged a day past 23. Pregnancy and the inevitable passing of time are no excuse! That’s why he married you in the first place; it’s most certainly not what’s on the inside that counts. We won’t let you be like those failed wives who get lazy and neglect their looks when they have practically nothing to do besides the menial duties of raising the kids alone, working (if their husbands allow it, of course), taking

the kids to school, cooking their husband’s favorite meals, cleaning every inch of the house, helping the kids with their homework, buying the houses’ groceries with the money their husbands so graciously gave them, and dedicating all their other time to listening to their husbands talk over them. Such a simple task, yet very few women faithfully fill it!

Finally, you’ll gain valuable insight on how to best deal with those catty housewives you have to compete with. Remember: other women are always the enemy and they will never want what’s best for you. That’s why this course is taught by a man, who absolutely knows best.

“Before taking the course, I was brainwashed with ideas of feminazism and “equality”, so I could never get a man. But I’ve seen the light and now, I have the perfect

husband to serve!”

- Mamlouka.

“I used to nag so much and complain to my husband when something was worrying me, so the poor dear had to take another wife because I was so highmaintenance. I feel horrible that I forced him to do that!

Thankfully, I’ve learned my mistake and I only ever talk about his problems now.

That’s what sets me apart from his second and third wives.”

-Mrs. Sayed El-Gabbar.

We’ll give you one free tip here as a sneak peak for what the course has to offer you: Go to bed with a full face of makeup on, wait until your husband is fast asleep and then you can remove your makeup and do your nightly skincare routine. Next, train your body to wake up before he does so you can reapply your makeup and then pretend to ‘wake up like this’. Never forget the golden rule: You can never show your bare face to your husband unless you want him to die of shock at how your eyelids aren’t actually pink and glittery!

To any men reading this and wondering if they need classes, don’t worry about it! Keeping a marriage going is 100% the woman’s responsibility. To any young women still without husbands, we’ve got you covered; we’ll teach you how to find a man and stop being such a disappointment.

Disclaimer: Spinsters over the age of 23 are not welcome - there is no hope for them. Too late.

Sign up now to finally become the ultimate object of men’s desires!

AUC Times

By Ablaze

ENTRAPMENT Sometimes it gets annoying when people point out that I have perfect parents, that nothing is wrong and that it’s all in my head. But I swear, there is something peculiar about them, something that makes them oddly obsessed with control.

Even though it’s 3 a.m. and no one is really awake to encapsulate my radical stream of thoughts, I am selfobliged to write them down in this one heck of a journal.

Maybe someone will find it and say: ‘ah! This girl is not as shy as her parents proclaimed; she’s actually quite the leftist here!’

When I close my eyes and picture my lovely family, I see my father standing in the middle, excuse me, the centre of it and every other member of the family is standing around him. The father figure here is always presented as the head, as the policeman who keeps everyone in check if anyone decided to deviate here or there. But don’t worry, the mother figure is always tries to cover up all the lovely mistakes made by my brother and I, even if that ends up really terribly on her side. God bless you mama!

Even though I know that my highly “Egyptianized” parents love me, I cannot cease to think about their unnatural obsession with knowing what I am doing and where I’m at 24/7. I have to broadcast to each and every member of the house, including the grand police-man of course that I will leave this private sphere often called home. I have to state the time, space, date, and living creatures involved in whatever it is I am to be doing. I also need to come back home on a specific God given hour that if I even attempt to trespass, human gargoyles will come out of the sewers and try to kill me! Don’t worry that’s just for me, my brother is off the hook, gargoyles won’t get him.

However, the peculiar thing here is that whenever my brother does something “extremely” wrong, he does not get forcibly locked up in a room like me, with my parents monitoring my every movement; no no, he is actually abandoned until he figures out how to fix his problem! My father would literally make him sleep outside the house to “man up.”

Don’t worry, those double standards end when we begin to talk about work, or ‫ أكل العيش‬. I find it quite odd that most Egyptian fathers have the survival of the fittest mentality; my father always tells us that what you love does not really matter in “the real world,” what matters is the thing you’re good at, the thing that will yield the highest profit, because this is how you survive. This got me thinking about my childhood that was highly engrossed in useless subconscious grade competitions between school students. The countless times I had to ‘respect’ those elderly technocrats just because they’re old. There were also other instances where mama loved nothing more than to compare my brother and I with our ‫ إبن خاله‬who got an SAT score of 2400, a 4.0 GPA, an impeccable social life and a scholarship to Harvard! Let me see you in 10

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years ‫ يا إبن خالتي‬when you are undoubtably alienated from your picturesque life.

My brother was forced to join medical school to take over the family business. I decided to study Sociology, which brought utter shame and embarrassment to my dad who thought that I was going to beg for the rest of my life.

My family always thought that my rebellion- which was not really much of a rebellion when you think of it-was the result of them not disciplining me enough. I should be tamed to follow the mainstream, and I should follow the sacred Egyptian-societal rule book that forces me to be submissive to some sort of male authority. It doesn’t matter if that authority is a father figure, a husband figure, or an employer figure, what matters is that this figure is a man.

Let me tell you something, being a female in the Egyptian family unit is not technically the funnest thing you can be. I am always forced by my parents to not only think about my non existent future job, but about-what I like to call-home ethics too. Not only do I have to respect all the old men outside the home, I am also forced to think about my prospects for marriage. I am constantly reminded by my mother that my room is a piece of trash which automatically leads to: “how are you supposed to ‫ تعمري بيت‬when you’re so careless!”

Another thing that must not go unnoticed in most Egyptian families, is the hyper-masculine family gatherings. The men of the family are the ones usually sitting in the living room, while the women sit in any other room it doesn’t really matter as long as they are nearby for any tea calling emergency. When its time to clean up, the men sit as they are, comfortably on those cloth covered chairs, talking about Egyptian politics they probably know nothing about, whilst the women take the dishes back to the kitchen and clean them up! What an amazing way to deal with things, it’s as if old men get decapitated when they are in any enclosed area with women around!

Now onto the most important thing, is the idea of marriage. This is a phenomenon that constantly gets shoved down both female and males’ throats. The females here have an expiration date for marriage, once they transcend that age, tiny molecular pieces of their femininity appear to have flown away. On the other hand, the males are financially pressured into pretty much doing everything concerning marriage preparations and marital life in and of itself, if they do otherwise they are considered less of “manly men.”

There is a vested interest in Egyptian society to discipline women in the family sphere to become future mothers and to discipline the men into strong, non-dependent, non-emotional beings. There is a constant need to preserve the traditional “religious” patriarchal family that most of us despise. We are institutionally being disciplined inside the home to become robotic figures outside, we are molded in a specific way as to perpetuate the old bitter family form that may look warm and loving on the outset, but is profoundly damaging on the inside. Indeed, appearances are often deceiving. Interestingly enough, more and more people are beginning to see the faults of this Egyptian family unit; the high divorce rates and the complete and utter abandonment of so called ‘family values’ are just mere glimpses of the constant battle waged against old technocrats that seem to dominate each and every aspect of Egyptian society.

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SHAME

Photo by tumblr

SHAME SHAME

SHAME

April ‘18 issue

By Danya Koueider and Laila Abdel Ghany

Our very own Laila Abdel Ghany and Danya Koueider took up the “flour baby” experiment in which they get to have a bag of flour as their actual baby. The experiment is widely practiced in “Life Skills” classes among school students in the US, and here are their reflections after a long day of parenting the bag of flour: Danya: I’m not really one for kids. They cry (scream, how I imagine the shrill screams of hell would sound like) all the time and can’t take care of themselves (obviously, I know), so you have to do everything for them. I mean it’s not that hard to learn to use a toilet or just, you know, not scream at every slight inconvenience. That’s why my Doha is the best. She is a plastic bag of flour (i.e: she has no voice box to burst my eardrums with). There are no brown surprises and I don’t have to constantly entertain her by making an idiot of myself, (yes toddler, I will make whale noises for the tenth time because your small brain still finds it entertaining). I had to keep Doha in my

room overnight because I didn’t want to wake up to the smell of chocolate cake in the morning and eat a portion of my own child.

9:45 AM: My shoes are halfway on and I’m dragging my feet towards the Uber who had called to say, “Ma3lesh ya fandem ana mesh la2y el makan,” even though I explained it to him ten minutes ago. How inconvenient, I wonder if when Doha grows up the Uber driver’s will ogle at her from the rearview mirror and for the time I’m glad Doha’s just a plastic bag of flour. I’m struggling to carry my phone, daughter, and my glass water bottle in my hands so my daughter falls in the street. This is okay because she feels no pain and cannot express it anyways so there’s no guilt attached to the action if we’re being honest. I tried attaching eyes and lips to her body to make her look more human so that I could maybe feel that she has some semblance of humanity, but that just made me more prone to not looking at her so as to not get totally creeped out.

April ‘18 issue

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12:45 PM: I put her flat on her face for my first two classes and no one really pays any attention to the creepy bag with the clumps of cheap blonde wig stuck to her head. When I meet with the mother of my child, she also feels pretty detached from it. Again, the bag of flou- I mean, my daughter Doha, lies in the grass as Laila and I talk and I come to the realization, baby or no baby, our child doesn’t make a semblance of difference in our lives.

Photos by Aya Nashed

4:40 PM: Doha is with her mom, who I don’t have time to see because of our conflicting class schedules. I call her after her class to meet up but she’s caught up in her thesis work and I have a Political Philosophy class which I have to attend to.

Having two working parents is hard, but I don’t think Doha minds too much. It feels good to know that I can jump dump Doha with her mother and go about my day doing everything I have to do, I know she doesn’t contribute to much but she’s still pretty heavy to carry around.

Assuming the role of father was the greatest decision I’ve ever made, because I can be negligent and not give me wife and daughter the time of day, but have it be socially accepted!

7:00 PM: This experiment is useless and would be much more effective if it was instead discussed hypothetically in classrooms. How is a bag of flour supposed to be equated with a human life, one that I’ve made and am responsible for?

The bag of flour does not address what I’m going to have to tell my daughter when she’s sexually harrassed for the first time or what I’m going to have to tell my child when he/she comes home from school after being relentlessly bullied. I shouldn’t have to have the discussion with my friends on what I would do if my child turned out to be disabled and have to tell them I’d obviously be forced to move abroad because this country does not know how to handle what is different and care for it at the same time. I wonder, do the kids in America think about this when they hold their bag of flour?

Laila: Today was such a stressful day. It’s Mother’s Day, and I forgot to wish my mom a happy one when she came into my room. I don’t get it, why do they love Mother’s Day so much?

Anyway, I went to university and being occupied with the research paper that was due tonight, and the presentation at 2, I still hadn’t realized that this time, I too am a mother. Danya and I are taking care of a baby for the day. I find out that her name is Doha when I check my phone and see the picture Danya has sent of her. If only I could choose...

Danya was taking care of the baby for the morning, while I was busy preparing for my presentation. I was quite stressed, so I’m glad Danya was in class, seeing as the burden of caring for the baby would most probably have been on me.

We did meet during assembly hour though, which is when I saw our baby. The whole AUC Times family was so excited to see it, Danya also seemed somewhat proud of it- her!- or at least she didn’t mind her. Hearing that she had dropped Doha in the street was shocking at first, and didn’t help my prejudice towards fathers as negligent. But the feelings of shock and disappointment settle when you realize that it doesn’t really matter.

The family photoshoot was really embarrassing. I had booked the photographer hoping that it would help us bond as a family, but I was only going through the motions of pretending to like the baby in front of everyone. I don’t think they noticed.

I had Doha-duty for the rest of the day, but I was too ashamed to carry her around. My initial plans had included having Doha watch her mother presenting. I wanted to inspire to her by being a positive role model. In reality, I had to keep her in my bag to avoid having people ask me about the cheap, blonde wig, or about that blank stare in her eyes. They wouldn’t understand how this experiment is meant to teach me responsibility.

Of course, white kids in the U.S. will receive unconditional recognition and appraisal for trying out such “life skills.”

Even while working on my research paper, which Danya for some reason insists on calling “thesis” --I mean, do men ever listen??!-- Doha was still in my bag, with probably the edge of one of my notebooks in her eyes.

She didn’t eat for the rest of the day.

But does it even matter?

AUC Times

Page 12

By Anonymous

symptom, Of power and inequality.

Our families have taught us to stand up for ourselves, Only they’re surprised when the standing turns against them.

When “I” doesn’t turn to “them”, “I” is seen as failure.

They want us content, but only if it is on familiar terms.

They want us independent, but not too much, They want us as a mere copy, a docile continuation.

(Inspired by Sara Ahmed) I am the bastion of “stellar reputation”, I am honor, I am family image, Concealment and deceit are part of me, But, look not at me, It is the fault of family.

I am the future generation: Still, resisting and standing, Forming new families, Families whose “survival is politically ambitious” Whose lives are fraught with essentialism, Our souls dance to forget, to embrace the fragility of all our families, And bloodline pretenses.

While killing joy as a mechanism of survival, As a way of speaking out, Killing joy as not mere rebelling, But, truth-telling.

For truth is seen as fiction, as exaggeration, as betrayal, Truth is disloyal, In a family.

But, what am I to do?

When I’m the killjoy of the family.

I am the burden On dinner tables, The ancestor-to-be, Of unfulfilled dreams and expectations.

I am in place of real stories, true struggles, I am hope and appearance, Then, silence and disappearance.

I am on the margins, Of relative value.

I am truth and candid narratives, killing joy.

I am the expert of pretense, when it comes to happiness, I am the illusion of being fine, All for the sake of family.

I am emotional labor. struggling against public masquerades and lies.

But, I am not myself.

I am one hell of a killjoy.

I who refuse to shut my mouth, To lay down my pen, I who grew tired of pleasing the privileged, To tame, familiarize or silence my voice for them.

How could a family so full of love, Be torn apart by power, Or, by the charade of normality, A family like many, A cause, yet also a

Photo by Sally ElFishawy

Photo by Aya Nashed

By Shaden El-Sheikh

A TYPICAL FAMILIAL DAY IN THE LIFE OF SARAH Sarah is one of four members in what she likes to call her close-knit family.

She is in her freshman year at college and although she has gotten the chance to meet a lot of people so far, she prefers to maintain a small group of friends that represent the sincerity, cherishment, and intimacy of a family.

This group of friends though, can in no way compare to what her own family amounts to! Her first year at university constitutes of her struggle with papers, exams, deadlines, and attempts to join student-run clubs, and be active on campus. At the end of the day, Sarah takes a step back and also aims to make time for valuable hangouts with people whom she enjoys their company.

2:50 PM: Sarah had ridden the bus to go back home after a long and exhausting day. As the bus door is closed shut, she wonders why whenever she heads home, it’s always with a heavy heart, and extreme sadness. She thinks to herself, maybe if I spend some quality time with my family, I might feel better…

4:01 PM: As soon as the jangling sound of my keys quieted, and I closed the door behind me, my mother greeted me with the sweetest of words, even though she was busy with an important phone call with her friend, about who did what at the office today:

‫“مال شكلك عامل كدة ليه؟ و بعدين ما بنشوفكيش يا‬ ‫هانم يف النور أبدا الزم ترجعي لنا نص الليل عشان قاعدة‬ ”‫مع صحابك الضايعني ايل زيك‬

she said, as she walked past me, without actually turning her head to see me.

I did try to come home as early as possible though, having two midterms and three papers… I should have tried harder.

5:37 PM: Smelling mom’s delicious food from my room, I excitedly went down the stairs to help set up the table. As I was doing so, I got a scolding from mom that was drenched in love and care.

‫ مش كفاية التفاحة‬,‫“انت فاكرة نفسك هتتغدي و ال ايه‬ ”.‫اليل طفحتيها الصبح؟! ما تاكلينا احسن‬

Mom is right. I guess I did cross my limits. I gained 10 pounds since I last weighed myself 3 months ago. One more meal and I might explode.

6:55 PM: I’m talking on the phone with my friend Hana, “Hey, do you mind if I put you on loud speaker? I am working on my paper.” “Sure no probs, that English paper again? she asks, “Yeah, I am having a hard time finishing it. I think I will have to set an appointment with my professor for guidance,” I tell her. “Yes, I think you should Sarah, especially that this is your first time ever working on a paper with a minimum word count of 3,500. My brother Omar flings the door open as he overhears the conversation, “That’s ridiculous!

How can you be struggling with that? I spent a whole day working on my 300-word essay, no biggie.

Don’t bother going to see your professor; you’re no good anyway,” he affectionately tells me.

It seems like I am the one who has made a big deal out of this paper.

How can it be that hard? Omar finished his in no time! No wonder mom keeps on telling me: “Why can’t you be more like your brother?” He only repeated the class six times. No wonder he’s doing such a great job!

8:10 PM: I quickly went up to the door as the bell rang to let my father in. The first thing he says as his eyes laid on me: “How did you do on your midterm today? You probably failed it. Seriously though, who doesn’t understand the Quantum Field Theory?

”‫مش فاهم الحقيقة انت طالعة غبية ملني؟‬

My father knows me too well! How come was he able to guess that I have nailed my midterm then? No wait, I think it was failed that he said.

Ummm, well I guess in that case, he’s probably right too - even more right.

My mother did tell me that my failure to get a thirty instead of a fifty-four on my exam, that was out of thirty, was indeed a failure to meet society’s respectable set of standards. “You’re not right in your head,” she once told me. She is probably right. And to my father’s question, I am afraid I have no answer to that...

9:43 PM: I think I will go hang out in the living room with my family for a while. Maybe I can talk to them a bit about how I spent my day. Right when I have just gotten comfortable in my chair, and ready to spend some good quality time, my mother says softly:

‫“هو انت ما وراكيش حاجة تعمليها بدل ما انت قاعدة‬ ”‫مالكيش الزمة كدة؟‬

Maybe I chose the wrong timing.

They all seem so busy doing important stuff on their phones. They even need to multitask as the TV is switched on too.

My father soothingly says as I turn around heading back to my room:

‫“هي البنت دي علطول ساكتة كدة ليه؟ محدش فاهم‬ ”‫لها حاجة و ال عارف عنها أي حاجة؟‬

AUC Times

By Yasmeen Badawy

ONE

Page 14

“Maryam, dress well today. Your uncles are coming over for dinner.”

Oh. Great. If the uncles are coming, then uncle Ahmed is coming; and that just means hell for all… ‘what a way to start the day, thanks mom.’ Maryam thought as she began looking through her clothes for her baggiest, yet still nice, outfit. Because she can’t look bad or her parents will make her change, but she can’t look nice either or uncle Ahmed will stare and she’ll feel violated. It’s not that he’d ever do anything, it’s just that he Stares. So. Much. It’s uncomfortable. His stares would give anyone the creeps, regardless of their intent; which is mainly critical… she hopes.

Groaning, Maryam picked something she thought would do; an outfit that didn’t show off her curves and made her look nice. She needed to look “modest”, after all.

Nobody wants to hear a lecture on religion and modesty over dinner.

‘Honestly, I hate family gatherings.’

She thought as she changed. She knew that, regardless of what she wore or didn’t wear, she’d still get unwarranted comments.

Two hours later, the doorbell rang and, lo and behold, it’s the uncles!

Maryam went to greet them and uncle Ahmed pulled her into a hug that lasted far longer than she would have liked. She patted his back and had to fight off a shiver of discomfort, she hated long hugs, they always got so awkward, at least with family.

“Hi uncle Ahmed, how have you been?” She asked, forcing a smile that felt more like a grimace. She didn’t want to be doing this; didn’t want to spend her day forcing smiles, didn’t want to have to nod in agreement with opinions she really disagreed with.

“Good, how have you been, Maryomi?” He responded and she subtly rolled her eyes at the annoying pet-name. Honestly, sometimes Maryam felt like she was being unfair to uncle Ahmed.

It’s not like he was a typical creepy man, in fact, people that didn’t really know him would say he was actually charming. Sometimes, she felt like she was the only one that didn’t see his so called charm, but

then she’d catch her mom looking exasperated when he would criticize something or inquire onto something that was far too out of his business and she’d know she was not alone in her annoyed discomfort.

“I’ve been good.” Maryam said and he nodded. “I can see that.

You’ve lost weight and,” he looked her over “you’ve grown up well. Looks like kharaat el banat kharatek.*” He laughed and she wanted to puke. Did he really just blatantly comment on her curves?

He literally just told her she’d developed curves. Oh my God. She knew she wouldn’t escape it, but didn’t think he’d be that blunt. God this is disgusting. She remembered her conversation with her dad the other day, how he’d told her to not wear anything too short or revealing around her uncles, and while she saw his point, she couldn’t help but wonder why keeping her uncles from looking was her responsibility.

“Hahaha… thanks, uncle Ahmed.”

She said and he brushed her off.

“You’re welcome. Although, I must say, you do have a lot of zits right now. I know this great medicine you can use…” He trailed off and Maryam could feel her face burning up, she was angry and embarrassed and why did he have to come and why did she have to take this?! “Hey, Nermin, did you hear about this zit cream you can get for Maryam?” He hollered for the entire house to hear as he went to talk to her mom. In the back of her mind, Maryam felt bad for her mother, but she couldn’t pay much attention to that under the burning embarrassment of the entire exchange. She couldn’t wait for dinner so this day could be over with.

Soon enough, Maryam was reminded that you should be careful what you wish for. Uncle Ahmed, and of course it was uncle Ahmed, brought up the topic of politics and she just wanted to scream. Doesn’t he know that you should never talk about religion or politics at the dinner table?

He had started ranting about his ideology, saying things that she couldn’t silently listen to, so she made the mistake, the stupid mistake, of speaking up. “Maryam,

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Photo by Jamie Englishman, Flickr

April ‘18 issue

I can’t believe you! Seriously? Even you? Everyone has gone crazy, it’s unnatural, you’re unnatural!

They’re fighting for the spread of chaos, chaos, habibty. Whatever your peers tell you, they’re wrong!

Don’t listen to them, you’re smarter than that… Soon, you’ll be telling me it’s okay to get divorced because a lot of women are getting divorced these days. That doesn’t make it okay! Women are getting crazy, that’s not okay!” He ranted, waving his hands around and slamming them onto the dinner table. “Habibty, the people that say that, your peers, are close-minded!

They look at what Europeans do and imitate it. They’re worshippers of the West and too close-minded to see that what the West is doing is wrong!”

Maryam could feel that she was glaring. She was barely fighting the urge to lash out, biting the inside of her cheek to keep quiet, talking would be futile and her mom’s silencing glare made her keep her

mouth shut. “Yes, uncle Ahmed.”

She spit out and started moving her food around, her appetite was long gone. She tuned out the rest of the conversation, focusing on forming the richest of curses in her head and aiming them all at her uncle, hoping against hope that she could inflict pain upon him just with the power of her thoughts.

She couldn’t, it turns out, hurt someone with her thoughts, regardless of how much she tried. But the exercise had passed the time and finally her uncles were leaving and she only had to endure one more too long a hug and a whisper of “don’t let those koffar get to your head” and then they were closing the door and she was bolting to the bathroom for a hot shower. She couldn’t believe this was normal, couldn’t understand how her parents still invited that creep into their home.

After the political talk was over, the conversation had turned back to Maryam’s face and how “pretty

it would be without all those pimples.” She’d managed another grimace of a smile and a forced thank you before she went back to her exercise, but she still couldn’t get over it. The uncomfortable comments and the constant critiques. She couldn’t fathom how this was so normalized, didn’t understand why when she’d tell this story to her friends they’d nod and say “yeah, I have that uncle too.”

Maryam took her shower, trying to scrub the discomfort off her skin and couldn’t help the tears that slipped and mixed with the water.

She cried because she was angry, because there was nothing she could do, and because she knew that at least she was lucky enough that uncle Ahmed had limits, other girls didn’t quite have her luck. *”kharaat el banat” is a mythical character that comes to girls during puberty and makes them curvy - This is an Egyptian saying

AUC Times

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By Omar Abo Mosallam

Photo by Georgenia Bassily

WHY YOU’RE NOT STUDYING WHAT YOU LOVE

A sad truth about college life in Cairo is that, for a lot of people, choosing of a field of study is barely a choice at all.

As we all know ‘Egypt is the land of opportunity, where a man can become whatever he wants- a doctor or engineer, that’s pretty much it really…’ – a famous proverb. Often, these two jobs are some of the few that parents allow their children to pursue. Since tuition won’t pay itself, you have to keep your parents, or rather ‘your investors’ happy and willing to pay for your major. So you’re stuck with their pick. Or so I thought, before I met Marwa Mustafa, Youssef Fahmy and Mohamed Ashraf. These people managed to study what they, and not their parents, wanted in AUC.

What is so interesting about their stories is that their parents all had different reasons behind why their children shouldn’t study what they were passionate about. Youssef’s parents wanted him to follow in their footsteps, “So they wanted me to go into political science, and my family is like… a family of diplomats,” Fahmy explains. “One (member of my family) is a minister of the environment… my mother’s dad was a huge business man, you know all that… It’s all bullsh*t.” This is only par for the course in Egypt, where your family history interferes with your supposedly independent life. As a society, we’ve yet to unravel this fallacy.

April ‘18 issue

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common, but not unconquerable.

Mohamed Ashraf, on the other hand, hails from Assiout and is a beneficiary of AUC’s Empower Scholarship, which provides five full tuition and partial annual scholarships to thanawiya amma graduates from five governorates in Upper Egypt. When on campus, his attention slid away from mechanical engineering, and was drawn to anthropology. Needless to say, his folks rejected his choice completely, while using, let’s say, nuanced reasoning. Impersonating his family’s outrage, Ashraf says “The American University is manipulating you, they don’t want you to study engineering so you won’t rebuild your nation, or improve it!” Even though their argument may seem flawed, and it definitely is, the entire family travelled all the way to Cairo to prove their point the next day.

Marwa’s parents had a different yet also irrational rebuke to her choice of major. “They had this Arab mentality, (they thought) if I’m studying psychology then I must be messed in the head,” Marwa says, “(they think) only crazy people go to therapy, and we don’t want our daughter around that. I think it would be different if it was a guy.” In Marwa’s case, her parents just do not have a clear understanding of her field or of mental illness either. Being a woman does not help either; because of her gender, Marwa’s arguments will be subjected to much more scrutiny than Ashraf’s or Fahmy’s. As she tells it, her parents went on to ask, “What are people going to say about her?”

Her parents are concerned about an unseen third party known only as the ‘people’. No one knows who exactly the ‘people’ are, but still, why the hell do they get a say in this at all?

This exciting combo of conservative tendencies and ignorance is pretty

Marwa managed to dig herself out of this familial nightmare using a rather peculiar method: a slideshow.

“The slideshow started out with what psychology is… I used fun things about psychology, other than mental illnesses, to explain a lot of things (my mom) does around the house.” Basically, she related aspects of her major directly to her parent’s personalities, which helped broaden her mother’s mind as to what psychology is. “The fact that I put that much effort into it shows her that this is actually something I want to do, something I’m passionate about.” Educating your parents is no small feat, but in some cases, like this one, it can have a happy ending.

If you’re lucky, only a powerpoint presentation stands between you and your dreams.

Ashraf opted for a subtler strategy, he exposed his parents to his perspective in small, careful doses.

“In the beginning, I sneaked it in.

I told them about the liberal arts program here, and how things are pretty flexible” he said. By doing so, Ashraf was then able to steer clear of engineering and managed to minor in Anthropology instead. Plus, he used his family’s penchant for politics to declare a political science major.

In contrast, Youssef took a drastically different approach; when asked how he convinced his parents, he replied “I didn’t, I just got in. They can’t choose my path; I don’t care really.

I have a great relationship with my parents; like one of the only thing we disagree on (are) our political views and this. That’s it.”

All three of them gave their advice to anyone who’s in a similar spot with their parents, so if you’re a conflicted freshman you can rest easy. When it comes to convincing parents, Marwa and Ashraf both said that it all really depends on the nature of those parents themselves.

“Some parents will be like ‘if you don’t study that or that then you’re not going to uni at all’, in which case: choose something and get yourself an education” says Marwa, “But other parents are convince-able, if it’s something you really like… then keep pushing and go for it.” Ashraf advises a compromise, saying “try to find a middle ground, find an agreement in the middle.” Fahmy’s advice was a lot blunter, “Here’s the thing, if your parents are forcing you into engineering, you’ll fail.” Youssef believes that if you’re not serious about engineering, there is no way you’ll succeed. On the other hand, if you’re forced into a social sciences major, you’ll instantly get a job, but then you’ll be taking the easy way out in life. To him, the only option is to do what you want.

What fascinated me about their answers is that they all unanimously agreed that you shouldn’t give up at all when you’re negotiating with your family. When asked about whether or not people should abandon the field of study they love, Marwa said “never” and Ashraf articulated that “giving up would be the last thing he’d consider.” I can attest to that as well, putting your dreams on hold will only make your college life a lot harder. Besides, being straightforward with your parents is a responsibility many people ignore, but it’s crucial for having an honest, healthy relationship. Convincing your parents is probably easier than you think; as long as you’re not intending a theatre major, you’ll be fine.

Page 18

Photo by Bedour Hafez

AUC Times

Photo by Sally Elfishawy

By Mariam El Ashmawy

MODERN, PROGRESSIVE FAMILY ROYALLY SCREWS UP The entirety of the Ghanem family lived in a small apartment building in Dokki. Right on the first floor resided the patriarch of the family, Haj Kamal, and his wife, Soraya. As the family expanded and their sons had families of their own, the elderly couple leased out the remaining apartments to their three sons and wives; where they would all be one big happy, and over-involved family. They were known all around the neighbourhood for being good-natured, respectable and moral, with the exception of their eldest son, Adam and his infamous wife, Shahenda. The family’s matriarch had always disliked Shahenda and would always remind the family that Shahenda was a ‘stuck up degenerate woman’ who had misled her otherwise-intelligent son into marrying her.

And misled, she had! The couple on the second floor (closest to the elderly parents so they could remain present in their son’s life) brought shame onto the Ghanem family since the day Adam’s sister-in-law was

airing out the laundry and had caught Adam whistling out a tune whilst he was folding the laundry in the balcony and ‘for all the alley to see!’. The woman ran to her in-laws to report to them how their son had been reduced to slaving his days doing laundry, because what self-respecting man in his right mind would do so! Haj Kamal was enraged at the news of his son’s disgraceful condition, ‘That vixen! She’s a lazy wife, letting her husband do all the work that women have always perished while doing!’

The heads of the Ghanem family decided to establish an intervention in their son’s life; for his own wellbeing, and to save their family’s reputation. Adam and Shahenda received Haj Kamal and Set Soraya in their small living room with a gnawing feeling that they would be reprimanded. Haj Kamal gave an extended lecture on the natural duties of wife and husband respectively. Reminding Shahenda that although she had chosen to join her man in the work sphere, she

April ‘18 issue

would still be expected to run her own household, and not delegate work; her duty as wife, mother, and carer came first before any corporate job she had. Set Soraya then took the floor and lamented over her son’s exhausting and overtaxing work-day that leaves him pale in the face and skinny around the waist; he should not be expected to help around the house! ‘He sweats for this family’s daily bread’, she sobs, ‘how could Shahenda ever expect him to do both internal housework and his own work that keeps the house running!’ Both–– Shahenda and Adam were too frightened Set Soraya losing her temper so intensely, an old woman who couldn’t bare being so emotional; especially because of her blood pressure, and so they quickly pacified the heads of the family and assured them they would go back to the correct way of things; that way the in-laws would be satisfied with them, the neighbourhood would not spread rumors about them, and God would be pleased with them.

Haj Kamal and Set Soraya returned to their humble abode with satisfaction that their son had seen

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the correct way of doing things.

However, they were still uncertain about Shahenda, she could easily revert things into that degenerate way of living again, therefore, they decided to enlist their two other sons and their wives to keep an eye on the couple. Ali, the middle son, whose wife had spotted the disgraceful act was assigned to keep an eye on who would do the laundry in Adam and Shahenda’s household. This sparked agitation in the household, where both Shahenda and Adam would send out their daughter to check if anyone from the apartment above them was watching.. When the coast would be clear, Adam and Shahenda would hurriedly air out or remove the laundry, and run back into the house. Fareed, Adam’s youngest brother, was delegated the work of showing up unannounced at his eldest brother’s house for surprise visits.

When he’d ring the bell, he’d keep his ears glued to the door to hear whether Shahenda was running around to switch places with Adam who was cooking, or if Adam would jump into the shower to hide how wet he was from washing the floor. When he’d catch the disgraceful couple in the act, he’d try to advise his older brother that it was painful for him to see Adam so undermined by his own woman.

‘You’re the eldest’, Fareed would shake his head desperately, ‘setting an example to the rest of the family and its women should be your responsibility. You’d shame me and make my wife boss me around like yours does?!’

During family dinners, Adam and Shahenda had managed to pacify the rest of the family enough to allow them to help each other to set the table. Whilst the infamous couple were in the kitchen, the rest of the family would quickly taste the food, exchanging notes over

the ratio of salt and butter; Haj Kamal asserting that if too much salt was in the food then it would be Adam’s inexperienced cookery, whilst Fareed’s wife reminded them that buttery food is Shahenda’s speciality. And so they would fight amongst themselves over who had cooked the meal, and once they’ve reached a consensus that it was Adam’s cooking, all hell would break loose.

It was always tiring work for Adam and Shahenda to run around behind the Ghanem family’s back, and hide their shaming co-dependency on each other to conduct housework responsibilities.

But Adam saw how tired his wife would be when she got back from work, and helplessly he had to help her, and Shahenda hadn’t set out to push her husband into such degenerative actions when they first got married; but they had fallen into a routine of helping each other out with the housework and it had escalated from being their filthy, little secret to a shameful act the whole family had learned of.

A victim to the ideals of feminism, and westernized freemasonry, Adam Ghanem’s family is one of many families who were brainwashed by western ideals and propaganda that penetrated our normative and patriarchal society.

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Photo by Victor Xok on Unsplash

AUC Times

By Yasmeen Badawy

FAMILY IDOL Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the first round of Family Idol. It is another exciting season and with the growing number of couples that are applying to be parents, the kids now have more options than ever. Pay attention to every couple who auditions because you, children, are the judges and by choosing your parents, you are deciding how your life goes from here. So take care, and let’s begin!

Audition 1: If you are looking for parents that have perfect balance, this is definitely us! We promise to provide you with unlimited access to television as a substitute for school. In our mansion, you get to live in a glass room in the middle of the house so you can be protected from all potential harms of inhaling unpurified air or interacting with lay Egyptians. Because we want to ensure that you are comfortable, your glass room will not only serve as the perfect barrier between yourself and reality, but it will also contain buttons that provide you with any needs you might have. For example, when you’re hungry all you need to do is press the button and the amount of food you need at that time will be calculated via complex algorithms and given to you to maintain your health at the optimum level as stipulated by the World

Health Organization. The bathroom will also be available at certain times so you get to learn self-control and composure; research has shown adverse effects to having access to bathrooms 24/7.

For your own safety, you will not be allowed to leave the glass room. As entirely free beings, we’ve seen what interacting with the real world can do to people so we’ve decided to make sure you learn from your parents mistakes. Unfortunately, our previous child has caused significant harm to himself by escaping the glass room. Despite our constant warnings to him about the supernatural dangers that would besiege him if he leaves the room, he still oddly insisted on breaking our lax rules and insisted on ‘experiencing the real world’! As expected, sudden exposure to the outside world caused him severe brain damage. Why do you think we ever kept him inside!

On the bright side, our pride and joy Neil Grenzger, whose name you might have come across in the news, grew up in our glass room and became the most famous scientist in Sesame Street that you all know today - all from within the comfort of his glass room! So, if you want to be the next most influential, most sheltered, protected and out-of-touch-with-reality person in the world, choose us as your parents and we’ll make sure you never have to deal with the perils of real life!

April ‘18 issue

Judge A: Who’s Neil Grenzger? Whatever, I barely watch TV. Do you have Rick and Morty instead?

Judge B: Did you say famous? Pick me, pick me! I don’t mind being in a glass room, or wherever it is you want to place me!

Judge C: No school - that’s definitely a plus! But isn’t it a bit boring to sit in a glass room all day? I’d be scared to miss out..

Audition 2: The parents that you have all dreamed about are now here to save your lives. We will give you an example of how life will be under our roof by telling the story of our past child, who chose us to be his parents there wasn’t a single wish he made that we didn’t make come true! For example, when you turn 12, you get to enjoy the privilege of free entrance into clubs in the city because we own almost all of them. Kids, you will even be allowed to bring over any friends, even friends of other genders, and we guarantee you privacy! Unlimited supply of tranquilizers on us! You will also have the chef, driver, housekeeper and therapist to cater to your needs because we are not really up for pointless conversation.

You will also be delighted to know that we have been awarded the Ultimate-Cereal-Box-Family Award in 2018 and we seek to untarnish the competition’s name after the winning family in 2017 turned out to be Serial-Killers - seems like they ran for the wrong competition. We will give you our dysfunctional and unconditional love and care, all we look for in return is appreciation and being open to taking 100 pictures an hour for the paparazzi that follow us around now!

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Judge A: Wait so.. just tranquilizers? What about other drugs? And what kinds of alcohol? Because that will really affect my decision here. Why do you want us on tranquilizers anyways?

Judge B: Don’t you think 12-years-old is too late for club access? I mean we should be able to go to clubs at whatever age considering you own the place! Wait a second, did you say ‘paparazzi’? I am not looking for new parents to still be watched over everyday!

Judge C: If I had any savings, I would have paid you to be my parents! You have just described heaven to millions of children. But I can’t stand having a driver with me, I need to drive myself and it must be the newest Mercedes. I mean, I assume you are filthy rich after that cereal award.

Wait, does that mean you have unlimited cereal?

Unfortunately, there are no winners this round because the judges couldn’t agree on any of the auditions, despite their immense variety. What an ungrateful and selfcentered bunch of kids!

See you next round! And who knows - we might just find the perfect, functional, utopian and progressive family!

AUC Times

Page 22

By Atlas

“Why do men fight for their servitude as stubbornly as though it were their salvation?”.

While Baruch Spinoza posed this question as early as in the 17th century, the question only came into the limelight in the catastrophe that shook continental Europe 300 years later. The question wasn’t drowned out by the roaring cheer of an enamored crowd, raising their arms in a Nazi salute, nor was it quieter than the despairing screams of the damned, clawing the walls of their gas chamber. Deified leaders such as Mussolini and Hitler were democratically elected, chosen by the will of the people, and proceeded to lead their followers along the path of ruin and destruction. Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s answer to Spinoza lies within certain subtle and insidious mechanisms of power.

A proliferation of power is at work here, for the masses to tolerate being humiliated and enslaved, to make them not only ask for the repression and enslavement of others, but also of their own selves.

Deleuze and Guattari, in the wake of global unrest generated during the 1968 student protests, take this as their driving question in their co-written work “Capitalism and Schizophrenia”. They endeavored to make a radical claim about the political analysis of fascism. They observed that the analysis such macro-political or “molar” entities such as the state or the army must also be done in tandem with a study of the micro-political or “molecular” entities such as schools, neighborhoods and families. Where totalitarianism consists of a “molar” state that imposes force from above through military regimes and police forces, Fascism, on the

other hand, permeates through society and reproduces repression on “molecular” levels. Deleuze and Guattari remind us that it’s trivial to criticize and oppose large scale molar entities such as the state, but it’s harder to realize that we may also affirm the repressive power of the state through our language, our interactions, and even our most intimate relationships.

Within the fascist state, the molecular and molar levels interact with one another, and ultimately end up resonating with the culmination of the nationalist-socialist state. In fact, what makes fascism dangerous lies within its molecular power.

The permeation of fascism (under certain conditions) throughout the very fabric of a society creates “a cancerous body rather than a totalitarian organism” in which the desire for self repression is manufactured. It is the molecular that makes us desire fascism, rather than the molar. The masses do not passively submit to such power, nor is this a situation of masochistic hysteria in which the people “want” to be oppressed. Micropolitics plays a subtle yet distinct role in forming how we perceive the world around us, our values and even our identities, and it does so through our desires. “Desire” according to Deleuze and Guattari is “never separable from complex assemblages that necessarily tie into molecular levels, from microformations already shaping postures, attitudes, perceptions, expectations, semiotic systems”.

Deleuze and Guattari stipulate that desire is not built around the traditional concept of lack. Instead of desire being the result of an object that we need or do not have, they

emphasize the positive aspect of desire as a fundamentally productive force instead. What desire produces is not so much objects but rules, habits and actions; a desire to be healthy makes one eat healthy and exercise. Yet the object of desire does not exist in a vacuum, it needs a social context; I do not just want an iPhone, I wish to be seen and known as someone who owns an iPhone.

The self is thus conceived as the sum total of its desires, a multiplicity of “desiring machines”. What is of interest is not what these machines are, but what they produce (desire) and which mechanisms affect it.

One mechanism of repression at work here is psychological repression; an unconscious force which is applied to the desires the mind believes it has. The traditional Freudian view of repression is that the psychic unconscious repression ends up creating social repression (the second mechanism) as an aftereffect. Psychoanalysis posited for example that the taboo on incest within totemic societies was a spontaneous act of self censorship.

Yet Deleuze & Guattari invert psychoanalysis here, and claim that it is in fact social oppression that uses psychic repression as a tool. Deleuze & Guattari thus make the claim that the family is the main agent of such repression. Family is conceived as a territory with rules and laws, to change the macro-political territory of the state one must control the micropolitical territory of family.

The state thus treats the family as a workshop in which the loyal docile subject is formed through repression.

In this sense, national socialism was more than just a political ideology. It infiltrated German culture, including

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paintings, music, and operas which promoted ‘German virtues’. The state did not force German soldiers to embody values such as loyalty, self sacrifice and discipline, they manufactured the desire to adopt them. The Nazi regime placed heavy emphasis on the family as the elementary “germ cell” of the nation. Policies were instituted to increase the population. Women were encouraged to stay at home and take care of the family (a woman with 8 children received a gold medal). Newly-wed couples took out marriage loans and had a quarter of their debt wiped with each child they had. The magnification of the importance of the familial and patriarchal within German culture intensified the desire to belong to a family, the desire for belonging

thus began spilling into other social domains, it was not enough to belong to a family, one needed to be part of the state, one needed to be a part of this grander family that is the German race. The people thus desired their own subordination in favor of becoming part of a whole.

“Take my body, use it until it’s bruised and battered, sacrifice me if you must, as long as the people prosper.”

One need only take a look at our surroundings to see that fascism wasn’t defeated in WWII, it survives, reproduces and recurs to this very day. These rigid structures of authority can be seen in all aspects of Egyptian society, from how the word of the Egyptian father is sacred, to how the role of the teacher in schools is that of judge, jury, and executioner.

Egyptian men and women alike are subject to strict codes of behaviour which are enforced through the threat of social ostracism if not obeyed. Even in liberal institutions such as AUC we have the administration behaving in an authoritarian way in the name of the supposed health, safety, and interest of the student body. Yet we are not going to begin claiming that car windows are fascist (yet), only that all existing structures of authority and rigidity should be vigorously questioned. It is imperative to question (while we still can) not only microfascism within contemporary society, but also the fascist within each and every one of us, the fascist we ourselves “sustain and nourish and cherish with molecules both personal and collective.”

AUC Times

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By Rima Amr

Photo by ALAMY

When we think of alternative families, we tend to think of friends, social clubs, support groups, and fandoms.

We envision something that brings out the best in us.

People sometimes seek alternative families when they’ve been shunned out by their own biological family, usually for controversial reasons like their sexuality, or simply because they refuse to live by the outdated traditions and norms imposed by society. In the eyes of our parents’ generation, we are the millennials who want to ruin life as it has been established. Our parents believe that the traditions we live upon are the best, and that we are a threat to the stability of society if we chose to believe otherwise. As a result, we sometimes stray away from them and their belief systems and go find people who accept us for who we are and how we think - people we can call family.

In some instances, alternative families can turn into full institutionalized establishments. Not a boarding school posse or a prison gang (although that is possible), but a cult. As defined by Google, a cult is a social group defined by its religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or its common interest in a particular personality, object or goal. While its definition seems harmless enough, cults generally do not stand for good. Most of what keeps a cult together is the psychological manipulation the leader imposes on his followers.

One example of such alternative family is the Manson Family, a cult led by Charles Manson in the late 1960s.

The cult is popularly known for the murder of actress Sharon Tate. As a brief scene in American Horror Story: Cult shows, a group of young people went to a house and brutally murdered and mutilated the residents of said house. This is what people tend to focus on: the murders The Manson Family committed. But they never give much attention to the “family” aspect of it all. During the late 1960s, Los Angeles was undergoing a huge transition.

There seemed to be a celebrity scandal every other day; an affair between two married stars, an actress dying from a drug overdose, an actor caught at a gay bar; the Hollywood scene was in an unprecedented chaos. A counterculture started to form, and young people were attracted to things deemed “bad” by the older generation; they listened to rock music and were openly exploring their sexuality. This led to many of them being shunned out by their families, and so they did what they thought was most logical; they moved to Los Angeles in hopes of finding acceptance and a better life. While they did find the people to accept them, they quickly realized that the dreams they had of mansions and stardom were just foolish. Instead, most of them found themselves sleeping in dark alleys shared with drugs addicts and prostitutes.

Charles Manson, a self-proclaimed alt right activist, took

April ‘18 issue

advantage of that chaotic setting, and by manipulating and exploiting people, he was able to convince some that he would offer them what they seeked most in life: acceptance and a home. He convinced his followers that a race war was on the horizon, and that he and his followers are the only elite group that could save humanity from the horrible things to come. Manson compiled a group of followers consisting mostly of young women who were at their most vulnerable state. He convinced these women that having sex with him was the highest honor they could achieve.

He would have them trade their bodies for food and drugs. He gave his followers drugs, and have them become so dependent on them, that they would do whatever it takes just to get the drugs from him. He ensured the men that as long as they stuck with him, they would get a constant supply of drugs, sex, and food. He constantly threatened them that if they left the family, they would fall victim to the race war. He ensured that no matter how badly

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he treated them, they would stick by his side.

Reports differ as to whether or not Manson himself believed what he told his followers. Some believe that he was mentally ill, others believe that he was very aware of what he was doing. He wanted a family, and he made one. Regardless of which is true, Manson was able to manipulate people. He took advantage of their vulnerabilities and need to have a family and a sense of fulfillment, then twisted them to his own merits.

When we choose our alternative families, we do so on the basis that they will provide us with the support and comfort that our biological family failed to give us. However, we get so carried away with such love and acceptance that sometimes certain red flags are missed, having been masked by the excitement of finding someone to share your passion with.

It starts simple: a rude comment, a snarky look, a simple punch to the shoulder, or a grab by the wrist.

Something that can easily be brushed

away. Through time, it evolves, a rude comment turns into a full speech about why you’re wrong because you are always wrong. A grab by the wrist turns into punches and slaps because you angered them (just this one time though, but they’ll never do it again!).

The people who shape the toxic environment are usually really good at ensuring that you’ll always come back to them, no matter how badly they bruise you. Much like Manson, they ensure that you’re addicted to them, or the idea of them.

The concept of The Manson Family seems so dystopian; it reads like a plot to the next Stephen King book. The term “cult” makes it hard to imagine being in a such a place, a place where you get manipulated by the people you seeked comfort in. Alternative families are not always as glamorous as they seem; they don’t always provide us with the support we need. They could ruin a person far more than a biological family ever could.

AUC Times

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By Rawan Sohdy

FAMILY SELLS: EGYPTIAN ADS YOU WON’T SKIP Once, someone bought a horse head toy for $0.99 from Ebay then hired a storyteller to edit its description before putting it up for resale. The result? According to the Significant Objects social experiment, attaching a good story to an insignificant object results in an average increase of 2700% in net profit. The horse head sold for $62.95. That is particularly what advertisements do to us, they create excellently dramatized stories with a leeway for us to connect to, giving significance to their products in our lives. Egyptian marketers’ successful advertisements make it seem like we are an easy target, creating stories that seemingly stem from our homes without ever having to step foot inside. This raises the question of whether our dynamics, faults and virtues abide by some prototypical image of an Egyptian family. So let’s do it backwards, instead of creating a good story from an ordinary product, let’s unravel the ordinary message inspired by our hypothetically typical families in the best of Ramadan’s advertisements.

There is a first half to AbdelHalim’s song, Do’oo El Shamasi/ Qadi El Plage, that only a few know of. Its lyrics revolve around a group of

students trying to resolve their issues in a made-up court in order to get rid of them and start the vacation clear-minded. My favourite section is one where a girl complains about her parents never treating her like a grownup despite being a senior at college. My cousins and I in family gatherings loved to teasingly pitch in after that, chiming in at the top of our lungs “my parents are old school” as we sat across from them. The assumption is that family sells here because we suffer the same dreams of independence as teenagers while growing up in a society where the individual’s family grip only loosens to become further shackled by their spouse’s family.

The latest Ramadan advertisement that went viral, Mahadesh Bye’melak Hesab, brings the same excitement to its audience as that song did to me. The advertisement showcases a series of bitterly funny scenarios where a young adult, Oufa, is oppressed by his father who was incessantly disregarding his opinion and presence all together. These scenarios were always followed by the slogan “no one takes you into account, but Bank Misr made you an account.” What would sell here is the visualization of some mutual suffering as well as the joy of finally speaking up about the oppression of being forever considered young in the household. And if this doesn’t apply to you, then it at least gives you a good laugh and a meme that would last for a decent while. All, of course, in the benefit of Bank Misr.

There are other things, however,

Photos by Rawan Sohdy

that in pointing them out we turn all the red lights on and stop signs up. What did you call your private parts in your early years? My friends and I were once on a train to Alexandria when one of them decided to question how we referred to farts back home. The awkward question soon turned into a hilarious discussion about the pathetic lengths conservative parents go to in order to self-censor all that which is taboo. So when a baby in a milk commercial babbles that he wants el dondou is it not but a simple replication of such censoring? Sex sells because humankind is geared up by what is forbidden, but since Juhayna is targeting parents and children alike, a subtle reference to the reality of how we deal with forbidden topics would sell much more. Eventually, it did stir the desired attention, didn’t it?

But under the rule of our very democratic family dynamics, we are too often silenced. Just as the aforementioned commercial was eventually stopped from airing, we find ourselves continuously putting up images of us that barely resemble our hidden realities. It had started ages ago, with Hanafi in the movie Ibn Hamido claiming masculine superiority “no one can ever break my word!” followed by a threatening glare from his wife that backed him up to “but this once will be an exception”. The movie was screened at the time of female liberation in Egypt in the 50s, and this scene in specific shows how even in the situation where

a woman in the household is the real decision maker, the man of the house would be the one displaying his dominance in public. This was similarly portrayed in the lovebirds Kenda Aloush and Amr Youssef inviting Youssef’s mother for Iftar in Ramadan, ending the advertisement with Aloush singing “I cooked, you will wash” to her husband which was returned by a threatening gesture from Youssef accompanied by “wait until they leave”. The advertisement here appears to tell a story of how we are paranoid of changing the preconceived image of a typical Egyptian family in fear of getting judged by either the extended family, neighbors, or the community all together; just as if we are more afraid of what people think of our actions than how they really are, even if the dynamics we stick to might have been already secretly ditched by the majority.

Speaking of Ramadan gatherings opens way for tons of advertisements on the beauty of coming together. Let’s face it, we all absolutely hate having to greet tens of people, we are uninterested in discussions that usually revolve around making fun of us, and if you

are a female you probably dread the amount of cleaning you have to get done before and the amount of dishwashing you will have to deal with after. Nonetheless, warmth unavoidably attempts to seep into us as we watch Vodafone’s “El Eila El Kebeera”, laughing about incidents that such gatherings bring or on a more sentimental level, that of Pepsi & Chipsy “Tekmal Lammetna” featuring visual tricks to bring back family members who passed away such as Ahmed Zaki to his

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son, Haitham. While these types of advertisements do not promote their product per se, they aim to achieve brand loyalty, and what can grant continuity in a collectivist society like ads praising the beauty of collectivism? More recently, think Vodafone’s latest Mohamed Salah ad, with the voiceover depicting how Egyptians view him as the son of Egypt, their son, claiming that whatever we come together for becomes more powerful.

It feels like a Stockholm Syndrome, how we could be so attached and sometimes even proud of the typical Egyptian family despite its downfalls.

This is especially true when you think of the many more advertisements, such as the pseudoscience our mothers feed us in order to actually feed us (unfinished food will run after you in the afterlife), or even Olx’ mocking our concept of starting a family upon buying the china cabinet. But it is inescapableEgyptians have an absurd nature of turning the most sensitive of topics into a joke, and the categorical self will always find pride in its faulty category. The result? Storytelling that would for sure sell.

Photo by Fatma A. Farrag

April ‘18 issue

AUC Times

By Laila El Refaie

OHANA MEANS FAMILY

As Disney’s first animated feature film, Snow White & The Seven Dwarves heralded the rest of the Disney Golden Age, and the theme of family was certainly not left behind when Snow White formed her quaint family with the dwarves before meeting her prince. The standard family structure of a pair of married parents, a pair of pesky children, and perhaps a doting grandparent has remained absent, replaced by single parents and orphans. Disney films have become notorious for their focus on the young and abandonment of the old.

Following this course, Disney has often presented parent-less families. In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, no mention is made of Esmerelda’s parents as she is presumed to be an orphan. Similarly, in The Jungle Book, Mowgli grows up free of the constraints of a parent’s demands, and seems to live a very happy life.

The freedom Mowgli and Esmeralda benefit from seems to suggest that children who grow up as orphans find greater happiness in the laissez-faire lives they lead.

It is therefore likely that these examples would have been criticised for potentially encouraging disobedience among children. Nevertheless, what is noticeable about these two examples in particular, is that the orphans in them (with the exception of Quasimodo) enter into the standardised example of a family through marriage. It is to be assumed that Mowgli and Shanti will get married once they are older, and Esmeralda marries Phoebus.

Even The Lion King, which renders the family in a state of spiritual presence and physical absence in a reflection of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, sees Simba and Nala get married and live as a “normal” family in the sequel. The aforementioned films, released between 1967 and 1996, seem to promote the family produced by marriage more than the family to which a child is born.

In the modern age of Disney films, one can also find an array of “traditional” families. The Incredibles is a prime example of this, as a couple is shown to be bonding and struggling with raising their three children despite their constant bickering and pubescent tendencies.

The Emperor’s New Groove similarly presents Pacha’s family as the ideal form of warmth that Kuzco lacks knowledge of. It is here that Disney seems to pursue teaching families how to be families, rather than teaching children how to make them. The relationship between Helen and Bob is almost ideal, where they argue often, but when their lives are in danger, he attempts to keep her safe, and she insists on staying with him “for better or worse”. Chicha and her children assist Pacha in their

April ‘18 issue

humiliation and distraction of Yzma.

Here, the family is presented as a goal for all families to attain, be it for children to build when they’re older, or for parents to establish while they can. While the film does not particularly shame alternative families, it places the traditional family on a pedestal and uses them almost as an ideal example which everyone must strive to reach, and it is here that alternative families seem to be considered second-best, or imperfect.

Marriage is therefore a key goal for young girls, and thus the focus on the development of their role models over time is integral. The Disney Golden and Silver ages saw the birth of Snow White, Aurora, and Cinderella, all of whom were the model of silent obedience, until they succeeded in “catching” their royal husbands. From 1937 to 1967, Disney presented young girls with the role their families wished for them to fulfill, while focusing on the feminine features they wished to instill in the growing generations.

The Renaissance saw the birth of a new wave of stronger, more independent women, as shown in Jasmine, Belle, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Ariel. Ariel, Jasmine, and Belle refuse advantageous marriages in favour of love, and are rewarded for it. This was reflective of the shifts brought about by the emergence and popularity of Feminism, which meant that women were instead encouraged to enter the family system for love, not for wealth.

Audiences of the 1990s largely considered Mulan to represent the new era of empowered Disney

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Princesses, as she reminds Shang that because he trusted and respected Ping, he should do the same for Mulan. Mulan fights for honour, and with that as her primary priority, only begins to consider Li Shang as a potential consort after her mission is complete. The later, modern generation of Disney Princesses seems to build on this, with Rapunzel falling in love with Flynn as an addition to her pursuit of her identity, and Merida refusing the concept of her marriage by force entirely. As society grew to respect women and honour them, the popular animated films grew to do the same. Girls are therefore taught to be fiery, and to “shoot for their own hand” and once again stray away from the traditional family that comes with the pursuit of married life.

In Lilo & Stitch, Stitch reminds the Grand Council Lady and the audience that families need not be present from the first day. “I found it all on my own. It’s little, and broken, but still good.” Disney films did not always adhere to the same family structures as mainstream Hollywood. Lilo and Stitch find their warmth and safety together with Nani, and mourn the loss of their parents in the process. Their family constantly faces threats, from aliens to Child Protective Services, and throughout it all, they stand together. In Big Hero 6, Hiro forms a family with Baymax, Tadashi’s friends, and his aunt in the absence of Tadashi; UP’s Carl and Russel form an unlikely family simply because they find their security with one another, as do the toys in Toy Story.

It is in these examples that children

are taught to accept anomalies and differences. The promoted message seems to follow the notion that one may find their family in anyone and anything. Blood relations are given significantly less weight here, and the lens of the scriptwriters is placed on emotional bonds. but in the end, In the absence of the traditional family, the young are allowed to find their families in their friends, lovers, and siblings, without adhering to the standard form of a family. Here, the younger generation is influenced to accept more oddball families, even if their examples are not yet presented in the media.

Disney animated films have always focused on the theme of Family in some form or another. In presenting a wide array of examples, the films seem to adhere to the rules set by the society of the time, with a present influence of the scriptwriter and perhaps even the producers.

What is clear and unquestionable is that these films seek to establish that Family is paramount regardless of the form it takes, be it found from birth, or established through emotional security found in friends or even pets. From 1937 to 2018, Disney films present different renditions of the phrase: Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind, or forgotten.

AUC Times

Photos by Sestrjevitovschii Ina on Unsplash and Selcen KucukustelAtlas

By Mahmoud ElHakim

HUNTERS AND GATHERERS Forgotten by time and history, the landscape painted the magnificent nature that reigned before the rule of the mighty Homo-Sapien. Cities were of wood and seed, buildings of stone and mountain, streets of soil and grass. The only government was that of the wild’s most terrifying hierarchy, unmolested by the artificial, untapped by the bureaucracy.

A great hairy wretch made his way through the vicious woods, heaving in the suffocatingly unfiltered air and grunting them as if to expel his unruly thoughts.

The rhythm of suffering came to a stop as he paused before his burrow of stone. He saw the stream of crackling light: once again, his woman had begun the night without him.

The burrow was furnished in rags of decay. Carcasses were thrown around the room, no longer able to rot by their own menacingly depleted presence. Torn cloaks of fur lay eaten by time, illuminated by the barely breathing fire in the center of this stony mess. As if to give this shelter a breath of life (one that heaves a deafening death rattle), illegible paintings were scratched and abandoned upon the solid stone. Oog grunted again at his miserable, but now accustomed to,

abode.

“You’re late.” said Urga from next to the fire.

“I spent over-the-time looking for hunt” Retorted Oog, filled with the rage that accompanies insolence and ingratitude..

“Of course you did.” she taunted. “You’ve brought nothing home, anyways,one more moon without hunt or meat. It’s been three weeks Oog! We’ve been eating from the same berry bushes, over and over again.

Might as well just die of starvation.”

“What is this annoying gatherer!” Bubbling with rage, Oog endowed her face with a colorful flush by the shape of his gruff hands.

Angrily she began to calm herself, shaking at the intensity of the burn on her cheeks. She looked to the floor and ignored the rage, ignored the hatred, the pain.

Seeming to pay no attention to her existence, he continued as if to himself.

“The other stronger hunters got the all of it, and I have nothing; Oog has no food, Oog family have no food.”

He looked again towards her. “I spend all the light and some of the dark looking out for you and you have nothing to say but ‘this is not enough’! Ha! It would

April ‘18 issue

serve you right to be left without a hunter to feed your ungrateful stain of a life and your ugly spawn.” He pointed to the shivering boy at the leg of his mother and struck a dirty eye at the naked baby hanging at her breast. “Oh, if only gatherers would spend a day in our bare feet! I’d like to see that, ha! Don’t blame Oog, blame the econysystem” He gave all three of them a grunt of ill-regard and slumped down into a hairy bundle of bones and muscle that reeked of his foul masculinity. Sores began to emanate from this lump of pure animosity. The taste of rabbit still hung on his tongue from that same morning.

Urga, filled with visions of a free childhood of hunts and gatherings, welled up with tears at the menacing state of her affairs. It was time to move, find new home, get a new hunt. They still spent their moves on foot, they could not afford to find wheels or carts. She thought of the lives of the other families whom she’d never seen. Urga sighed dismissively: if Oog heard a single utterance of this he would have her hanged on account of sticking her filthy gatherer nose into that which was not her business. She was fixed in the constancy of her place in the cave, in the world.

Onag, her boy, continued to tug at her feet. His eyes were filled with zeal as he began to recite as his tiny mind began to fill with blazing images of the world ahead of him.

“Momma!” he cried. “I won’t be hunter person like dad when I grow up, it is boring and no hunts.”

She smacked his ruffled head. “What else will you be, foolish boy?”

“One of the others, momma!” He replied, seemingly unshaken by her mother’s abuse. “I will be an Other One, I will point and stare and eat and leave these woods. One of the horizon dwellers. I will one day be in skyscraping trees and rule the world!”

But the Gatherer would not have it, she gave him another taste of her mud-ridden hands and bid him be quiet else the same people would hear and laugh at his pathetic dreams. He tried to break free but ultimately gave up at the third threat of being buried alive by his own mother’s hands.

Mother and baby both dozed off to sleep as Onag scurried towards the edge of the cave, watching and listening to the vast beyond. He fixed his eyes beyond the scattered trees and unto the crowds of people that stared back of him. He fell asleep, dreaming of his unattainable aspirations.

The next group of tourists moved towards the glass screen that bordered and cut off the domain of prehistory. They seemed to be just waking from a doze that had laid on them throughout the course of the Historical Preserve. It was time for the main exhibit, the real reason anyone ever came to this boring old house.

Yawns slowly turned into gapes of wonder as their eyes followed the expanse of the Hunter-Gatherers.

“This family was found and brought to our preserve nearly 10 years ago,” explained their guide. “These, ladies and gentlemen, are the ancestors of civilization, in their times of primitive distress. Since they are incapable of registering the feats of the modern era, they are isolated into a natural habitat where they are supplied with more than sufficient prey and habitation to fulfill their survival needs.”

As the beacon of information labored on in this extensive and praiseworthy history of the exhibit,

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he was slowly transitioned into background noise as people watched the comic bickering of the cavemen. The children amused their parents with the astonishment and patronizing laughs at the sheer idiocy and simplicity of their daily lives. It was a scene of savagery and backward ideals that garnered as much laughs and commentary as would a comedy.

Beyond the laughs and mockery lay a romantic speculation on these simpletons, the fathers of mankind. For families began to idealize the order by which the hunters and gatherers lived, harmoniously intertwined in the fairest of all distribution of roles.

Everyone had their part to play in the cave.

“Look at how obedient the woman is to her husband!” whispered a voice and as though it was meant for the whole crowd, the men all struck subtle looks of wishful thinking.

As the laughter died out, the guide ushered the cattle into the next exhibit of drole documentation.

The footsteps receded in the mass of hallways and the mirth of the scene began to dissipate. Only the melancholic existence of the perfect-structure family remained in the emptying preserve.

Photo by Haya Tarek

By Arwa Hezzah

Khaled Sobhy, an Egyptian man, claims to be held hostage by his own parents. Sobhy’s parents won’t let him move out of the house, claiming that life on the outside would be too tough for him.

At twenty-six, Sobhy found a beautiful wife and asked her to move in with him and his parents, after his parents’ refusal to let him move out. Sobhy’s wife agreed, thinking that after a year or two, she would be able to change his mind and make him move out.

Four years later, Sobhy and his wife, along with their twoyear old son, still reside in the Sobhy family house, unable to escape the parents’ unyielding grip on their son. Even though Khaled Sobhy is now old enough to live on his own, him being a father and all, his parents are clearly having a hard time coming to grips with that fact.

“They will simply not let me go,” Sobhy commented. “They’re constantly telling me that I will never be able to take care of myself and that life away from home will be too dangerous”.

According to our sources, Sobhy’s mother still treats her son like a child, making all his decisions for him.

“She stops me every night and smells my breath to make sure I’ve brushed my teeth,” Sobhy says. “And she checks what I’m wearing every morning before I leave just to make sure I look good enough for the office.”

In addition to that, she constantly dabbles in her grandson’s life, telling Sobhy and his wife what to do in regards to their son.

“She’s already decided where he’s going to go to school!” exclaims Sobhy’s wife.

A year ago, Sobhy’s wife decided she had had enough. When she threatened to leave him if they didn’t move out and get their own place, his mother locked her in the bathroom and wouldn’t let her out until she “changed her mind”.

“I’ve been trying to leave this crazy family for so long now,”

his wife claims, “but there’s just no way out of it. I’m scared for my life.”

Khaled Sobhy’s father seems to simply be an onlooker at the entire situation. He commented that, although he doesn’t fully support his wife’s ways, he can’t ask her to do anything she doesn’t want to do.

“She’s always whining, talking about how, if our son leaves, she might get sick and die of heartbreak,” Mr. Sobhy noted.

“I know she’s lying, but I’m afraid she might do something to herself if Khaled leaves the house. That’s the only reason I put up with it all.”

When asked how she’s managed to convince her son to live with her for so long, Khaled Sobhy’s mother commented, “It’s easy, whenever he says he wants to leave, I shed a tear or two, call him my little boy, and say his poor old mother can’t live without him.”

It didn’t take long for Sobhy to start opening his eyes to the reality of the situation. A few months ago, when his mother called his boss, along with all of his unlucky friends whose number she had, and fought with them because Sobhy was 30 minutes late coming home from work, Sobhy drew the line. His mother’s call left his boss feeling disrespected, which in turn got him fired,.

Sobhy decided that he could not keep living with his mother’s interference and confronted her and his father about his departure. Sobhy’s mother would not stand for it.

After nearly having a mental breakdown, crying, screaming, and so forth, Mrs. Sobhy took extreme measures to keep her son by her side. She has now placed a tracker around her son’s ankle so she could know where he is at all times.

“He can’t get away from me now,” says Mrs. Sobhy.

His father even stepped in to try and stop his wife’s craziness, but to no avail. It would seem that Khaled Sobhy and his family are doomed to live in that house for the rest of their lives.

Photo by Aya Nashed

By Mariam El Nadi

E7NA “BENESHTERY” RAGEL: A MARKET FOR SPOUSES We grow up romanticizing marriage, with every fairytale ending in a lavish wedding and Hollywood films choking us with a thousand moving “I-do”s. However, renowned economist Gary Becker had a very different view on marriage. You’d think economists would have nothing to do with an intimate relationship between two people, but economics are actually a part of our personal lives. Becker compared marriage to international trade, asserting that both fields stood on the same ground: comparative advantage. Basically, if men can earn more money than women and women are better at raising children, together they can make the best out of it. Although Becker’s theory is weighty and well-argued, it’s a bit timeworn.

There are many single-dads nowadays, and numerous job opportunities and career aspects for women. But perhaps marriage still is tied into economics and markets in different ways. Partners are now similar to products, all with demand and supply diagrams and consumersatisfaction goals, and marriages are unions between consumers and the commodities.

Think about it; you are getting married with hopes that it will eventually somehow lead to your happiness.

You are basically looking for satisfaction. Consumer satisfaction. The more you increase your criteria of attributes you want in your significant other, the smaller the supply of potential partners and the harder it is to find them, because they are more valuable. You factor in the commodity’s reputation into the equation, their strengths, their weaknesses. Your family/friends might “market” you to set you up with someone. In fact, in some parts of the world spouses have literally became actual commodities. There are several physical “marriage markets” around China and India where parents would gather and advertise their single children to one another in hopes of pairing them up with a worthy spouse.

Actually, we market ourselves in so many ways without even realizing it. Social media is the most common

platform for self-marketing for subtle advertising of our best features through our everyday interactions online and dating websites. If you treat yourself like a product, how far fetched is it that whomever you end up with is subconsciously treating you just the same way? In some extreme cases, it’s not even subconscious. There are over 30 Facebook sites that advertise “Mail Order Brides” for sale, and a desperate, violent, and horrendous bride-sale industry.

There are numerous economic laws that you can apply in this case, one of them being diminishing marginal utility. In other words, as you increase your consumption of a particular product, you receive less additional satisfaction. Isn’t this the same exact reason why countless marriages end? Divorce, in many cases, is simply a consumer abandoning the product they no longer enjoy as much as they used to.

So, does it actually matter if you think about family and marriage as an economic union instead of a romantic one? Well, how you view your own relationship can have a huge impact on it, because you interact with your partner accordingly. For one thing commodities are replaceable with a competitor’s better product, so can we have a secure relationship in this economic model? If you’re basically picking your husband based on some of his qualities, like his income, what would stop you from replacing him with someone who earns more?

Love is illogical, but marriage often follows logical consumer behaviour. Love and marriage are, a lot of times, two very separate things. Where love is irrational and unexplainable, marriage can be mapped out to a very large extent. As we move towards a more logical choice of whom to marry, and away from love, we are essentially making economic choices. And our awareness that our choice is economic can make a lot of difference. So are you choosing love or are you choosing commodities?

‫تصوير سايل الفيشاوي‬

‫كتبته مريم الربنس‬

‫ٌ‬ ‫ِح ّل وترحال‬ ‫مــا البيــت إال بضعــة جدران تحمل ِغطــا ًء يقينا تقلّبات الدهــر وتجهامت الطقس‪.‬‬ ‫دورا مهجورة‪ ،‬إال ويســاورنا يش ٌء من فراغ‪ ،‬خوف‪ ،‬صمت‬ ‫ولكــن مــا أن تطــأ أقدامنا ً‬ ‫تنســل لــه أرواحنا من بــن فراغات أصابعنا كاملاء‪ ،‬وضعــف يذوب يف حرية‪ ،‬كأنها‬ ‫حارا بطي ًئا راكــدً ا ً‬ ‫ثقيل‪ ،‬يجد‬ ‫النســات وقــد جثمت عــي صدورنا فصارت هوا ًء ً‬ ‫الجــوف ثِقـ ًـا يف ازدراده وصعوبة يف لفظه‪.‬‬ ‫إن الــدور تقتســم العيــش مع قاطنيهــا‪ ،‬فهنا ركن بىك ليل ًة ف َقــد فيها أحدهم عزي ًزا‪،‬‬ ‫وتلــك حجــرات ِ‬ ‫أوص َدت عــى خبيئة أودعها قلب يف اآلخر‪ ،‬وتلــك جدران رقصت يو ًما‬ ‫رس الغرفة‪.‬‬ ‫و‬ ‫كن‬ ‫ر‬ ‫ال‬ ‫ـرح‬ ‫ـ‬ ‫ت‬ ‫ـية‬ ‫ـ‬ ‫متناس‬ ‫عىل ُرفات املايض‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫منزل مشــاب ًها لذاك الذي يأويهم‪،‬‬ ‫أهــل البيــت يحملــون بني طيات ضلوعهم ســلفًا ً‬ ‫فــكأن كل فــرد عــاد منفرد يرتكز عليه جــزء من البيت ويُلقى عليــه جزء من ال ِثقل‪.‬‬ ‫ذاك املنــزل عتيــق‪ ،‬مجـ ّرد‪ ،‬تتوارثه األجيال‪ ،‬به يشــتد عضد الفرد‪ ،‬وبــه يلوذ من نوائب‬ ‫الدنيــا‪ .‬بكــرور الزمــن وتعاقب الليــل والنهار‪ ،‬تنضح روح العائلــة‪ ،‬ويفوح عبق كل ما‬ ‫مر به عنارصها‪ ،‬فتســتعري الديار املحسوســة شــيئًا من روح الجامعة‪ ،‬من روح البيت‬ ‫املدفــون يف الحشــا‪ ،‬لتضفي عىل الحجارة حياة تشــبه كث ًريا حيــاة من تحويهم‪.‬‬ ‫إن العائلــة هــي مــا نقطــن فيه أولً وهي مبتدأ كل انتامء‪ ،‬وقبل أن نســكن بني‬ ‫الجــدران‪ ،‬نســكن بــن أهلها فإذ كل جامعــة تحمل مســكنها بداخلها‪ ،‬وكل عنرص‬ ‫فيهــا يشـكّل جــز ًءا من تكويــن هذا الكيان املج ّرد‪ ،‬وكث ًريا مــا تختلف األدوار بني ِعام ٍد‬ ‫وزاويــة‪ ،‬فلــكل دوره‪ ،‬ولــكلٍ ح ّيزه‪ .‬إن ذاك البيت األ ّول‪ ،‬وامل ُســتقر األوحد‪ ،‬هو الروح‬ ‫التي تروم البيوت‪ ،‬ويُ ِ‬ ‫قســم بها املشــتاقون‪ ،‬املســافرون‪ ،‬واملحرومون‪.‬‬

‫ذاك املنــزل الــذي نحملــه يف ثنايــا القلب كث ًريا ما يُغنينا عن ســواه‪ ،‬وإن كانت الدور‬ ‫املحسوســة جســده‪ ،‬فالروح أبقى وأغنى‪ .‬ولذا إن انشــق البيت عن أهله خبا‪ ،‬فكام‬ ‫تضفــي العائلــة رو ًحــا عىل البيت عنــد الحلول‪ ،‬فإنها تســلبها منه إذا حان الرحيل‪.‬‬ ‫وقــت االرتحــال‪ ،‬يحمــل كل فرد حاجياتــه‪ ،‬يلملمها ثم يحتجــب‪ ،‬وكلام حزم أحدهم‬ ‫متا ًعــا مــات جــزء من مهجة البيــت‪ ،‬فتموت األجزاء تبا ًعا حتى إذا ما ُسـكِّر الباب ثم‬ ‫مل ينفتــح‪ ،‬همــد الجســد الذي اســتضاف روح العائلة حي ًنا من الدهــر‪ ،‬فتصري البيوت‬ ‫ول‪ ،‬كلام م ّر عليها الزمان هرمت‪ ،‬وشــاخت‪ ،‬ثم فنت‪.‬‬ ‫أرضحــة ملــا ّ‬ ‫كلام منر عىل الدور التي نزح ســكانها وفاضت روحها‪ ،‬نشــعر وكأنها تشــاطرنا الضيق‬ ‫واألســف‪ ،‬وتنــوح يف صمــت‪ ،‬وال أظن أننــا نضطرب للغياب بقدر ما نشــفق عىل ديارنا‬ ‫ونرثــو عليهــا‪ .‬لطاملــا خلناهــا أقوى منا؛ ألنهــا تحوينا‪ ،‬ما علمنا عليهــا من ضعف كهذا‬ ‫ومــا عهدناهــا بتلــك الكآبة‪ .‬رمبا ألن روحنــا فينا وبداخلنا ولكن أوطاننــا متعددة أولها‬ ‫أجســادنا‪ ،‬أماهــا فجامدٌ‪ ،‬ال متلك ســوى رو ًحا واحدة‪ ،‬تلك التي فينــا‪ ،‬رحلت عنها‬ ‫بذهابنا‪ ،‬ورجعــت فيها بإيابنا‪.‬‬ ‫يل ُ‬ ‫حال الدور الغابرة التي رحل ســاكنيها‪ ،‬ومؤنّســيها‪ .‬أولهم منازل‬ ‫إنه ليشُ ــق ع ّ‬ ‫العائلــة‪ ،‬العامــرة‪ ،‬التي كانــت تكتظ بالواردين صبحة وعشـيًا‪ ،‬تزدان يف زهو لكرثة‬ ‫وقصصــا‪ .‬إىل أن يحني األجل‪ ،‬فريتحل إىل الغيــب وتد الخيمة‪،‬‬ ‫قاصديهــا‪ ،‬وتفيــض حيــاة‬ ‫ًَ‬ ‫و ِعــاد البيــت‪ٍ ،‬‬ ‫ليحل آخرون‪ ،‬والذين وإن كانوا مــن ذات العائلة‪ ،‬تظل‬ ‫كجد أو عــمٍ ‪ّ ،‬‬ ‫تلك البيوت أب ًدا ‪..‬غابرة تعســة‪.‬‬

‫صفحة ‪٢٢‬‬

‫عدد شهر مارس ‪٢٠١٨‬‬

‫صفحة ‪٢٣‬‬

‫كتبته إميان خروشة‬

‫عن الحاجة لالنمتاء‬ ‫الــيء امل ُشــرك بيننــا هو حاجتنا للشــعور باالنتــاء‪ ،‬أنّ هُناك عائلــة ننتمي إليها‪،‬‬ ‫هُنــاك بيــت ينتظرنــا‪ ،‬هُنــاك مــكان يحتوينا ونلجأُ إليــه لنختبئ به حــن يخذلُنا العامل‪.‬‬ ‫ولكــن‪ ،‬يختلــف تعريف االنتامء بالنســبة إلينا‪.‬‬ ‫قــد يكون بالنســبة إىل شـ ٍ‬ ‫ـخص هــو أهل بي ِتــه‪ ،‬يتغذى عىل الدفء النابع مــن بينهم‪،‬‬ ‫الــدفء النابــع ِمــن أُ ِم ِه حني تحتويــه بني ذراعيهــا لتزيل عنه ثقل العــامل بأكمله‪،‬‬ ‫والنابــع ِمــن والده حني يشــعر أنــه يختبيء خلفه ِمــن مخاوفه‪ ،‬والنابع ِمن ُمجالســته‬ ‫إلخوتــه حــن يخــرق صوت ضحكهم الســاء ويخرتق صــوت بكائهم الجدار‪ .‬الدفء‬ ‫الــذي يســتمده ِمن جــدا ِر املنزل‪ِ ،‬من أريكتــه امل ُفضلة وكوبه الــذي ال يحتمل‬ ‫احتســاء قهوتــه ســوى بــه‪ .‬قد يكون ذلك هــو اليشء الذي يبقيــه حيًا ويخوض ِمن‬ ‫أجلــه الحــروب‪ .‬أو قــد يكون بالنســب ٍة إىل شـ ٍ‬ ‫ـخص آخر فردًا ِمن أفــراد العائلة يأثره‬ ‫عــى اآلخــر‪ ،‬قــد يُ ِ‬ ‫فضل والده عىل والدته أو أ ًخــا عىل اآلخر‪ ،‬قد تتمثــل العائلة‬ ‫يف ذلــك الشــخص فقــط دونًا عن أي فر ٍد آخــر‪ ،‬قد يجد فيه ِشـقّه اآلخر‪ ،‬وتتآلف‬ ‫روحهــا مــع بعضهــا البعــض وال ُيكن لومهام عىل ذلــك‪ ،‬فالقلوب ال تُالم إن‬ ‫وجــدت الراحــة مع شـ ٍ‬ ‫ـخص عن اآلخــر ولكن قد تُالم إن انعكــس ذلك عىل األفعال‬ ‫انعكاســا سلب ًيا‪.‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ك ٌُل ِم ّنــا لديــه رغبـ ٌة خفيّــة يف أن يحتويــه بيته‪ ،‬رغبة بــأن ينتمي ليش ٍء ثابت ال‬ ‫ُمشــتت‪ .‬الســبب وراء ذلك ســبب ِفطري بحت‪ ،‬ال يوجد عىل ســبيل املثال أُســلوب‬ ‫تربــوي يُعـ ّزز داخل األبنــاء انتامئهم نحو أفــراد أرستهم‪ ،‬أو ثقافة ُمعينة تســوق‬ ‫أحـ ًد ا نحــو ذلــك‪ .‬ال يوجد ما يدفع اإلنســان ِ‬ ‫ويحثّ ُه عىل التمســك بذلك الشــعور‪ ،‬فهو‬ ‫يولــد ِبــه وال يســتطع التخلُــص ِمنه‪ ،‬قــد يكون مبثابة عيــب ُخلُقي يُن ِغــص عليه أيامه‬ ‫أو هبــة ِمن اللــه ت ُنري حياته‪.‬‬ ‫ولكــن‪ ،‬مــا الــذي قد يح ُدث إن لَــم يجد املرء ُمراده الذي يريض نفســه يف بيته‬ ‫ووســط عائلتــه‪ ،‬أيــن قد يبحث عــن تلك الروح املفقودة‪ ،‬وأين قــد يجدها‪ ،‬وهل‬ ‫حقًا إن وجدها ســتعوِضَ هُ؟‬ ‫قــد يُخيّــل إليــه أنه وجدها‪ ،‬قد يظن وســط أصدقائه أنه وســط عائلته األم‬ ‫ويــكاد يجــزم أنــه وجد بينهم مــا فقده وســط عائلته‪ ،‬يراهم يزيلــون عنه همومه‬ ‫ويتغاضــون عــن عيوبــه‪ ،‬يحتضنــوه كــا كان ِمن امل ُفرتض ألمه أن تفعــل‪ ،‬يحملوا‬ ‫عنــه األعبــاء كــا كان ِمن امل ُفرتض لوالــده أن يفعل‪ .‬يراهم يقومــون بأدوار بديلة‬ ‫وكأنهــم أرستــه الحقيقيــة‪ ،‬ال أشــخاص جمعهم به فصل مــدريس أو حرم جامعي‪.‬‬ ‫يشــعر باألمــان فــرة ال بأس بها ولكن يراوده ذلك الشــعور بني الحني واآلخر‪ ،‬شــعور‬ ‫االفتقــاد لــرو ٍح مــا‪ ،‬شــعور الحنني غري امل ُربر رغم أنه يســتمده ِمــن أصدقائه إىل أنهم‬ ‫غــر كافــن ملــلء الفراغ الكامــن بقلبه‪ .‬يظُن أن امل ُشــكلة تكمــن بينهم‪ ،‬أنهم هُم‬ ‫الســبب‪ُ ،‬هــم امل ُقــرون بح ّقــه فيلجأ لشـ ٍ‬ ‫ـخص آخر قد يظن أنه هو الذي ســيمأل ذلك‬ ‫الحيّــز الشــاغر‪ .‬ولكــن يجد نفســه يــدور يف دوائر ُمفرغة‪ ،‬كشـ ٍ‬ ‫ضل الطريق يف‬ ‫ـخص ّ‬ ‫الظــام وكُلــا رأى مصبــاح نو ٍر قريب منه اكتشــف أنه رساب‪.‬‬ ‫يجد نفســه يف نهاية املطاف يشــتاق لعائلته بشــدة‪ ،‬يشــتاق ذلك الدفء الذي‬ ‫حاول أن يجده عدة مرات وفشــل‪ ،‬يشــتاق االنتامء إىل بيته‪ ،‬ويســأل نفســه هل هذا‬ ‫شــعور ِفطــري؟ هــل كُل رو ٍح عىل وجه األرض تشـ ُعر باألُلفــه والراحة إن تواجدت‬ ‫بــن أفــراد أُرستِهــا حتى وإن ُولِـ َد ت بينهم خالفات جوهريــة‪ ،‬حتى وإن كانوا ال‬ ‫يرتكــون هواتفهــم أثنــاء ُمجالســتهم بعضهــم البعض‪ ،‬حتى وإن كان الوالــدان غليظي‬ ‫القلــب واللســان واألبنــاء لديهــم مت ُرد ال يُطاق‪ ،‬حتــى وإن كانوا يتجنبون مجالســة‬ ‫بعضهــم البعــض‪ ،‬فَفــي نهاية ال َيوم‪ ،‬حني يضع رأســه عىل وســادته وبابــه موصد عليه‬ ‫ـي يعرتف له أنهــا عائلته‪ ،‬وهو يُحبهــا ويطمنئ لكونه فــرد ِضمنها‪،‬‬ ‫يجــد صــوت خفـ ّ‬ ‫مهــا تــرف عكــس ذلك ومهام ُهــيء إليه أنــه يبغضها فهو يشــعر بالدفء النتامئه‬ ‫روح العائلــة املفقــودة ال ميكــن العثور عليها خارج ســور عائلته‪،‬‬ ‫إليهــا‪ ،‬وتيّقــن أن َ‬ ‫ألنــه إن عــر عليهــا فسـتُ َعد رو ًحــا مؤقتة‪ ،‬أمــا روح العائلة الحق فهــي ال تنتهي أب ًدا‪،‬‬ ‫ال املســافات وال حتــى املَــوت ُيكنهــا أن يُفرِقا بني أفــراد العائلة الواحدة‪.‬‬

‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫شد‬

‫تصوير سايل الفيشاوي‬

‫صفحة ‪٢١‬‬ ‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫عدد شهر ابريل ‪٢٠١٨‬‬

‫صفحة ‪٢٠‬‬

‫كتبته كوثر الرشيفي‬

‫مح َرقة ُ‬ ‫ْ‬ ‫الك ُت ِب‬ ‫إهداء إىل انعكاسات كانت تشهبنا‬ ‫ـت رأســها تحت‬ ‫أقفلت باب الغرفة باملفتاح‪ .‬غرسـ ْ‬ ‫ْ‬ ‫وبللت تقاســيمها بدموع مالحة‪.‬‬ ‫ْ‬ ‫الوســادة الباردة‪،‬‬ ‫الحق ليــس ِ‬ ‫عيل أنا الذي‬ ‫«فتــاة مغــرورة‪ُ ،‬‬ ‫عليك‪ ،‬بل َّ‬ ‫دللتـ ِ‬ ‫ضحكات ســاخرة‬ ‫ٌ‬ ‫ـك!»‪ .‬تلت ذلك الصوت األجش‬ ‫غرست رأســها أكرث بني وسادتني عوضً ا‬ ‫ْ‬ ‫مشــوبة باملرارة‪.‬‬ ‫حرشت أذنيها بقطنهــا لتبعد تلك‬ ‫ْ‬ ‫عــن واحــدة‪ ،‬و‬ ‫واصلت البكاء حتى بلغ حد النشــيج‪.‬‬ ‫ْ‬ ‫األشــباح‪.‬‬ ‫ـس عليها يا أيب‪.‬‬ ‫ ال تقـ ُ‬‫ صــه! ال أحتاج ِ‬‫لك ِ‬ ‫أنت أيتها الفيلســوفة!‬ ‫أعقــب الصوتــن ٌ‬ ‫بلعت َعرباتها‬ ‫طرق‬ ‫ٌ‬ ‫خفيف عىل البــاب‪ْ .‬‬ ‫وحاولت أن تخرج رأســها من بني الوســادتني‪ ،‬و‬ ‫بتَ َ ُبم‪،‬‬ ‫ْ‬ ‫لكنهــا تهالكــت كاملومياء من جديــد‪« .‬افتحي الباب‬ ‫ـللت كفها إىل زر‬ ‫يــا أمل!»‪،‬‬ ‫تجاهلت الصوت‪ .‬تسـ ْ‬ ‫ْ‬ ‫املصبــاح‪ ،‬فانطفأ الضــوء يف ثوان‪ .‬تواصل الطرق‪،‬‬ ‫وتواصــل تجاهلهــا حتى غاب الصوت عــن أذنيها متا ًما‪.‬‬ ‫ـت عــى جنبها األمين محتضنة وســادتها الجافة‪،‬‬ ‫ارمتـ ْ‬ ‫وقذفــت بالعربات مرة أخرى!‬ ‫تــراءى لهــا يف الظلمة أشــباح الذاكرة‪ ،‬تلوح من كل‬ ‫حدب وصوب‪ .‬أصوات قاســية ال متل األفول‪ ،‬تربز‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫كخيــاالت جرداء لعاطش يف صحــراء‪ .‬حتى الظالم صار‬ ‫يُلقــي أضوا ًء ســاخرة يف جوف العتمــة! حتى هو يعبث‬ ‫ـت عينيها‬ ‫كمبضــع آس ٍأبلــه بروحها و عقلها! أغمضـ ْ‬ ‫وصمت نشــيجها الخافت وكأنه قــد تعب منها‪.‬‬ ‫بشــدة‪،‬‬ ‫َ‬ ‫«أكــرتً يا أيب؟»‪ .‬فكرتْ وهي تستســلم لعربات باهتة‪.‬‬ ‫فتحــت عينيهــا بإرهاق‪ .‬تحفظ هــذه البقعة عن ظهر‬ ‫قلــب‪ ،‬فهنا ترعرع الهذيــان‪ .‬عند ذاتها الجدران‬ ‫البــاردة‪ ،‬ترعرع الصمت‪ ،‬الجنــون‪ ،‬كل يشء يخصها!‬ ‫هنالــك ترقد دميتها القامشــية ممســكة بنظارة من‬ ‫صــوف أبيــض‪« .‬أمل أكن أحملها إليــك لتقبلها قبل أن‬ ‫أرقــد معها؟» زفرتْ بأمل‪.‬‬ ‫بعد أيام ســتكون يف غري هذه البقعة‪ .‬سـتُزف إىل رجل‬ ‫ال تعلــم حتــى كيف يبدو! كل ما تعرفــه أنه ابن خالها‪،‬‬ ‫وأن عليهــا أن تتــرف كلعبــة مطيعة تنفــذ ما يُقال لها‬ ‫رفضت ابن‬ ‫كانت أقــوى يف املر ِة األوىل حني‬ ‫ْ‬ ‫بصمــت‪ْ .‬‬ ‫عمتها ‪.‬‬ ‫«إنــه ال يفهــم حتى معنــى (كتاب) يا أيب‪ ،‬وتريدين له‪،‬‬ ‫فقــط ألنه ابن أختــك؟!» كان رجاؤها صارخًا‪ ،‬و ثورة‬ ‫يف روحهــا تنتفــض أمل ًا‪« .‬فتــاة قليلة الحياء واألدب!»‪ .‬مل‬ ‫يتــم الــزواج األول‪ .‬كانت تتهرب مــن مكاملات عمتها‪،‬‬ ‫تراقــب األرقــام التي تظهر عىل شاشــة الهاتف قبل أن‬ ‫ت ُجيــب‪ .‬حــب وخوف منه‪ ،‬هذا مــا أصبح ميثله ذلك‬ ‫الرقم!‬ ‫اآلن خــارت قواها أمام القــوى الجديدة‪ .‬ال رغبة يف‬ ‫املقاومــة بعــد اليوم‪ .‬تريد فقــط بعض الحنان‪َ .‬م ْن‬ ‫يربــت عــى ظهرها ليخربهــا أن لها الحق يف أن ترفض‬ ‫مــا يحــدث‪ .‬أنها ال تزال طفلة لهــا الحق يف أن تحلم‬ ‫قبــل زمن اغتيال األحالم‪.‬‬ ‫ـمعت طرقًا آخر بعد ســاعات طويلة‪ .‬توالت الطرقة‬ ‫سـ ْ‬ ‫قامت بتملل‪،‬‬ ‫بعــد األخــرى تخرتق جدران الليل املــؤمل‪ْ .‬‬ ‫أدارت املفتــاح‪ ،‬وعادتْ تحت فراشــها تنظر لاليشء‪.‬‬ ‫وأقفلت بــاب الغرفة بخفة دون‬ ‫دلفــت أختهــا ببطء‪،‬‬ ‫ْ‬

‫ـت بطرف الفراش‪.‬‬ ‫أن يُســمع رصير واحد‪ .‬جلسـ ْ‬ ‫ أمل‪...‬‬‫ ‪.............‬‬‫ أعــرف أن األمــر صعب ِ‬‫عليك‪ ،‬ولكن ســتعتادين‬ ‫حبيبتي ‪.‬‬ ‫ ‪............‬‬‫قالت بصــوت أقرب للهمس‪:‬‬ ‫ـت ريقها بوجل‪ْ .‬‬ ‫بلعـ ْ‬ ‫«ســتعتادين كل يشء قريبًا‪..‬أتفهم شـ ِ‬ ‫ـعورك»‪ .‬أدارت‬ ‫أمــل وجهها بثقــل كاآللة‪ .‬ردتْ بربود املتأمل‪:‬‬ ‫ تشــعرين يب؟‬‫ طب ًعــا يا أمل!‬‫ وأين أنتم مادمتم تشــعرون يب؟!‬‫عضت عىل شــفتها الســفىل‪ ،‬وتحرشج صوتها‪ ،‬وقد‬ ‫ْ‬ ‫رشعت يف البكاء‪.‬‬ ‫ أمل‪..‬أنا‪...‬‬‫يل‪ ،‬وال تفعلون‬ ‫ ال تقــويل شــيئًا‪ .‬كلكم تتفرجــون ع َّ‬‫ســوى اللوم‪ ،‬ثم اللوم‪ ،‬ثم اللوم!‬ ‫نظــرتْ إليهــا أختها يف الظلمة‪ .‬احتوتْ رأســها بني‬ ‫ذراعيهــا‪ ،‬وغرقتــا يف البكاء حتــى أول ٍ‬ ‫خيط من الفجر!‬ ‫*****‬ ‫ـت بعــد الفجر‪ ،‬ونظرتْ إىل مكتبتهــا الصغرية‪ .‬لطاملا‬ ‫قامـ ْ‬ ‫كانــت تتباهــى بها أمام الجميع‪ ،‬فهــي مل تضع كتابًا يف‬ ‫تلــك املكتبــة إال و قد قرأته‪ .‬داعبتْها دمعة‪ ،‬فمســحتها‬ ‫كانت ت ُرمى فيه‬ ‫عــى عجل‪ .‬أمســكت بكيس كبــر ْ‬ ‫باألوســاخ‪ .‬فتحته عىل مرصعيــه‪ ،‬وبدأتْ ترمي بكل‬ ‫الكتــب فيــه‪ .‬مع كل كتاب‪ ،‬كان يف قلبهــا يقني أنها لن‬ ‫تعود هي‪ .‬مالمحها ســتصبح مطموســة‪ ،‬ولن تتعرف‬ ‫حملت‬ ‫عــى تلك الصورة املنعكســة يف املرآة أب ًدا!‬ ‫ْ‬ ‫الكيــس الثقيل إىل أســفل الدرج حتــى وصلت لغرفة‬ ‫راقبت األلوان املنعكســة من «القمريات»*‪.‬‬ ‫الجلــوس‪.‬‬ ‫ْ‬ ‫خرجت إىل حوش‬ ‫كلهــا تبدو متجانســة ألول مرة!‬ ‫ْ‬ ‫ـعلت النار بكتاب‬ ‫املنزل‪ ،‬واختارتْ بقعة واســعة‪ .‬أشـ ْ‬ ‫ـمت‬ ‫واحــد‪ ،‬ثــم أخذتْ تقذف كتابًا بعد آخر‪ ،‬حتى شـ ْ‬ ‫رائحــة ضباب‪ .‬كان رائحــة األغلفة وهي تذوب!‬ ‫تــ مــ ت‬ ‫*القمريــات عبــارة عن جص أبيــض بزجاجات ملونة عىل‬ ‫شــكل نصف هــال‪ ،‬يف بعض البيوت اليمنيــة التقليدية‪.‬‬

‫صفحة ‪١٩‬‬

‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫كتبه عمر أبو حمر‬

‫رغــم الســكون املحيــط بالغرفة والصمــت املطبق عىل كل أركانها‪ ،‬تســللت لعقله‬ ‫رصخــات اختلفــت يف حدتها وعنفهــا‪ .‬ظن أنه يعرف بعضها‪ ،‬رمبا ســمعها أثناء‬ ‫طفولتــه أو لعلــه التقــط بعضهــا يف وقت قريب ولكن املؤكد أنهــا تدعوه ملواجهة‬ ‫أطيــاف الزمتــه منــذ طفولته املبكرة‪ ،‬محــارص ًة كل تفاصيل حياته من مأكله وملبســه‬ ‫حتــى اختياراتــه التــي مل يحمل لها ســوى املقت واالحتقار‪ .‬مل تكن أول مرة يســمع‬ ‫تلــك األصــوات التي تقيد حركتــه متا ًما‪ ،‬محيطة إياه بدائــرة مفرغة من العجز‬ ‫واإلحبــاط والخمــول وبقايا أحالم تحــول بينه وبني املوت؛ فمنذ ســنتني تحديدً ا‪ ،‬أثناء‬ ‫إجــراء امتحــان له بالجامعة‪ ،‬داهمته تلك األصوات ومل يســتطع الرتكيز رغم ســهولة‬ ‫األســئلة وبـ ً‬ ‫ـدل مــن أن يفكــر يف النجاح‪ ،‬تذكر قص ًة قرأها قري ًبا عن شــخص قرر أن‬ ‫ميــي يف الشــارع عار ًيا يرضب املارة والجالســن عىل املقاهي غــر مبالٍ بعواقب‬ ‫أفعالــه‪ ،‬بــل أنه قرر يف النهاية أن يرضب مؤخرات الســيدات الــايت يتجولن بجانب‬ ‫أزواجهــن مســتعذ ًبا العــذاب الــذي يتلقاه من الناس‪ .‬ملاذا كان الرجل يف قمة النشــوة‬ ‫حــن تجــرد مــن ثيابه؟ ما الــذي ينقصه ليعيش بهجة ذاك الرجــل؟ صاحبت تلك‬ ‫االســئلة أصــوات صارخــة أبت أن ترتك لعقله فرصـ ًة ضئيل ًة تكفــي للتفكري باالمتحان‪.‬‬ ‫فر هار ًبا من قاعة االمتحان وســط دهشــة املراقبني وزمالئه‪ .‬كل ما كان يخشــاه هي‬ ‫خصوصا بعــد أن ع ّودهم عىل التفوق‪ ،‬لكنه هــذه املرة عاد يرتجف‬ ‫نظــرة أهلــه لــه‬ ‫ً‬ ‫متلعثـ ًـا أمامهــم بينــا يجلس عــى رسيره عديم الحركة فاقدً ا نظــرة الفخر التي‬ ‫اعتادها‪.‬‬ ‫هتفــت األم ‪ :‬ال حــول وال قوة اال باللــه مالك يا ابني ؟‬ ‫قليل ثم اتجه إىل التلفزيــون مير عىل قنواته‬ ‫بينــا نظــر األب يف حــرة ووجوم طــال ً‬ ‫مفكـ ًرا يف ابنــه الذي عــرف منذ طفولته نبوغــه وانضباطه؛ لقد قىض حياتــه كلها ينظر‬ ‫باحتقــار ملــن يصاب أبناؤهم بأمراض نفســية ويلقي اللوم عــى األهل ويذكر أنهم‬ ‫«شــوية صيــع قرروا يخلفــوا» و لكن مبا أجرم هو؟‬ ‫طلبــت األم باكيـ ًة مــن ابنها الصــاة يف أوقاتها‪ ،‬فمن املؤكد أن الله ســيهديه ملا فيه‬ ‫الخــر والصــواب وهو مــا اقتنع به االبن فقد كانــت صالته يف الفرتة األخرية غري‬ ‫منتظمــة و بالفعــل بــدأ بالصالة حتى قــال «اهدنا الطريق املســتقيم» ثم اتجه خطو ًة‬ ‫لليســار منه ًيا صالته وذهب للنوم بعد أن تســاءل‪ :‬ملاذا لعن من علم اإلنســان متزيق‬ ‫العدم؟‬ ‫يف أغلــب األوقــات كانت فرتة نومه تزيد عن اإلثني عرشة ســاعة تليها مســاحة رشود‬ ‫أمــام كتبــه‪ ،‬فرمبا هي ســبب انتكاســته خاص ًة أن أمه حكت لــه يف طفولته عن عم لها‬ ‫يعيش مكتئبًا بســبب ســعة اطالعه وأنه ســيصري من املجاذيب إذا اتخذ ذلك الطريق؛‬ ‫أنه ســيتحول إىل إنســان مكروه من الناس‪ ،‬يعيش بال أنيس‪ ،‬مناجيًا نفســه بالشــعارات‬ ‫واآلمــال العظيمــة كــا كان عمها‪ .‬يذكر أنه حني ســمع تلك النصائح قــام بتقطيع مجلة‬ ‫ميــي الخاصــة بــه خوفًا من أن يظــل بال صديق كام هو‪ ،‬حتى ســمعها تخرب أباه بأن‬ ‫عمهــا هــذا تــويف وأن العزاء حمــل خوا ًءا فاض ًحا‪ ،‬يومها أرص أن يجلــب مجلة جديدة‬ ‫ليحرقهــا ولينهــي تلــك اللعنة التي تقطع الجســور بني صاحبهــا والناس أجمعني‪.‬‬ ‫لكنــه ضحــك حــن قــرأ القصة األوىل فأجل حرقها أيام حتــى أكمل العدد وأحس أنه‬

‫أصبــح مصابًــا بتلــك اللعنــة‪ ،‬ولعله أشــبه بإدمان ال ينتهي‪ ،‬فدعا الله أن يشــفيه قبل‬ ‫أن تعــرف أمــه مبرضــه‪ ،‬ولكنه مــع مرور العمر غاص بني ضفتــي الكتب معددًا أنواع‬ ‫قراءاتــه باحثًــا عام يصدمــه صدمة تحرره من بني قضبــان الواقع‪ .‬كلام رأته أمه‬ ‫ممسـكًا بكتــاب كانــت تدعو « ربنــا يهديك يا ابني» ولكنــه مل يلمها‪ ،‬بل يف بعض‬ ‫خصوصا أنه ال يجلس مع أصدقائــه إال ويصفوه بأنه «‬ ‫األوقــات أ ّمــن عىل دعائهــا‪،‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫عايــش الــدور» و يبدأون بســؤاله «انت قريت بقى الحب يف زمــن الكولريا؟» و«قابلت‬ ‫الزميــل نجيــب محفــوظ قريب؟» يتذكــر حينها كالم أمه ويتأكد أنه ســيموت محاطًا‬ ‫بجحيــم الوحــدة وكأنــه صليبه الذي كتب عليــه أن يحمله منذ والدته‪.‬‬ ‫بعــد حادثــة االمتحــان‪ ،‬طلب أهله مــن أصدقائه أن يخرجوا معه لعلهــم يلهونه عن‬ ‫توتــره ويجــدون له مخر ًجا وســط األوهــام التي حارصته ولكنه مل يــزدد إال بغضً ا للحياة‬ ‫حــن رآهــم جمي ًعــا مرتدين أقنعة الفضيلة‪ ،‬يتنفســون الكذب ويتســابقون يف لعبة‬ ‫االدعــاء والتزلف لبعضهم البعض‪ .‬ليســت جلســاتهم إال أنصاف ضحــكات مصطنعة‬ ‫وانفعــاالت مزيفــة وكلامت ال ســبيل لوصولها إال الكذب‪ ،‬إال واحدة فقط مل يســتطع‬ ‫أن يشــملها بذلــك الوصــف‪ ،‬رمبا ألنه أحبها كثـ ًرا كام بغضها أكرث‪ .‬يبــدأ بالنظر إليها‬ ‫بافتتــان يف بدايــة أي لقاء‪ ،‬يعشــق فيها أبســط تفاصيلها‪ ،‬الطريقــة التي تدير بها‬ ‫بعض خصالت شــعرها عىل أحد أصابعها‪ ،‬ابتســامتها وهي تســأله عن حاله‪ ،‬حتى‬ ‫نظراتهــا ألطفــال الشــوارع ولكن مــا أن تبدأ بالحديث عن األخالق واملثــل العليا‪ ،‬عن‬ ‫طــرق النجاح للشــباب ورضورة طاعة الوالديــن‪ ،‬يكرهها ويلعن خنوعها وســذاجتها‬ ‫ـلم لتلك الرصخات ايل‬ ‫بؤســا مستسـ ً‬ ‫وســطحيتها املفرطــة‪ ،‬حتــى يعود للمنزل وهو أكرث ً‬ ‫تطارده‪.‬‬ ‫بعــد ســنتني من الــدوران بتلك الدائرة املهلكة جاء القــرار إنهاء تلك األصوات‪،‬‬ ‫فاســتيقظ مــن نومــه رافضً ــا أن يبقى برسيره كام تعود‪ ،‬فبدلً من ســكونه‪ ،‬ثار يف وجه‬ ‫أهلــه فجــأة بينام يشــاهدون أحد الشــيوخ يقدم آخر فتاواه‪ ،‬كانت ثورتــه غري مفهومة‬ ‫بالنســبة لوالديــه فكلامتــه وصلت إليهــم متقطعة بحروف مبعــرة اختلطت بلعابه‬ ‫الطائــر إىل أن التقــت ببعضهــا‪ ،‬وبــدا لحركاته املضطربة معنــى وصوته العايل أصبح‬ ‫أكــر رع ًبــا بالنســبة لهم‪ .‬ذكر لهــم أن موالنا هذا قواد‪ ،‬وأنهم يطبقــون تلك الفتاوى‬ ‫بدون عقل؛ يعيشــون حياة ال تســتحق حتى الشــفقة‪.‬‬ ‫اتســعت عينــا األب ورصخ أنــه مل يفلــح يف تربيته ومل يســتطع أن يعلمه دينه كام‬ ‫يجــب‪ ،‬تــاركًا إياه وراء كالم الجامعــة العلامنيني الذين يقرأ لهــم وذهب ليجلس‬ ‫وحيـ ًدا بغرفــة مظلمــة‪ ،‬بينام عاتبــت األم ابنها‪« :‬يا ابني انت عايز متوتنــا ناقصني عمر؟‬ ‫مش كفاية راعينا مرضك؟ أبوك عنده الضغط ســنه مش صغري عشــان يســتحمل كل‬ ‫ده‪ ».‬مل يهتــم كثــرا لكالمها وانطلق يف الشــارع مرس ًعا‪ ،‬كان ميــي بخطوات رسيعة‪،‬‬ ‫ولكنه أحس كأنه يراقص كل من قابله‪ ،‬عرب الشــارع وســط الســيارات التي كادت‬ ‫تصدمــه عــدة املرات ولكنه كان منتشـ ًيا بنشــوة النرص عــى الطفل املطيع الذي مل‬ ‫يعــرف صــدى كلمة « ال» وفجأة وقف وســط ميدان فســيح يهتف‪ :‬يــا من احتكرتم‬ ‫الحقيقــة‪ ..‬أنتــم من ترثون األرض ألن املــوت والحياة كاذبان‪.‬‬

‫تصوير جيورجينيا باسييل‬

‫صفحة ‪١٠‬‬

‫عدد شهر مارس ‪٢٠١٨‬‬

‫تصوير جيورجينيا باسييل‬

‫‪Page 44‬‬ ‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫عدد شهر ابريل ‪٢٠١٨‬‬

‫صفحة ‪١٦‬‬

‫كتبته همسا يوسف‬

‫حوارات نفسية معارصة ‪..‬‬ ‫متت للواقع بكل صلة‬

‫الحوار األول‪:‬‬ ‫األب‪ :‬مبتذاكــرش ليــه يــا ابني؟ انت مش عايز تدخل طــب وال إيه؟! كل زمايلك‬ ‫بيذاكــروا ومقطعــن نفســهم عىل املذاكرة و انت مقضيها تتنيح يف الســقف أو شــخبطة‬ ‫أو أي حاجــة ملهاش أي الزمة!!‬ ‫الولــد‪ :‬يا بابــا حارض ‪ ..‬هذاكر ‪ ..‬هذااااكر‬ ‫األب‪ :‬يــا ابنــي مــا أنا كل ما أدخــل عليك أالقيك كدا وبتقول هذاكــر ومبتعملش‬ ‫حاجة!‬ ‫الولــد‪ :‬تعــرف يــا بابا؟ أنا هذاكر بس عشــان صحايب أكدويل إين أمور والزم أدخل طب‬ ‫عشــان كل الــوالد الحلوين بريوحوا هناك‬ ‫األب‪ :‬أهــو دا اليل انت فالــح فيه ياخويا !!‬ ‫الولــد‪ :‬بابــا‪ ،‬ســؤال بجد! هيحصل إيــه يعني لو مدخلش طب؟ أو لــو مجبتش مجموع‬ ‫عــايل؟ أو لو ذاكرت عىل قدي؟!‬ ‫األب‪ :‬يــا نهــااارك اســود!!! انت إزاي تقول حاجة زي كدا!! يعنــي أنا رصفت عليك‬ ‫كل الفلــوس دي عشــان يف اآلخر تيجــي تقويل هيحصل إيه لــو مجبتش املجموع!!‬ ‫هيحصــل كتــر أوي يــا حبيبي!! عايــز تصغرين قدام الناس؟! عايزهم يشــمتوا فيا؟‬ ‫يقولــوا معرفتــش أريب؟! انت ثانويــة عامة يا ابني!‬ ‫الولد‪ :‬بابا‪ ،‬بســــ‪...‬‬ ‫األب‪ :‬دا أنــا ممكــن أمــوت فيهــا يا ابني!! عايز متوت أبوك!! وأمــك الغلبانة دي مش‬ ‫مــن حقهــا تفرح بيــك وبنجاحك وتتباهى بابنهــا الدكتور قدام الناس!!‬ ‫الولــد‪ :‬بــس انا نفســيتي تعبــت يا بابا!! بقايل ‪ 8‬شــهور مبعملش أي حاجة غري اين‬ ‫بذاكــر بس!! بابــا انا فعال فعال مضغوط وتعبان نفســيا!!‬ ‫األب‪ :‬تعبــت مــن إيــه يا ابني!! دا انــت كل اليل بتعمله إنــك بتذاكر يف كتاب! أمال ملا‬ ‫تشــتغل هتعمــل إيه! اســرجل كدا وبالش الكالم الفايض الــي انت بتقوله ده‬ ‫الولد‪ :‬بابا أنــا فعال تعبــ‪...‬‬ ‫األب‪ :‬ادخــل بــس اتويض وصيل وارجع ذاكر تاين‬ ‫الحوار الثاين‪:‬‬ ‫األم‪ :‬مالك الوية بوزك وشــايلة طاجن ســتك ليه ياختي؟!‬ ‫البنــت‪ :‬مفيش يا ماما ‪ ..‬الشــغل كالعادة!‬ ‫األم‪ :‬ماهــو انتــي اليل أرصيتي تنزيل تشــتغيل يا موكوســة ‪ ..‬كان زمانك دلوقتي‬ ‫متجوزة ابــن خالتك حبيبــي ومخلفالك عيلني‬ ‫البنــت‪ :‬يــا مامــا بقى كفاية املوضوع دا‪ ..‬مــش كل ما أتكلم معايك تقوليــي الكلمتني‬ ‫دول‪ ..‬أنــا عايــزة أبنــي لنفيس مســتقبل أكون أنا املتحكم األول واألخــر فيه مش عايزة‬ ‫أعتمــد عــى حد‪ ،‬عايــزة أكون قوية األول لوحدي بعد كــدا ممكن أبقى أفكر يف‬ ‫الجواز‬ ‫األم‪ :‬إيــه الــكالم الفايض دا! دا الســت ملهاش غري بيت جوزها هــو اليل يدلعها‬ ‫ويســتتها ويهننها بدل الشــغل واملرمطة الــي انتي فيهم دول!‬ ‫البنــت‪ :‬يــا مامــا! يــا ماما! أرجويك بقى كفاية ضغط عليا‪ .‬كل شــوية تقوليــي الكلمتني‬ ‫دول يعني هالقيها منك وال من اليل بشــوفه يف الشــغل وال من اليل بشــوفه يف‬ ‫الشــارع وقــرف التحرش واملواصــات‪ .‬نفيس تشــجعيني وتبقي يف ضهري كدا مش‬ ‫تحبطيني بالشــكل دا‪.‬‬ ‫األم‪ :‬اســتحميل بقــى ياختي‪ ،‬انتي الــي عايزة املرمطة دي!‬ ‫البنــت (محدثــة نفســها)‪ :‬أنا بجــد اتخنقت خالص مبقيتش قادرة أســتحمل‪ .‬بقيت‬ ‫حاســة بحاجــة كامتة عىل صدري وقلبي‪ .‬أنــا تعبت بجد!‬ ‫الحوار الثالث‪:‬‬ ‫الطفــل‪ :‬بابــا أنــا عايز أقولك عىل حاجة بــس من غري ما تزعق!‬ ‫األب‪ :‬قول يــا حبيبي متخفش‬ ‫الطفــل‪ :‬بابــا أنا عايز أتنقل من املدرســة اليل أنا فيها دي‬ ‫األب‪ :‬ليــه كــدا بس! إيه اليل حصل؟‬ ‫الطفــل‪ :‬معنديــش صحاب فيها وكلهــم بيرتيقوا عليا‬

‫األب (بصــوب عايل)‪ :‬مهو عشــان انــت أكيد اليل غلطان‪ .‬أكيــد ضايقتهم وال رخمت‬ ‫عليهــم مهــو انت عيل فاشــل أصال حتى مش عارف تعمل شــوية صحاب!‬ ‫الطفــل (وهو يبــي)‪ :‬يا بابا واللــه معملتلهمش حاجة‬ ‫األب (لــأم)‪ :‬تعايل يا هانم شــويف ابنك الفاشــل ماهي دي آخــرة تربيتك ليه مش‬ ‫عارف حتي يتصاحب عيل شــوية عيال يف املدرســة فاشــل يف كل حاجة‬ ‫األم‪ :‬يف إيــه بس؟ إيه اليل حصل؟!‬ ‫األب‪ :‬ابنك يا اســتاذة بيقول عايز يتنقل من املدرســة عشــان معندوش صحاب آدي‬ ‫آخرة دلعك ليه‬ ‫الطفــل (وهــو مــازال يبيك)‪ :‬خالص يا بابا أنا آســف خالص مش عايــز أتنقل خالص أنا‬ ‫آسف بجد!‬ ‫أعتقد أن املشــكلة أصبحت واضحة اآلن‪ .‬املشــكلة هي أن أفراد األرسة يتســببون بنوع‬ ‫مــن الضغــط النفــي عــى أبنائهم ظ ًنا منهم أن ذلك هو أفضــل حل لهم وأن تلك‬ ‫القســوة عــى األبنــاء تنبع من الحب املفــرط لديهم‪ .‬لكن دعونــا نتخيل عواقب تلك‬ ‫القســوة والضغــط النفــي‪ .‬يف حالة طالب الثانوية العامــة إذا أىت باملجموع وفرح‬ ‫الجميــع يف األغلــب لــن يفرح هو‪ .‬رمبا ســيفرح بضعة أيام فقط ثم يعــود إيل طبيعته‬ ‫و ميقــت كليــة القمــة التــي طاملا حلم بها اآلباء واألمهات أو إذا أدى بشــكل يسء يف‬ ‫االمتحانــات سيشــعر باإلكتئاب ورمبــا يحاول اإلنتحار أيضً ا‪ ،‬فكم مــن حالة انتحار‬ ‫ســمعنا بهــا أثنــاء امتحانــات الثانوية العامة! أما يف حالة البنت ســيحدث يشء من‬ ‫اثنــن‪ :‬إمــا أن تستســلم للواقع وتتــزوج بابن خالتها ويحدث الطــاق بعد ذلك وتكون‬ ‫أيضً ــا يف نظــر املجتمــع الضحيــة املطلقة‪ ،‬أو أن تجاهد وتجاهــد لتصل إىل ما تريد‬ ‫ووقتهــا ميكــن أن تخــر أهلها‪ .‬بالنســبة للطفل فهو ليس بصانع قــرار يف حالته‪ ،‬فأزمته‬ ‫النفســية تكون أكرب من اآلخرين وســيكرب عىل أنه شــخص فاشــل غري مؤثر‪ ،‬ال يســتطيع‬ ‫حتــى فعــل األشــياء البديهية فيكون شــاب تافه ليس لديــه أي يشء ليعيش ألجله‬ ‫ألنه يعلم أنه ال يســتطيع الوصول ليشء بســبب فشــله‪ .‬باختصار‪ ،‬الرتبية الســيئة تأيت‬ ‫بالكثــر مــن املتاعــب النفســية لألبناء التي بإمكانهــا أن تتحول ألزمات وأن تؤدي إىل‬ ‫حــاالت اكتئــاب أو انتحــار‪ ،‬فيجب أن نعي بوجود تلك املشــاكل ومســبباتها لنتجنبها‬ ‫عــى األقل يف املســتقبل مع أطفالنا‪.‬‬

‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫صفحة ‪١٥‬‬

‫من البلدان العربية‪ ،‬وأصبحت النظرة إىل املرأة‬ ‫العاملة مختلفة متا ًما عام كانت قبل عقود‪ ،‬وأن‬ ‫املرأة العربية أصبحت تكتسح الكثري من امليادين‬ ‫رصا عىل شقيقها الرجل‪ ،‬وأن‪ ،‬وأن‪..‬‬ ‫التي كانت ح ً‬ ‫يل توضيح األمر قبل التباسه أكرث‪.‬‬ ‫يتوجب ع ّ‬

‫لن أتحدث عن حقهن يف التعليم‪ ،‬أو يف العمل يف مجاالت‬ ‫أوسع‪ ،‬أو أو‪ ...‬سأتحدث فقط عن حقهن املرشوع يف‬ ‫حياة طبيعية‪ ،‬تعيش من خاللها مراحلها من طفولة‬ ‫ومراهقة وغريه دون اضطرار لسرب أغوار مرحلة متقدمة‬ ‫قبل أخرى‪.‬‬

‫بعد عقود من الرصاع عىل حق املرأة يف التعليم‪ ،‬وحقها‬ ‫يف العمل‪ ،‬وحقها يف «تحقيق ذاتها»‪ ،‬ال تزال املرأة يف‬ ‫املدن العربية تعاين من رصاع ذايت يجعلها تتمنى لو أنها‬ ‫تعود إىل أيام جدتها‪ ،‬حيث مل يكن عليها أن تقوم بأكرث‬ ‫من دور يف الوقت نفسه‪ .‬ليست هذه األمنية وليدة أنها‬ ‫مثل‪ ،‬بقدر‬ ‫ال تريد مشاركة الرجل أعباء األرسة املادية ً‬ ‫عدم قدرتها عىل تحمل مسؤوليات متعددة‪ ،‬والقيام‬ ‫بأدوار مختلفة طيلة الوقت‪ ،‬وكأن عليها دفع مثن رغبتها‬ ‫يف أن يبقى لها يشء جانبي يعيد لها شعورها بذاتها‬ ‫فحسب‪ ،‬دون ألقاب لصيقة من أم أو زوجة أو‪..‬إلخ‪ .‬عىل‬ ‫املرأة هذه أن تكون أ ًما مثالية‪ ،‬عليها أن تكون زوجة‬ ‫مثالية‪ ،‬وعليها أن تكون كل يشء بشكل مثايل غري واقعي‪،‬‬ ‫وإال واجهت نقدًا الذ ًعا عن تقصريها‪ ،‬وعن أن دورها‬ ‫األسايس هو تربية أبنائها‪ ،‬وكأن هذا الرجل الذي تزوجته‬ ‫ليس أباهم!‬

‫تعمل املرأة الريفية يف معظم الدول العربية بالزراعة‪،‬‬ ‫وهو عمل شاق يف معظم الوقت لضيق املوارد وشحتها‪،‬‬ ‫ولوجوب اللياقة البدنية‪ .‬تضطر املرأة الريفية يف اليمن‬ ‫مثل للميش ملسافات طويلة تحت الشمس بحثًا عن املاء‪،‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫وتضطر لحمل الدالء الثقيلة لتجلبها إىل بيتها وللمزرعة‬ ‫التي تكعف عليها؛ وال أعتقد أن نظريتها املرصية تختلف‬ ‫عنها كث ًريا‪ ،‬فاملرأة املرصية يف الريف تقوم بذات األعامل‬ ‫الشاقة عىل حد علمي‪ .‬كام أن املرأة الريفية عادة تقوم‬ ‫بدور األم واألب يف نفس الوقت يف معظم األحيان‪ ،‬خاصة‬ ‫بسبب تردي األوضاع االقتصادية يف معظم الدول العربية‪،‬‬ ‫واضطرار األزواج للسفر إىل املدن املركزية أو خارج البالد‬ ‫أساسا بحثًا عن الرزق‪ .‬تعيش لوحدها ألعوام‪ ،‬يف انتظار‬ ‫ً‬ ‫لشبح قد يعود لها بعد أن تغريه الحياة‪ ،‬فتجد أن العمر‬ ‫انسل من بني كفيها كطيف مؤمل‪ ،‬امتصت بهجته كل هذه‬ ‫الصعاب‪.‬‬ ‫غري هذا‪ ،‬تتزوج معظم النساء يف الريف يف سن أصغر من‬ ‫أختها يف املدينة‪ ،‬ويعانني من تدهور صحتهن الضطرارهن‬ ‫للحمل والوالدة ألكرث من مرة ويف فرتات متقاربة جدًا‪.‬‬ ‫ميوت معظم األطفال نتيجة عن ذلك بسبب شحة الغذاء‬ ‫السوي‪ ،‬وصحة األم الضعيفة وقت الحمل والرضاعة‪.‬‬ ‫فوق كل هذا‪ ،‬ال تُعطى املرأة ترف التعايف من كل هذه‬ ‫املصاعب‪ ،‬فال متلك طاقة كافية ألن تعتني بكل أطفالها‪،‬‬ ‫أو أن تربيهم بشكل متكافئ‪.‬‬

‫جميل إن شاركها أعباء الرتبية‪ ،‬فهو‬ ‫يُح ّمل الرجل املرأة ً‬ ‫رجل متفهم ورائع إن سهر يف إحدى الليايل عوضً ا عنها‬ ‫ألن ابنه أو ابنته متوعكة صح ًيا‪ ،‬بل وقد مين عليها بأنه‬ ‫تركها لتعمل ولتحقق شيئًا تريده وتحبه‪ ،‬وأن عليها‬ ‫دفع مثن رغباتها «الجامحة»‪ .‬يشعر باإلنجاز والبطولة‬ ‫إن تحمل بعضً ا من مسؤوليات البيت‪ ،‬إن قام بغسل‬ ‫األطباق أو قام بتنظيف البيت‪ ،‬فيحيص املرات التي قام‬ ‫فيها بالقيام بهذا العمل البطويل العظيم‪ ،‬وال يرتدد يف‬ ‫ذكر األمر كلام طلبت منه املرأة يد العون‪ .‬هو ضيف يف‬ ‫املنزل‪ ،‬وهي املقيمة الدامئة!‬ ‫تلق املرأة جحودًا من «رشيك الحياة»‪ ،‬فستالقي‬ ‫وإن مل َ‬ ‫نقدًا الذ ًعا حني تعلم النساء األخريات بأن زوجها‬ ‫«يشاركها» األعباء والصعاب‪ .‬تضطر أن تلطخ أيامها‬ ‫بكذبات بيضاء هنا وهناك‪ ،‬علّها تغطي حقيقة أنها‬ ‫ليست بامرأة‪ ،‬فكيف تسمح لزوجها بأن يقوم مبشاركتها‬ ‫املسؤوليات واألعباء؟ هي املرأة املسرتجلة التي تقيض‬ ‫نصف وقتها خارج املنزل‪ ،‬وزوجها «املسكني» يعينها عىل‬ ‫ذلك‪ .‬ال تعاين املرأة وحدها من هذه االنتقادات‪ ،‬فزوجها‬ ‫يصبح فريسة لتعليقات من الرجال حوله واملجتمع حوله‬ ‫بشكل عام‪.‬‬ ‫تعاقب أيضً ا املرأة بقسوة إن أرادت إرجاء اإلنجاب أو‬ ‫أساسا لعدم استعدادها لألمر نفس ًيا‬ ‫عدم خوض التجربة ً‬ ‫وبدنيًا‪ ،‬وت ُسأل يف كل مقام عن قراراتها الشخصية‪ ،‬وكأنها‬ ‫هي ورشيك حياتها ال يفقهان شيئًا يف الحياة‪ .‬بل وت ُنتقد‬ ‫بقسوة إن نظرت ألمر هام كهذا بعني خائفة ومتفحصة‪.‬‬ ‫أصبح عىل املرأة أن تكون ضمن قالب معني من «القوة»‬ ‫وشدة الصرب والتحمل حني يتناسب األمر مع أهواء‬ ‫املجتمع التي تقطن فيه‪ ،‬ولكن ال يرتك لها نفس هذا‬ ‫املجتمع فرصة ومساحة للضعف اإلنساين العادي‪ ،‬فتضطر‬ ‫ألن تتحامل عىل نفسها‪ ،‬وأن تعاقب نفسها يف كل مرة‬ ‫تنهار فيها بسبب ثقل املسؤوليات‪.‬‬ ‫أما عىل الجانب اآلخر من العامل املتناقض يف أوطاننا‬ ‫العربية‪ ،‬تعاين النساء القاطنات يف الريف وذوات الدخل‬ ‫املحدود يف الريف من ويالت أشد وأعتى‪ .‬تضطر النساء‬ ‫هناك إىل مزاولة أعامل تفوق قداتهن البدنية والنفسية‪،‬‬ ‫بل ويحرمن من أي نوع من أنواع التعبري عن الذات‬ ‫لشظف العيش وضيق املوارد واآلفاق‪.‬‬

‫ومع انتشار الحروب يف املنطقة العربية‪ ،‬أصبحت املعاناة‬ ‫مضاعفةً‪ ،‬فانقطاع الكهرباء التام يف معظم املدن اليمنية‬ ‫مثل‪ ،‬وتفاقم أزمات الوقود املنعدم واملياه وغريها يف‬ ‫ً‬ ‫البالد‪ ،‬جعل املرأة الريفية تعاين أكرث حتى من نظريتها يف‬ ‫املدينة التي تعاين يف األساس من آثار الحرب هي األخرى‪.‬‬ ‫مثل للبحث‬ ‫تعاين من انعدام أساسيات العيش‪ ،‬فتحتاج ً‬ ‫عن الحطب وجلبه من أجل الطبخ ماشي ًة ملسافات‬ ‫طويلة جدًا‪ .‬غري أرقها من املوت املرتبص بها وبأطفالها‬ ‫من كل حدب وصوب‪ ،‬من تردي جودة املحاصيل الزراعية‬ ‫التي كانت تجلب للكثري من العائالت لقمة العيش‪ ،‬وكرثة‬ ‫الفقد الناتج عن القتل والدمار والنزوح‪ .‬أصبحت هي من‬ ‫تقوم بإعالة معظم األرس بعد فقد األبناء واألزواج للموت‬ ‫أو البطالة‪ ،‬فيصبح هم البحث عن لقمة العيش همها‬ ‫الشاغل‪ ،‬خائفة من الفناء املرتبص بها من كل حدب‬ ‫وصوب‪.‬‬ ‫ال أريد تكرار ما قد تم إحصاؤه والبحث عنه مبسوحات‬ ‫ميدانية أشد دقة من مقالتي هذه‪ ،‬ولكن كل ما أعرفه‬ ‫أن املرأة حني تفقد نفسها من أجل أي يشء‪ ،‬تفقد‬ ‫قدرتها عىل العطاء‪ .‬املرأة تحتاج إىل الشعور بكيانها‪،‬‬ ‫إىل االنغامس يف تفاصيل تعشقها وحدها‪ ،‬إىل الشعور‬ ‫بأن لها أهمية حتى عىل نطاق بسيط‪ .‬أن تحرتم قراراتها‬ ‫الشخصية دون شعور بدونية أو نقص‪ ،‬وإال مل نكن لرناها‬ ‫شديدة التعلق بتفاصيل حياتها املعينة وهي تشعر بأنها‬ ‫ترسخ عربها شيئًا من ذاتها املنسية يف خضم هذه الحياة‪.‬‬ ‫لو مل تكن تبحث عن ذاتها يف األشياء‪ ،‬ملا رأيناها تعطي‬ ‫بحب متى ما شعرت بأهمية عطائها‪.‬‬ ‫حتى متى تفقد نفسها ذائبة يف تفاصيل األرسة وهمومها‪،‬‬ ‫وحتى متى تتوقع مجتمعاتنا منها ذلك دون تقدير؟ أبقى‬ ‫دون إجابة شافية‪.‬‬

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‫كتبته كوثر الرشيفي‬

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‫كيف أصبح سوبروومان وأان ال أعرف من أان؟‬

‫أشد الفقدان أن يفقد املرء نفسه‪ .‬ليس هناك أحد معصوم من هكذا فقد‪ ،‬فهو يأيت‬ ‫بأشكال كثرية‪ ،‬وعىل صور مختلفة‪ ،‬ولكنني هنا سأخصص هذه املساحة ألتحدث عن‬ ‫فقد املرأة بالذات‪ ،‬يف مؤسسات اجتامعية ال تزال ترسمها املجتمعات املعارصة‪ .‬ال يظن‬ ‫قاريئ منذ البداية أنني متحاملة عىل الرجل يف حد ذاته‪ ،‬فكلنا نخوض ذاتها الخسارة‬ ‫هذه األيام‪ ،‬ولكن هناك جزء كبري من معادلة الخسارة تتحمله املرأة وحدها يف معظم‬ ‫الظروف‪.‬‬

‫تفقد املرأة نفسها كل يوم تحت مسميات كثرية‪ ،‬تجد نفسها مضطرة ألن تكون شيئًا ال‬ ‫تريده‪ ،‬مجربة عىل صور منطية مل تخرت تحميضها لنفسها‪ .‬حتى حني تظن أنها اختارت‬ ‫الطريق واملصري‪ ،‬تجد نفسها محاطة بهاالت مختلفة وتوقعات تفوق طاقتها يف بعض‬ ‫األحيان‪ .‬املرأة التي يتوقع الجميع منها أن تكون عبارة عن «سوبر وومن»‪ ،‬بل وتعاقب‬ ‫بقسوة إن قرصت يف دور من أدوارها‪ ،‬وإن كان ذلك عىل حساب نفسها دامئًا‪.‬‬ ‫قد يستغرب قاريئ بأن كيف تفقد املرأة نفسها‪ ،‬وقد بدأ الحال يتغري يف العديد‬

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‫ أيوة يا حبيبتي‬‫صفية تخرج علكة و تبدأ مبضغها‪.‬‬ ‫عيل‪ - :‬آه لسه أهو‪ ..‬مش عارف‪ ..‬شوية‪ ..‬إنتي عملتي ايه؟ مايش يا مزة‪ ..‬قشطة‪ ..‬سالم‬ ‫(عيل يغلق املوبايل و يتأمل الطريق)‬ ‫قدامنا قد ايه؟‬ ‫ هو انتوا عادي كده؟‬‫ عادي كده ايه؟‬‫ «مزة»؟ ايه ده؟‬‫ أيوة ايه املشكلة يعني؟ هي دي واحدة يف الشارع بعاكسها مثال؟‬‫ يا ريت‪ ..‬ده كان يبقى أرحم‬‫ ايه؟‬‫ هي راضية كده عادي يعني؟‬‫ قدامنا قد ايه يا ماما؟‬‫ معرفش قدامنا زفت قد ايه بس لسه بدري‬‫ ما هو لسه بدري عشان ماشية عىل قرش بيض‬‫ و الله وبقيت تعرف تستخدم أمثال‪ ..‬عىل أمك‬‫ ماما‪ ..‬بجد‪ ..‬كده مش هنوصل وال عىل بكره‬‫ هو مش كفاية إين شغالة سواقة ليك وال ايه؟‬‫ ما أنا قلتلك أسوق أنا‪ ..‬إنتي الىل قلتي أل‪ .‬أحسن من الىل إحنا فيه ده‬‫صفية تضغط بقوة أكرب عىل البنزين‪.‬‬ ‫ إنت عارف الىل إنت فيه ده كان بيعمل ايه ليك إنت وأخوك وإنتوا صغريين؟‬‫ ييييه‪ ..‬مقولتش حاجة‪ ..‬مش‪..‬‬‫صفية (بتأثر)‪ :‬بعمل كل ده ويف اآلخر تيجي تقوليل ماشية مش عارفة ايه‪ .‬محدش فيكوا‬ ‫بيقدرين‪ .‬و الله أنا الىل غلطانة‪..‬‬ ‫ ماما‪...‬‬‫‪ -‬أنا الىل عودتكوا إين بعملكوا كل حاجة‪ .‬لو كنت خلفت بنت ماكنش هيبقى ده حايل‬

‫ ماما‪ ..‬بال‪..‬‬‫ سيبني أتكلم‪ ..‬إنت داميا بتقاطعني ومبتسمعنيش‪ ..‬بقعد أكلم نفيس‪ .‬ويف اآلخر تقعد‬‫تقوليل حقوق مرأة وبص إنت عامل ايه يف أمك؟!‬ ‫ يا ماما‪ ..‬بالراحة‪ ..‬بطئي‬‫ مش إنت الىل عايز برسعة؟! أهو!‬‫ ماما إيه الهبل ده؟! هنعمل حادثة!‬‫ هبل؟! بتقوليل أنا هبل؟!‬‫ يا ماما إهدي!‬‫ إهدى إنت يا‪..‬‬‫فجأة يصدر صوت انفجار وتهتز السيارة بقوة‪ .‬تضغط صفية عىل الفرامل بكامل عزمها‪.‬‬ ‫يصدر صوت رصير قوي أثناء دوران السيارة يف مكانها ثم تتوقف‪ .‬عيل وصفية يندفعان‬ ‫بقوة لألمام‪.‬‬ ‫يسود هدوء لحظي يتخلله صوت اإلذاعة القرآنية‪ .‬عيل ميد يده ويغلق الراديو‪ .‬صفية‬ ‫تتنفس بعمق‪ .‬تخرج صفية وعيل من السيارة‪ ..‬متأمالن عجلتها املدمرة‪.‬‬ ‫صفية‪ :‬ال إله إال أنت سبحانك إين كنت من الظاملني‬ ‫عيل ينحني بجسده ليتفحص العجلة‪.‬‬ ‫ الزم نوقف حد‬‫ ال إله إال أنت سبحانك إين كنت من الظاملني‬‫عيل ينهض من مكانه ويرقب الطريق الصحراوي أمامه‪.‬‬ ‫ مش هعرف أعمل حاجة‬‫ و أنا الىل هعمل يعني؟‬‫ هو انتي هتقلبي عليا دلوقتي كامن؟‬‫صفية تستمر يف التحديق للعجلة‪ .‬ترفع رأسها لتنظر لعيل الذى ينظر إليها يف املقابل‪.‬‬ ‫عيل‪ - :‬هي سفرية نحس من أولها‬ ‫‪ -‬آه والله‪ ..‬آه والله‬

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‫عدد شهر ابريل ‪٢٠١٨‬‬

‫كتبه أحمد إيهاب عبدالوارث‬

‫عالصحراوي‬ ‫‪10:36AM‬‬ ‫عىل طريق اإلسكندرية الصحراوي‪ ،‬تسري سيارة مرتفعة الطول برتولية اللون تقودها‬ ‫صفية مستخدمة كلتا يديها‪ .‬تعدل عزة من وضع نظارتها وتقوم بإدخال خصالت شعرها‬ ‫داخل اإلشارب الطويل‪ .‬يجلس عيل بجانبها ً‬ ‫متأمل مبلل من الشباك‪ .‬تنظر له صفية‬ ‫بطرف عينيها‪ .‬يلتفت لها للحظة ثم ميسك بوصلة الراديو أمامه ويوصلها مبحموله‪.‬‬ ‫تصدر أغنية ‪ vibes‬ل(توف لو)‪ ...‬أنغام الوتر تتبعها دندنة الفنانة السويدية‪ .‬يستند‬ ‫عيل بظهره عىل الكريس‪.‬‬ ‫ ال‪ ..‬ال‪ ..‬مش قادرة عىل ده دلوقتي خالص‬‫صفية متد يدها وتغلق الراديو‪.‬‬ ‫ إنتي عىل طول مش قادرة‬‫ دماغي‪ ..‬دماغي هتنفجر‬‫ خدي دوا‬‫ ال مش محتاجة دوا‪ ..‬بس مش قادرة أسمع ده‬‫يهز عيل رأسه بتكرار وهو يلتفت إىل الشباك‪ .‬يخرج سامعاته من حقيبته ويضعها يف‬ ‫أذنيه‪ ،‬مرسبة أصوات موسيقى صاخبة‪ .‬تنظر له صفية ثم تعاود الرتكيز يف الطريق‪.‬‬ ‫‪-----------------------‬‬‫‪12:09PM‬‬ ‫يصدر من الراديو صوت قرآن يتىل‪ .‬صفية تستبدل نظارة النظر بأخرى للشمس ثم تغلق‬ ‫الراديو‪.‬‬ ‫ صدق الله العظيم‬‫عيل املندمج يف سامع األغاين يسمع همس صفية فيخلع سامعته اليرسى‪.‬‬ ‫ ايه؟‬‫ بقولك مش سامية مشت فاطمة؟‬‫ ليه؟‬‫ طلعت بترسقها‬‫ عرفت ازاي؟‬‫ فتشت شنطتها‬‫ ايه الهبل ده؟‬‫ بعد العرشة دي كلها‪ ..‬تخيل؟‬‫ ازاي تفتش شنطتها؟‬‫ سامية مكانتش بتقولها أل عىل حاجة‪ .‬مكانتش حارماها من حاجة‪ .‬دي كانت بتعاملها‬‫زي بنتها‪ .‬لو كانت طلبت الىل رسقته ده كانت سامية اديتهولها‪ .‬و الله سامية كانت‬ ‫بتتقي الله يف‪...‬‬ ‫ رسقت ايه؟‬‫ حاجات كتري صغرية‪ .‬سامية لقت معالق وجنب‪ ..‬وورق تواليت‬‫ طردتها عىل ورق تواليت؟‬‫ يا حبيبي املبدأ نفسه‪ ،‬لو رسقت حتة تنضيف بردو يبقى اسمها رسقة‬‫ اه مانتي سهل علييك تقويل كده‬‫ يا دي النيلة‬‫ أيوة‪ ..‬ملا يكون عندك‪..‬‬‫ حرضتك‬‫ ايه؟‬‫ عند حرضتك‪ ..‬مش عندك‬‫عيل يرمق صفية باستنكار‪.‬‬ ‫ ممكن أكمل كالمي؟‬‫ال تبدي صفية رد فعل‪.‬‬ ‫ ملا تكوين عايشة يف بيت زي ده و آخر أزماتك إنك مالحقتيش تحجزي شاليه يف القرية‬‫الجديدة الىل يف الساحل أكيد هتقولييل مبدأ ومش مبدأ‬ ‫ إنت ليه محسسني إنك عايش يف الجاملية؟ ما انت قاعد معايا يف نفس البيت‬‫‪ -‬آه بس مابقعدش أقول الىل انتي بتقوليه‬

‫ هو أنا ايه الىل بقوله؟ إن دي رسقة وإن الرسقة حرام؟‬‫ أنا لو منها هرسق أكرت من كده‪ ..‬لو هنسميها رسقة يعني‬‫ يبقى أنا معرفتش أريب‬‫ عندك حق‬‫ أهو‪ ..‬قليل األدب والله‬‫ الزم أي حوار ندخل فيه تقلبيه عن الرتبية والحدود‬‫ حوار؟‬‫ ممكن تجريب تردي أحسن‬‫ هو إنت بتسمي الىل إنت بتعمله ده حوار؟ هو إنت بتدييل فرصة أتكلم أصال؟ فالح‬‫بس تقوليل دميقراطية وإنت أكرت واحد ديكتاتور يف حوارك‬ ‫ ايه عالقة الدميقراطية باملوضوع؟‬‫ وبعدين مدام إنت قلبك عالناس كده‪ ،‬ماتروح تعمل حاجة‪ .‬وال انت تقعد بس تقولنا‬‫طبقية ومش عارفة ايه و ملا تيجي فرصة إنك تساعد‪...‬‬ ‫ إنتي‪..‬‬‫ حرضتك‬‫ إنتي متعرفيش أنا بعمل ايه ومبعملش ايه‪ ..‬مش الزم أعمل إعالن كل ملا أعمل حاجة‬‫وال ايه؟ و بعدين ايه عالقة ده بردو إين أقول علييك طبقية ملا تقوليل حاجة طبقية‬ ‫ عىل األقل بعمل حاجة مش قاعدة بنظّر من البيت‬‫ هو انتي بتعتربي دفع الفلوس ده حاجة؟ ما هي أسهل حاجة ممكن تعمليها‪ ،‬تدفعي‬‫‪ 2‬جنيه من املليون بتوعك‬ ‫ ‪ 2‬جنيه؟!‬‫ وتريحي نفسك‬‫ مليون؟!‬‫ (بتَحفّز)‪ :‬وال عايزة تفهميني إننا عايشني يف عشة؟!‬‫ شفت مني بيتعصب؟ مش الدميقراطية بتقول نحرتم رأي بعض؟‬‫ تاين دميقراطية‪ .‬وأنا مال أمي ومال الدميقراطية؟‬‫ متتكلمش معايا كده يا عيل!‬‫ أصل بجد مش كل حاجة تقولييل كده‬‫ إنت‪...‬‬‫ و أل مش هحرتم رأيك لو طبقي أو عنرصي‪...‬‬‫ تاين طبقي! تتعلم كلمتني يف الجامعة و تيجي تشتمنا بيهم‬‫ بجد أنا مش هقدر أكمل‪ ..‬بحرق دمي عالفايض‬‫ و ليه بتحرق دمك‪...‬‬‫ خالص يا ماما بجد‪ ..‬خلينا كويسني لحد ما نوصل وال منوصلش يف يومنا ده‬‫عيل يرفع حقيبته وينهض من مكانه‪ .‬صفية تراقبه ثم تلتفت برسعة للطريق أمامها‪.‬‬ ‫ بتعمل ايه؟‬‫عيل يقفز للكنبة الخلفية‪.‬‬ ‫ مش شايفة املراية!‬‫ إحنا ماشيني عىل طول‪ ..‬مش محتاجاها‬‫ أنا الىل بسوق مش إنت‬‫عيل يتأفف‪ .‬يستلقي عىل الكنبة ويعيد سامعاته ثانية راف ًعا الصوت‪ .‬صفية تراقبه من‬ ‫خالل املرآة‪.‬‬ ‫يتأمل عيل الصحراء مهدئًا من روعه ثم ينظر أمامه اتجاه املرآة‪ .‬تالحظ صفية نظراته‬ ‫فتلتفت للنظر أمامها‪ .‬يرمق عيل الظاهر من وجهها‪.‬‬ ‫يتنفس عيل بعمق‪ .‬تتغري مالمح وجهه وقد بدأ يشعر بالذنب‪ .‬يفتح فمه ليقول شيئًا يف‬ ‫نفس الوقت الذى متد فيه صفية يدها لتعيد تشغيل إذاعة القرآن‪ .‬يرتاجع عيل ويغلق‬ ‫عينيه‪ ،‬محاولً النوم‪.‬‬ ‫‪-------------------------‬‬‫‪2:01PM‬‬ ‫صفية تعبث بحقيبتها‪ ،‬باحثة عن يشء ما‪ .‬يرن محمول عيل فيستيقظ متفقدًا إياه‪.‬‬ ‫عيل‪ - :‬ألو‬

‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫صفحة ‪١١‬‬

‫كتبته ندى نبيل‬

‫كلنا العاق وليد الرشيف‬

‫يف حديثنــا عــن العائلــة‪ ،‬ليس لنا إال أن نتوقف لحظة لإلشــادة واالحتفاء‪ ،‬بل‬ ‫وأجل منارص وبطــل عرفه هذا الجيل منذ ســنوات طويلة ‪..‬وليد‬ ‫واالحتفــال‪ ،‬بأعظــم ّ‬ ‫الرشيــف‪ ..‬شــجاع‪ ،‬مقدام‪ُ ،‬معجز‪ ،‬نفــى وتنصل من جميع أســباب بطولته يف فيديو‬ ‫ـخصا يف حــد ذاته‪ ،‬لكنه يل ولك‬ ‫واحــد‪ ،‬ولكــن هــذا ال يهم ألن وليد الرشيف ليس شـ ً‬ ‫ولنــا جمي ًعــا‪ .‬وليــد الرشيف فكرة‪ ،‬نلتف برايتها ونتخذها ً‬ ‫مثال شــاء أم مل يشــأ هو‬ ‫من مقعد ســيارته الرصاصية‪ .‬وليد الرشيف الذي مل تســمع بســرته أُ ّما إال وذكّرها‬ ‫بابنهــا أو بنتهــا املالعــن العاقني‪ .‬وليد الرشيف الذي نتســائل هل نحــن نتق ّمصه‬ ‫أم هــو يتق ّمــص وجداننا؟ وليد الرشيف الذي اســتحوذ عىل قلوبنا قبل شــبكات‬ ‫التواصــل‪ ،‬وهامــت روحه عنــد كل لجنة (لجنة امتحانات طب ًعا) واســتحرضناه يف‬ ‫كل «ال» لفظناهــا أمــام أُرسنــا؛ ال لــن أكل اللوبيا‪ ،‬ال لــن أقابل تامر الذي أىت من‬ ‫الخليــج‪ ،‬ال لــن أرتــدي «البادي» تحت الفســتان‪ ،‬يقولها وليد الرشيف عىل ألســنتنا‪.‬‬ ‫لهذا الســبب‪ ،‬إن ســعيي لتكريــم هذا البطل املغوار حمــل ثقيل ألحمله وحدي‪،‬‬ ‫وعبء ومســؤولية شاســعة‪ .‬لذا قررت أن أســتعني ببنات وأبناء هذا الجيل ليمدوين‬ ‫بانطباعتهــم وشــعورهم تجــاه هذا األيقونة‪ ،‬وهذا األســطورة‪ .‬فرمبا يحدّ ون من‬ ‫احتفــايئ شــديد املبالغة والدرامية‪( .‬ملحوظة‪ :‬جميع أســاء العاقــن بهذا التقرير‬ ‫ُغــرت ألن العقوق فكرة تتجاوزنــا جمي ًعا (أي كالم‪)).‬‬ ‫مل تســاعدين اآلنســة أمل رسحان (‪ 22‬عا ًما) يف الحد من التعامل برومانســية تجاه‬ ‫العاق؛ فقامت برتديد الشــعارات بحامســة تفوق حامســتي فهتفت‪« :‬العاق وليد‬ ‫الرشيــف املفــروض يحطــوه بدل النرس عىل العلم املرصي!» ثــم تأملت لحظة‬ ‫رصحــت‪« :‬العــاق وليــد الرشيف كيان‪ ..‬كيان إليه معرفــش‪ ..‬بس هو كيان وخالص‪».‬‬ ‫و ّ‬ ‫ثــم أخذتهــا الحامســة ثانية فقالــت «عائلة الرشيف ُحرشت مع الســييس يوم القيامة‬ ‫ما عدا العاق وليد الرشيف!‪ ..‬وال اســتني هي دي ازدراء؟» قمنا برتك اآلنســة أمل‬ ‫قبــل أن يــزل لســانها وينطــق بكال ًما ال تدركه وذهبنا إىل باهــر املعتصم بالله (‪28‬‬ ‫عا ًمــأ) أحــد محبي العاق األوائل‪ .‬قــال باهر بحامس مامثل «مقتنــع إن مرص ماجابتش‬ ‫غــرك إنــت ومحمد صالح‪ ..‬بامتــان الجيل بتاعنا‪..‬رمز أكرت من انــه بني آدم‪ ».‬توقفت‬ ‫قليـ ًـا ألتســاءل «يــادي النيلة‪ ،‬هو كلنــا مهابيل ولّ إيــه» ليلحقني باهر بأول كالم‬ ‫متمعــن تقرأونــه بهــذا التقرير‪« :‬رشيف بيمثل الســيطرة العائلية اليل هي ســاح من‬ ‫أقــوى األســلحة الــي الجيل العجوز بيســتخدمها‪ ،‬وفكرة أنا شــخصيًا م ّريت بيها وهي‬ ‫ربــط الطاعــة بالعقــوق‪ ،‬إحنا يف اإلســام اتعلمنا ان الرب مهــم لكن أب ّرك يعني أودّك‪،‬‬ ‫يعنــي أعاملــك كويس‪ ،‬مــش إين أبقى «عاق» لو ماســمعتش كالمك‪ ،‬وإين لو اتبعت‬ ‫قرارايت الشــخصية أبقى عاق واســتحق شــعور دائم بالذنب‪ ..‬أومال العيال اليل‬ ‫أهاليهــم كانــوا كفــار يف قريــش كانوا يعملوا ايه؟» ولكن أضاف عــى الصعيد اآلخر‬ ‫أحمــد شــاهني(‪ 24‬عا ًمــا) أن فكرة وجوب طاعة كل شــيىء يأمر به األهل ما عدا‬ ‫الكفــر كانــت هي املســببة للمتاعب بالنســبة له‪ .‬قال أحمد «وليــد الرشيف بيمثل‬ ‫يل قصــة حيــايت طب ًعــا‪ ،‬ألين مختلــف بقايل فرتة كبرية يف كل حاجــة‪ ،‬فكلمة «عاق» دي‬ ‫كانت داميًا بتســتخدم معايا‪».‬‬ ‫وأكمــل أحمد عن اســتغالل الجانــب الديني للفكرة‪« ،‬كنت مثال ملا يتجاب ســرة‬ ‫ابــن نــوح دا ًميا يتبصيل‪ ،‬أو لو احنا يف درس وجت ســرة قصة اســاعيل ابن ابراهيم‪،‬‬ ‫مقارنــة بالقصــة دي أنــا كنت داميًــا مقرص‪ ،‬اليل هو مهام عملت فهــو كان هيتدبح‬ ‫عشــان أبــوه‪ ،‬األهــايل داميا بتقارن والدها بــوالد خالتها‪ ،‬لكن أنا كنت ســابق ابن خالتي‬ ‫بكتــر فجابــويل مقارنــة أعىل‪ ».‬وأضاف أحمد‪« ،‬أن تكون وليــد الرشيف هو أن تضع‬ ‫معايــر مختلفــة للصــح والخطأ‪ ،‬يعنــي حاجة األهايل بيقولوها هــي إننا عايزينك‬ ‫تبقى أحســن مننا‪ ،‬أحســن مننا دي مبعايريهم هام‪ ،‬يعني لو أبوك واخد ماجســتري‬ ‫مثل‪ ..‬ده غري إين مرتبط‬ ‫يف العلــوم مــن عــن شــمس‪ ،‬هو عايزك تاخدها من هارفــرد ً‬ ‫بوليــد الرشيــف بطريقة مبارشة ألين ســنة ‪ 2014‬أُجربت عىل االنتخــاب‪ ،‬لكني أبطلت‬ ‫صــويت طب ًعــا‪ ».‬وعن ســرة االنتخابات قال «كل واحد فيهم (األكرب سـ ًنا) خايف يبقى‬ ‫وليــد الرشيــف‪ ،‬فوالــدي مثال رئيس عمــل يحرض موظفينه‪ ،‬وليد الرشيــف بتوعه‪ ،‬إنهم‬ ‫يروحــوا لالنتخابــات‪ ،‬عشــان ميبقاش هو وليــد الرشيف قدام األعىل منه‪».‬‬ ‫وعــا يعني لها وليد الرشيف‪ ،‬قالت اآلنســة شــرين أدهــم (‪ 23‬عا ًما)‪« :‬مش هأقدر‬ ‫أديــي معنــى واضح‪ ،‬بس مبا إن املســاحة مابقتش بتاعتنا‪ ،‬وحتــى بنواجه صعوبة‬ ‫نعل صوتنا‪ ،‬فإنتي بتبــدأي تفقدي ال»تولز» أو‬ ‫يف املســاحة االفرتاضيــة‪ ،‬وال عارفــن ّ‬ ‫األدوات بتاعــة الثــورة‪ ،‬فوليد الرشيــف بيمثل طريقة جديدة‪ »..‬وعــن تلك الطريقة‬

‫الجديــدة يف التعبــر قالت شــرين‪« ،‬احنا أكننا بنحارب السيســتم وهــو قافل علينا‬ ‫يف قوقعــة‪ ،‬بيحاولــوا يرسقــوا مننا صوتنا ويســلبوا مننا حاجات هبلــة وصغرية منها‬ ‫الكتابــة‪ ،‬بــس ده معنــاه إنها مؤثرة‪ ،‬يعني حامد ســنو مثال هز الدولة بوســطه‪ ..‬وفكرة‬ ‫أصل إنها فوتوشــوب دي بتحســب لـ مش بتتحســب عىل الظاهرة‪ ،‬عشــان ده بيبني‬ ‫ً‬ ‫إن هــو أصال مايقدرش يتكلم‪ ».‬ســألتها‪ ،‬لو شــفتي وليــد الرشيف أدامك دلوقتي‬ ‫هتقوليلــه ايــه؟ أجابــت‪« ،‬هأحضنه‪ ،‬وأقول له إين بس متدايقة شــوية من إنه ل ّون‬ ‫صباعه‪».‬‬ ‫لكــن مل يســتقبل الجميــع تلك الفعلة بتســامح وترحاب عندمــا ظهر وليد الرشيف‬ ‫يف فيديــو بصباعــه امللـ ّون بالتأييد‪ ،‬فوبخته اآلنســة لورا رهيــب املظهراين (‪ 23‬عا ًمأ)‬ ‫بنــرة شــديدة العتــاب واللــوم قائلة «يف األول كان البطل الــذي نحتاجه ومل ندرك أننا‬ ‫نســتحقه‪ ..‬بــس بعــد ما عرفنا إنه طلع عاق‪ ،‬وســابنا و»عاقنا» إحنــا كلنا‪ ،‬أصبح مجرد‬ ‫فكــرة أو أمــل محاه الزمن‪ ،‬وقــام بالدعس عىل آمالنا بصباعه الفســفوري‪».‬‬ ‫«بــي‪ ،‬وليــد الرشيف بيمثلني عشــان عيلتــي بتعمل معايا كده وبتحسســني إين طيز‬ ‫رصح بلحة( ‪ 21‬عا ًما)‪« .‬يعني مثـ ًـأ مرة كنت كاتب‬ ‫يف العيلــة ماليــش الزمــة‪ »،‬هكــذا ّ‬ ‫حاجــة عــن مؤمتر الشــباب‪ ،‬فأبويا قال يل شــيلها‪ ،‬قلت له أل‪ ،‬فهدد إنــه يكتب كومنت‬ ‫أو بوســت يقول فيه إنه مش مســؤول عني وإين مش محرتم ويهزأين‪ ،‬فلام شــفت‬ ‫امليم حســيت بيه فشــخ‪ ».‬وعن نفس فكرة اآلراء السياســية يف العائلة قالت اآلنســة‬ ‫مــاري (‪ 21‬عا ًمــا) أنهــا مرتبطــة بالعاق ألنها «خارجة عن أفكار أهيل السياســية‪ ،‬وأنا‬ ‫العبيطــة الســاذجة اليل مابتفهمش يف السياســة وماتعرفــش مصلحتها‪..‬وحاجات‬ ‫بتتقــال يل يف التجمعــات العائلية وعشــان هو أحســن حاجة للمســيحيني دلوقتي‪،‬‬ ‫ميســك األول‪ ..‬عشــان كده أنا العاق وليــد الرشيف يف عيلتي‪،‬‬ ‫فاملفــروض يهمك اليل ّ‬ ‫وأفــكاري متفتحــة زيادة ومش تابعــة للتقاليد‪ ،‬والزم أعرف إن بلدنــا مش الجامعة‬ ‫األمريكيــة الــي كلهــا عقوق‪ ».‬وعىل غرار مامثل‪ ،‬قالت منى هاشــم (‪ 24‬عا ًما) وتعاين‬ ‫مــن نفــس املتاعب بســبب آرائها‪« ،‬أنــا ميكن أكرت حاجة بســمعها من قرايبي وأهيل‬ ‫هــي «إحنــا هنبلــغ عنك» طب ًعا يف صورة هزار‪ ،‬بس ماحــدش عارف الهزار آخره ايه‪»..‬‬ ‫وأضافــت رأيهــا عــن العاق قائلة‪« ،‬أنا شــايفة إن وليد الرشيف ده‪ ،‬حتى لو فوتوشــوب‬ ‫ومــش حقيقــي فهــو بيعرب عن جيــل كامل وبيمثل الرصاع بني األجيــال الكبرية اليل مش‬ ‫متقبلــة فكــرة إن حــد ممكن يكون عنــده رأي مختلف معاهم‪ ،‬فبيسـلّموا حد من‬ ‫للســلطة اليل هام شــايفينها فوق كل حاجة‪»..‬‬ ‫والدهم ُ‬ ‫إن تعــدد املفاهيــم وتعقــد املشــاعر حول وليد الرشيف يشء طبيعــي عندما نأخذ يف‬ ‫االعتبــار اســتنتاجي يف نهايــة هــذا البحث املهيب حول جوهــر وليد الرشيف‪ ،‬وهو أن‬ ‫وليد الرشيف يتشــكل حســب عقوق كل واحد منا الشــخيص‪ ،‬وأن فكرة وليد الرشيف‬ ‫هــي فكــرة معطاءة‪ ،‬تشــعرك بالتضامن مهام كان نوع عقوقك‪ ،‬ومهام اســتخدمت‬ ‫عائلــة الرشيــف أســاليب بصبغة سياســية أو أمنية أو دينيــة أو وعظية أخالقية‬ ‫لتوصمــك بالعقــوق‪ ،‬فمــن اللطيف أن تدرك أن هناك جيل كامــل يوصف بالعقوق‬ ‫ألســباب مختلفة وعىل مســتويات مختلفة‪ ،‬وأنك لســت وحدك العاق‪ /‬وليد الرشيف‪.‬‬

‫صفحة ‪٥‬‬ ‫‪Page‬‬ ‫‪52‬‬

‫صنــع القــرار عىل الذكور‪ ،‬بينام اإلناث مجرد وســائل دعاية وحشــد أصوات البد منها‪.‬‬ ‫العيلــة هتحميــك بــس يف مقابل إنك تتخــى عن فرديتك وتلتــزم بقراراتها العليا‪،‬‬ ‫وإال هتعــرض نفســك للنبــذ والتهميــش‪ .‬طب ًعا دي قاعدة ال ميكــن تعميمها‪ ،‬وتحولهم‬ ‫لعائــات غــر مسيســة ال مينــع إن كان ليهــم دور كبري يف الحراك الطاليب يف ‪ ٢٠١١‬و‬ ‫‪ ٢٠١٢‬و ‪ ،٢٠١٦‬لكــن األحــداث دي أكــر منهم‪ ،‬وحرص الحراك فيهم ظلــم لكتري غريهم‬ ‫شــاركوا ملجــرد اقتناعهــم باملطالب بدون أي حســابات لأللوان أو املصلحة‪.‬‬ ‫االختــاف من طبيعة األشــياء‪ ،‬ومش املشــكلة أب ًدا إن يف كامبــات مختلفة‪ ،‬بالعكس‬ ‫مــش مطلــوب أبـ ًدا وجود كيان واحد بــس للطلبة كلهم ألن دي شــمولية يف حد ذاتها‪،‬‬ ‫املشــكلة يف عــدم وجود كيانــات تانية غريهم قادرة عىل اســتغالل هامش الحرية يف‬ ‫الجامعــة الــي مــش موجود يف جامعات تانيــة لتنظيم الطالب والتعبري عنهم سياسـيًا‪.‬‬ ‫الطلبــة مــش محتاجــن عيلة زي مــا املواطنني مش محتاجــن أب‪ .‬الطلبة محتاجني‬ ‫كيان يتعلموا فيه أبجديات املشــاركة السياســية القامئة عىل الشــورى واملســاواة‬

‫تصوير سايل الفيشاوي‬

‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫بــدون أي متييــز لألهــل والعشــرة أو تهميش للمرأة‪ .‬كيان يقــدر ينقل ألعضائه خربات‬ ‫تنظيميــة مــش بس خــرات انتخابية‪ ،‬ألن من أصعب الحاجات الــي بتواجه الحركة‬ ‫الطالبيــة إن الطلبــة ملــا بيبتدوا يفهموا الجامعة ماشــية إزاي بيكونــوا بيتخرجوا‪ ،‬ويبدأ‬ ‫الــي بعدهــم مــن الصفر لحــد ما يتخرجوا هم كامن وهكذا إىل مــا ال نهاية‪ .‬كيان‬ ‫يكــون فاهــم إن الكرايس الطالبية دي مجرد وســيلة مــش غاية‪ ،‬وإن الغاية ال تربر‬ ‫الوســيلة‪ .‬كيــان مش بيســتعىل عىل الطلبة ويتهمهم إنهم يســتاهلوا الــي بيحصل فيهم‬ ‫ألنهــم مــش مهتمني‪ ،‬ألن بكل بســاطة لــو كانوا مش مهتمني مكانوش وقفوا باألســابيع‬ ‫يف ‪ ،٢٠١٦‬وال نزلــوا باملئــات يف مظاهــرات القدس‪ .‬كيان قادر يحلــل مبوضوعية من غري‬ ‫إفــراط يف متجيــد الــذات أو جلدها‪ ،‬وقــادر يتعلم من أخطائه‪ .‬كيــان قادر يطلع برا‬ ‫نطــاق العيلة الضيق‪ ،‬وقادر ميارس السياســة مش بــس يلعبها‪.‬‬ ‫*طاهــر بيشــتغل عــى نرش كتاب له قبل نهاية الســنة دي بعنــوان «الحركة الطالبية يف‬ ‫الجامعــة األمريكيــة» لتوثيق وطرح قضايا زي دي‪.‬‬

‫‪٢٠١٨‬‬ ‫عدد‬ ‫مارس‪April‬‬ ‫شهر ‪‘18‬‬ ‫‪issue‬‬

‫صفحة ‪٤‬‬ ‫‪Page‬‬ ‫‪53‬‬

‫كتبه طاهر املعتز بالله‬

‫ويسألونك عن الكامبات‪:‬‬ ‫العائالت اليت(تحكم) الجامعة‬ ‫الجامعة فيها ‪ ٣‬كامبات‪ :‬أحمر وإســود وأزرق‪ ،‬أعضاؤهم بيشــكلوا نســبة كبرية من‬ ‫املهتمــن باألنشــطة الطالبيــة‪ .‬يف الــي ميعرفش حاجة عن الكامبــات غري الكالم املكرر‬ ‫اليل بيســمعه كل ســنة يف موســم التزاوج االنتخايب‪ ،‬ويف اليل بيشــوف الكامبات دول‬ ‫حاجــة كويســة ألنهم مصدر قــوة للطلبة بتظهر فايدته وقت الســرايك‪ ،‬ويف اليل‬ ‫بيشــوفهم حاجــة ملهــاش الزمــة إلن كل همهم إثبات أنهي كامب أجمــد من الباقيني‬ ‫فيــا يســمى بالحكومة الطالبية‪ ،‬متناســيني رضورة الوقوف صف واحــد لحامية مصالح‬ ‫الطــاب قصــاد الحكومة الوحيــدة الحقيقية يف الجامعــة‪ ،‬اإلدارة‪ .‬أعضاء الكامبات‬ ‫بيــرروا اهتاممهــم باالنتخابــات أكرت من أي حاجــة تانية بإنهم أحزاب بتســعى لتطبيق‬ ‫برامــج سياســية معينة فطبيعي إنهم يلعبوا سياســة وينافســوا عــى الكرايس الطالبية‬ ‫عشــان يقــدروا ينفــذوا برامجهم الــي بتصب يف مصلحة الطلبــة‪ .‬الكالم ده ميكن كان‬ ‫بيحمــل جــزء من الحقيقة وقت تأسيســهم من ‪ ٨‬ســنني‪ ،‬لكــن النهاردة الكامبات‬ ‫االختالفــات بينهــم ال تذكــر‪ ،‬وتحولوا مــن تنظيم حزيب إىل تنظيم عائــي يحكمه ما‬ ‫يحكــم العائلــة مــن أعراف وتقاليــد أبوية‪ .‬وقبل ما نتكلم عــن الوضع الحايل اليل‬ ‫انتهــت إليــه أقوى وأكرب مجموعــات طالبية يف الجامعة‪ ،‬محتاجــن نرجع للبدايات‪.‬‬

‫شــعاره االنتخايب «‪ »Paving the road for the student movement‬يف ‪،٢٠١٠‬‬ ‫و«قتلــوا الثــورة وهنحيــي الثــورة من جديد» يف ‪ .٢٠١٢‬الريد كان ميينــي محافظ مهتم‬ ‫بالجانــب الرتفيهــي‪ ،‬وده برضــه كان واضح من شــعارهم االنتخايب « ‪evolution not‬‬ ‫‪ »revolution‬يف ‪ .٢٠١٠‬البلو اهتم بالتنمية‪ ،‬وده خاله أقرب للوســط بني يســار‬ ‫البــاك وميــن الريد‪ .‬يف البداية الكامبات اســتغلوا االختالف ده لجــذب الطلبة‪ ،‬يعني‬ ‫الــي مهتــم بالحركــة الطالبية يدخل البــاك‪ ،‬واليل مهتم بتنظيم األنشــطة والحفالت‬ ‫يدخــل الريــد‪ ،‬والــي مهتم بالتنميــة يدخل البلو‪ .‬كل كامــب اعتمد عىل نقاط قوة‬ ‫لتجنيــد أعضــاء جداد‪ :‬البالك كان مســيطر عــى الدورمز و ‪ ،services‬الريد فريق‬ ‫الرجبــي و ‪ activities‬و ‪ ،FYE‬والبلــو نــادي املرسح و ‪ .Development‬الكامبات‬ ‫مكانــوش اخــراع جديــد يف الجامعة‪ ،‬كان يف كامبات أقدم من دول لكن ماســتمروش‬ ‫ألنهــم كانــوا بيتفككوا بعد االنتخابات‪ ،‬ومن أهم أســباب نجــاح الكامبات املوجودة‬ ‫حاليــا يف البقــاء ملــدة طويلة عدت ال ‪ 8‬ســنني هي نجاحهــم يف تحويل الكامب من‬ ‫حملــة انتخابيــة إىل مجموعــة عائليــة مرتابطة مش بس عن طريق رؤية سياســية‬ ‫موحــدة‪ ،‬لكــن كامن من خالل تجارب وصداقات وشــبكات مصالح مشــركة‪ .‬مبعنى‬ ‫آخــر‪ ،‬الحملــة االنتخابيــة مهمتها بتخلــص بانتهاء االنتخابات‪ ،‬لكن الشــلة ملهاش عمر‬ ‫افــرايض‪ .‬مــع الوقــت تحول الكامب من مرشوع حــزيب إىل تجمع عائيل‪ ،‬وزي أي‬ ‫مجموعــة‪ ،‬أولويــات الكامب تحولــت من تحقيق أهداف املجموعــة‪ ،‬إىل املحافظة عىل‬ ‫بقــاء املجموعــة‪ ،‬وبقاؤهم أصبح مرتبــط بنجاحهم يف االنتخابات‪.‬‬

‫يف هدفنــا لبــدء مناقشــات عن حاجات مهمة ومــش بنتكلم عليهــا يف كيان الجامعة‬ ‫زي ال«‪ ،»camps‬حبينــا نســأل حد شــهد بدايات الكيانــات دي زي طاهر املعتز‬ ‫باللــه‪ ،‬خريــج دفعــة ‪ 2013‬يف الجامعة ورئيس اتحــاد الطلبة عام ‪2012‬‬

‫كامــب يعنــي معســكر مبعنى تجمــع أو تنظيم‪ ،‬وهو يف نفس الوقــت اختصار لكلمة‬ ‫كامبني ‪ campaign‬مبعنى الحملة االنتخابية‪ .‬يف ‪ ٢٠١٠‬أنصار هشــام شــفيق لبســوا‬ ‫إســود يوم االنتخابات قصاد أنصار بانســيه عاصم اليل لبســوا أحمر‪ .‬ارتداء لون‬ ‫موحــد اســتعراض لقوة املجموعة عىل األرض وبيســهل التواصل بــن أعضائها‪ .‬بعد‬ ‫االنتخابــات‪ ،‬قرر أعضاء الحملتني االســتمرار كمجموعة عىل ســاحة السياســة الطالبية‪،‬‬ ‫ومــن هنــا اتولــد الريد والبالك كامب‪ .‬ويف ‪ 2011‬أنصار محمد عالء لبســوا أزرق‪،‬‬ ‫فاتولــد البلــو كامــب‪ .‬يف البداية كل كامــب كان له توجه مختلف شــوية عن الباقيني‬ ‫رغم إنهم يف األصل مجموعة أصحاب ســاندوا مرشــح منهم مش حزب ســيايس‪.‬‬ ‫البــاك كان يســاري مهتــم بالحراك الطاليب جوا وبــرا الجامعة‪ ،‬وده كان واضح من‬

‫كل كامــب تحــول إىل عائلة كبرية بتســعي لفرض نفوذها وحاميــة أعضائها‪ .‬االنضامم‬ ‫لكامــب حاليًــا بيضمــن للعضو الجديد فرص ترقّي أرسع تســمحله ب‪ CV-‬كويس‬ ‫ينفــع وقــت التخــرج‪ .‬ده طب ًعا إىل جانب الحامية وإعطــاء العضو فرصة االنتامء‬ ‫لكيــان كبــر وتكوين صداقات قوية‪ .‬علشــان كدا السياســة الطالبية أصبحت أقرب‬ ‫إىل القبليــة‪ ،‬وكتــر مــن األوقات بيتم فيهــا التمييز لصالح أبناء الكامب عىل حســاب‬ ‫غريهــم الــي ممكــن يكونوا أكفأ منهــم ملجرد انتامئهم إليه‪ .‬طب ًعــا الحامية والرتقي‬ ‫واالنتــاء بيتــم دفــع متنهم وقــت االنتخابات عن طريق التصويــت ككتلة واحدة زي ما‬ ‫بيحــدد كبــار الكامــب‪ ،‬أو كبار العيلة الشــبيهة ج ًدا بالعائالت األبويــة خارج الجامعة‬ ‫الــي فيهــا الكبــر عىل رأس الهرم يعــرف مصلحة الصغري‪ ،‬وفيهــا ذكورية بتحرص دوائر‬

‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫صفحة ‪١٧‬‬

‫األفراد وســوء اإلدارة والفســاد‪ .‬النتيجة املتوقعة هي خســارة كبرية يف اســتغالل موارد‬ ‫الدولــة وفــارق شاســع يف توزيع عوائدها بني األفراد‪ ،‬وطب ًعا ســوء حال الطبقات‬ ‫املتوســطة واألدىن بشــكل مســتمر‪ .‬يجعل ذلك معظم القرارات التي تأخذها األرسة‪،‬‬ ‫بــل وأهمهــا عىل اإلطالق‪ ،‬قــرارات اقتصادية بحتة‪ ،‬بل ويســود دور االقتصاد عىل غري‬ ‫ذلــك من قرارات أيضً ا‪.‬‬ ‫وبالنظــر إىل أمثلــة كثــرة حقيقيــة من داخل البيت املرصي‪ ،‬نجــد أن جانبًا كب ًريا من‬ ‫املشــاكل الزوجيــة يرتبط بشــكل مبارش بالوضع املــادي الصعب لألرسة‪ ،‬وعدم قدرة‬ ‫أحــد الوالديــن أو كليهــا عــى توفري أو إدارة ماديات املنزل‪ .‬يظهر ذلــك املوقف باملثل‬ ‫بــن الوالديــن وأبنائهام حينام تصطــدم متطلبات األبناء الطامحة بســقف قدراتهم‬ ‫املاديــة مســببًا ذلــك امتعاضً ا وعد َم رضا يبدآن داخليًــا ثم يُثاران يف وقت الحق‬ ‫بعواقــب كثــرة‪ .‬ولعل أهم الخالفــات التي تحدث بني الوالديــن وبعضهام أو بينهام‬ ‫وبني أبنائهام يف هذا الشــأن هو القرار االقتصادي األصعب بني االســتثامر املســتقبيل‬ ‫تأمي ًنــا لحيــاة األبنــاء القادمة وبني الرفاهية واالســتقرار يف الحارض فضـ ًـا عن معضلة‬ ‫إيجاد االســتثامر املناســب اآلمن‪ .‬مرتبط مع ذلك عادة انشــغال األب الدائم عن‬ ‫املنــزل‪ ،‬ووضــع األم تحت ضغوط ومســؤوليات كثرية معظم الوقت‪ .‬ينعكس ذلك ســلبًا‬ ‫عــى العالقــة بني أفراد األرسة مؤديًا إىل تباعد املســافات وانعدام لغــة الحوار بينهم‬ ‫تاركًا آثا ًرا نفســية عديدة تهدد اســتقرار األرسة مبرور الوقت‪.‬‬ ‫أمــا عــى النطاق االجتامعي‪-‬االقتصــادي للعائلة املرصية‪ ،‬فلعل أهــم القضايا هي‬ ‫قضيتــا التعليــم والــزواج‪ .‬والتعليــم يف مرص‪ ،‬وليس يف ذلك مفاجأة‪ ،‬هو أب ًدا وســيلة‬ ‫ال غايــة‪ .‬بــل يعــد التعليم كثـ ًرا‪ ،‬وفقًا ملفاهيم اقتصاديات العامل‪ ،‬مجرد وســيط‬ ‫أو قنــاة تأهيليــة بــن املوظِّف واملوظَّف يُدار ويُو َجه تحدي ًدا باحتياجات ســوق‬ ‫حقيقي‪،‬‬ ‫العمــل املحــي ال بالتطــور العلمي العاملي أو ما شــابه‪ .‬يف مرص‪ ،‬كل مــا فات‬ ‫ٌ‬ ‫باإلضافــة إىل كــون جودة التعليم يف مرص مرتبطة بشــكل رصيح ال يقبل الشــك‬ ‫فضل عن االهتامم البالغ ج ًدا واملســتمر أبـ ًدا بالحصول عىل‬ ‫باملقابــل املــادي املدفوع ً‬ ‫«الشــهادة»‪ .‬وف ًقــا للدكتور راجي أســعد‪ ،‬باحــث اقتصاديات العامل يف مرص والرشق‬ ‫األوســط البــارز‪ ،‬فإن الهدف األســمى للتعليم يف مرص بكامــل مراحله هو الحصول‬ ‫عــى الشــهادة وإن كانــت بال مهــارات أو معرفة مصاحبة‪ .‬يرجع ذلــك لتطلب معظم‬ ‫الوظائــف يف مــر‪ ،‬وخاصة يف القطاع العــام‪« ،‬إثباتًا ورق ًيا» وتجاهلهــا للواقع الفعيل‬ ‫للمتقــدم للوظيفــة‪ ،‬يف عملية طلب وإمداد يُع ّرفها أســعد بالتوازن املؤهيل‪/‬الشــهادي‬ ‫متأصل يف ذلك الســلوك االعتقاد الشــائع بقلة أهمية‬ ‫ٌ‬ ‫‪.credentialist equilibrium‬‬ ‫التعليــم مقارنــة بالخــرة العمليــة‪ ،‬ضعف دور القطاع الخــاص التنافيس يف االقتصاد‪،‬‬ ‫ارتبــاط درجــات التعليم يف مرص بواجهــات اجتامعية معينــة‪ ،‬واحتقار الوظائف غري‬ ‫الرســمية واملشــاريع الصغرية‪ ،‬وانعدام الضمري وانتشــار الفســاد واملحسوبية‪ ،‬وفوق كل‬ ‫ذلــك الحاجة املاســة لدخل ثابت ومعاش‪.‬‬

‫تصوير مارك فيرش‪ ،‬فليكر‬ ‫منــو مصطلح «كاســب الرزق» «‪ »breadwinner‬الذي يعود ظهــوره ما بني القرنني‬ ‫الســابع والثامــن عــر للتدليل عــى وجود فرد وحيد منتـ ٍج يف العائلة‪ ،‬يف حني يصبح‬ ‫البقيــة معالــن‪ .‬هكذا تحولــت األرسة من وحدة اقتصادية مرتبطــة منتجة إىل وحدة‬ ‫اقتصادية منعزلة مســتهلكة‪.‬‬ ‫بــرزت الظواهــر الســابق ذكرهُا أول ما برزت يف الدول األوروبية نتا ًجــا لتقدمها‬ ‫التكنولوجــي الفــارق نســبة لباقي الدول‪ .‬لكنه بالرضورة انعكــس الحقًا عىل عديد‬ ‫مــن الــدول‪ .‬كانــت مرص متأخرة يف التأثــر بنواتج الثورة الصناعية‪ ،‬رمبــا لكونها يف ذلك‬ ‫الحــن دولــة معتمدة عىل الزراعة بشــكل كيل‪ ،‬عالوة عىل وجود االســتعامر وتوايل‬ ‫الحــروب لفــرة طويلة من الزمن‪ .‬تشــر الدراســات األكادميية عــى قلتها أن الهجرة من‬ ‫الريــف للمدينــة يف مــر تصاعدت بشــكل ملحوظ ابتدا ًء من الســبعينيات‪ .‬يبدو ذلك‬ ‫منطق ًيــا نتيجــة لبدايــة حقبة اســتقرار ما بعد الحرب وما الزمها مــن مالمح التطور‬ ‫الخدمــي والصناعــي املحدود يف مرص‪ ،‬يف مقابل زيادة ســكانية شــاملة‪ ،‬وقلة للفرص‬ ‫والخدمــات نســبيًا يف الريــف‪ .‬كانت تلك بدايــات التغيري والتطــور‪ ،‬اقتصاديًا واجتامعيًا‪،‬‬ ‫لكثــر مــن العائــات املرصية املمتدة التــي ينتمي أصلها للريــف‪ .‬فبازدياد الهجرة‬ ‫الداخليــة وعدد الســكان‪ ،‬وتوســع وكرثة املدن‪ ،‬أصبحــت األرسة املرصية املعتادة أقرب‬ ‫إىل األرسة النــواة منها إىل املمتدة‪.‬‬ ‫إذا ً يُطــرح الســؤال‪ :‬إىل أي مدى أثــر ويؤثر التغري االقتصادي عــى العائلة املرصية وما‬ ‫تتخــذه مــن قرارات؟ ‪ -‬إىل أبعد مدى‪ ،‬كام أعتقد‪ .‬يســهل تفســر ذلك بتصور مرص‬ ‫ســوقًا كب ًريا يكون الطلب فيه مســتم ًدا من الســكان الذين يتزايد عددهم بشــكل‬ ‫مرعــب يف حــن أ ّن العــرض فيه هو املوارد املحدودة املتاحة كالســلع والخدمات‬ ‫وفــرص العمــل (املرتبات) وغريها‪ .‬تزيد ذلك العجز ســو ًءا عوامل أخــرى كقلة إنتاجية‬

‫وعــن تأثــر االقتصــاد يف الزواج فال حديث يكفي‪ ،‬وال حــرج مينع‪ .‬فالزواج يف مرص‬ ‫هــو ســوق حقيقي يُقيّم فيه األفراد بدرجات حســب وضعهــم االقتصادي واالجتامعي‬ ‫واملؤهــي‪ ،‬ثــم تتلو ذلك اختبارات ســلوكية ومادية عديــدة لينتهي املطاف أخ ًريا‬ ‫متوافقي مع بعضهام حســب املعايري القومية‪ .‬إن‬ ‫بفرديــن تظــن عوائلهم أنهــا‬ ‫ْ‬ ‫انخــراط الوضــع املــادي‪ ،‬والتعليم (الذي هو وســيلة للوضع املادي)‪ ،‬واملكانة‬ ‫االجتامعيــة (التــي تعتمــد كث ًريا عىل الوضع املادي) يجعل الزواج من أكرث املؤسســات‬ ‫املجتمعيــة اعتــادًا عــى املوقف االقتصادي لألفراد‪ .‬ثم تســتمر دائرة األرسة من‬ ‫هاذيــن الزوجــن بنفس املعايري الســابق ذكرها مع اختالف أن اســتمرار الدائرة يزيد‬ ‫مــن عــدد األفراد وبالتايل حجم التأثــر عىل املجتمع‪.‬‬ ‫حقيقــة األمــر إذن‪ ،‬وهــو صفوة القول أيضً ا‪ ،‬أ ّن جــذور االقتصاد ترضب أعظم ما‬ ‫تــرب يف أعــاق البنــاء العائيل‪ ،‬تــريس القواعد التي عليها يقــوم البناء‪ ،‬تضع له‬ ‫الحــدود‪ ،‬وتتحكــم يف شــاكلته وحالته‪ .‬ذلك أ ّن جز ًءا ال يســتهان به مــن أفراد املجتمع‪،‬‬ ‫دعنــا أبـ ًدا نتذكــر‪ ،‬وهنا بالتحديد أمتثل مبرص‪ ،‬ينشــأون يف بيــوت يحكمها أكرث ما‬ ‫تعليم يُرجــى منه أكرث ما يُرجى‬ ‫يحكمهــا الوضــع االقتصــادي للعائلة‪ ،‬ثــم يتلقون‬ ‫ً‬ ‫وض ًعــا اقتصاديًــا معي ًنــا‪ ،‬ثم يتزوجون أفــرادًا يُنتق ْون مبعاي َري تســتند ضم ًنا إىل ماهية‬ ‫الوضــع االقتصــادي‪ .‬والحق مــا لذلك ٌ‬ ‫مآل إال و َج ْعل املال‪ ،‬باعتباره العامل املشــرك‬ ‫األســايس يف جميــع العمليــات االقتصادية‪ ،‬أهم غاية لألفراد‪ ،‬وأقرب وســيلة لضامن‬ ‫حيــاة أكرث اســتقرا ًرا وكرامــة‪ .‬لك ّن يف جعل املال مصدر ه ِّم النــاس األول‪ ،‬حتى للذين‬ ‫قليل‪ ،‬خلقًا لتنافســية بني األفراد عىل ذلك املورد‬ ‫ال يرجــون مــن هــذه الدنيــا إال ً‬ ‫املحــدود‪ ،‬وإن كانــت تزيــد من كفاءة اإلنتاج االقتصــادي‪ ،‬تصطدم أول ما تصطدم‬ ‫ببنــاء الديــن واألخالق‪ ،‬ذلك الــذي يعد األهم لكثري من العائــات‪ ،‬وميتد تأثريها‬ ‫الســلبي إىل أبســط العالقات اإلنســانية كتلك التي بني الفرد وأخيه‪ ،‬مؤدية يف األخري‬ ‫إىل إعــاء شــعار املصلحــة الفردية واالنفصال عــن اآلخرين‪ .‬حتى وإن كان اآلخرون‬ ‫هؤالء هم يف الواقــع‪ ..‬أفراد العائلة‪.‬‬

‫عدد شهر مارس ‪٢٠١٨‬‬

‫صفحة ‪١٦‬‬

‫كتبه أحمد املناييل‬

‫اقتصاد العائلة‬

‫كيف تبدو العائلة واألفراد تحت حكم االقتصاد؟‬

‫يقوم االقتصاد ككلٍ يف األســاس عىل مجموع النشــاطات االقتصادية التي يشــتغل بها‬ ‫أفــراد املجتمــع‪ ،‬ويزدهر باســتقرارها واســتمراريتها‪ .‬كينونة تلك األنشــطة تتباين بال‬ ‫انقطــاع تقري ًبــا‪ ،‬مثلــا هي املتنوعة بني زراعة وصناعــة وخدمات دامئًا‪ ،‬عىل مدار‬ ‫التاريخ‪.‬‬ ‫اإلنتاجي املعتمد‬ ‫بــرزت مراحــل التنمية األولية لكثريٍ مــن االقتصاديات بالنشــاط‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫عــى األرسة كوحــدة اقتصاديــة قامئة بذاتها‪ ،‬مســتقلة عن مثيالتهــا‪ .‬كان ذلك جل ًيا‬ ‫يف مرحلــة مــا قبــل الثورة الصناعيــة وجامعية اإلنتاج قاعديت بناء الرأســالية‪ .‬حينها‬ ‫ازدهــرت األنشــطة الزراعية وما يرتبط بها من أنشــطة‪ ،‬إىل جانــب الحرف والصناعات‬ ‫اليدويــة املختلفــة فضـ ًـا عن التجــارة كأمثلة لتلك األنشــطة االقتصادية التي تقوم‬ ‫يف حــدود األرسة‪ .‬جمعــت تلك األنشــطة مختلف أفراد العائلــة يف هيكل اقتصادي‬

‫متكامــلٍ يُــو ّرث من ج ّد لحفيد؛ عزز ذلك شــعور االنتامء واإلخــاص للعائلة‪ .‬نجاح‬ ‫تلــك األنشــطة وأقدمية مامرســتها كان األهم يف تحديد الوضــع االقتصادي واالجتامعي‬ ‫للعائلــة‪ ،‬كام تناســب طرديًا مــع متددها وتعدد أفرادها وعلو شــأنها‪ .‬قيام الثورة‬ ‫الصناعيــة خــال القــرن الثامــن عرش‪ ،‬وما تالها من إحالل العمــل اليدوي باألمتتة‪ ،‬بدل‬ ‫الوضع جذريًا‪.‬‬ ‫بتوافــر رؤوس األمــوال الضخمــة‪ ،‬وقيام املصانع‪ ،‬وازدياد كفــاءة اإلنتاج الجامعي‪ ،‬القت‬ ‫األرس املنتجــة صعوبــة بالغة يف املنافســة املتكافئة‪ .‬كان تدهور األنشــطة االقتصادية‬ ‫العائليــة تدريجيًــا نتاج ذلك‪ ،‬وانفصال أفــراد العائلة بالتتــايل لاللتحاق بالركب‬ ‫الصناعــي الجديــد (كالهجــرة من الريف للحرض)‪ ،‬وتبدل األرسة مــن كونها ممتدة‬ ‫مرتابطــة إىل «األرسة النــواة»‪ ،‬تلــك التي من أب وأم وأبناء فقط‪ .‬تــا ذلك بالطبع‬

‫رئيسة التحرير‬ ‫ندى نبيل‬

‫أحمد املناييل‬ ‫شريين أبو الوفا‬

‫مدير تحرير قسم اللغة العربية‬ ‫عمرو عليم‬

‫مستشار هيئة التدريس‬ ‫رامي عيل‬

‫مساعد مدير التحرير‬ ‫ريم بدر‬

‫املنسق العام‬ ‫كريم دكروري‬

‫مديرة التصوير‬ ‫جيورجينيا باسييل‬

‫مديرة املوارد البرشية‬ ‫آالء محمود‬

‫مصممة الجرافيك‬ ‫ندى هشام‬

‫مدير اللوجستيات‬ ‫عمر أبو حمر‬

‫املحررون‬ ‫ريم بدر‬ ‫حازم العيسوي‬

‫مدير التسويق‬ ‫مصطفي عرفه‬

‫حقوق النرش‬

‫جميع الصور والرســومات الغــر مذكور مصدرها‬ ‫إمــا مســتخدمة بترصيح مــن صاحبها أو مرخصة‬ ‫لإلســتخدام الغري التجاري‪.‬‬

‫تنو يـــه‬

‫‪ AUC Times‬مجلــة طالبيــة‪ .‬اي آراء مذكورة يف‬ ‫املجلــة متثــل الكاتب‪/‬الكاتبــة فقط‪ ،‬وال تعكس‬ ‫آراء فريــق التحرير أو إدارة الجامعــة األمريكية‬ ‫بالقاهرة‪.‬‬

‫‪/ auctimes‬‬

‫حوارات نفسية معارصة ‪ ..‬متت‬ ‫للواقع بكل صلة‬

‫م ْح َرقة الكُ ُت ِب‪ :‬إهداء إىل انعكاسات عــن الحاجة لالنتامء‬ ‫كانت تشبهنا‬

‫‪٢٢ ٢٠ ١٦‬‬

‫كلمة رئيســة التحرير‬ ‫تخيل معي عائلة واستحرض صورتها يف ذهنك‪ .‬تتبادر إىل ذهنك عىل األرجح‬ ‫صورة تليفزيونية لعائلة مرصية تقف يف طابور بينام يلقي األب تعليامته‬ ‫وعظاته‪ ،‬أو صورة من قصة قصرية مثالية ألبوين سعيدين يصحبان ابن يأكل‬ ‫األيس كريم وبنت تلعب يف الحديقة‪ .‬لكن الواقع يتباين عن تلك الصورة‬ ‫املرسومة والسائدة‪.‬‬ ‫فهذه عائلة محورها أم عزباء‪ ،‬وتلك عائلة محطمة أصابها الخلل‪ ،‬وكثري‬ ‫من العائالت األخرى ال تتحمل أعبائهم املالية الذهاب إىل الحديقة‪ .‬هي‬ ‫عائلتها عبارة عن جد‪ ،‬وهو عائلته هي حيوانه األليف‪ ،‬وآخرون ُشِدوا‬ ‫بعيدا عن عائالتهم يف املنفى‪ .‬يف هذه العائلة اغرتاب‪ ،‬ويف تلك غذاء‪،‬‬ ‫وعائالت أخرى بإمكانها العيش فقط داخل إطار صورة‪ .‬هي تنتظر عائلتها‬ ‫يف طابور ملشاهدتها تؤدي يف مرسحية‪ ،‬وهو تجربه عائلته عىل الوقوف يف‬ ‫طابور االنتخابات يف مرسحية من نوع آخر‪ ،‬وآالف آخرون تقف عائالتهم‬ ‫يف طوابري الزيارة األسبوعية لرؤية أحبائهم املحبوسني‪ .‬هو ترفض عائلته‬ ‫االعرتاف باضطرابه‪ ،‬وهي تدعمها عائلتها يف مشوارها املهني‪ ،‬وآخرون‬

‫تعوقهم ومتنعهم عائالتهم عن امليض يف الطريق املؤدي لذواتهم التي‬ ‫يتقبلونها ويسعون ألن يصبحوا عليها‪ .‬عائلته أب ال يريد منه فقط مواصلة‬ ‫عمله التجاري بل أن يكون استمرارا لذاته وشخصيته‪ ،‬وعائلتها أم ال تجد‬ ‫فخرا إال يف زواجها الفوري‪ .‬وكال العائلتني وضعوا الخطط ملستقبل االثنني‬ ‫القريب‪ .‬هذه العائلة تثري استياء التقاليد وامتعاض املعتاد‪ ،‬وتلك العائلة‬ ‫قرية من مئات األمهات الراعيات‪ .‬ها هنا عائلة مل تبنى إال عىل عالقات‬ ‫القوة وروابط النفوذ واملكاسب‪ ،‬وها هناك عائلة تكونت كدائرة مرتابطة‬ ‫من األصدقاء املحبني واملخلصني‪.‬‬ ‫يف هذا العدد‪ ،‬نأمل منك أن تفكر يف كل تلك األشكال املختلفة واألصوات‬ ‫املكتومة‪ ،‬ويف هذا الواقع غري املذكور يف الرسديات السائدة ملا نطلق‬ ‫عليه لفظ «العائلة»‪ .‬نحن نؤمن أنه عىل الرغم من كل ما تم تناوله عن‬ ‫املوضوع‪ ،‬فام زال بإمكاننا تعميق الحوار عن عائالتنا والعائالت املحيطة بنا‬ ‫وعن العائلة كمفهوم متصل ومرتبط بكل شئ؛ من السياسة وحتى أعمق‬ ‫عواطفنا وانفعاالتنا وأسئلتنا اإلنسانية‪.‬‬

‫املحتوايت‬

‫اقتصــاد العائلة‬ ‫كيف تبــدو العائلة واألفراد‬ ‫تحــت حكم االقتصاد؟‬

‫ويســألونك عن الكامبات‪:‬‬ ‫العائــات التي(تحكــم) الجامعة‬

‫كلنا العاق وليد الرشيف‬

‫‪١٠ ٠٨ ٠٦‬‬

‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫‪Page 58‬‬

‫معرض للكتب‪ ،‬يعني اقعد استنى العدد الجديد من «ما‬ ‫وراء الطبيعة» بفارغ الصرب ويا سالم لو دخلت املكتبة‬ ‫بالصدفة ولقيته‪ ،‬عن إن اخوايت وصحايب وجوزي وحبايبي‬ ‫عارفني ان اكرت هديه ممكن تبسطني هيه أي حاجه ل‬ ‫أحمد خالد توفيق‪ ،‬عن اين بالقي نفيس بشكل غريب يف‬ ‫السطور والحكم اليل بيكتبها‪ ..‬وأخريا‪ ،‬عن اين ماتوجعتش‬ ‫بالشكل ده من ساعة موت ابويا ‪ ...‬ربنا يغفر له‬ ‫ويرحمه ويجمعنا بيه يف الجنة‪- .‬رنا عيد‬ ‫«ملاذا تحرق النار؟ ألنها نار‪ ..‬ملاذا يطفئها املاء؟ ألنه‬ ‫ماء‪ ..‬ملاذا يرشبه النمر؟ ألنه منر‪ ..‬وحني تفهم أن النار ال‬ ‫حيلة لها إال أن تحرق! واملاء ال حيلة له إال أن يطفئ!‪..‬‬ ‫عندئذ ستغفر للثعبان لدغاته وللقط خدوشه ولخصمك‬ ‫رضباته»‬ ‫دكتور أحمد خالد توفيق هو خالق صديقي الوحيد‬ ‫من وانا يف رابعة ابتدايئ لحد أوىل ثانوي‪ ..‬صديقي اليل‬ ‫عرفني عىل معاين حاجات كتري معرفتهاش غري من خالل‬ ‫مغامراته‪ ..‬صديقي هو رفعت اسامعيل ‪ ..‬عرفت من‬ ‫خالله معاين الحب و الصداقة و الوفاء و الشجاعة و‬ ‫الذكاء و الحيلة و كنت بهرب لعامله من عاملي الحزين‬ ‫الكئيب الفارغ‪- .‬أحمد حافظ‬ ‫‪«The middle class, in any society, plays the‬‬ ‫‪role of graphite rods in nuclear reactors:‬‬ ‫‪they slow down the reaction and, if it‬‬ ‫‪weren›t for them, the reactor would explode.‬‬ ‫‪A society without a middle class is a society‬‬ ‫»‪primed for explosion.‬‬

‫هو العراب‪ ،‬الذي مل يكن يسعى وراء الشهرة بقدر ما‬ ‫كان يسعى نحو مخاطبة عقولنا‪ .‬هو الذي ف ّتح أع ُيننا‬ ‫عىل القراءة ونصحنا بكُتاب آخرين لنقرأ لهم‪ ،‬مل أستطع‬ ‫يوماً قراءة رواي ًة أو سلسلة له دون أن أنهيها يومها‬ ‫مشدوه ًة بقدرته عىل خلق الجامل والفن‪ ،‬قدرته عىل‬ ‫استخدام الكلامت يف رسم عا ٍمل مثا ّيل‪.‬‬ ‫كانت أمنية العراب أن يُك َتب عىل قربه ‹جعل الشباب‬ ‫يقرأون›‪ ،‬وودعه أبناءه كام يجب‪ ،‬كام أحب‪ ،‬بل أكرث‬ ‫ِمن ذلك‪.‬‬ ‫بكينا عليك ومل نراك يوماً سوى ِمن خالل كتاباتَك‪ ،‬كيس‬ ‫الحزن وجوهنا وقلوبنا وعز علينا تركك وحيداً مع وحشة‬ ‫القرب‪ ،‬فكتبنا لك ما قد يهون تلك الوحشة عليك‪.‬‬ ‫إن ودعني العامل كام ودعك يوم فراقك‪ ،‬فسوف أعلم‬ ‫أين صنعت ما صنعته أنت‪ .‬سأحيك عنكَ حتى تحرتق‬ ‫النجوم‪ ،‬آمل ًة أن ألقاك عىل الضفة األخرى ِمن العامل‪.‬‬ ‫شكراً لكَ يا َمن علمتني كيف أقرأ‪ ،‬وكيف أحيا‪ -.‬إميان‬ ‫خروشة‬ ‫«تدريجيا تدركني أبعاد الخدعة وتدركني أن الدور املختار‬ ‫لك هو دور الزوجة ال أكرث وال أقل‪ .‬ستثورين يا فتاة‬ ‫لكنك ستتلقني كلامت قاسية جدا‪ ،‬رمبا بعض الصفعات‬ ‫كذلك لو كان زوجك رشسا‪ .‬ستكون معاناة طويلة حتى‬ ‫يتم الطالق بعدها تقررين أال تكرري الخطأ ذاته‪.‬‬ ‫لكن رسعان ما يظهر رجل رزين أنيق يف منتصف العمر‬ ‫يحدثك عن (سارتر) ويتلو عليك شعر (لوركا)‪ .‬عندها‬ ‫تقولني لنفسك‪ :‬لعل األمر مختلف هذه املرة؟»‬ ‫أحب كيف أخرتت أن يكون أبطال رواياتك أناس عادية‪،‬‬ ‫تقليدية‪ ،‬وتفتقر ألى صفة متيزها عن غريها ثم مع تغري‬ ‫األحداث جعلتهم عاملقة‪ ،‬دكتاتور غشيم‪ ،‬متطرف‪،‬‬ ‫مخادع ولئيم‪ ،‬أو بطل نبيل‪ .‬وكأنك تأكد لقرائك أال‬ ‫نستهني أبداً بإنسان ألنه عندما يؤمن بشئ بشدة تكن‬ ‫قوته وسلطته غري محدودة‪- .‬ريم جامل‬ ‫«لو تصالح كل العرب مع إرسائيل فلن أكون أنا ضمن‬ ‫القامئة بالتأكيد‪ ،‬ألنني ألعنهم وألعن األرض التي ميشون‬ ‫عليها‪ ،‬وأكره منظرهم ولون علمهم ولغتهم‪ .‬أنا من جيل‬ ‫أوشك أن ينقرض تعلم أن يكره إرسائيل بحق‪».‬‬

‫هو تقريبا كل كتاباته كانت مفضلة عندي عشان كان‬ ‫بيعرب عن كل حاجة حاسس بيها و مش عارف اقولها‪،‬‬ ‫اتربيت عىل كتاباته وكانت سخريته من الواقع من ضمن‬ ‫الحاجات اليل بتحليه‪- .‬يحيى سعد‬ ‫«هذه هي فلسفتي ‪ ..‬دامئاً أتوقع األسوأ و يف كل‬ ‫مرة يتضح أن توقعايت كانت أسوأ من الحقيقة ‪ ،‬هذا‬ ‫جعل الحياة بالنسبة يل سلسلة من املفاجآت السارة ‪..‬‬ ‫املتفائلون يف رأيي هم أكرث الناس إصاب ًة بخيبة األمل ‪،‬‬ ‫بينام أنا أتوقع مث ًال أن يسقط علينا نيزك يف هذه اللحظة‬ ‫‪ ،‬لو مل يحدث هذا لشعرت بأين محظوظ وأن الحياة‬ ‫أجمل مام نظن ‪».‬‬ ‫«قابلت دكتور أحمد خالد توفيق مرة من ‪ ٣‬سنني ملا جه‬ ‫الجامعة يتكلم عن يوتوبيا‪...‬كان معايا أحدث كتاب ليه‬ ‫ساعتها‪« ،‬الهول»‪ .‬رحتله وطلبت منه يوقعهويل‪ ،‬وبعترب‬ ‫التوقيع ده من أحىل الحاجات اليل حصلتيل يف الجامعة‪.‬‬ ‫سألني اسمك ايه وقال الكتاب معاه يس دي معرفش ايه‬ ‫كده‪...‬قلت له آه معاه اشرتيت الكتاب ومعاه يس دي‬ ‫موسيقى رعب‪ .‬قال أيوة!! مش عارف أنا ايه ده عملوها‬ ‫من نفسهم! بعدين شفت التوقيع بتاعه‪« :‬إىل العزيزة‬ ‫نورا‪ ،‬أمتنى أن يروق لك‪ ..‬وال تسمعي اليس دي! خالد‪».‬‬ ‫أول ما بدأت اقرا زمان بدأت ب«ما وراء الطبيعة»‪ ،‬ومن‬ ‫ساعتها حبيت أسلوبه جدً ا‪ ،‬لدرجة إين لفرتة حسيت إين‬ ‫مش قادرة اقرا لحد غريه‪ ،‬ومفيش كاتب تاين بقتنع بيه‬ ‫بسهولة‪ .‬أي كاتب تاين كان بيبقى بالنسبة يل أسلوبه‬ ‫ممل جدً ا‪ .‬ما وراء الطبيعة كان فيها حاجات بتضحكني‬ ‫من قلبي‪ ،‬وكنت بنبهر بوصفه للشخصيات‪ ،‬وماظنش‬ ‫اين قريت لحد تاين بيوصف بأسلوب ممتع كده‪ .‬ملا أي‬ ‫حد بيسألني بتحبي تقري ملني بقول من غري تفكري أحمد‬ ‫خالد توفيق‪ ،‬وكنت بتكلم عنه كتري أوي‪ .‬الله يرحمه‬ ‫ويغفرله‪ .‬عزايئ الكم العظيم من الكتب اليل سابهلنا‪،‬‬ ‫ومعرفتي إنه رىب جيل كبري من الكتاب بيحاولوا يكتبوا‬ ‫زيه‪- .‬نورا شبل‬ ‫«ألنه رجل لطيف طيب وال أحد ينكر ذلك»‬ ‫أظن ان اقل واجب عيل من شاب شكلت حياته انه‬ ‫يشكل حياة ابنه او بنته عيل افكارك و قيمك ‪،‬شك ًرا يا‬ ‫عراب‪ ،‬ليك أحفاد من أوالدك اليل ما تعرفهمش‪ -‬إسالم‬ ‫عادل‬ ‫‪Ahmed Khalid Tawfik turned my life‬‬ ‫‪upside down. Sometimes I even wish‬‬ ‫‪I never read Utopia. He made think‬‬ ‫‪about us, as humans, our behaviors, our‬‬ ‫‪thinking, and nothing good came out of‬‬ ‫‪it. I am very grateful, but i›m also mad,‬‬ ‫‪because nothing was ever the same. May‬‬ ‫‪your soul find the peace that you were‬‬ ‫‪looking for. -Akram Bara‬‬

‫فتحت دماغ و تفكري ناس كتري قوي‪ .‬شك ًرا! ‪-‬رامز عصام‬ ‫حبيب‬

‫ودا ًعا أحمد خالد توفيق‪،‬‬ ‫ستظل كلامتك تزين جدران‬ ‫روحي وحجريت‪ -‬مصطفى سمري‬

‫‪April ‘18 issue‬‬

‫‪Page 59‬‬

‫يف تقدير الراحل‬ ‫د‪ .‬أحمد خالد توفيق‬ ‫للتجارب األوىل مكان خاص يف الذاكرة تحفره حداثة‬ ‫الشعور واألفكار التي تنتجها‪ .‬فأنت ال تنىس كتابك‬ ‫األول وكاتبك األول‪ .‬وإن كان هذا الكاتب أحمد خالد‬ ‫توفيق فاألغلب أنه مل يكن فقط تجربتك األوىل يف عامل‬ ‫القصص‪ ،‬وإمنا با ًبا عربت من خالله لعرشات التجارب‬ ‫األوىل األخرى التي مل تكن لتمر بها دونه‪ .‬فدامئا ما‬ ‫امتألت كتاباته مبفاتيح لعوامل أخرى يدفعك الستكشافها‬ ‫ويدعوك عن طريقها لعدم التوقف عند شخصياته‬ ‫وعوامله هو‪ .‬حفر له هذا مكانا خالدً ا يف وجدان جيل‬ ‫كامل من الشباب وجد فيه ويف شخصياته غري املثالية‬ ‫وغري البطولية صديقًا ورفيقًا يفتح له األبواب ويدعه‬ ‫يستكشفها دون ٍ‬ ‫وعظ أو نصح‪ .‬وكسب له حب جيل‬ ‫سيظل ممت ًنا له حتى وإن نضجت ذائقته لتتجاوز الرجل‬ ‫الذي شكل تلك الذائقة يف بداياتها‪.‬‬ ‫سألناكم عام ميثله لكم أحمد خالد توفيق‪ ،‬ونرتك‬ ‫املساحة التالية لكلامتكم عنه وعن تأثريه‪ ،‬ولكلامته التي‬ ‫اخرتمتوها لتكون معربًا عن ذلك التأثري‪.‬‬

‫كاتب ممتع وصاحب رؤية ومتواضع ومشجع وصادق‬ ‫وأمني وقدر يحبب ناس كتري يف القراءة وكان عامل زي‬ ‫الشباك اليل قدرت ناس كتري تشوف من خالله العامل اليل‬ ‫مكانوش قادرين يشوفوه يف الحقيقة‪ .‬راجل جميل وهش‬ ‫ورقيق وقوته يف ضعفه وحنني وقدرة حسنة لكل اليل‬ ‫عرفوه‪- .‬طاهر املعتز بالله‬ ‫«حتى تحرتق النجوم‪ ..‬وحتى تفنى العوامل‪..‬‬ ‫حتى تتصادم الكواكب‪ ..‬وتذبل الشموس ‪..‬‬ ‫وحتى ينطفئ القمر‪ ..‬وتجف البِحار واألنهار ‪..‬‬ ‫حتى أشيخ فتتآكل ذكريايت‪..‬‬ ‫حتى يعجز لساين عن لفظ اسمك‪..‬‬ ‫حتى ينبض قلبي للمرة األخرية ‪..‬‬ ‫فقط عند ذلك رمبا أتوقف‪..‬‬ ‫رمبا‪»..‬‬ ‫كان قلمك قويا حيا وميتا‪ .‬كيف ال ومداده روحك‬

‫الطاهرة ونفسك التي أبت إال أن تبث حروف الحياة يف‬ ‫قلوب خيم عليها ظالم املوت‪ ...‬طيب الله ثرى من جعل‬ ‫الشباب يقرؤون‪MA Sultan- .‬‬ ‫«لكن دعنى اخربك بىشء مهم‪ ،‬ال تقض حياتك بانتظار‬ ‫ان تنتهى الفرتة كذا و الفرتة كذا ‪ ..‬ان تنتهي فرتة‬ ‫الدراسة ‪ ..‬ان تنتهي فرتة التجنيد االجباري‪..‬‬ ‫لسوف تجد ان حياتك صارت مجموعة من الفرتات‬ ‫يجب ان تنتهي و هوب! تكتشف انك بلغت نهاية‬ ‫العمر و ملا تنعم بحياتك يوما واحدا‪..‬‬ ‫يجب ان تستمتع بكل فرتة كأنها هى الصورة الوحيدة‬ ‫النهائية لحياتك»‬ ‫اسم د‪.‬أحمد خالد توفيق يعني ماينفعش اشوفه عىل‬ ‫كتاب أو مقال او بوست إال ملا اسيب اليل بعمله واقراه‪،‬‬ ‫يعني سهر طول الليل وانشغال طول النهار بالرواية‬ ‫عشان مش عايزه اسيبها من ايدي غري ملا تخلص ‪ ..‬يعني‬ ‫أول حاجه الزم عيني تقع عليها ملا ادخل مكتبة أو‬

‫ابريل ‪٢٠١٨‬‬