Soaring prices
The winds of high prices are blowing all over our vital goods such as food, clothes, and housing. I propose that we all agree to stop buying—for one week, for instance—commodities whose prices have unjustifiably soared, such as oil, fats, ready-to-wear garments, soap, cement, or concrete. Consumer Protection societies have a role to play in promoting public awareness and drawing producers and traders’ attention to the fact that profiteering is, in the long run, not in their interest. Egyptians have a successful precedent with meat consumption, and it can be repeated. Let us remember: “Man does not live by bread alone.”
Tawfik Mikhail,
Mental restyling
I believe that extremism, fanaticism, killing others, and unjustifiably wasting money and resources are without doubt the worst output produced by intellectual illiteracy. Under the name of jihad suicidal operations are conducted; under the name of religion modernisation and civilisation are rejected. Closed minds stress religiosity instead of religion; matters of dress and superficial rites take precedence over real piety.
Since religion is such a vital component of our peoples’ lives, I believe we should care about educating them and making them more aware of all its aspects. The media ought to play a vital role in that. What would be the use of the modern press if it circulates cultural illiteracy instead of culture, or falsities instead of facts? The same applies to all the media.
Religious programmes should be used to promote a tolerant, understanding attitude instead of the shallow, outdated material they now promote. What we really need is a mental restyling.
Sameh Lotfy, Abu-Tig
No one will escape
The sectarian violence at Abu-Fana monastery in Minya, at the villages of Nazla and Tamiya in Fayoum, and the many other incidents all over
Zakariya Atta, Fayoum
Mother of the hero
Just as many other beautiful things, the palaces and modern statues which dotted our land in the past are swiftly disappearing. I was on a recent visit to the city of
All the countries in the world care for their old buildings and statues as part of the national heritage. They should be kept and maintained not removed and forgotten.
Youssef Helmi, Paris
Dual standards
I recently read in one of our national papers that Qena governorate in
Nabil Youssef,
Honey-Sweet memories
What is more beautiful than remembering the good old days, especially when the times are hard and one grows old? For the immigrant, the times are even harder; only one who is away from home for years on end can really know how hard.
I wish I could wake up one day and find myself on a
Another peddler I used to love was the assaliya, the honey-sweets, seller. He would make his assaliya from pure molasses fresh on his cart, pulling and forming the viscous, ductile honey dough. Now assaliya and ice cream are produced in factories, and are almost non-existent on the streets.
Once I did come to
Nash’at Rushdy,