Friday, February 11, 2011

Danshaway in Egyptian history

Uprisings and revolutions need a spark.  I won't go too far in pushing the cultural explanation of Egypt (as if non-Egyptians enjoy humiliations) but the factor of humiliation is important, as it was in the incident of Danshaway in 1906.  On it, Egyptian poet Hafidh Ibrahim said:

قتيل الشمس أورثنا حياة‏..‏ وأيقظ هاجع القوم الرقود‏..
‏فليت كرومر قد بات فينا ‏.. ‏يطوق بالسلاسل كل جيد 
‏‏لننزع هذه الأكفان عنا‏.. ‏ونبعث في العوالم من جديد
(Victim of the sun made us inherit life, and woke up the sleeping folks
I wish [Lord] Cromer remains placing chains around every neck
Let us remove those shrouds from us, and rise up in the world anew) ‏