“This smacks of neo-colonialism. Egypt is no longer a British colony. We are a sovereign nation and are capable of enforcing human rights without foreign interference,” Mohamed Fayek, head of Egypt's National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), told Al-Ahram Weekly referring to a “joke” made by the British ambassador to Egypt on Twitter. The ambassador had tweeted in response to controversial comments made last week by former Egyptian Minister of Justice Mahfouz Saber. In an interview on TV Channel Ten, Saber was asked whether the son of a rubbish collector could be made a judge, and Saber replied that the judiciary deserved better. A row ensued and Saber eventually resigned. Casson then tweeted that the son of a rubbish collector would be welcome to apply for a job at the British Embassy. “The minister was wrong to make such a statement, but it is no business of the British ambassador to make a mockery of the unfortunate incident,” Abdel-Raouf Al-Reidi, chair of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Relations and a former ambassador to the United States, told the Weekly. Al-Reidi agreed with Fayek that diplomats should not meddle in the domestic affairs of the countries they are dispatched to. “The job of diplomts is to engage with Egyptians and not just hide behind the enbassy walls. So I engage with issues that concern Egyptians. But what matters most is not my voice, but that Egyptians' voices are heard. So it is inspiring that thousands of Egyptians are talking about how to create economic opportunities for all, because that is the key to security, prosperity and democracy in Egypt,” Ambassador Casson told Al-Ahram Weekly. “The British should put their own house in order first before criticising others. Even as a joke the tweet was in very poor taste. It is small wonder it caused such controversy on the Internet,” Magdi Hefni, former Egyptian ambassador to the African Union, Ethiopia and Norway, told the Weekly. “Britain is among the most class conscious societies in the world and has no right to castigate Egypt on this subject,” Hefni said. “Do you want to work at the British Embassy,” Casson had tweeted in Arabic. “We welcome all applicants, even the sons of rubbish collectors.” Three hours after the tweet was posted, it had been retweeted more than 1,700 times and had been connected to the latest social media war in Egypt. The British Embassy in Cairo announced it was hiring a community liaison officer, and an Arabic hashtag promptly called for Casson to be deported. “Meddling in Egyptian internal affairs is not acceptable, not even jokingly,” another hashtag trumpeted. Discussion of the controversial subject went viral on the Internet. “Would you [the British Embassy in Cairo] give the son of garbage collector a visa though,” one Egyptian angrily tweeted. “The cabinet respects all layers of society and appreciates workers in particular. It is convinced that they are involved in shaping the future of this nation,” another tweet read. The British authorities reiterated that they wanted to “make creative use of social media,” as Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) insisted. “The specific comment was a show of support for the idea that an individual's family background should not prevent them from applying for any job. We have a very talented group of local staff in Cairo, and we hope this generates even more interest amongst local communities to join us in building strong ties between the UK and Egypt,” the FCO statement read. “They occupied our country for years and killed our people and made us poor and they think they have the luxury of making fun of us,” another angry Egyptian tweeted. Casson has more than 18,000 followers on Twitter. “Egypt's current period of challenge and change will shape the long-term future for Egyptians and will be pivotal for the region. Britain has a deep interest in Egypt's political, security and economic success and in a broad and productive relationship that delivers for British and Egyptian people alike. I am proud to have the privilege and responsibility of leading our teams in Egypt at this vital time,” Casson said immediately after he presented his credentials to president Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi. Some days after the incident, British Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Tobias Ellwood opposed the sentencing to death of ousted former president Mohamed Morsi and some 100 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. “The UK government is deeply concerned by the sentencing to death of former president Mohamed Morsi and over 100 others. We note that there are further stages in the legal process and will continue to follow this case closely,” Ellwood said. Egyptians are particularly sensitive to remarks made by officials of the former colonial power, Britain. “We look to the Egyptian authorities to apply the rule of law consistently in line with international standards and to protect the political and legal rights of all Egyptians as the basis for the country's future stability,” Ellwood said. This patronising attitude is unacceptable to the vast majority of Egyptians, as social media reveals. This week witnessed a particularly ugly debacle which has proved to be spicy stuff on the Internet. The question uppermost in many Egyptians' minds is whether, having got the prickly subject of Egypt's class consciousness off his chest, Casson will now launch further (un)diplomatic tweets on other subjects concerning Egypt?
