My colleague Hisham Allam had an interview with Dr. Mamdouh Hamza last Thursday at Al-Masry Al-Youm. Dr. Hamza said there is a foreign plan to buy downtown Cairo and pull down real estates there, adding astonishing offers had been made on the Internet by some Greeks. After reading these headlines, I thought of sending a notification to the Public Prosecutor so that he could investigate into this crime that Dr. Mamdouh had warned about. When I tried to think about the issue calmly, though, I realized there was no crime at all and that what Dr. Mamdouh had said were just empty words. Let's imagine what would happen if this actually took place. The owner of a building in downtown Cairo puts it on sale and a Greek or whatever foreigner comes forward to buy it. Well, the Egyptian law allows such kind of operations. So, where is the crime? Where is this obscure plan that these enemies want to carry out? Dr. Mamdouh will reply that they do not just want to buy one single building, but an entire area of the city (downtown Cairo) with the intention of pulling down its landmarks. I would believe him, but I would add that this wish – or indeed rush - to buy would be something good, because it would put Cairo on an equal footing with capitals like London and Paris. Then I would ask him: "If any building were demolished, would the buyer do it randomly or only after getting an authorization from the capital?" Of course, the buyer can not pull down a single brick without a written authorization. So, there would be no crime and even if there were, it would not be the buyer's responsibility at all, but ours, through our competent bodies in Cairo. Some people may say that this area includes historic antiquities that no one can get close to. Well, I know – and so do others, of course – that such kind of buildings is registered at the Ministry of Culture. This is an open register; in other words, new historic buildings are added all the time. Dr. Hamza should have submitted a list to the Ministry of Culture with the buildings he thinks are historic and should be preserved. He did not, though, and instead spoke out loud without giving any details or evidence. He must know that before becoming Turkey's Prime Minister, Erdogan was mayor of Istanbul and that he brought that city back to life and turned it into a tourist attraction for people from all over the world. By the way, this is what Minister Talaat Hamad seriously tried to do with the Stock Exchange area downtown. Long ago, Alexandria used to be a cosmopolitan city, with people from all across the planet. Foreigners lived, worked and earned there with no problem at all. And so was Cairo. Foreigners used to live in the countryside and do their business here. Now, instead, we panic as soon as we see a foreigner landing at the airport, as we always imagine he or she has a plan or a plot. When shall we wake up from this form of stupidity?
