CAIRO: A suspicious looking foreigner enters the cafe, scanning the cafegoers, looking for prey while ominous and dangerous music plays in the background. He chooses his “victims” and joins them on the table, but the prey are so welcoming and warm-hearted towards him and in no time they are spilling their hearts out, giving him information about Egypt's social, political and economic problems, of which he could have easily read in a newspaper. The suspicious man then enters the “valuable” information into his phone, sending it somewhere. The caption appears “be careful with your words, words can save your country.” The just under one-minute Egypt state-sponsored TV advertisement warning people from “giving away too much to strangers,” shows a great deal of ignorance and xenophobia, elements that could very well endanger foreigners living in Egypt. Egyptians, who take pride in their hospitality, are advised by the government to keep their mouth shut around “strangers.” The new ad, paid for by taxpayers money, and has suspiciously the hands of the Morality Department of the Armed Forces all over it, goes back to the theory of “foreign hands” intervening in Egypt “to harm you and kill the revolution.” The propaganda started right after the old regime fell, with the state-run news channels talking day and night about spies infiltrating Tahrir Square. The propaganda soon saw fruits with foreigners who lived in the country for years attacked across Cairo. The very public investigation of the Israeli-American man who was arrested in Cairo and charged with spying for hanging out in Tahrir Square and taking pictures with the revolution in the background, only cemented the idea. “They are out to get you citizens but we've got your back,” is the message of the ruling council and its media was loud and clear. Many foreigners residing here, working or studying, left the country, adding more to the burdens on the economy with the absent tourists. Those who decided to stay had to deal with the occasional looks and question of “where are you from?” and “what you doing here?” and “show me your passport.” Even in Tahrir Square, the birthplace of the new Egypt, foreigners stood out like never before. Women were dragged out of taxis, questioned by “honorable” spy-fearing citizens, poeple's rented homes were stormed and many called the police on their next door foreigner neighbor. For a country that sustains itself with tourism, this is a very dangerous game and for a country with the tremendous heritage of Egypt, this is a shameful game played by Big Brother. While activists on Twitter mocked the ad and labeled it with naivety and a lack of substance, laughing it off, the obvious message remains dangerous and threatening, not only to foreigners but to the idea of a new Egypt that thousands are fighting for. Is this the kind of Egypt that we want to live in and raise our kids in? A paranoid country that tells its sons and daughters to look over their shoulders and keep their guard up with strangers? If this to be the official policy of the state towards foreigners, it ought to change its international tourism campaign that is based on our renowned hospitality.
