CAIRO - The train car was packed like a sardine tin. An unlicensed vendor with a husky voice was hawking his wares as he threaded his way among the commuters. There was nothing unusual about the scene aboard the carriage of the Cairo Underground, which scoops more than 2 million off the Egyptian capital's streets on a daily basis. Amidst this daily routine, the commuters craned their necks when two youngsters began shouting: “Ya samara. Ya samara (You black sweetie),” mimicking a local song. Many commuters, who could hardly breathe due to the overcrowding, did not pay much attention until an angry voice shouted in a foreign dialect. With scrutiny, some commuters told their curious fellows that the two Egyptian youngsters were taunting an African. Although unable to understand his teasers, the African passenger was infuriated by their face gestures and offensive laughter. Oddly enough, other local passengers appeared entertained as the two boys kept their racial taunts. An attempt by an old man to reproach the teasers was drowned out in the giggle. The repugnant scene came to an end when the African man stormed off the carriage at a station in central Cairo. Over recent years, Egypt has been a temporary destination for thousands of Africans, who use the country as a stepping stone for infiltrating into Israel or going to European countries. There have been occasional complaints from those Africans about discriminatory offences from Egyptians, who are generally friendly to foreigners. In 2006, around 23 Sudanese refugees were killed by Egyptian security forces when they tried to evacuate them from a public square in the fashionable quarter of el-Mohandessin, where they held a three-month strike in protest against their living conditions. Significantly, on Saturday the ruling military council in Egypt approved a law incriminating discriminatory offences. The law, issued apparently in response to recent deadly clashes with mostly Coptic Christians, prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, language and creed. Such offences are punishable by jailing for a minimum three months and fines of up to 100,000 ($16,600). I am not sure if this law is applicable to racial taunts against foreigners in Egypt. If enforced, it would be a good sign of how things are changing in the post-revolutionary Egypt. After all, a key aim of the January 25 revolt is to protect human dignity.
