Frontline World

EGYPT - Inside Cairo's Living Room, December 2003
a FRONTLINE/World Fellows project
Cairo's Cafes: Taste and Tradition
Three guys outside the 'other cafe'
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Hesham Dahrawy, 29, refined the thought: "Government policy is, 'Keep the people too busy with daily hassles to worry about bigger problems.' The bureaucracy that is famous here, is intentional. To keep us from thinking about -- and from doing anything about -- other problems."

We were treading some familiar "Arab street" territory, so I asked about 9/11. "People were happy," Eissa said. "Not because of the casualties, but" -- here he sat up and affected a stern voice -- "because the Arrogant Government was hit."
Cairo's Streets: Go