Sandmonkey reports on the big move in Cairo right now, where the statue of RAmses II that has been at the center of the aptly named Ramses Square for 50 years is being moved by the Egyptian authorities to the desert outskirts of Cairo where it will be stored for a few years and then resurrected in front of the Grand Egyptian Museum when it is completed.

Needless to say this is a huge logistical undertaking that consists of moving the massive granite statue by cutting it into smaller pieces and transporting it in the middle of the Night to the outskirts of Cairo. The move was estimated to take around 8 hours. Then it will bes tored, etc. It was also absolutely necessary since the car exhaust and other pollution that make Cairo’s air quality as bad as a pack of cigarettes a day were taking a toll on the statue. MOving it to a place with fewer crowds and better air quality was a smart move.

SM reports on the huge goodbye that was given to Ramses by Cairenes. Many people turned up to see the statue packed up and on its way out. SM talks about how some people referred to it as a false idol and were angry that people were sad that it was leaving. That is absolutely ridiculous. I can’t believe that Egyptians are so downright antagonistic about our country’s greatest achievements. The Egyptian diaspora takes pride in our heritage and the world respects it greatly. It is not only the source of much of the world’s affinity and admiration for Egypt but also an important source of tourist earnings. We should be taking pride in our ancestors’ accomplishments, not trying to destroy them. That is absolutely disgusting. It is so sad that Egypt was the greatest civilization in the world a few thousand years ago, and now look where it is. As recently as the earlist twentieth century, Egypt was one of the world’s great cultured countries. Its average wages were on par with Italy, its middle/upper class was much richer than their European counterparts, Alexandria was the busiest port on the Mediterranean, the Egyptian pound was stronger than the dollar, and even Britain owed Egypt money after WWII. We were a cultured nation with a rich literary and cinematic scene and we were a liberal sophisticated Mediterranean nation. How have things changed so drastically in so little time? It is the greatest collaps imaginable. Even in the 1950s and early 1960s we were doing semi-decently. We had a liberal, secular state with a rich movie industry and an economy on par with that of South Korea. Now look at the difference between the Egypt of religious fundamentalism and the Korea of Samsung and LG (In just 40 years!). 70 years ago Italians and Greeks fled to Egypt en masse, now Egyptians die trying to reach Italy and Greece. Religion has corrupted Egypt. I only hope the cancer can still be cured.