Egyptians laugh off their poll fears

Cairo Displeased with a presidential run-off vote between a conservative Islamist and a former military general, Egyptians are tapping into their famed sense of humour to ease their dilemma.

The June 16-17 run-offs are pitting the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate Mohammad Mursi against Ahmad Shafiq, the last prime minister in the rule of the now-toppled president Hosni Mubarak.

Having emerged unhurt from a shoe-throwing attack near Cairo last week, Shafiq is at the centre of several jokes. One joke goes that having become a president, Shafiq orders Egyptians to stand in a long queue to try on the shoe lobbed at him to know the assailant.

Another joke shows a victorious Shafiq, a former air force commander, asking Mubarak: “Why did you rig the elections in the past though Egyptians are ready to vote for the same regime?”

Shafiq’s opponents see him as an extension of the Mubarak regime that ruled for nearly 30 years.

Another joke goes that after learning that Shafiq made it to the run-off, Jamal, a detained son of the former president, asks his father about their fate. Mubarak, being under arrest at an army medical centre, replies: “Your uncle Shafiq will do his duty of putting the people in jail.”

Mubarak verdict due Saturday

Mubarak, 84, and his two sons, are being tried on charges of corruption and involvement in killing peaceful protesters. A verdict is due on Saturday.

In a third joke, Egypt’s former first lady asks her spouse, Mubarak, to divorce her so that she will marry Shafiq. Mubarak, says the joke, agrees on condition that Shafiq hands over power to Jamal.

In the last years of Mubarak’s rule, the opposition claimed that Jamal, a western-educated banker, was groomed to succeed his father.

After securing a place in the run-off, Shafiq has been at pains to distance himself from the Mubarak regime. He has praised the anti-Mubarak revolution and vowed that the “hands of the clock will not move backwards”.

Worried about creation of a theology

Egyptians, worried about the possibility of creating a theology in their country if the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate becomes a president, are giving the Islamist hopeful a share of their sarcasm.

Anti-Brotherhood satirists say that following his inauguration as president, Mohammed Mursi will give a speech in which he will say: “My first and last decision is to step down and hand over the country’s presidency to the Brotherhood’s supreme guide.”

Mursi is seen by secularists as a diehard follower of the group’s leader Mohammad Badei.

Another joke goes that Mursi, derided as lacking in charisma, believes he is smarter than Egypt’s late presidents Jamal Abdul Nasser and Anwar Al Sadat. “I don’t need to stage a revolution to topple the monarchy or go to two wars against Israel as Nasser did to become a president. Nor do I need to fight and then sign a peace treaty with Israel as Al Sadat did. All what I need to become a president is to distribute cooking oil bottles and sugar for free,” the joke has Mursi saying.

Food for persuasion

Critics of the Brotherhood, which controls the two houses of the parliament, claim that the group gave away a large quantity of bags containing food supply to the poor to woo them to vote for Mursi in the first round of the election.

“Joking is a timeless weapon used by the Egyptians, especially in tough times,” Fat’hi Mahmoud, a sociology professor, told Gulf News. “They usually poke fun at their rulers, problems and even themselves. It’s some sort of giving vent to their anger,” added Mahmoud.

“Late president Nasser [who ruled from 1954 to 1970] was known to have ordered his aides to always report to him about jokes in circulation in the country to assess public feelings.”