Integration Contract, Really?

Quoted from the BBC Article: Europe's identity crisis

"In future an immigrant arriving in Germany and wishing to stay may have to sign an "integration contract". That is the idea of the Integration Minister, Maria Boehmer.

The contract would set out basic German "values," including "freedom of speech" and "equal rights for women". The idea behind this is the club: if you join you have to accept the rules. "Anyone who wants to live here for a long time," says the minister, "and who wants to work has to say 'yes' to our country"."

I was very surprised when I read this today. It came as a bit of a shock to me to see how clueless people can be especially when they are in positions of power.
The mere 3 people that commented on the Article all seemed to disagree with this, and so do I.

I think that idea is so off point it's ridiculous! The idea that a contract is the thing that will govern the way immigrants choose to live their life shows how weak of a grip Europe really has on its integration problems. You cannot sit on the outside and watch a hot mess and think you can solve it. The people thinking of solutions need to understand how those immigrant communities think, understand without passing judgement. Once you understand a problem, then you can start to fix it, and it's obvious that some countries are no where near understanding things.

I think if they take a few examples of well integrated immigrants and compare their characteristics with those who are not well integrated they might get some idea as to why people behave the way they do. My feel is that they will find that the reasons are closely tied with the goal one has for immigration. There are those who seek immigration for financial reasons and those who seek immigration to improve their quality of life. Those who cannot survive in their countries seek immigration to the EU since they will be able to survive off of the minimum wage and will reap the benefits of a good social welfare system. Then there are those who seek immigration in order to fulfill career aspirations, better quality of life and a good future for their children. The main things that differentiates those two groups are money and education.
Generally, well educated and well off people are more respecting of women's rights and freedom of speech.
I'm not saying a clear cut solution is obvious, but I think some understanding of the realities of immigrants is necessary before jumping into actions that will not add any value.

Another problem I see is that - to Europeans - the sight of a veiled women, more often than not, represents female oppression, devout religiousness - sometimes even fundamentalism - and inequality. This is not always the case, some women are open minded and independent and choose to wear the veil. The problem is that a person's looks already alienate him/her when they are different from the main stream, add to that all the social factors and religious ones too and you find that people on both sides prefer this separation, and would much rather stick to their own world than be open to challenging their own views and perhaps changing or adjusting their convictions.

Finally, I think we need to acknowledge how difficult is it for human beings to change. Expecting a middle aged man/woman to change his/her ways is not realistic. Change is gradual. For immigrants to develop ownership to their new country and integrate with them and adjust their values and belief systems takes generations not years. Which can also indicate that maybe a big part of the problem may be resolved in time.

I think it's sad, how little progress has been made to understanding - not even solving - a problem that has been out there since as long as I can remember. You'd think the developed world would do a better job at handling their problems.

Love and Pride - two different things

I've finally been able to pin down exactly how I feel towards Egypt - given recent events.

I've realized that one does not have to be proud of something to love it. You can love something and still be very ashamed of it.

And while I love my country dearly and i feel frustration over its wasted potential, i am not very proud of it.

They say your true character shows only in difficult times. Time and time again we're faces with difficult situations, and we just throw it out of the park.

Historically, there are things that I am proud of, things that Egyptians a very very long time achieved, but since then have rotted in ignorance and apathy. Many of the great things we see today that bring national pride are works of non-Egyptians.
The Rosetta Stone may have been written by Egyptians, but was discovered by the French. The Metro system that has so far been sufficiently consistent is done by the French. The streets and squares of down town Cairo were mapped by the French. The railway system that is slowly decaying was done by the British - the 2nd railway built in the world! Even the Suez Canal was not built by us.

But if we put the past aside, what in today's modern word do I have to be proud of? Not much.
When Egyptians go on a mad riot frenzy and claim they want to declare a war on a country, because a bunch of hooligans allegedly attacked 20-something fans - i feel appalled, not proud. When the President of the country takes time from his schedule to mention it in his public televised speech, I feel sad, not happy.

More often than not, I am left ashamed at how we - Egyptians - handle ourselves.

Jimmy rolls up his sleeve, Mobi won't back down

Hold on to your seats everyone, it's about to get interesting!

The Ahram Newspaper is Egypt's leading newspaper, even though it's full of absolute Bullshit! It reports growth, when no body else does, it omits news that everyone should hear, and if you were on a deserted island and didn't know the state of the world today and only got Al Ahram Newspaper dropped from the sky every day, you'd think Egypt was in the G8.

Despite all of that you can get a lot of insight into what's happening in Egypt, even if you admittedly only read the headlines, & look at the pictures like yours truly.

Being mentioned in the Ahram newspaper is good - but where you're mentioned is what says a lot! You can be mentioned in the front page (Mubarak related news), page 3 (other worthy news), the middle pages (Egypt related news) or in the last page (a.k.a the seen and heard page)

Gamal Mubarak (aka Jimmy) was mentioned in the Ahram a lot over the past few years. Early on it was in the seen and heard page, then he jumped up to the middle section pages - news about his Party, the decisions he makes etc.

This week he has consistently been on Page 3! A nice upgrade for little Jim! He's made headlines on plenty of other places too - and has therefore become the latest topic by the watercooler! Jimmy is rolling up his sleeves and getting ready to take in the limelight.

Everyone thinks it's with the support of his loving father (aka Moby) but a look at the Ahram newspaper would show that Mr. Moby is none too happy about Jimmy's rise up the Ahram-page ladder. Every time there's an article about Gamal Mubarak's vision for the future, right next to him and even bigger one is showing Moby in full swing 'running' the country. Moby, whose news generally fill the first page, now fill the first and 3rd page as well.

Now, if you were trying to support your offspring's rise to the throne, wouldn't you take a step backward and let you boy take in some of the limelight?

If Moby truly wanted to pass down his throne to Jimmy, shouldn't he be sorting him out while he's still in power? Why leave it up in the air when Moby's number could be up any minute now? So he tested fate and tried for 5 more years - a risk i would call stupid when you're eighty something - you'd think he'd get wise and start easing Jimmy in before it's too late!

Based on the news coverage, this is not happening - and it looks like Jimmy's patience with his father has ran out and he's taken matters into his own hands.

It seems as though things are in fact going to get interesting...Moby vs. Jimmy is not what everyone expects, but it might just happen!

P.S. I found this on Masrawy just as i published this post - if you read Arabic check it out.

Summer hibernation - over!

Summer is finally O-V-E-R! I know it's still like 30-something degrees out there and the electricity bill is still triple its usual amount but it's Autumn now - move over summer!

It's also the end of Ramadan...

Now, let me take a moment and do a little happy dance...

Ok, i'm back!

Over the weekend I made some purchases: Pink Reebok's, Membership at club next to the office, cheap-but-funky-looking squash racket

Sunday I finished work and headed over to the Gym then hit the Squash courts. Monday morning I realized I have muscles in places i never knew. Tuesday morning did not feel any different. Today I was able to laugh without wincing with pain - and like the diligent person i pretend to be i'm heading over the gym & squash court again today.

TV has started again so my couch potato blog should be showing signs of life as soon as I finish my Lost marathon (man, Season 5 is good!)

Game on!

Scrabble nights have been happening for a while, even though they're not as frequent as they once were.

Lately Nis and I have had our asses handed to us by Adrian - who, much to Nisrin's dismay, happens to be Canadian!

So Adrian decided to help us and sent us this to help us beat him - it's funny:

Captain Jack is back!!

* happy dance

Great news from EW.com! Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On stranger tides

Now we have to wait till Summer 2011 - :(

AIESEC influence reaches the Oscars!

Apparently the Academy Awards have decided to rely on AIESECers to help them vote for the Best Motion Picture.

If you've ever been in a PAI election or a National election in AIESEC you'd instantly understand the system they've derived - in fact you'll think it makes complete sense. For others, it seems a little complex.

And given the fact that PWC is a big AIESEC Partner, and also the company that counts the ballots for the Academy Awards, i'm thinking my theory is not too far fetched.

Here's the new procedure according to ew.com:

"In the past, once the nominees were announced, Academy members voted only for the one film they thought should win the award, and the film with the most votes won. But with so many nominees next year, it’s feasible that a movie could have won Best Picture with only 11 percent of the vote, which seems crazy. So now, once the 10 nominees are named, voters will rank the films from 1 to 10. All the No. 1 votes will be counted, and if no film has more than 50 percent of the vote (which will certainly be the case), the last-place film will be eliminated and the voters who voted for that film will have their No. 2 votes counted instead. That process will continue until one film has a majority of the votes. As Pond points out, there is a chance that the film that ends up winning won’t actually have the most No. 1 votes, but will instead emerge the victor in the second, third, or fourth rounds. "

Now tell me that it's not an AIESECer who came up with this!