Editorial: A city like no other

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Ugliness is becoming, for Cairo is something of a Belle Laide. The entire city is dusted with an ochre grime. Perhaps, it is the most polluted place on earth, but it is Um Al-Dunia, The Mother of the Universe. It is big, boisterous and bustling. Its four and five lane boulevards are clogged with traffic, day and night. Nevertheless, it exudes a certain charm. The survival strategies of its inhabitants defies logic and reason.

Unobtrusive shantytowns, modestly hidden out of sight, are eyesores. Then there are the ecclesiastical districts -- both Muslim and Coptic Christian. Even the most expeditious trips to these sights leave some lasting memories.

Greater Cairo, incorporating three governorates, has a daytime population of about 20 million. The city has witnessed an influx of people from the rural backwaters of Upper Egypt and the Delta. New satellite cities have sprung up everywhere -- to the east and west of Greater Cairo. The satellite cities are mushrooming at an alarming rate -- nothing short of besieging the original city itself. Indeed, a complex situation has arisen.

A new map of the city must be drawn. There are simply far too many people to be accommodated within the confines of Cairo -- the African continent's largest metropolis. A natural reaction to these problems is perhaps to reminisce gloomily about Cairo and all Africa.

The city is unsightly, yet it exudes a certain ethereal beauty that is irresistible. Cairo, like some pressure cooker, and Cairenes are at pains coping with internal pressures and counter pressures. Be that as it may, Cairo is literally a city of thousands of minarets. It is rather difficult, however, to contemplate Cairo as a spiritual haven. Even though one would often find people praying in the streets especially on Fridays, the people of Cairo appear to be perpetually grappling with the mundane.

Religious questions have for many millennia led to deposition and death of many Egyptians, indeed since the days of the pharaohs.

The following pages of this issue of Beyond give something of a keen insight into the heart of turbulent, contemporary Cairo from the viewpoint of professionals deeply involved in the state of affairs of the city. Theirs is a conscious effort to reconcile the past with the present. And, an army of experts assisted by the layman and woman must now cut through the old and mould the city anew.