Camels in Egypt - not what you expect

This is my first blog post. Therefore, instead of starting it off with something heavy and analytical, I thought that I would relate a little piece of info which one of my professors related to my class this evening. Knowledge of it would make one sound quite clever during dinner-time conversations.

Most of us have been glued to our television screens watching the clashes between pro and anti-Mubarak demonstrators. One of the more memorable scenes has been that of camel riders charging into Tahrir Square and attacking the demonstrators assembled peacefully there. To my professor, this is definite proof that the pro-Mubarak demonstrators are in the pay of the Egyptian government.

In Egypt, apart from the Bedouins roaming the Sinai Peninsula, the only people to ride camels are the touts who station themselves outside the Pyramids. They make a living by luring unsuspecting tourists into mounting their camels and proceeding to extract large sums of money from them. These touts, contrary to popular belief, are not native Egyptians. They were brought in by Napoleon when he invaded Egypt (presumably for their camel riding skills) and subsequently established a niche for themselves providing camel rides for Western tourists to the Pyramids, which they have passed down from generation to generation.

In modern Egypt, all tourism is controlled by the government, meaning that the camel riders somehow end up in the pay of Mubarak. Therefore, they are loyal to the government. In the wake of the demonstrations, there has been little tourism, meaning that these touts have no income. It is therefore rather easy for government security forces to get them to ride into the demonstrators in a show of support for Mubarak – all for a price, of course.

Incidentally, my professor is a character. She teaches a course on Arabic culture, and is one of the finest Islamic scholars of her generation, with an impressive academic pedigree, as she studied under some of the greatest professors of Islamic studies in Europe. She comes into class every week pushing a shopping trolley as a zimmer frame, which she somehow acquired from the nearest Safeway. Being a proud German (and thus a descendant of the Goths), her eyes light up every time she talks of barbarians and suchlike.