Egypt: The King Farouq Series

If you visited the Egyptian blogsphere these days, you might notice a buzz around the last Egyptian King Farouk; and no wonder, it's because “The king Farouk” series, written by Lamis Jabber, is broadcast on MBC1 satellite channel. You can guess from the title that the series is mainly focusing on King Farouk, presenting his personal life as well as the life style of Egyptians during his era.

The Big Pharaoh writes:

“After years of being tarnished, justice is being done to King Farouk. A splendid television series that started to air at the beginning of Ramadan almost accurately portrays the life of Egypt’s last monarch with its positives and its downfalls. The series has received very positive feedback especially the performance of the Syrian actor Taym Hasan who plays Farouk.”

Actually, you won’t find bloggers only writing their observations and reservations concerning the series, but also writing down comparisons between Egypt’s status now and then, especially if you knew that King Farouk left the country after the last armed Egyptian revolution, back on the 23rd of July, 1952.

Farida, another female Egyptian blogger wrote a detailed blog post entitled “The King and I.. and the revolution of the hungry” where she said:

 

في هذه الأيام.. أيامنا .. ايام عام 2007
يكثر الحديث بين الناس عن “الثوره” لأنه و كما تعلمون جميعا زيادة الأسعار صارت غير محتمله و غير مبرره
و الأوضاع تتردى من سيء الى أسوأ و الناس مشنوقه بمعنى الكلمه … و الجيل القديم قد علم أن ثورة 23 يوليو كانت مقلب و كل أهدافها لم تحقق
[…..]
مصر قبل الثورة كانت تزرع تصدر الآن تستورد لتأكل

During our current days in the year 2007, people talk a lot about a “revolution”, for as you know, prices became unbearable and the conditions are going from bad to worst; people are suffocating by the literal meaning of the word. And by now, the older generation knows that almost most of the July 23rd revolution’s goals weren’t achieved.
[…]
Egypt before the revolution used to plant and export, now it imports to eat.

 

المشكله أنه عندما تقوم ثورة الجياع ستقوم كثوره عشوائيه متخبطه لا هدف لها
ثورة 23 يولو كان لها هدف و جهه تحقق هذا الهدف
لكن ثورة الجياع أي جهة ستحقق مطالبها؟؟

The problem is that when the revolution of the hungry starts, it will be a random revolution with no purpose. The July 23 Revolution had a goal and a sector to achieve it but with this Revolution of the Hungry – who will fulfill its demands??

 

ما يلفت نظري حقا هو
كيف كان الملك فاروق بهذا الضعف و الطيبه والسذاجه .. ان خرج من مصر دون اراقة دم فرد واحد من الشعب
هل لأنه كما قالت لنا الثوره في كتب التاريخ .. كان خلاص الناس طهقت و كان لازم حيخرج و الجيش كان اقوى!!؟
أم لأن فاروق كان كما رسمته الدكتوره لميس جابر.. شخصيه ضعيفه مهزوزه.. اعتقد ان تلك رغبة المصريين فنفذها؟؟
أم لأنه الملك ملك ..و الظابط ظابط؟؟ ..

What makes me wonder, how can King Farouk who was weak, kind and naïve, be expelled out of Egypt without shedding a single citizen’s blood?
Is because –as written in history books- people were really fed up and he had to go out and the army was much stronger? Or was it because Farouk himself, and as how described by Lamis Jaber, a weak and hesitant person, believed it was the people’s wish so he fulfilled it?
Or was it because the king is king, and the officer is an officer?

3 comments

  • I Wanna Be a Beeh

    Ana ‘ayez eeh?
    Well, I wanna be a beeh:
    A guy seated in a high
    Chair, swinging my feet,
    Stroking my hair,
    Drinking all that’s sweet
    While my secretary smiles at me,
    Waves at me,
    Sings me Um Koultoum,
    Drives all the gloom
    Away from me.
    I wanna be a beeh
    With a moustache and a beard;
    A great guy to be feared
    At the office and in the car,
    Dazzling those who see me from afar.
    I wanna be a beeh
    With a great hanem,
    Great in shape like the women of Harlem,
    But gentle like an ape,
    Not like a Kheddewi hanem.
    I wanna be a beeh
    With a Havana cigar,
    With a Limousine car.
    I wanna have the look of a star.
    I wanna be a beeh
    Dearer than the gueneeh,
    Dearer than the charm of Nancy Ajram,
    Dearer than freedom
    For the detainees at Bagram.
    I wanna be a beeh
    In a grey suit and red tie,
    With a long stick and large purse,
    Making everyone look shy
    Like an impotent man
    In front of a nurse!
    Oh, but just tell me why :
    Why can’t I be that beeh?

  • Some Hasheesh?

    Afandem?
    Hasheesh walla Marijwana, Afandem?
    Both? Great!
    But just you wait:
    I’ll tell you a tale!
    As soon as you inhale hasheesh
    You’ll leave the daraweesh
    Beta’e baladna
    You will wanna
    Fly high, high,
    In the sky:
    You will see cars
    Dancing at
    Tahreer Square
    You will see bars
    Full of maids who don’t care
    Of their boss but do care of you!
    They will mourn the loss
    Of the smile they miss in you!
    You will hear them cry
    As you fly to Istanbul
    And there maids will come with their hands full
    Of Jasmine and full
    They’l l beg you to alight
    They’ll promise you every delight
    Bush and Blair will tear their hair
    Out of envy of you!
    But you will laugh
    And say that’s not enough!
    You’ll take Marijuana
    And leave for Botswana
    The King there will come out running
    You’ll hear him say: oh, how stunning
    The smell of Marijuana
    In my Botswana!
    He’ll take you into His palace
    You’ll imagine yourself in Dallas
    Having wine with the Ewings
    You’ll fly all over the Reunion Tower
    With no tail, no wings
    And when you wake
    You’ll take a shower
    And go back to work.

  • Maram gamal

    “King Farouk ” series deserves to be called an exquisite one as long as it corrects concepts that have been long mistaken by a certain generation as well as introduces another to an era they absoluetely knew nothing about.

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