If you visited the Egyptian blogsphere these days, you might notice a buzz around the last Egyptian King Farouk [1]; and no wonder, it's because “The king Farouk” series, written by Lamis Jabber, is broadcast on MBC1 [2] 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 [3] 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 [4], 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?