Egypt: The brainwashing regime

By AHMED MELIGY
First of all, I want to express my infinite gratitude to all of my good friends who promote peace for supporting my decision to face my unfair trial and not choose the easy way out by escaping to the US or Israel for safety from my Egypt`s government.
George Santayana once said "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it." One of the many reasons that made me travel through Europe last summer studying the Holocaust and visiting the death camps and memorials, is that I was determined to learn from the past so I can understand today`s reality of what is happening around me in this world we are living in.
(The wire fence of Dachua - the first Nazi death camp in Germany, built in 1933)
One of the many important lessons that I have learned during this search for truth was how the Nazi used propaganda tactics to control the hearts and minds of their people, making them follow them blindly with a smile. Then, after WWII Stalin and the Soviet Union used the same play book the Nazis invented that resulted in the killing and imprisonment of millions of Soviets.
With great sadness in my heart, my Egypt is going on exactly  the same path of manipulation and brainwashing - at very scary levels - that makes Egyptians report one another to the police and accuse each other of treason.
For example, back in 2012 the state TV launched a video warning the Egyptians to be very careful around foreigners claiming that those westerners were here for information and not tourism. I don't know who the brilliant government official was who signed for such a video that would do nothing but harm my Egypt`s economy, because a country like my Egypt used to have tourism as a primary resource of hard currency that created over four million jobs.
The Egyptian people sadly became very paranoid towards each other and towards all foreigners. An Egyptian citizen in the subway station overheard a brother and sister speaking in English, prompting him to run to the police to report these alleged English-speaking spies. The police then did "a mighty fine job" of arresting the English-speaking Egyptians, the siblings were lucky to be released because they had British nationality.
The increase of citizen accusations against unsuspecting foreigners included one that led to the brief detention of a prominent French journalist last November who was speaking to two Egyptians in a downtown Cairo coffee shop. A woman in the cafe screamed after hearing their conversation in English and Arabic and reported them to nearby security forces who came to "protect and serve" against the said evil foreigners.
Add this tp the arrest of a 21-years-old man whose only crime was posting on Facebook that he had became an atheist. This Facebook post lead to a three-year jail sentence.
To summarize the current situation, the Sisi military regime has succeeded in putting the fear of God in the hearts of my people by silencing them in their homes, coffee shops and even on social media.
These incidents compromise an exact match of the operations of the Nazis and the Soviets encouraging their own people to report one another and readily accuse anyone with treason.
Sadly this is the Sisi military regime who claimed an election win by 96%, when God himself couldn't get the same numbers.
So again, I will finish this article reiterating  the same quote that I started with. George Santayana: "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it." From a sad heart I pray to Allah to have mercy on us and my Egypt.
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