Abstract
On July 12, 2013, two days into the holy month of Ramadan, I received an invitation to break the fast with Kareem and Islam, two 19-year-old middle-class Egyptians living near downtown Cairo. With both about to commence public university courses, they were enjoying their “freedom“ before the degree began. The place of choice was McDonalds. This same evening a demonstration was planned in Tahrir by Tamarod—the anti-Morsi rebel campaign—to show support for the military-backed overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi. However, rather than joining the protesters in Tahrir, or indeed the pro-Muslim Brotherhood protesters in Nasr City, most evenings during this tumultuous summer were spent hanging out in this as well as other symbolically “cosmopolitan” spaces. I came to learn that for these middle-class youth, the act of being present in spaces perceived to be frequented by Cairo’s elite facilitated a feeling of social elevation, a feeling that their ambitious global dreams could one day be realized. Their active choice to disengage from the contentious politics unfolding on the streets outside, choosing instead to focus their attention on the performance of “cosmopolitanism“ is important to voice, understand, and render politically significant.
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Notes
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© 2015 Fawaz A. Gerges
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Pettit, H. (2015). “Iftar” in Mcdonald’s’: the Everyday Encroachment of Cairo’s Subaltern Cosmopolitans. In: Gerges, F.A. (eds) Contentious Politics in the Middle East. Middle East Today. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137530868_22
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