The People of the City

 New York City has been always this city where people are rushing, and running to catch something. Work, or study, or an important appointment, it depends. People would always hold the subway door fro closing, in order to get into the moving subway. Someone would in your everyday hit your shoulder or leg without even saying sorry. It is a tough city, and people are always rushing towards something.  January 2021, I arrived back to NYC after the start of the pandemic -covid-19- in March 2020. Today I was in the subway, suddenly I heard the subway voice and I ran down the stairs in order to catch it. Two persons were standing there, and they gave me strange looks. I realized then, after getting into the subway, that no one is rushing anyone in the city. No one is holding doors, very few people are on the platform. The chairs are always empty, 20% of each car would be busy. While all the other chairs are empty. No one is standing, no one is standing to the opening do...

 January 2021, I walk into the streets of Brooklyn, hoping to reach out to a store to buy a phone. The breeze was cold, I could not feel my legs and I realized how my body forgot the cold of the city. I walk into the neighborhood that I am new for, looking at the people who walk here and there, all wearing masks that cover half of their faces. It is very hard to recognize how they look like, but you can smell the sorrow.  I reached the store, a man from inside the store opened the door that was locked and said to me: "I am sorry miss, but you will have to wait here outside, because of covid-19 situation, we have too many people inside the store". With a big smile I answered: "yes sure, no sorries are needed, thanks for letting me know". I waited for sometime until someone came out of the store, and the same man, who is an employee, who actually serve the clients, came again and asked me to enter and point at a spot where I should stand and wait.   I san...

  From Community Participation to Forced Eviction in the Maspero Triangle Published in TIMEP on June 14th, 2018 https://timep.org/commentary/analysis/from-community-participation-to-forced-eviction-in-the-maspero-triangle/  Early one morning during Ramadan in September 2008, a mass of rock collapsed in the Cairo neighborhood of Dewe’a , leaving more than 130 people dead under the rubble. The devastation was such that the government was unable to retrieve the bodies for burial, and immediately decided to establish a unit responsible for issues related to so-called “slums.” The Informal Settlement Development Fund (ISDF) was established and began to work late 2008, starting with relocating all residents of unsafe areas nationally. Following international criteria set by the United Nations Human Settlements Program (U.N.-Habitat), the ISDF classified more than 400 areas as unsafe, based on four degrees of threats : location in a flood pathway, unsuitabl...

  Visions or Illusions? State Development Plans and Violence in al-Warraq Published in TIMEP on August 3rd, 2017 https://timep.org/commentary/analysis/visions-or-illusions-state-development-plans-and-violence-in-al-warraq/  Sayed Hassan al-Gezawy, better known as Sayed Tafshan, was killed on July 16, 2017, in clashes that started between security forces and the residents of al-Warraq in Egypt’s Giza governorate. Residents of the Nile island had been shocked that morning to find that security forces were starting to tear down houses while some residents were at work. Demonstrations started in an attempt to prevent the demolition of the homes, and security forces started to use tear gas. After hours of violence between the residents and security forces, one civilian—Sayed—was dead, and 59 people were injured, including 31 members of the police force. Nine residents were arrested and jailed for 15 days, accused of fomenting chaos, possessing weapons, a...