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[wael_nawara]

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The Facebook Wall++

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Once upon a time,
a time when the great clock blinked
then dozed off
and took a short nap,
a fraud of a monk
presided over the Temple.

He wanted to prove his loyalty
to his Master, the King
and his Mistress, the Queen
who undeservingly, appointed him to that high post.

He searched for what could bring joy to his master's heart
and asked everyone.
In his search he learned
and observed
that what really pleases his masters beyond belief,

is when his master sees his own images
and those of the queen
and the crown prince
carved on the stones of great temples,

painted on the Walls of every building
and when he hears his words
resounding in every corner of the Kingdom
honored like holy gospel
and specially when the limited accomplishments
achieved during his reign
are blown out, inflated,
into gigantic miracles and unprecedented victories.

So, the Monk set out an enormous campaign
to build walls, temples and statues
glorifying his master and the Royal Family,
carrying his images
reciting his words.

But the people observed that things were getting from bad to worse.
The hardships were becoming insurmountable.
Bread became scarce.
And the Laws of Ma'at were no longer enforced
except when a poor man is punished
for stealing bread from the wealthy or powerful.

So, the People of the Two Lands, decided to go to the King
to raise their grievances to his royal ears.

But the bad monk and his assistants
stood in their way
and scolded them.

And the Monk announced
that the Two Lands never had before witnessed
such a great and just king
and that His reign was but a path
of successive achievements and victories.

The people were very frustrated
but were determined that their complaints must be heard.

So, they decided to build a wall facing the palace of the King
where they could write their grievances,
complaints,
demands,
and stories,
which tell of what had happened
and what did not
but should have.

And soon the wall facing the palace
became full of writings of every sort.
It became like a giant book.
So, the people called it
the Facebook!

The Monk was enraged.
He wanted to demolish the wall on the spot
so that no one could see the people's complaints,
many of which were incriminating corruption within the very walls of the temple,
upon which he undeservedly presided.

But the Monk could not knock down the wall
without causing an angry uproar.
Because Egyptians glorified any wall with writings or symbols on it
for they considered the craft of hieroglyphs and the written word
a sacred and holy gift from the Gods.


So, the Monk, devised an evil plan
to achieve his ignoble purpose.
He claimed that the Great God Himself
came to him in a vision while he was asleep

and informed him of an evil plot drawn by the enemies of Egypt
whereby they would use agitators and protesters
to drive the lands into an upheaval,
thus causing chaos and facilitating the enemy's conquest

and that the Great God in his wisdom
told him that he must set up a competent commission
with many watchful eyes
empowered by Ma'at to scrutinize any writings or signs of any kind
especially those scribed on the Facebook.

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So, what will the people do?
Will they let the Monk get way with this evil scheme
which threatens to deprive them of the only means to express themselves?

Or will they remove the fraudulent Monk, banish him from his office
and demand that the King must listen to their plea and restore Ma'at justice throughout the land?

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++ This piece was first written in Arabic within a Campaign which was launched to protect e-Freedom when it was leaked that a proposed law was drafted in Egypt to control blogs and the Internet. The proposed law would make it possible to imprison bloggers if the authorities deemed published e-content objectionable. A similar law has now been introduced in Jordan.