tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22261571.post4966577012390000263..comments2024-03-20T01:06:12.181-04:00Comments on MEI Editor's Blog: Huffington Post on the Bars of Cairo? Actually, Worth a Read and it Reminds Me of a Story...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22261571.post-91515790659558447292009-03-09T11:18:00.000-04:002009-03-09T11:18:00.000-04:00True as far as it goes, Tom, but many of the old b...True as far as it goes, Tom, but many of the old bars survived at least into the 1980s in those neighborhoods by simply changing th word "bar" to "cafeteria" (in Arabic) and/or erecting a screen behind which the alcohol was served. Also I know that some of the bars in Bulaq and Faggala simply got hold of tourist posters of the pyramids, in English or French, and put them on the walls. Voila: a tourist area.Michael Collins Dunnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07398326467953722017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22261571.post-46263682693967132902009-03-08T21:24:00.000-04:002009-03-08T21:24:00.000-04:00Michael, if I remember correctly, a lot of these b...Michael, if I remember correctly, a lot of these bars were casualties of the government's effort to be a little bit pregnant on the subject of alcohol. You remember at that time Sadat was rehabbing the Brotherhood and encouraging Islamist students in an effort to stave off criticism from the left, but it was a bit difficult to claim to be running a Muslim state when the government owned the breweries and distilleries, which Nasser has nationalized. So Sadat got the People's Assembly to ban alcohol except in tourst locations, which Bulaq and Shubra definitely were not. <BR/>Tom LippmanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com