Good Evening, Egypt! — A Satirical Reform in the Name of Patriotism

In an effort to recover part of the colossal expenses spent on constructing the Grand Egyptian Museum and hosting its lavish, almost mythical inauguration ceremonies — expenses that have further inflated the country’s debt — it is expected that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi will introduce a major revision to his old patriotic campaign “Say Good Morning to Egypt with One Pound.”


According to the new plan, the initiative will be updated to reflect the collapse of the Egyptian pound’s value in recent years and renamed “Say Good Evening to Egypt with Ten Pounds.”


Under this reform, the daily donations “for the love of Egypt” will be automatically deducted from citizens’ bank accounts through the Visa cards used for their salaries and pensions.


As for those not employed by the government — private-sector workers and the self-employed — officials are reportedly studying “alternative ways to shake them down.”



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Explanation for the Foreign Reader


This satirical piece parodies Egypt’s familiar state-led fundraising slogans, in which citizens are asked to financially “support” the country through small, symbolic payments.


The joke operates on economic and linguistic irony:


The phrase “Good Morning, Egypt” was once used by Sisi to urge citizens to donate one pound each day for national progress.


The updated version, “Good Evening, Egypt with Ten Pounds,” mocks both the plummeting currency value and the endless governmental appeals for money disguised as patriotic duty.



The satire exposes:


1. The absurdity of forced patriotism, where love of country is measured by automatic bank deductions.



2. The bureaucratic greed and tone-deaf populism of a system that treats citizens as a financial resource to be “shaken” rather than served.



3. The bitter humor in the line “thinking of a way to shake them down”, which redefines fiscal policy as legalized extortion




The piece thus reads like an official economic announcement but functions as a darkly comic critique of Egypt’s authoritarian populism, financial mismanagement, and the farcical performance of “national generosity.”

elnadim satire


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