The article “Sinai explodes into violence after years of chronic poverty and opted to vent their alienation” by Harriet Sherwood in the Guardian reveals the dangers that can arise in cases of inequality in poverty levels (Sherwood, 2012). This is article is critical as it reflected various aspects of alienation and highlighted a scenario that was on significantly on the news globally. In essence, the article depicts the extensive levels of alienation and its prevalence. In the article, alienation is witnessed various ways and at various levels with both the poor and the wealthy or middles class feeling indifferent from the other in one way or the other. For instance, while residents from the northern region of Sinai felt less important because of being neglected by the Egyptian government, the wealthy also felt alienated against when the northern residents anger on them and not the government.
The aforementioned article presents a situation that gives evidence to scenarios that can arise when people are extremely disgruntled about poverty that is especially caused due the lack of financial attention from the responsible institutions. For instance, the residents of the northern Sinai suffered severely from neglect by the government despite being part of a progressive nation. Some of the issues they faced due to the neglect were severe under-investment of the education, transport and health sectors that further encouraged great levels of poverty. As such, this made them feel indifferent. The fact that investments in the regions of Bedouin and Terabeen where the poor mostly reside did not consider the locals, further aggravated matters (Sherwood, 2012). Thus, the attack meant to have them vent their anger while deeming anyone not experiencing their pain as their enemies thus attacking them with no remorse.
The story manifests alienation in various ways while also highlighting the dangers of alienation. For one, while being citizens of Egypt thus viable to receive all forms of incentives and developmental measures from the government such as investments, the residents of Bedouin and Terbeen are neglected in matters development. Also, while there exist continuous development initiatives in Bedouin area since the 1990s, proprietors and owners neglect the locals when job opportunities arise opting to find personnel elsewhere thus making the residents become disgruntled (Sherwood, 2012). Government agencies such as the Egyptian tourism authority also reportedly do not consider the concerns or perspectives of the people while making vital decisions concerning the area like the allocation of land to investors. In the event of the attack, wealthy people who were also attacked felt alienated by being robbed yet it was not them that neglected people from the region but the government.
The situation in the region, however, has been gradual with the people of Bedouin being extremely confined with their rights curtailed by the government (ABU‐LUGHOD, 2012). Despite violence not being present and the region relatively peaceful, the Mubarak regime ensured the Bedouin were silenced and having not to do or say anything (Frisch, 2013). In effect, this encouraged more poverty thus more disgruntlement in the region that encouraged further feelings of indifference. The Bedouin and their counterparts being the major victims are thus made vulnerable to many other situations such as robbery by alienation. The vulnerability has significantly affected them by encouraging them to engage in worse measures such as attacks and robberies that have even the more worsened their situation.
In conclusion, while alienation mainly triggers one to feel indifferent in a community, it can encourage even worse scenarios. The fact that the people of the northern Sinai were alienated against by not being provided with incentives led to extreme poverty levels in the situations. Together with neglect from the government and the chronic poverty levels the people of the northern Sinai went on a rampage attacking and robbing anyone outside their community a sign that they felt significantly indifferent from the rest in the nation. Thus, it warrants suggesting that alienation can have adverse consequences if not reviewed and that it is even more prevalent outside North America.
Bibliography
ABU‐LUGHOD, L. I. L. A. (2012). Living the “revolution” in an Egyptian village: Moral action in a national space. American Ethnologist, 39(1), 21-25.
Frisch, H. (2013). The Egyptian Army and Egypt's ‘Spring’. Journal of Strategic Studies, 36(2), 180-204.
Sherwood, H. (2012). Sinai explodes into violence after years of chronic poverty and alienation. The Guardian.
