Homeless in Cairo

Homeless in Cairo, Egypt: in her arthritic hands & etched face, but mostly in the deep-set, grieving eyes of this elderly woman we see everything condemnable about military rule in Egypt. She lives & sleeps alongside thousands of other Egyptians in an ancient cemetery called the City of the Dead because in a military dictatorship bankrolling the agencies of repression & tyranny are more important than housing. When you look at her face, you understand why people are out protesting the candidacy of Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak’s prime minister & right hand man, & why they burned his campaign headquarters to the ground. The military’s theatrics of sending Mubarak to jail for life (until they find an excuse to spring him) is belied by the temerity & insularity of putting one of his henchmen up for office instead of prosecuting him. (Photo by Khalil Hamra/AP)