By Miret el Naggar

By all accounts, Cairo's traffic is one of the worst in the world. I remember one of McClatchy's editors comparing Cairo to Mexico's crazy streets, with the conclusion that traffic in Cairo was still worse.

Yesterday i was stuck in one spot for about thirty minutes between three endless rows of cars that reached as far as I could see. Suddenly one car started honking, which of course sparked the rest of the drivers to go on a honking contest. Sitting in my car, with closed windows, and the radio playing music i could still clearly hear the roaring cars. Then finally the traffic police officer let us pass. (Traffic in Egypt doesn't function with traffic lights, but with police officers, who give the drivers signals to stop or proceed) If the officer had given the signal to the formula one racers, they wouldn't have sped off quicker. I battled with the other cars to remain in my lane and not be pushed off the road.

In many ways, Cairo's messy traffic is a mirror to its politics.

"The chaos on Cairo's streets is a result of the regime's tighter control, and the internal struggles between members of the ruling circle. This chaotic atmosphere transmitted a feeling of fear to Egyptians, who worry about their future," said Hussein Abdel Razek, member of the leftist al Tagammu opposition party in Al Badeel newspaper.

The state in recent months cracked down on members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition bloc in parliament, and arrested hundreds of them. Egypt's judges are fighting for more independence; civil rights institutions have been closed down; several journalists were fined and sentenced to prison terms for criticizing the regime; and most recently, workers in many government institutions went on strike in protest of low wages and not being paid due incentives and raises.

A satiric soap opera airing this month portrays a saggy plump 60-year-old mama's boy, whose mother doesn't let him take any decisions of his own. Analysts and viewers alike said the show presented the Egyptian people, who are also not able to take their own decisions, and prevented from doing so even if they wanted to.

"The series represents society, with its political and economic aspects. I see Hamada (the name of the character he plays) in many examples in Egyptian and Arab societies," Fakharany told Saudi newspaper Al Sharq Al Awsat