Ww1 postcards egypt/ racist to say the least

[dragnet]

Picked these up this morning , printed in Egypt during WW1, dated 1916. All seem to have a close to the knuckle if not racist humour, i suppose the time frame has to be taken into account .Pete.

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[ROBB]

Can't see anything racist , just Egyptian humour drawn by Egyptians for the tourist market , though I am not sure why the Aussie is whacking the shoe shine boy and telling him to get out ? thats a mystery . Rob

[dragnet]

Can't see anything racist , just Egyptian humour drawn by Egyptians for the tourist market , though I am not sure why the Aussie is whacking the shoe shine boy and telling him to get out ? thats a mystery . Rob

Hi Rob, my comment on racist was the way the characters are drawn, i couldnt see this sort of drawing been accepted today and the postcards are drawn for the allied market and pandering to their expectations. Notice how the allies are drawn. Racist in my title might be pushing it a bit far as you mentioned . Pete.
p.s. What i do find interesting is the swagger sticks being sold and the Jewish character selling the patriotic silk...

[peter monahan]

Oh, they're racist alright! The tenor of the times, as someone has already pointed out. here in Canada such drawings would be, today, completely unacceptable. Sadly, in many cases that only means that the beliefs ands sentiments these illustrate have gone underground, to be voiced only when one is sure of the company. Sold by Egyptians, sure, but to British Imperial troops!

The shoeshine boy is bothering the soldier, so clearly a punch in the face is a perfectly appropriate response! He's only a Wog, after all!

Peter

[byterock]

Etla Barra. Funny things haven't changes much. The was the first few Arabic words I learned way back in 82.

'Sod off' would be a be a better translation IMHO.

Caracol if memory serves me correctly as the police headquarter in Alexandria.


The Tar and Highlander are the one's leading the poor 'Miss' astray (who else??) from her (Eunuch?) minder. Sort of an off comment on the bad behavior of such rif-raft.

In all it sort of shows how the westerner where seen as well (out to defile women), Beating up a harmless shoe-shiner, arresting small children and taking the away. (The police in Alexandria where British employed Black Africans)

[Dave Alexander]

Can't see anything racist , just Egyptian humour drawn by Egyptians for the tourist market , though I am not sure why the Aussie is whacking the shoe shine boy and telling him to get out ? thats a mystery . Rob

Egyptian? The artist, V. Manavian was Armenian and the printer P. Coustoulidis was Greek. Alexandria was and is a cosmopolitan city and I can see these being strictly for sale to the white Commonwealth troops.

[MG34NZ]

The following is an extract from a letter I have dated 9th dec 1914,written by a NZ soldier to his mother,I saved it from going to the rubbish tip a couple of weeks ago! its a six page letter describing the trip from New Zealand on the "Arawa"to Alexandria up to entering Camp at Zeitoun.It gives an insight as to why the soldier is kicking the shoe shine boy out of the way and how the "natives" were perceived .The letter is a wonderful insight from a soldiers prospective.The soldier who wrote this came off a farm in a small rural area close to where I live so it would have been a real eye opener for him.He was shot through both legs two or three weeks after the Gallipoli landings (machine gunned) and invalided back to NZ on the "Tahiti" which coincidentally was part of the convoy my Grand Father went over on.
MG34NZ

"We arrived in Alexandria at six in the morning 3rd Dec and had to wait our turn to get into the wharf. When we pulled in, there were trains there ready to go to Cairo with the troops that were disembarked. The trains here go very fast and it is a very fine service too. We got off our boat and had a march round the town by our officers, owing to the fact that about 150 men rushed off the boat without leave. On the Friday I went all round the town with a mate and you would hardly credit the sights we saw. It was very dirty in the slums and the immorality there was something awful, there were girls of all nationalities in shops every few yards. The Police are Egyptian and they are a fine body of men too. The natives are a great pest and you have to kick them out of your road or else they would swarm around you in hundreds. They were unloading the boats in hundreds with non.coms in charge and it was funny to see them working. They are not anywhere of a comparison with the Maoris, you must show them you are boss. The cabbies are very rough on horses and gallop the life out of them".