DownWithTyranny!: "A man, a plan, a canal, Pana-" . . . oops, wrong canal!

Possibly there's a school of thought somewhere which holds that all canals look pretty much the same. But you don't have to be a canal whiz to know that this sure doesn't look like the Suez Canal. Why, it looks more like, like . . . .

"The man [the head of the Egyptian postal authority] didn't notice that the stamps show greenery on both sides of the canal while the Suez Canal runs in the middle of the desert!"

-- Amr Adeeb, host of TV's Cairo Today

by Ken

In fairness, Amr Adeeb, perhaps the gentleman in question, the one who "didn't notice that the stamps show greenery on both sides of the canal while the Suez Canal runs in the middle of the desert," was simply under the impression that Egypt's current ~~military strongman~~ President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi had formally decreed that the Suez Canal is now lined on both sides with greenery.

As we were noting just recently, the Finnish postal people seem to have gotten everything triumphantly right with their stamps honoring legendary homoerotic artist Tom of Finland; they've been overwhelmed with worldwide demand for the stamps.

You'd think there would be even more to celebrate with the Suez Canal, especially now that it's undergoing a dramatic expansion that will include the digging of a brand-new 45-mile channel. Alas, the path to Suez Canal stamphood encountered a wee glitch. Somebody seems to have gone to Google Images, typed in "canal," and downloaded the first image that came up.

Hmm, doesn't this canal look familiar?

Hint: This particular canal comes in handy if you want to sail your ship between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans without having to circle all the way around the southern tip of South America and making that perilous connection. (The Suez Canal has only the most tangential connection to the Atlantic Ocean, out the opposite end of the Mediterranean Sea, and has the entire Indian Ocean between it and the Pacific.)

When images of the about-to-be-issued stamps were circulated online, it didn't take long for international social-media users to cry foul. Our pal Mai Armstrong, tireless blogger for the Working Harbor Committee, flagged this oopsie-daisy on the WHC blog, drawing on this post from Gulf News:

Oops! Suez Canal stamps showcase Panama Canal
Mix-up has in the past few days been the butt of sharp criticism on local TV stations

By Ramadan Al Sherbin i Gulf News Correspondent

CAIRO -- Egyptian postal authorities have halted the official launch of stamps commemorating a new waterway after they were found to have mistakenly featured an image resembling the Panama Canal.

The state-run Egypt Post drew online rebuke and sarcasm after the stamps were leaked. The controversial stamps show a map of the Suez Canal and its building along with an image of a green area in which a two-lane waterway is seen looking like the Panama Canal that links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The mix-up has in the past few days been the butt of sharp criticism on local TV stations and from artists.

“This is an extraordinary scandal!” said celebrated TV host Amr Adeeb on his popular show Cairo Today. “The head of the postal authority must be sacked or step down to show regret over this disgrace. The man didn’t notice that the stamps show greenery on both sides of the canal while the Suez Canal runs in the middle of the desert!”

To Mohammad Abla, a prominent artist, the blunder is “an artistic, ethical and legal crime”.

“Stamps are very important because they publicise the country that issues them. This crime shows that those carrying out such designs at the postal authority are bureaucrats.”

Urgent investigation

He added it showed their “cronies lacked professionalism.”

The Ministry of Telecommunications, of which Egypt Post is an affiliate, said it would open an urgent investigation into the incident.

Meanwhile, Egypt Post admitted the mix-up in what it called an “initial design”. “The initial design of the stamps will be revised and modified so that the new stamps will be officially launched in the next few days,” the agency said in a statement.

The stamps are aimed to celebrate a 72-kilometre-long waterway, which Egypt is building parallel to the existing Suez Canal.

The route, launched by President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi, is part of a multi-billion-dollar project to develop the Suez Canal zone and establish Egypt as a major global trade and industrial hub. It features the establishment of facilities for refuelling and repairing ships, a high-technology hub, and plants for chemicals, lumber, textiles and car assemblage, resorts and vast expansion of land reclamation in the area.