 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 May 1999 Issue No. 429 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
 |
 |
|
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 May 1999 Issue No. 429
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
|
|
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Books Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Stiff upper lip
By Salama Ahmed Salama
A major British newspaper recently published a giant cartoon showing Egyptian billionaire Mohamed El-Fayed as a cowering dog being told off by British Home Secretary Jack Straw, who refused to grant him British nationality. The cartoon is intended to portray the humiliating position in which El-Fayed has chosen to place himself, but also speaks eloquently of the conditions imposed on outsiders seeking acceptance into British public life.
I should say from the start that the two deserve each other. Mohamed El-Fayed deserves to have his third application for British nationality rejected, and the British deserve to have someone with the "talents" and "capabilities" of El-Fayed expose the hypocrisy, racism and corruption of British society.
Mohamed El-Fayed spent 35 years of his life in Britain, and chose to invest his money and savings in that country. He has provided job opportunities, paid his taxes and has always considered Britain his preferred country of residence. He also imitates British upper-class life-styles, seeking to be "one of them" in every respect. He has even been photographed wearing a kilt. He bought Harrods, which to the British is almost as sacred as the crown, after a fierce battle with his "friend" and rival Tiny Rowland. But he failed to convince the British he was an upright British subject, although many immigrants from Asia, East Europe or the West Indies have found a home in Britain.
The secret behind it all -- no secret at all. Mohamed El-Fayed allowed himself to use the same devious methods used by British ruling-class politicians and businessmen to achieve their aims. He used his money in gifts and bribes, big and small, to Members of Parliament in order to ask questions in the House on his behalf and to obtain the cooperation of certain ministers. This is nothing strange in British political life, and it was just such practices that led to several ministers leaving the Blair government in past months.
El-Fayed's problem is that he never held his tongue or respected the rules of the game. He did not pass up a single opportunity to splash scandal all over the newspapers. He stopped at nothing; one of the reasons his nationality application was turned down during the John Major era was that he sent a letter to the prime minister that reeked of blackmail.
On the other hand, El-Fayed tried to prove he was a worthy British subject by donating millions to charities and participating in worthwhile civic activities. He even bought a famous football club, Fulham, but all this did not help.
His determination to become one with the British upper class put a lot of people on the defensive. The love story between Diana and his son Dodi, which he tried to exploit to his advantage, seems to have greatly increased the feelings of hate and outrage harboured by British society against him. This was aggravated further when, in the wake of the car crash that killed the couple, he accused the royal family and the secret service of complicity.
The British press howled for his blood, never passing up an opportunity to attack his reputation. Some papers pointed sarcastically to his attempt to "ennoble" himself by adding "El" to his name. This, of course, shows only the ignorance of the British press. But nothing discouraged El-Fayed. He even took the home secretary to court. To the British public, the problem was not his failure to obtain nationality, but his insistence on using all the methods at his disposal.
The British public, while it welcomes his millions, considers him "amusing" -- one of the myriad things the upper classes find amusing -- but they hate him for trying to become one of them. In other words, they love to hate him. And that is why he will never be more than the cartoon character -- an unruly dog in Blair's garden.
