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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 January 2000 Issue No. 463 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 January 2000 Issue No. 463
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Heritage Millennium Features Profile Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Harvest of a hundred years
By Mustafa El-Fiqi *
The 20th century was a century of tragedy and strife, of peace and reconciliation. It was a century of momentous strides in science and technology, with enormous repercussions on the quality of our lives. The theory of relativity triggered the race to plunge to sub-atomic depths and to probe the frightful potential of nuclear fission, as well as the race to soar into the vast reaches of outer space. It brought Stalin, De Gaulle, Churchill, and Mao, but also Einstein and Charlie Chaplin, who had the charisma to sway the hearts and minds of generations.
Perhaps the major unifying development of this century has been the emergence of the US as a global political, economic and military power. From President Wilson's Fourteen Points, presented at the Versailles Conference in the wake of World War I, to the American claim to lead the free world in the aftermath of World War II, the US has become the major determinant in international relations. Despite its debacles in Korea and Vietnam, besides other foreign policy failures, the US has emerged as the virtually unrivalled leader of international affairs.
Of course, this development cannot be discussed without mentioning the applications of Marxist socialist ideology in communist systems that radically altered the relationship of the individual to the state. The rise and fall of applied communist ideology took up more than 70 years of this century, during most of which time the world was divided into two ideological camps.
Another remarkable development was the success of the peoples of Africa, Latin America and Asia in throwing off the shackles of colonialism. The national liberation movement came to fruition worldwide in the second half of this century and was crowned by the creation of the Non-Aligned Movement. The addition of so many newly independent nations to the international community, moreover, has given impetus to the drive to democratise international relations.
Perhaps the most significant paradox of this century, however, is the fact that it brought humanity both an unprecedented capacity to destroy itself and a universal drive to organise the preservation of international peace. This century of violence has also brought intensive international efforts to regulate international relations, and the first definitive body of universal human rights instruments. Thus, if the 20th century was the century of polarisation, double standards and ethnic cleansing, it was also the century of civil liberties, human rights and the enshrinement of the principle of equality.
For the Arabs, the 20th century brought trouble and turmoil as well as prosperity and progress. It witnessed the creation of Israel and the discovery of petroleum, both in the heart of the Arab world. It brought systematic attempts to partition the Arab nation, but also the end of colonial occupation. It began with the rise of pan-Arabism and ended, particularly after the Gulf War, with the race to join the international community.
All the national liberation movements of the Arab world during the second half of this century derived a major element of their legitimacy from their stance with regard to Israel. In that sense, its very presence in this region was a primary determinant of the policies of international powers and non-Arab regional nations, such as Iran, Turkey and the Horn of Africa.
Ironically, the oil boom had an adverse affect on the notion of Arab unity because of the sensitivities it generated between oil-rich and oil-poor. The enormous disparity in the distribution of wealth between Arab countries, in large part resulting from the discovery of petroleum, was the major obstacle to economic integration and pan-Arab unification. The existence of this lucrative but non-renewable resource has generated such anxieties that oil rich nations have been fully prepared to appeal to outside assistance to ensure its protection.
The 20th century, for the Arabs, was an era of nationalism. Nationalist aspirations fed the move to join the allied powers in World War I to drive the Ottoman Sultanate out of the Levant. These aspirations eventually gave rise to the Baathist and Nasserist movements. Nasser deserves credit for embodying the Arab dream during a certain period in this region's history. That the Nasser era ended in painful circumstances for himself, his country and the Arab world as a whole does not diminish his stature in 20th century Arab history. Nasser made the call to Arab nationalism a potent force that catapulted Egypt to the political center of the Arab world.
Egypt has displayed the diverse and conflicting influences of the world around it for the past hundred years. During World War II, Ali Maher and Aziz El-Masri stood for a trend sympathetic to fascism, complete with attempts to imitate it in form, if not in substance. The Young Egypt Party was led by Ahmed Hussein, whose My Faith was inspired by Mein Kampf. Yet, the Young Egypt movement was first and foremost an exponent of the national liberation movement, eschewing the Nazis' odious espousal of national chauvinism and fascist state terrorism.
The rise of political Islam, too, marked the century. Its most prominent exponent, the Muslim Brotherhood, was founded in 1928 by Hassan El-Banna. The Brotherhood's role in the Egyptian nationalist movement between 1919 and 1952 is irrefutable. To El-Banna and his followers, however, Egypt's Arab identity was only one dimension of its Islamic identity, and it was in the spirit of Muslim rather than Arab solidarity that Brotherhood members volunteered in the 1948 War.
For Egypt, the century has been unique: a century of great heights and dismal lows, a century during which the population tripled, eating away at the benefits of economic growth and wreaking havoc in many aspects of daily life. It was a century of immense cultural and intellectual transformation, a century that opened with the death of Muslim reformist Mohamed Abdou, the birth of the Egyptian women's liberation movement and the founding of Egypt's first national university. It was the century of Lutfi El-Sayed, Ahmed Shawqi, Hafez, Taha Hussein, El-Aqqad, Salama Moussa, Tawfiq El-Hakim and Naguib Mahfouz; the century of Sayed Darwish, Umm Kulthoum and Abdel-Wahab.
If the opening decade of the century briefly raised the odious spectre of religious strife, it nevertheless bequeathed something of merit. The 1910 assassination of Prime Minister Boutros Ghali, the most prominent Coptic figure in national politics, was, at any rate, more likely inspired by political rather than religious motives. That the religious and political leaders of the nation quickly came together to contain a potentially explosive situation eloquently expresses the bonds of unity that hold the Egyptian people together. Certainly, the 1919 Revolution brought Muslims and Copts together in true fraternity in the fight for liberty and full national independence. That spirit remains a powerful inspiration, as does its slogan, "Egypt for the Egyptians".
Perhaps it was the 1952 Revolution, however, that brought the sharpest turning point in the nation's collective experience. With its many benefits and banes, it created a political and social climate radically different from anything that had preceded it. Domestically, it restructured class demographics. Regionally, revolutionary Egypt entered the sphere of Arab concerns; in particular, it cast the Arab-Israeli conflict within the greater Arab framework that still defines our perception of it today.
The 20th century would not have been what it was without Sadat, with his far-reaching vision and the idiosyncratic statesmanship epitomised by his visit to Jerusalem. After four highly costly and destructive wars of liberation against Israel, the difficult legacy of the peace process was taken up by President Mubarak in his drive to build a robust and vibrant Egypt.
Any overview of Arab nationalism in the 20th century is incomplete without mention of the Arab League. Doubts as to its value and efficacy are belied by historical realities. Despite the many difficulties the Arab League has had to face, it has succeeded in maintaining a minimum of unity in Arab ranks. Even Nasser, the champion of Arab nationalism, sought the assistance of the Arab League in meeting with his adversaries and obtaining a consensus on joint Arab action. Egypt's modern diplomatic corps was also born during this century. Although Great Britain's unilateral declaration of Egyptian independence on 28 February 1922 was little more than a formal end to the protectorate, it nevertheless marked the beginning of official Egyptian diplomatic representation abroad.
It has been said that the past five centuries have changed the way we live and think more than all humanity's existence until then; and the 20th century has brought more radical change than the preceding five centuries. Certainly the awesome advances in global telecommunications technology give credence to this contention. The century is not devoid of irony, opening with the defeat of Czarist Russia by Japan and closing with the collapse of the Soviet Union. But if the first half of the century rang in the end of the colonialist era, the second half is marked by global consternation: the US's leadership seems menacing at times, and its tendency to rely on NATO instead of the Security Council to legitimise its actions does little to inspire confidence.
Above all, the 20th century has brought the greatest amount of bloodshed in the history of mankind. War has killed at least 160 million people, and the spectre of armed conflict continues to loom frighteningly. The end of the Cold War failed to usher in peace; in fact, over 40,000 nuclear warheads are the constant reminder of the massive capacity for destruction that is available at the touch of a button. The 21st century may witness a new phase in the testing of weapons of mass destruction. It will be up to humanity to make the important decisions we have put off, for more than ever the survival of mankind lies in the balance.
On a more optimistic note, this century has given us the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one of the noblest embodiments of our humanitarian aspirations. That the century also brought glaring breaches of the legal and political mechanisms set up to implement its provisions leaves us, at the end of this century, with a sense that we have somehow been betrayed. At some point in the coming millennium, humanity will have to solve some very unsettling questions about the depth of our commitment to the values we espouse.
*The writer is an expert on Egyptian political history and a top ranking Egyptian diplomat.
