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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 January 2000 Issue No. 465 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 January 2000 Issue No. 465
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Hopes and illusions
My generation's aspirations were focused on liberation: national liberation, of course, but also liberation on the domestic front from oppression and social injustice. The foreign colonial presence was intolerable: we felt we were suffocating under the British, who controlled the ordinary Egyptians as well as the king.
Many of our aspirations were realised after the 1952 Revolution: Egypt achieved independence, for instance, and British occupation was ended. Although the British tried to reestablish control in 1956, during the Suez crisis, the age of colonialism seemed to have passed. The sun set on the British Empire, at any rate; Britannia no longer ruled the waves.
As for the relation between the ruler and the ruled, it improved immeasurably. Ever since the revolution, the president has been an ordinary citizen, like the rest of us. He is no different in terms of ethnic origin, the language he speaks or the culture in which he partakes. Many young people today cannot imagine that Egypt's rulers at one time could not even speak Arabic. The first king to speak Arabic was Farouk.
The 1952 Revolution also led to the destruction of the dominant class and the realisation of social justice. Yet some of our hopes did not become reality: the problem of poverty has not been solved, despite the great projects conceived to eliminate it, and despite the economic progress we have made. The peasantry may be a little better off than before, but it is still poor. I hope the mega-projects everyone is talking about will do something to improve the condition of the peasants.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
