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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 March 2000 Issue No. 473 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 March 2000 Issue No. 473
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles In the spirit
by Dina Ezzat
"We were honoured by the visit of your president to our country. We were honoured," a Beirut taxi driver told me. He was referring to a visit paid last month by President Hosni Mubarak to Lebanon to demonstrate Egypt's solidarity with the Lebanese in their resistance to Israeli occupation.
Gamal Abdel-Nasser
Driving along the Corniche of the coastal capital, the driver explained why he was gladdened by both the Mubarak visit and the Beirut meeting for Arab foreign ministers that took place there last Saturday: "We are pleased to have the support of our Arab brothers." He added, "We believe in Pan-Arabism. Lebanon is a great believer in Pan-Arabism."
Never a truer word. Pan-Arabism is something the Lebanese talk about, constantly and passionately. And when they do, there is one name that is sure to crop up in the conversation sooner or later: Gamal Abdel-Nasser.
The Lebanese like Abdel-Nasser. They like him enough to have asked the Egyptian embassy in Beirut to keep a picture of the late president in their entrance hall. A visitor entering the building finds the face of President Hosni Mubarak to her right, and the likeness of Nasser to her left. The latter has hung there continuously since Nasser's death in 1970.
"Nasser is the father of Pan-Arabism," my taxi driver continued, with evident enthusiasm. "He created it. He taught it to us. We still believe in it. Now let me show you the square of Martyr Gamal Abdel-Nasser. I will drive you there. I don't want you to pay me. I just want to show you how much we Lebanese love Nasser."
And without waiting for a reply, he sped away. "You know, I like to pass by this square when I miss him. I remember Nasser very clearly. I remember his days of glory."
But why do the Lebanese refer to Nasser as a "martyr"?
"Well, did not he die for Pan-Arabism? He believed in it and he died for it. We in Lebanon still believe in it. We hope to see it revived."
There are many people in Lebanon who will argue that for the Arab world to regain its lost unity, it will first be necessary to revive the Nasserist school of politics. As my taxi driver put it: "We need to believe in Arab unity. We need to believe that we are brothers and that we must support each other in deeds, not just in words. This is what Nasser would have done."
