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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 August 2000 Issue No. 496 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 August 2000 Issue No. 496
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Of the Pasha
I did not know the late Fouad Serageddin personally, and I met him only once. It was in the summer, I remember, when he arrived outside Café Petrou to meet our master Tawfiq El-Hakim, sometime in the 1980s. I recall his firm handshake, the courtesy with which he inquired after my health -- but this was the first and only personal encounter I've ever had with him.
But regardless of his charismatic and respectable character, Serageddin took up the position previously occupied by the outstanding Wafd statesman Makram Ebeid, which was no mean feat. He also introduced reforms that had long-lasting effects, raising the position of police officers on the social scale (when he was minister of the interior) and backing up Azharites and university-educated bureaucrats, both of whom had not been paid sufficiently and did not enjoy the respect they deserved.
And this is not to mention his heroic, historic gesture -- when he ordered police officers in Port Said, on the eve of 25 January 1952, to fight the British occupation forces to the end. I feel that, if he does represent the right-wing tendencies of the Wafd party (as it is often claimed), these right-wing tendencies must consequently solicit a great deal of praise and respect.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
