18 - 24 April 2002
Issue No.582
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 18 - 24 April 2002 Issue No.582 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Plain talk
There is a general tendency -- among peoples and nations -- to re-examine their history as well as their very existence. This is not simply a side-effect of the dismantling of the Soviet Union, the removal of the Berlin war or the more recent events of 11 September. It relates to a general, global feeling of dissatisfaction and frustration.
Egypt is no exception. I have recently read four new books which confirm this tendency of self-criticism: What has happened to the Egyptians? by Galal Amin, Criticism of the Arab Mind, by Tarek Heggi, The Arabs: the Original and the Image, by Mustafa El-Fiqi, and The Arab Affliction by Cherif El- Choubachi.
While Amin's book concentrates on Egypt, the other three discuss the Arab predicament. Tarek Heggy is of the opinion that the Arabs suffer from a conspiratorial tendency, suspecting any and every act or decision, even if it comes from the United Nations.
Mustafa El-Fiqi's book has a more academic, historical- analytical approach. He takes us through a journey from past to present, with a look into the future. While the Arabs have started a dialogue with Israel, they have failed to generate a similar dialogue among themselves, he argues, and the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait only sharpened that inability. El-Fiqi calls for a distinction between "chronic problems" and "acute crises"; the former has become a reality under which we have to live, while the second needs urgent decisions and "calculated intervention" based on untraditional solutions that require patience, wisdom and courage. The 10 year old Iraq-Kuwait issue is still a block on the Arab path. Trust must be rebuilt, somehow.
There are many tribulations that Arabs suffer, chief among which is the absence of democracy. This is a sensitive topic, El-Fiqi asserts, and there seems to be a rejection of the Western form of democracy as a political system or, indeed, as a way of life. Arabs must re- examine their files if they seek after some kind of renaissance.
El-Fiqi sums up the three problems he believes face the Arab world: the Arab-Israeli conflict, going now through its most critical phase; inter- Arab relations, which urgently require solidarity; and the question of democracy, no longer a luxury decorating political systems but simply a "must." Arabs cannot build a high wall around themselves to hide dictatorial practices.
Lastly the author deals with the current problem of how to address the rest of the world calling for a new way of talking to "the other" The perfection of foreign languages is an essential prerequisite for such dialogue.
El-Choubachi's 30 year residence in Paris gives his book a different perspective. It is not an attack against Arabs or Arabism but, as he puts it, an effort to re-examine Arabism in light of the unsuccessful experiments in this vein and of the decisive changes in the Arab world. All efforts towards Arab unity have failed, including those of President Abdel-Nasser who was, more than other leader, the embodiment of the Arab dream and its expectations. Nasser's failure, in spite of his sweeping popularity, is proof that the idea of unity is irremediable.
El-Choubachi then argues that the problems facing the Arab world have historical roots. The questions of patriotism, nationalism and Arabism stir up others about Arab identity -- all modern concepts that were born at the end of the 19th century.
What engrossed me most was the discussion of Arab tribalism and what El- Choubachi calls "the culture of the ear." Arab poets used to recite ad lib thousands of verses which, he claims, explains the lack of thorough Arab written records and archives.
The author concludes with a chapter titled "Arabs Awaken and be on your Guard" in which he says that what in the past constituted elements of power and progress, have, with the march of time, become obstructions in the process of development in the Arab world. We should search for a new means to overcome the crisis of the Arab mind.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page