Issue No. 591
Home news
Previous issue
Site map
|
|
20 - 26 June 2002 Issue No. 591 Home news |
Current issue Previous issue Site map | |
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Obituary
A loss for all
Tahseen Beshir (1925 -- 2002)
Last week I lost a great friend and mentor, irreplaceable for his candor and integrity. For those who really knew Tahseen Beshir, he was not simply an eloquent former diplomat but someone who spoke his mind. He did so even in the presence of officials, who for decades remained impervious to his constructive criticisms of Egypt's domestic predicaments, its foreign policy and the Palestinian question.
Beshir died of heart failure in London on 11 June at the age of 77. He is survived by his newly-wedded wife, Laila Ibrahim Basmy, 71, and his sister, Ibtihag. He had no children.
Beshir served as spokesman for Presidents Gamal Abdel-Nasser and Anwar El-Sadat. He became, at one time, Egypt's ambassador to Canada and then Egypt's representative to the Arab League.
Despite his title as a former ambassador, he did not think like a diplomat: he was unwilling to compromise his ideals. When he spoke, he went directly to the point and was often controversial.
What we find in Egypt today, he would often say, is "the mummification of the Egyptian cabinet; how can we achieve progress like this?"
He was a man of debate. He loathed people who toadied to regimes. He read widely. Ancient Greek philosophy, finance, political science and modern Egyptian history were among his many interests. He was always on the look out for new ideas, intellectual trends and theories. He followed social events, theatre and cinema, both in Egypt and abroad.
The last time we met in January 2002, he spoke about the 'Metwalli phenomenon' in Egypt and the social causes of the popularity of this particular Ramadan soap opera, which portrayed polygamy in a positive light.
I first met Tahseen Beshir in 1996. I had arrived in Egypt to do research as a student of politics. An old friend of Beshir's, P J Vatikiotis, suggested I seek him out. We met, however, by pure chance at a gathering in the village of Roubaimiya in Al-Sharqiya. The gathering had been organised by Mahmoud Abaza and I was there because I was studying the political economy of elite families. The Abazas had formed a part of my research.
After that meeting, Beshir gave me tremendous assistance and advice. Over the years, this relationship developed into a father-to-son interaction. But I was by no means the first researcher he had helped and he worked behind the scenes to provide me with access to many now acclaimed students of Egypt, such as Clement Henry, Yiahia Sadowski, Robert Springborg, John Waterbury and others.
He was a friend to them all, but he expressed himself frankly about their concepts, theories and findings. And they respected him and valued his opinions.
Beshir graduated from the Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Alexandria University, after having decided not to follow in the footsteps of his physician father.
In 1951, he went to Princeton to pursue a Master's degree. His characteristic dynamism was quickly demonstrated while in the US. In 1952, with a few other Arab students, he took part in founding the Arab Student Organisation (ASO), a pan-Arab organisation for the Americas.
In 1955, three years after the Egyptian revolution, the ASO held a conference in support of the revolution, "since it reflected the principles of our generation". At the same time, however, Beshir would say: "We spoke of the need for democracy, a free press, and the rule of law."
Due to his views about Nasser, he was never able to obtain a permanent position at Alexandria University, where he was lecturing. So he embarked again on another Master's degree, this time at Harvard.
There he met Abu Zeid Regah, a well-known Egyptian architect, who was to become a lifelong friend, and was also classmate of another later scholar of the Middle East, Hanna Batatu.
Although he always wanted to join academia, it was after Harvard that he decided to join the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was appointed spokesman for the Egyptian delegation to the United Nations from 1956 to 1959.
Between 1966 and 1968, Beshir was director of the Palestine desk at the Arab League. He headed the league's bureau in London, and was also deputy director of the New York bureau.
In 1969, he was recalled by Mahmoud Riad, the foreign minister of the day, to become Egypt's official spokesman -- in effect, spokesman for Nasser on foreign policy. He remained in this position after Nasser's death, and kept it until 1976.
Beshir felt that Nasser was tolerant of his frequent criticisms of the regime, and was not afraid to say to Nasser: "Listen to me, I will tell you my opinion and I will then do what I have to do as an official."
Sadat, however, was a different experience for Beshir.
Sadat was, as Beshir recalled: "A very cunning peasant, he could hide his feelings and you never knew what he really thought."
He eventually left Sadat with no remorse.
From 1976 to 1979, he was Egypt's permanent representative at the Arab League, and then served as ambassador to Canada from 1981 to 1985.
After his retirement, Beshir continued to travel throughout the world giving erudite lectures. He was a frequent visitor to the US and lectured, at the invitation of Fouad Ajami, at Johns Hopkins University. He would then continue his stay with countless meetings in Washington DC and other cities.
He believed that the "Egyptian state will not collapse, but the vitality of the country will be increasingly wasted by the weight of a decaying bureaucracy".
He also believed that "the rejuvenation of Egypt will have to await a period of more creative policies, a more equitable distribution of wealth, a more productive economy that will trickle down to the poor, and above all, a more open political system that will encourage political participation."
Alas, Egypt has lost a great man. We should cherish the moments we had with him.
* The writer is research fellow at Harvard University's Centre of Middle Eastern Studies.
|
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| 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 |
