Issue No. 593
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4 - 10 July 2002 Issue No. 593 Home news |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
The long road
After over six decades in journalism, Ahmed Nafie, former Arab affairs editor for Al-Ahram newspaper, died on 26 June aged 84. He is the older brother of Ibrahim Nafie, chairman of the board and editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram.
Nafie began his career as a translator and in the 1940s became attracted to political work. Egypt was then going through a period of intense political turmoil as opposition to the British occupation, the volatile situation at the palace, infighting at the Wafd Party, political assassinations, World War II and the war in Palestine combined to form a lethal mix. It was an eventful era, fraught with political and social upheaval which gave rise to an unprecedented efflorescence in journalistic activity.
I worked with him for several years during his long journey in journalism. He would always say: "The longest road in journalism is the shortest." The first time I heard him say it, I asked him to clarify. He explained: "It is a matter of proficiency, rather than the ability to climb the ladder as quickly as possible." After that, we would often repeat this sentence to each other, even at the worst moments. This was always followed by a burst of laughter, which invariably relieved the tension.
Between 1947-1948, Nafie worked as a translator at a Muslim Brotherhood-published paper. When the paper was closed down in the aftermath of Prime Minister Mahmoud Fahmi El-Noqrashi Pasha's assassination, Nafie moved to another paper that was similarly not destined to survive: the Evening Journal, published by former Wafd minister Ahmed Hamza Pasha.
In May 1949, he went to work at Al-Misri as editor and reporter. Several months later, he became the local Reuters correspondent as well. He left in 1954, when Al- Misri was also closed down. Thereafter, he was jobless, until he helped found and manage the Middle East News Agency (MENA) in Damascus.
At Al-Ahram, Nafie worked as a sub-editor and shadow-wrote both the daily lead article as well as the editorial. He also participated in founding the Emirates News Agency, whose editor-in-chief he subsequently became. He then returned to Al- Ahram, taking up the post of Arab affairs editor and becoming known for his weekly column, titled 'The Arab Nation'.
Nafie's career took him to many places: in 1962, he went to Beirut to attend the trial of the "Great Conspiracy"; in 1963, he was sent to Bonn following the agitation that Israel stirred up when it became known that German scientists were working in Egypt; and he also travelled through the Great Lakes region, from Uganda to Khartoum.
Other issues, such as the Nile basin region, also engaged Nafie. I remember him saying that the union of the Nile Valley is both natural and essential. According to him, Egypt and Sudan are an indivisible entity and all future irrigation projects, particularly the large ones, must be part of an integrated whole.
His chief concern during the 1980s was Sinai and he wrote some 20 long studies about the peninsula, its history, geography and people. Here emerged the poet in Ahmed Nafie, hidden behind the political analyst.
Though he travelled the globe more times than he would care to count, Ahmed Nafie's own world was always the Arab nation and the Palestinian problem remained his chief concern. The war, the peace process and developments in the Arab-Israeli conflict were all focal issues for him. For him, the Palestinian issue was an international one with Jerusalem at its heart. True responsibility, he believed, must be sought in peace rather than war and in concerted Arab efforts to formulate a comprehensive policy in support of the Palestinians in the final stage of negotiations.
Egypt's future and its development also occupied Nafie's thoughts. He saw the country evolve and closely followed every step in the national reconstruction project. He visited the agricultural projects put in place after the construction of the High Dam and in West Nubariya.
He published several books on war, politics, journalism and the Palestinian problem, of which the most important, perhaps, are The Road to Madrid, and The Art of Journalism and Revision. The latter volume is a guide for journalists, a valuable resource to which they can return time and again in order to avoid errors and learn all about his favourite newspaper, Al-Ahram. He used to quote his younger brother, Ibrahim: "Al-Ahram is a school in itself. It teaches people what they do not know about their own country and the world at large. It provides news as soon as it occurs, and presents articles by prominent Arab writers. It translates the best of Western thought, thereby enriching the Arabic language."
For Ahmed Nafie, the newspaper was a living being, one which can grow through enlightened opinion and creative thought. Al-Ahram can justifiably claim to be a school from which many of today's top Arab journalists have graduated.
Journalists, to Ahmed Nafie, were the nation's conscience. His work was unceasing, his concerns diverse and he spent all his waking hours thinking and writing. These periods, for him, were not just a form of worship, they were life itself. He respected those who took their work seriously, no less than those seeking to change the map of Egypt and help the Nile reclaim the desert.
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