The fish and the Arabs

By Naguib Mahfouz

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I was taken aback by a recent news item about Polish fishermen. They were accused of mistreating a fish they had caught by pouring champagne into its mouth to celebrate New Year. The rights of the fish, it appears, were championed by an animal rights group.

What would usually be little more than a light news item in the press set me thinking. The miserable fish, it would appear, has rather more rights than the Arabs. Their rights, after all, are daily violated, and there is no one who comes to their aid. Polish fishermen can be taken to court for mistreating a fish, yet no associations exist to defend our rights.

For which reason I was pleased to hear about the organisation that Ibrahim Nafie established at the same time as the fish incident -- ie to coincide with the new year. It is the first of its kind, and its aim is to oppose discrimination against Arabs and Muslims in the west.

My hope is that the role of the new organisation will not be restricted to monitoring transgressions but will involve positive action, actively spreading knowledge of Arab and Muslim civilisation and its values.

Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.