Al-Ahram: Diwan of contemporary life (549)

Good guys, bad guys

To Egyptians, Europeans were to be loathed for being occupiers and envied for leading a modern lifestyle. Thus developed sharply conflicting attitudes towards European culture and towards the individuals who shaped that culture. Professor Yunan Labib Rizk profiles the era's giants, the good and the bad

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Joseph Stalin, standing centre, fell squarely in the "evil" category in an Al-Ahram biography in 1934

Until the rise of the modern state in Egypt in the first half of the 19th century, Egyptians had only the vaguest of images of the West. Nor was this a positive image, having been bequeathed, from the last meeting between the two sides, a meeting that took the form of the violent confrontation in that series of wars known as the Crusades.

Eventually, this image began to change, if only gradually. The change began with the arrival of large numbers of Greeks, Maltese, Cretans and Armenians. Not that there was anything unusual in this, in that there had always been small communities of these peoples who were, in all events, subjects of the Ottoman Empire of which Egypt was a part and who were also inhabitants of the lands and islands of the eastern Mediterranean, with which Egypt's ties had never been interrupted.

However, the shock came with the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt in 1798. Suddenly, Egyptians found in their midst hordes of French who, although bristling with arms, simultaneously bore with them the seeds of a modern civilisation. As Egypt under the Ottoman embrace had had its contacts with France, along with much of the rest of the northern Mediterranean, severed centuries earlier, the French were now an alien people whose customs and manners baffled Egyptians and provoked at once great admiration and vehement condemnation, as is related in the annals of the contemporary Egyptian historian Abdel-Rahman El-Jabarti.

Following the expulsion of the French and the onset of the age of Mohamed Ali, Europeans began to trickle in again under the auspices of Mohamed Ali who had engaged them in the building of the modern state. Most of these Europeans left a good impression, especially those who had assimilated into Egyptian society, or at least the upper segments of that society. Notable among these are Antoine Clot, dubbed Clot Bek, who established the first Egyptian medical school at Qasr Al-Aini, and Colonel D J A Sève, later dubbed Suleiman Pasha, who converted to Islam and who became the right-hand man of Ibrahim, Mohamed Ali's son, in his military campaigns in the Levant.

In the latter half of the 19th century, however, the influx of Europeans increased rapidly from a trickle to a gush, dissipating whatever good feeling had been imparted by their early 19th century predecessors. Now Europeans had come to dominate the country's economic life, to the extent of occupying key positions within the ministries of trade and finance. But more odious to Egyptians yet was the institution of the notorious Capitulations System under which Europeans were given immunity from prosecution in Egyptian courts. The system was so thoroughly exploited as to inspire one description of the period between 1798 and 1882 as the colonialist plundering of Egypt.

The Egyptians' image of the European had, thus, transmogrified into the loathsome exploiter and tension between the two sides had become so heavily charged that they could explode at any moment. It therefore required only a spark to ignite the bloody Alexandria riots of 11 June 1882 which gave the British the excuse to move their fleet into Egypt's northern port, bombard the city and subsequently occupy the country.

However, the image of the European had another side, one that emerged from the travels of Egyptians to Europe, where they saw how Europeans lived in their native setting. Most Egyptian travellers were overawed by the facets of modern civilisation they beheld. Notable among these was Rifa'a Rafie El-Tahtawi, who recorded his impressions in his famous Takhlis Al-Ibriz fi Talkhis Bariz (roughly: the Essence of Paris), which offered a predominantly positive portrait of life in this European capital, albeit peppered with some salient points of criticism.

In short, Egyptians developed sharply conflicting attitudes towards European culture and towards the individuals who shaped that culture, who were either portrayed as wholly "good" or wholly "bad". Naturally, this ambivalence was reflected in the Egyptian press and an interesting case study can be found in the biographies of world figures that Al-Ahram would occasionally feature on its "Literature, Science and the Arts" page or in other columns. Not surprisingly, most of the "good" consisted of individuals who contributed to the progress and welfare of mankind as a whole. These included philosophers, scientists and even the occasional politician. The "bad" on the other hand consisted almost exclusively of politicians.

Beginning with the "good," and the philosophers among them in particular, we find in Al-Ahram the biographies of two renaissance scholars who both happened to have been British: Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) and Francis Bacon (1561-1626).

The first, appearing in November 1934, was written by Abdel- Rahman Fahmi who described Sir Thomas as a man of "keen intelligence, pure soul and manifest honour, who sacrificed himself readily so as to preserve his honour from taint and corruption". Following many details on Sir Thomas's youth, Fahmi pauses at length on the scholar's famous Utopia. Published in 1516, this work treats an imaginary world that is perfect in every political, social and religious respect. "In this marvelous fantasy, the author poured all his dreams for reform," writes Fahmi, adding, "Much of what he imagined that long time ago has become reality today, for now we can see the government of his imaginary island mirrored to a certain extent in the successful socialist state."

In Sir Thomas's utopian state, all people were presumed to be of equal intelligence. Thus, all were expected to work a six-hour day and then spend their free time in the advancement of the arts, literature and sciences. Education was obligatory for men and women. Religion was tolerant and open to reform. Wars did not exist on the island. Nor did lawyers since the inhabitants of Utopia were not prone to greed or malice.

Although a trusted friend and then chancellor of Henry VIII, Sir Thomas refused to support the British monarch's request for a divorce from Catherine of Aragon. His persistence in this refusal eventually led to his imprisonment and execution. Describing this incident as "one of the tragedies of British history", Fahmi offers a vivid narrative of Sir Thomas's final hours: "After a week in his cell in the Tower of London, he proceeded to the guillotine, where he asked all present to pray on his behalf and he, too, knelt down to pray. When he stood, his executioner begged his forgiveness, which he granted, telling the executioner, 'You will perform a great service for me. Take heart, my man, and do your duty.' Then, as the executioner moved to blindfold him, More requested that he be permitted to blindfold himself, which he did using a piece of fabric he had brought with him for that purpose. He then placed his neck on the block and received the mortal blow that released his great soul."

If Thomas More represents the "dream" stage in the development of European thought, then Francis Bacon (1561-1626) represents the beginning of the transformation of dream to reality through his appeal to abandon religious sciences which depend on transmitted information and to turn instead to the acquisition of knowledge through the empirical sciences and logic. The Al- Ahram biography of Bacon, written by an Al-Ahram reader who signed himself Ibrahim Ezzeddin, teacher, describes a life filled with sharp twists and turns. However, it is Bacon's philosophy and, specifically, his approach to the powers of the intellect that absorbs the biographer's attention. Bacon, he writes, had nothing but scorn for those ostensibly erudite scholars who spent inordinate amounts of time poring over books without giving themselves sufficient time to absorb and apply the information. Bacon writes, "It is folly to spend too much time at study, vain pride to boast of the facts at our command and imprudent to take what we find in books for granted as though we were schoolchildren."

Bacon's most famous philosophical work was The Advancement of Learning (De Augmentis) in 1623, a critique of the state of knowledge in his times. According to Ezzeddin, Bacon criticises the prevalent mode of scholasticism which relied too heavily on abstract philosophising and sophisticated argumentation without the empirical substance to back it up. "The work of the mind should not be as the work of the spider, which weaves fine threads in the air, nor as the work of the ant which gathers its food at random, but rather as the work of the bee, which extracts from flowers the substance from which honey is made."

Towards the end of the biography, Ezzeddin reaches that central idea in Bacon's epistemology that would have perhaps been most disconcerting to his contemporary readers. Bacon, he recounts, advocated the need to separate science from religion and held that it was absurd and futile to attempt to apply scientific methods and theory to religious thought and principles. Bacon writes, "It must be borne in mind that the source of religion is faith. This knowledge spares us the strains of inquiry in the event that we find in religion something that does not conform to reason and keeps at bay the deadly doubt that causes such anxiety and confusion. Doubt has always been, in every philosophical era, the incurable malady that killed in man his instinctive curiosity and stood in the way of his progress and advancement."

Among the scientists to feature among the "good" were two 20th century figures: Thomas Alva Edison and Guglielmo Marconi. The former, in fact, was the subject of two biographies appearing within a month of each other. The first, appearing on 23 September 1934, was submitted to the newspaper by Abdel-Wahab Kemal El-Ashmawi from the village of Bultag who opens "A word on the life of Edison" with the observation: "In the past they said, 'Necessity is the mother of invention.' Today we must say, 'Necessity is the mother of invention and Edison is the father of invention.' His inventions have opened the gateways to prosperity for millions of people in all parts of the world. Electric lighting, the cinema and photography and their associated industries have resulted in thousands of opportunities for honourable employment... The era of electricity was born in Edison's cradle and grew up with him. He was such an outstanding servant to that era that by the time he had reached old age, this era had reached the maturity we can behold today."

El-Ashmawi relates that Edison (1847-1931) worked his way up from a newspaper boy to telegraph operator to an employee in a telegraph company in New York in which he introduced highly successful and cost effective improvements to the company's transmission apparatuses and system. The director of the company was so impressed by Edison's telegraph invention that he offered to buy it. Edison had it in his mind to ask for $3,000 but fortunately, before he could suggest this figure, his boss offered to purchase it for $40,000. "With this money, this technological genius was able to fund numerous experiments which became the nucleus for his subsequent inventions."

The second biography, appearing in Al-Ahram on 18 October 1934 and written by Edouard Mikhael Youssef in commemoration of the third anniversary of Edison's death, went into greater detail on his inventions. In 1874, he informs us, Edison invented a repeater telegraph that could transmit and receive four signals simultaneously on the same line. In 1877 he invented the phonograph by which sound could be recorded mechanically on a metal cylinder. "Then how people mocked him, the following year, when he announced that he had invented an instrument that could transmit the human voice." But it was in this year 1878 that he also began his experiments on the incandescent light bulb for which his name went down as one of the greatest inventors in history.

Edison discovered that by affixing a thin platinum wire inside a vacuumed bulb and passing an electric current through it, the wire would give off a constant light. By 1881, after more intensive experimentation, he had not only perfected the new invention but also founded the world's first light bulb factory. Although initially he sold his factory's products at less than cost price, he eventually raised the price and accumulated great profits. Then, in 1883, he installed the world's first central electric power station, located in New York, and designed a network for distributing electricity to people's homes.

His next technological breakthrough came in 1891 with the invention of the first motion picture camera. Years later he combined this technology with sound to create the first talking motion pictures. After the outbreak of the world war in 1914, Youssef continues, "He devoted most of his attention to the needs of the military for which he invented the spotlight in order to discover enemy positions." Altogether, he concludes, "Edison patented more than 1,000 inventions, all of which contributed to the advancement of the sciences and the arts and to the spread of civilisation in this blessed century."

Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) was also the subject of two, if not quite as lengthy, biographies. The first biographer, Ibrahim Fouad from Benha, describes the Italian inventor as "the magician who made the ether come to life with music, which now reverberates through space as it makes its way to audiences in their homes or in the public coffeehouses or pubs in which they have chosen to spend their evenings in the pleasant thrall of the finest music and song on the air." Waxing more poetic yet, Fouad dubs Marconi "the Aladdin of the 20th century". "He is the creature who brought into his service a rebel genie that obeyed his every command." Unfortunately, Fouad's comparison missed an important point. The miraculous feats performed with the intercession of the magical creatures of a Thousand and One Nights are a far cry from technological wonders achieved solely by the human intellect, through painstaking scientific inquiry, research and trial and error.

A more down to earth account of Marconi's life and works was contributed by Zaki Saleh Hassan, wireless officer on the SS Princess Fawziya. Appearing in Al-Ahram of 8 October 1934, this article focusses on Marconi's actual discoveries. Early in his career, the Italian inventor developed an interest in electromagnetic waves and through successive experiments he discovered that the higher the transmission aerial the further wireless waves could be transmitted. In 1896, he received a patent from Britain for his invention of a directional aerial that could transmit signals several kilometres away. The following year, he founded the first transmission station in Italy, enabling the Italian navy to communicate with its fleet up to a distance of 12 miles off shore. By 1898, Hassan continues, Marconi's wireless system had begun to be adapted for commercial use. Then, soon afterwards, he invented a system for relaying and boosting radio waves, eventually enabling the transmission of signals over distances as far as from Britain to Australia. Hassan concludes, "Governments, universities and literary and cultural circles around the globe held Marconi's invaluable contributions to science in the highest esteem and conferred upon him numerous awards, the most important of which was the Nobel Prize in physics... He had unfurled his sails and set his course towards the unknown, and in so doing he became the first to open the gateways to a perilous road."

Although philosophers and scientists tended towards the philanthropic, politicians could fall on either side of the good versus evil divide. Among the "good" to feature in Al-Ahram biographies in 1934 were Jeanne D'Arc and Abraham Lincoln.

Under the headline, "In commemoration: Jeanne D'Arc in the defence of the nation," Al-Ahram reader Mohamed Ghanim offers his account of the life of the "Maid of Orléans" who led her country from the humiliation of defeat by the British in the One Hundred Years War to the pride of victory. Before the arrival of this young woman, who lived no longer than 19 years (1412-1431) and who subsequently became the patron saint of France, the French "cowered before their enemy and its various parties grovelled to and fawned upon the interloper". Ghanim continues, "Then the sun of Jeanne D'Arc began to dispel the oppressive gloom that hovered over her country. She was no more than a simple, illiterate peasant girl when, at the age of 17, travelled from Orléans to the court of the Dauphin and persuaded him that it was her divine mission to place him on the throne."

In spite of all the difficulties she encountered and conspiracies against her, she succeeded in "restoring courage to people's hearts and rallying together their scattered soldiers whom she led to the rescue of Orléans". When she arrived before the walls of the famous city in north central France, the enemy jeered. "However, she feared not and advanced at the head of her army, engaging the enemy in its stronghold and holding firm against the onslaught of his forces until she forced him into retreat from one fortress to another. After four days of continuous warfare, the enemy forces fell into disarray and on 9 May 1429 they fled, leaving behind their fortifications, their ammunition and their provisions. Jeanne D'Arc erased her people's fear, saved Orléans and other cities, made it possible for the Dauphin to be crowned king and gave France the taste of victory and a sense of pride and dignity."

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was the subject of two biographies: "Abraham Lincoln: the paragon of true greatness," by Abdel-Razeq El-Bahrawi, and "A page in the history of courage and humanitarianism: Abraham Lincoln," by Hamed Mahmoud Shukri, employee in the Ministry of Agriculture.

El-Bahrawi opens with an apology to his readers for not recounting such events in Lincoln's life such as his emancipation of the slaves and his role in holding his country together following the devastating American civil war. Such information, he said, was readily available in history books and probably familiar to most of his readers. Instead, what he wanted to focus on was the secret behind Lincoln's greatness. This, he believed, resided in that American president's "love for and championship of truth. This is the key to the moral rectitude of a man who was the paragon of tolerance, forbearance and self-sacrifice."

Further on in his article, El-Bahrawi lauds Lincoln's "rare capacity to rise above all personal feelings and selfish desires". During the civil war, for example, "his highest aim was to preserve the unity of the United States and towards this end he suffered the harshest cruelties and overcame the most anguishing hardships". He was also indefatigable in his long quest to free the slaves. "For years he persisted to fight for his opinion with outstanding courage, and he foresaw the disaster looming over his nation when he said, 'Every house divided must crumble. I believe that this government will not stand long if half the nation remains enslaved while the other half lives free.'"

Shukri's biography of Lincoln was filled with those tiny personal details that always spark readers' interest and fire their imaginations. As a youth, he writes, Lincoln was such an avid reader that he would walk miles in order to borrow a book he had heard about. At the age of 17, while in New Orleans, he saw his first slave auction, which is when he vowed to fight that institution. After a while working in a village post office he became involved in politics. In 1842, he married Mary Todd, a woman from a prominent Kentucky family, after which his political star began to climb. In 1861, he was elected by an overwhelming majority as the president of the US, in which capacity he fulfilled his dream of emancipation. Not long after the end of the civil war, Lincoln was assassinated while attending a performance at a theatre in Washington. The murderer was one of the actors in the play and his crime brought a tragic end to one of the greatest American presidents.

Unlike Jeanne D'Arc and Abe Lincoln, Joseph Stalin fell squarely in the "evil" category. His Al-Ahram biography, appearing on 8 July 1934, was written by Mahmoud Hussein Nafadi, a student at the Faculty of Law. "Stalin the Terrible: The bloodthirsty Russian dictator", as his article was entitled, had nothing kind to say about the erstwhile master of the Kremlin and was clearly based on Western news sources.

According to Nafadi's account, Stalin in his personal life was contemptuous of true communist principles. "He was a profligate spender and no sooner did night descend than he would commence an evening of riotous debauchery, setting out from his palace in the company of beautiful women in his luxurious Rolls Royce, which was always preceded by an advanced escort of two large cars with blinding headlights. He was fond of joking, but his humour was always cruel and crude. Recently, however, he has given up this habit." Turning to politics, Nafadi writes, "His persistent attacks against the secretary-general of the Communist Party have led many to believe that he does not believe in communism; indeed, that he has no firm convictions at all. Many of his supporters have abandoned him because of his excessive cruelty towards peasants. He is notoriously precipitate and rash in his decisions."

Compared to Stalin's biographer, the Al-Ahram biographers of Hitler were much kinder to their subject. As surprising as this might seem at first glance, we must remember that these were written well before WWII. The victory or defeat in that war that swung the fortunes of these two leaders also swung the attitudes of those who wrote about them, as frequently happens in history.

Joseph Stalin, standing centre, fell squarely in the "evil" category in an Al-Ahram biography in 1934