What is left

By Naguib Mahfouz

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I was asked recently why I always talk about Saad Zaghloul, Mustafa El- Nahhas and the days of the Wafd Party; why I can't mention Saad without tears filling my eyes. Does anything remain of the Wafd's legacy nowadays?

We were raised to follow important principles, I replied, that should remain unchanged; for instance, the principle of national unity. The colonialists tried, and failed, to get through our defences by dividing Christians and Muslims. Lord Cromer wrote in his memoirs that the only difference between a Muslim and a Christian in Egypt was that the first prayed in the mosque and the second in the church. The second principle, also connected with national unity, is that "religion is for God, and the nation for all". Successive Egyptian governments have all held fast to this principle, which affirms the separation of religion and the state.

Then we come to the principle of national independence, which has become especially important as a single dominating superpower that grants itself the right to intervene in the affairs of others. This principle has an internal dimension: freedom from the rule of one individual, or what we call democracy. These days a new phenomenon is raising its head: unlike the colonialists of old who opposed democracy, the new superpower is actively calling for it. We shouldn't reject democracy just because the United States is asking for it. Our position should be clear and unchanging: democracy is an authentic nationalist demand, one that we were raised on and have been calling for ourselves since the revolution of 1919.

I was asked whether the passage of time has given us any new principles other than those my own generation was raised on. Of course it has, I answered, and the most important thing it has given us are human rights. Yet even these are in accordance with the principles of the Wafd Party, which has upheld them throughout its long history.

Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.