What's to be done?
Hours before American missiles start falling over Iraq, Shaden Shehab samples the mood on the Egyptian street
Abdel-Rahman Mohamed, a 62-year-old retired civil servant is not going to just sit around and watch the US-led war against Iraq take place. "I am willing to do anything," he told Al-Ahram Weekly. In fact, Mohamed and his family took part in several of the anti-war demonstrations that have taken place over the past few weeks, especially those at Al-Azhar Mosque after Friday prayers. Mohamed made banners with slogans like "With our blood, with our soul, we will defend Baghdad", "Bush is the thief of Baghdad" and "Blood will not drive American cars". The active pensioner said he takes great pride in producing and distributing -- free-of-charge -- t-shirts emblazoned with a photo of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
As a way of promoting a boycott of American products, he also decided to open up a supermarket that only sells Egyptian goods. "It is still not enough," Mohamed insists. He wondered why his fellow Egyptians "are so scared and passive. The Iraqi people will suffer just like the Palestinians do. These are our brothers who are being killed. If we don't act now, we never will."
While most of the people interviewed by Al-Ahram Weekly were equally apprehensive, the majority was not nearly as active as Mohamed. Their most common refrain was, "we should all do something to stop the US's plans to colonise the Middle East -- but what?"
That "what?" provided a spectrum of options, ranging from doing nothing to staging demonstrations to stockpiling food and essential commodities in fear of an uncertain future.
Some of those spoken to by the Weekly said protests were a waste of time. "If the leaders of the world can't stop the war on Iraq, Egypt certainly can't. Demonstrations are useless because the Americans think we don't count. Even our government thinks we don't count," said Said Abdel-Maqsoud, who was referring specifically to the government's refusal to fulfil protesters' demands that Egypt dismiss the Israeli and American ambassadors and shut down their embassies. "It's all very depressing," said Abdel-Maqsoud.
Fifty-six-year-old Zohni Mu'nis disagreed, saying "students and young people should make their voices heard so the world will know that Egyptians are not passive." As for Mu'nis himself, he won't be taking part in any rallies because "I am too old for this. Plus, I have a family to take care of."
Thirty-seven-year-old Sherif Anwar, an engineer, seemed to agree that "showing our anger is essential." Like Mu'nis, however, he had not taken part in any of the recent demonstrations. Anwar's excuse? "Unfortunately, I do not have the time."
Others excused themselves from demonstrating by citing the possibility that excess activism might jeopardise their future, especially if it resulted in an arrest or harassment at the hands of the police.
According to shoe-shop owner Ayman El- Qandil, "demonstrations are only useful if someone is listening." In his view, demonstrations were typically Arab -- "all talk and no action".
University student Fathi Ahmed's reluctance to take part in demonstrations stemmed from what he said is the tendency for the events to be factionalised, featuring heavy competition between leftists and Islamists over who has the biggest popularity base on campus. "I don't want to be involved in that," he said, "because the whole point of the demonstration usually gets lost."
Mounira Wissa, a housewife in her 50s, seemed to have a more pragmatic approach. "You have to be a very powerful country to be able to stand up to the US and Israel, and we should face up to reality and realise we can't," she said.
Although most people sympathised with the Iraqi people, there was virtually no popular support for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "No to war does not mean yes to Saddam Hussein," was a common refrain amongst those interviewed by the Weekly. "The Arabs would have been stronger and more united if it hadn't been for his foolishness in invading Kuwait. But still, his people should be the ones to get rid of him, and not America," was another.
Over the past few weeks, rallies in support of Iraq have taken place almost daily. But while thousands may have participated, it was rarely spontaneous. Demonstrations organised by the NDP, opposition parties, Islamists like the banned Muslim Brotherhood, and movements such as the Egyptian Popular Committee in Solidarity with the Palestinian Intifada, have all been the recipients of rare governmental stamp of approvals, since the emergency law -- in effect since the 1981 assassination of Anwar El-Sadat -- strictly bans any form of public demonstration. Most of the time, security forces -- although seemingly quite tolerant of the protesters -- vastly outnumber them.
According to some observers, the government seemed to have learned a lesson from security forces' heavy-handed reactions to last April's demonstrations in solidarity with the Palestinians, which resulted in the deaths of two University of Alexandria students, severe eye injuries for four others, and many arrests.
Meanwhile, Egyptian TV -- the main media outlet for those who don't have satellite dishes -- has been relatively low-key in covering the war's developments, seemingly careful not to antagonise either the US or Saddam, and definitely devoid of the highly emotional mood of Arab nationalism -- filled with patriotic songs and harsh scenes of Palestinian suffering -- that accompanied coverage of the Intifada. "I watch the news on TV," said Am Ahmed, a housekeeper, "but it is very hard to determine who the bad guy is."
If anything, most people's worries hit closer to home, and relate mainly to the possibility of price rises and food shortages. Lotfi El- Naggar, a grocery store vendor, said that with "everything becoming so expensive, we won't be able to feed our children if prices go up again because of the war". El-Naggar said he wants the government to "tell us how much food we should store in case there is a crisis".
According to Hend Mohamed, a 30-year- old hairdresser, "the war will only affect the wealthy, since for the average citizen -- who only gets a few pounds salary -- things can't really get any worse."
Despite the fatalism and fear, anger is clearly the main emotion on the street. As one man told the Weekly: "People will soon explode in rage, but the question is, against whom?"
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 20 - 26 March 2003 (Issue No. 630)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/630/eg5.htm