Mostapha Kamel El-Sayed:
Once, he wanted to build Egypt's first nuclear bomb; today he teaches about the values of fraternity and equality that bind us allBeyond the horizon
The Arab street has been stunned, angry and in mourning as it watched US and British forces invade Iraq, Israel enact its regimen of brutality in occupied Palestine and listened to the "chicken hawks" threaten Syria. But while Mostapha Kamel El-Sayed may have been just as moved, he sat at his office in Cairo University (CU) and argued that while, "we are at a tough moment, I believe that the solution lies in a regional security system between key countries, namely Turkey, Egypt, Syria and Iran." He is, after all, a professor of political science par excellence, a man who embodies the highest of ideals coupled with the dryness of his profession.
El-Sayed after all is not just any old professor of political science; he is a man who considers that it is the role of social scientists today to "launch new ideas that show there are alternatives to this present situation of weakness, vulnerability and despair." And more.
But then everybody knows El-Sayed. If you were ever a student of political science in Cairo (he teaches at both CU and the American University in Cairo and is head of the Centre for Developing Countries at CU) from the early 1980s onwards, you are bound to have sat in on one of his classes. If not, you probably would have caught sight of him at one public lecture or another, or perhaps on one of the many political talk shows that have proliferated across the Arab airwaves.
The beginnings were modest. "I am proud to have been born in the small town of Minya Al-Qamh in the governorate of Sharqiya, where my father owned a small store," begins El- Sayed. That was in 1946.
His first introduction into politics was through his father, a Wafdist sympathiser, yet Muslim Brotherhood member, the latter affiliation explained by El-Sayed as being an "expression of his commitment to religion as a good Muslim who did his duty." At the age of eight, El-Sayed junior was allowed to attend his father's cell meetings. He remembers the high stacks of newspapers at his family home -- most of them being Al-Da'waa, the paper published by the Brotherhood.
But the young El-Sayed soon outgrew the affiliations of his father. There was a brother who brought home popular weekly magazines Sabah Al-Kheir and Rose Al-Youssef. Then there were detective novels; "My hero at the time was definitely Arsine Lupin -- and of course there were books of a more serious nature."
El-Sayed's father was a man who had not completed his primary education and yet was interested in literature and politics and the provision of an education for his children. "But he was not very ambitious and I was. I was the top of my class when I graduated from primary school. My father felt it was not appropriate for me to go further and wanted me to join the Teachers College like my brother. We were not really poor but he felt I should aspire to government employment. But I cried." His tears and support from his brother propelled El- Sayed into secondary school, from which he graduated top of his class nationwide in 1963. He was most definitely not a nerd, however. "I was a boy scout and in charge of the school radio. I would give speeches. These were the 1950s and 1960s and I remember giving speeches in 1958 about Arab unity on the occasion of the unity between Egypt and Syria, about the revolution in Iraq in the same year and in the early 1960s about the revolution in Yemen. Arab politics at the time were a major concern."
And while nationalist issues topped the agenda, El-Sayed found himself increasingly drawn to the left of the political spectrum. There were also personal encounters that drew his admiration. "My brother had a communist friend who was arrested between 1959 and 1964 and I think this made an impression on me. Also I really admired my teacher of drawing. He was a young, nice and very gentle man. I was shocked to discover he was a communist."
There was the lure of principled ideals. "The idea of insuring justice for all was very important to me. Nationalism is the expression of something almost instinctual because it means defending your home. This does not require much effort -- it is a territorial imperative. Neither does being supportive of one's religion. But being committed to the ideal of justice, making the effort to elevate yourself and become supportive of a fraternity that includes those who do not share the same religion or race as yourself -- that is something I see as more noble."
There was the simple fact that he was a good student. "I liked the stress on the importance of science and knowledge. A rationality that one does not find in nationalism or religion. In the latter, there are parts that must be taken for granted because they are miracles. In socialism there are no miracles and this appealed to me as a student."
While his basic political inclinations were taking form, El- Sayed walked up and down the one main street of his town and dreamed of horizons beyond what was showing at the lone cinema. Politics at the time was not on the agenda. "I wanted to become a physicist. My ambition was to become the first Egyptian scientist to invent a nuclear bomb. In fact, with the help of a friend, we tried to build a missile." The missile project obviously did not work out. And it seems that El- Sayed's intellectual strengths did not lie in the sciences. "My grades in math and science were not as high as they should have been and my teachers suggested that I enter the social science section of high school." It was not too much of a disappointment. El-Sayed had ambitions as a writer and was already writing short stories and poems. "I thought of studying philosophy and then mass media. But then one of my teachers said if you go into mass media you will become an Abdel- Qader Hatem [minister of culture and information in the 1960s], but if you go into political science you will become a Gamal Abdel-Nasser."
El-Sayed laughs and points out: "Yet I am just a teacher. I gave up my ambition to become an Abdel-Nasser some time ago."
But his teachers were right; he would excel in the social sciences and in 1963 he was invited to attend Science Day, a celebration at Cairo University where Abdel-Nasser presented scientists, writers and students with awards of distinction. Zhou Enli, the Chinese prime minister, was also on-stage with Abdel-Nasser. "Not only did I get the chance to shake hands with both of them, but as I approached the podium I saw them conversing. Later I was told by the person behind me in line that Abdel-Nasser was telling Zhou Enli that, 'this boy comes from the country side.' I have no way of substantiating this but I like the fact that I might have been the subject of conversation between them."
A proud young El-Sayed was admitted into the Faculty of Political Science and Economics at Cairo University with a government scholarship of LE13 per month. "I stayed at the hostel for LE5 and had LE8 left over -- big money at the time. I would buy kebab once a week and invite my friends and go to the cinema."
It was a life that would not last. When El-Sayed graduated, again at the top of his class, and was appointed university assistant he was given a mere LE17 per month and was not allowed to stay at the hostel any longer. "Life became tough and while I had never taken money from my parents, at that time I was forced to borrow money from my father. I remember once that as he gave me some money he said this is the last of the money I had saved for the pilgrimage and I felt very bad." This state of affairs lasted a little over a year when El-Sayed received a scholarship to study for a six-month diploma in Holland. "I was very unlucky to have graduated after 1967. Before then the government sent top university graduates to the best universities in the world. This was suspended after 1967 and students had to find scholarships through other means."
Six months in Holland turned into two years and from Holland El- Sayed moved to Geneva to continue his studies. "I wanted to go to New York but I could not get a scholarship. While I was disappointed to go to Geneva, in retrospect I think it was better to have stayed in Europe." El-Sayed improved his French, learned Italian and some Spanish and made the best of a, "pluralist intellectual and cultural environment." He was, however, an impoverished student. "I would split the year into two: half of which I would work to make money to support the other half in which I would engage in study and research. I took manual jobs and worked as a translator at the United Nations offices. I had to take two years off and work at a consulting firm in Italy. These experiences were very important to me." Although it was tough, it was also rewarding and El-Sayed was determined not to return to his country without a PhD. He also appreciated the environment of intellectual freedom to which he had become party. "As a student at CU I was always asking many questions and my colleagues would come up to me and say, 'Mostapha, stop all the questions. We want to go home early.' In Europe, debate in class was normal. Students who did not ask questions and participate in class were bad students. Also at CU, students would ask their professors to explain things to them that they could not understand. In Europe, students walked into class with opinions of their own. And then of course I was never the kind of student who was only interested in studies. There was the theatre and music and I enjoyed it all very much."
Twelve years later, in the month of January 1981, El-Sayed returned to Egypt with his PhD and a wealth of experience, knowledge and burning ambition. He became friendly with Nasserite and leftist members of the CU Professors Club. But he arrived just as the wave of activism that had marked the 1970s had come to an end.
"I found out later that the government had been suspicious of our meetings -- where groups of not more that 25 people met to discuss topics such as the social life of insects and other intellectual concerns -- which is of course ridiculous. I was dismayed when some were arrested and others were dismissed in September 1981. People like Amina El-Rashid and Awatef Abdel-Rahman were accused falsely of having been involved in a Soviet conspiracy. It was very tough on me. They were like my family."
All were soon to be released after the assassination of El- Sadat in October 1981.
El-Sayed went on to become one of the pioneers of open political action in solidarity with the Palestinians and the Lebanese. There were other successes too. In 1984, opposition candidates succeeded in winning the elections of the CU Professors Club. "This was a big change, but infighting soon set in; not over political issues but because of personal clashes."
"When I returned to Egypt I was really ambitious. But my experiences made me realise that no revolution would be forthcoming in the near future. The left was really incapable of this task at that time. I saw the clashes of personality and became quite disillusioned."
Although El-Sayed was disappointed he went on to claim his public space as a human rights activist. "In 1987, young Egyptian leftists began to adopt the cause of human rights and they succeeded on the board elections of the Egyptian Organisation of Human Rights (EOHR). Mohamed El-Sayed Said [of Al-Ahram Strategic Centre] asked me to join the board and I did." When El-Sayed Said was arrested in 1989, El- Sayed launched an international campaign for his release. "It was the first time that the civil rights movement in Egypt started using faxes and approaching the West for solidarity," he explained. El-Sayed also represented the Arab Organisation for Human Rights (AOHR) at several events, and in the early 1990s he joined the board of the Centre for Legal Aid established by the late Hisham Mubarak. "I have never been part of any of the quarrels," adds El-Sayed which is noteworthy in the current climate of civil society political activity. Earlier, he had noted that his introduction at an early age to the ideas of various disparate political groups in Egypt was perhaps the reason for his "more tolerant" approach and why he has never exhibited sectarianism. "I read them all, from Lenin to Trotsky. I became very impressed with Maoism -- in fact, in college I considered myself a Maoist. Although Mao's adventure ended badly, China would not be what it is today without him. I admire all socialist thinkers."
El-Sayed promoted his interest in human rights academically and introduced a specialist course in the subject at both CU and AUC.
"I decided that the best course of action for me was to address the public through the media and other such activities. I decided that I must set an example as a professor and I pay great attention to quality of teaching and research," he explains. But for a man who once aspired to become a Nasser, the course of his life and the politics of his country must have been a let down. "The reality of power in Egypt today makes my dream for the radical transformation of Egyptian society something that cannot be realised in the near future. However, I think it is our role today to rethink what kind of socialist alternative it is that we want, to struggle to expand civil liberties in Egypt today, and to be critical of the model of capitalist development under the present conditions of globalisation."
These are no small ambitions. Thus, El-Sayed has made the Centre for Developing Countries into a think-tank that broaches topics such as corruption and invites both policy makers and workers to its events. "We try and present a model of how policy-making should be done. And we try and expand the limits of freedom of expression. In fact our discussions over bad loans was one of the catalysts that resulted in public debate of the issue in parliament. We have also published a book which offers alternatives Egypt can take as opposed to accepting foreign aid."
Above all, El-Sayed reminds us that, "a social scientist must be guided in his or her work by certain values. These should be to transform society along the lines of fraternity and equality. That is what being a political scientist should mean." For the time being he is a self-confessed democrat who stresses social justice.
C a p t i o n :
"A social scientist must be guided in his or her work by certain values. These should be to transform society along the lines of fraternity and equality. That is what being a political scientist should mean."
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 17 - 23 April 2003 (Issue No. 634)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/634/profile.htm