Readers' corner
A post-honour world
Sir- The bombings in the Sinai resorts demonstrate, once again, the expansion of the tactical use of terrorism by fringe groups around the world. Amira Howeidy's 'Days of Vengeance' ( Al-Ahram Weekly, 14-20 October), proposes more than a few suspects who would have been motivated to commit these acts of murder. The common principle in any attack is an absence of any sense of honour or morality. Dr Akbar S Ahmed from the American University in Washington, DC contends that we are living in a "Post-Honour" world. There are no longer personal nor institutional restraints on the personal behaviour or the policies of many governments.
Terrorism, in all its forms, demonstrates a lack of appreciation of all humanity. The terrorists cannot distinguish between their political fears, their desire for vengeance and the blessed smile of our children. A Post- Honour world is without rational men and women: it is a world of predators and their prey. The institutions which engender the honourable life have been corrupted: education, religion, and commerce have failed us because we have not demanded their responsible service to the people. This failure is expressed politically through the violence of terrorism.
The bombings in Sinai demonstrate that there are some people among us who do not see our humanity -- no matter who we are, nor the religion we claim. The terrorists do not see our human face, they see an obstacle to their own corrupt vision of the world: it is dark, it is evil and it offers them no respite from pain -- it is without compassion. A Post-Honour world is without heroes, only cannibals who feast on all our lives.
Mel Gagliano
New York
USA
Last on the scene
Sir- I followed with interest the tragic incident in Taba, Sinai, and I have a comment for the information minister.
This tragic incident happened in Egypt, so it was expected to be firstly aired by Egyptian television stations. However, I was shocked when some Arab satellites aired the news before Egyptian television.
I am appalled by the manner of news coverage of the Egyptian television.
Ahmed Abdel-Tawwab
Cairo
Egypt
Shared values
Sir- Regarding your editorial 'Who hates who', ( Al-Ahram Weekly, 14-20 October), I find this piece thoughtful and carefully considered. I must agree with much of what you say. Many US citizens believe in the war on Bin Laden and terrorism, and are appalled at the acts of terrorism that still go on today. But at the same time, we are, and have been from the beginning of the Bush administration, opposed to the war in Iraq.
I agree that we must open lines of dialogue and look into what are the shared goals and values of Mid-East and West. We must begin from that position. I firmly believe governments cannot do this. I am a patriotic American who does not believe in globalisation. I want to see peoples of the Middle East choose their own paths... and I firmly believe we must support the democracy movements. We in the US do have major responsibilities in this world. We, as a people, are a fundamentally fair and generous group. We are currently engaged in the most divisive political schism in my 50 years.
America is not of "one mind" at the moment. I, like many other Americans, do wish to secure our lives, but also feel that we need to do much more to help others in the world secure their own lives. Thank you for the thought-provoking editorial.
John Harrold
Chicago, Illinois
USA
Kerry's word
Sir- Please be assured that if Senator John F Kerry is elected to lead our country on 2 November, he will seek dialogue with the Arab nations.
During the course of the campaigns and debates, Mr Kerry has stated time and again that this involvement is the greatest necessity to put us on the road to peace. Unlike our present leadership, Mr Kerry is a man of his word. He is a man of integrity and keen intelligence. I know many people who say a daily prayer asking that we be relieved of the president who so thoughtlessly invaded Iraq.
Please know as well that Americans are suffering. Certainly not to the extent that the Iraqis are suffering, but some cannot put food on their tables for their families. The crime rate is rising because of this.
Americans are suffering in many ways. Those of us who adhere to the principles we know to be right suffer in our hearts for what our leader has done to Iraq and for our sons and daughters who are killed for no good reason. Permit me to apologise for the suffering of the Iraqis.
Sylvia Barksdale Morovitz
Massachusetts
USA
Different drummer
Sir- Egypt should heed the advice of Samir Radwan in 'Towards a coherent employment strategy', not that of Anouar Abdel-Malek in 'Peaceful rising', (Al-Ahram Weekly, 14-20 October) Mr Radwan's organisation employs many highly trained economists who have the best interest of the Middle East in mind and who know the economics of the region better than anyone.
Mr Abdel-Malek, however, doesn't know much about China. Egyptians should know that ethnic Chinese have driven all of the economic growth from Thailand to Singapore for the past 50 years. Of course, Taiwan is Chinese. These expatriate Chinese have ignited mainland China's "miraculous" growth through their investments and managerial skill.
They also have family and friends in China with whom they partner. Those partners know the appropriate people in power to bribe in order to protect their investments. Otherwise, the corruption, lack of law, and dysfunctional court system would allow communist party officials to steal everything the expatriates had invested.
Egypt's problems are very different from China's. Egypt has no large group of expatriates who have succeeded in business and are willing to fight the bureaucracy to invest at home. Egypt will have to follow a different model.
Roger McKinney
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
USA
Puzzling shelves
Sir- The article 'Defining bibliotheca' by Amina Elbendary, ( Al-Ahram Weekly, 14-20 October) did not surprise me at all.
I do not understand your bewilderment about a Bernard Lewis paper being presented at the "What happened to the ancient Library of Alexandria?" conference. Preparing my visit to the Bibliotheca last year, I browsed their catalogue on the Internet. I remember how at that time I was rather surprised to find a great number of titles by Bernard Lewis available at the library compared to some Arab scholars and authors.
Having read your above mentioned article, I redid the search I did last year ("author" restricted to the books section): today Bernard Lewis has 20 titles listed (I deduct four entries from the list: entry 17 which is empty, one entry listing a book of which he is the editor not the author, as well as the two editions of the Cambridge History of Islam).
You may raise your brow at the five entries for Daniel Pipes: exactly the same number as for Edward Said whose Culture and Imperialism is not in the catalogue. Compare these numbers for Lewis and Pipes to some Egyptian authors: Nawal El- Saadawi, two, Samir Amin is listed with just one title!
Radwa Ashour and Ahdaf Soueif, zero.
While I do realise that the authors I mention do not have the same field of expertise as Lewis and I totally approve that one, and Arabs and Muslims in particular, should read the Islam-phobic writings of advisers to the administration of the US.
However, at the same time, the Bibliotheca could and should be a wide forum for critical contemporary Arab thinkers.
Considering the above numbers, and reading the comments made by Farouk Guweida and Gamal El- Ghitani and the questions you raise about the mission of the Bibliotheca, let me refer to the closing paragraph of my reader's letter titled "Bibliotheca surprises" published in your issue no.654 in which I expressed my doubts that the Bibliotheca Alexandrina is all about education, saying I hoped you or your readers would correct me if I were mistaken.
Your article is a very clear reply to my request. Thank you.
Astrid Van Damme
Gent
Belgium
The real culprits
Sir- In her article 'The usual suspects', ( Al-Ahram Weekly, 14-20 October), Omayma Abdel-Latif accurately describes the daunting task faced by the Egyptian security apparatus in identifying the terrorists responsible for the tragedy in Sinai.
While the scope of investigations will undoubtedly include a myriad of outlawed terrorist organisations, the ultimate terrorists are well known. Only a week before the Taba attack, they killed 160 and injured more than 400 Palestinians. In the last four years they also killed more than 4,000 Palestinians, erased more than 12,000 homes, confiscated thousands of acres, and assassinated political leaders -- among countless other crimes. They simply act with impunity and yet they enjoy the full support and backing of the most powerful nation on earth.
Those terrorists are the root cause of international terrorism. They can all be found in the Prime Minister's office in Tel Aviv. There, in his office, is where the fight against terrorism should be targeted. That is, of course, if the world is really serious about it.
Fikry Boulos Salib
Stamford, Connecticut
USA
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