Rabid fanaticism
By Salama A Salama
Alexandria was the scene of sectarian clashes a few days ago, making Egypt look like yet another flashpoint in this volatile region. Where are we heading? US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has just told a senate committee that the Middle East is infested with hatred and blighted by fanaticism and an absence of democracy. Unfortunate incidents of the sort seen in Alexandria make her words ring true.
Some senators want the US out of Iraq and the entire region. The administration, though, is adamant that the absence of democracy and freedom in the Middle East has promoted a climate of violence and terror that constitutes a danger to US interests and must, therefore, be weeded out. Nor is Washington alone in such a view. Europe now feels the same, leaving the inhabitants of the region vulnerable to rapid deployments by the US, the EU and NATO.
Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon top the intervention list, with Sudan and Libya on hold for now. Smaller states in the region seek refuge from their own sectarian tensions behind Western military arrangements and military bases. This is how dire things have become.
It is hard to separate domestic weakness from foreign pressure. Nations that are weak find it hard to resist attempts at infiltration -- events in Iraq and Lebanon provide a classic example of this truism.
What we cannot do is blame invisible hands and foreign conspiracies for last week's sectarian disturbances in Alexandria. Nations too weak to protect themselves from foreign conspiracies tend, in the end, to deserve what they get. What we need to do is face up to the fact that religious fanaticism has been spreading in our midst for some time, infecting Muslims and Christians alike. We have to look into the causes of the disease and find a radical solution. We cannot continue to bandage the wounds, exchanging soothing words at inter- sectarian banquets and in National Democratic Party meetings. Ignoring the problem will only make it worse.
That this fanaticism has spread beyond our borders was made clear when calls were made for a conference of expatriate Copts in Switzerland. Our government, fragile and inept as it is, has failed to make citizenry the sole determinant of the duties and rights of Egyptians. The government has been unable to eliminate the religious discrimination of which Copts complain and instead of democracy it has offered only rhetoric.
The situation is compounded by the government's use of Muslim and Coptic religious figures to support its political stands. This undermines public trust in religious figures which in turn strengthens the hand of those who claim that Islam is the solution or who call for the church to play a political role.
When people are burning and stabbing over the CD of a play performed two years ago it spells trouble. Perhaps some newspapers did cover the affair in a sensationalist manner but the solution is not in closing down newspapers. We need more free press, not less.
Fanaticism must be doused before it sparks a conflagration in which we are all caught. Look at how religion is used in public life. Religion has found its way into everything -- television programmes, science, art, politics. It is presented as a magic panacea, and all for personal gain. The damage done is immense. If this is allowed to go on the divisions we now see in Iraq will occur elsewhere. Things may look bad today, but tomorrow they will be worse.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/766/op4.htm