Plain Talk
By Mursi Saad El-Din
For some time now, I have been watching with apprehension the efforts of outside forces, ushered in by globalisation and all the new media, to undermine Egyptian identity. While I have no doubt that Egyptian identity will ultimately withstand the onslaught of these interventions, I nonetheless feel that we need to be more aware of the undercurrents that tug at our culture, and to respond in a responsible fashion.
This is why I am calling for a new Egyptian revival, something along the lines of the revival that took place in 1919 at the time of the revolution of which Saad Zaghloul was the leader. I have already covered in this column all the lively debates that took place at the time, and will refrain from repeating them here.
But, judging by a new book I have been reading lately, I am not the only one hankering after a new revival. The book, which is written in Arabic, bears the title Egypt. It is an attempt, and a successful one at that, at tracing the history of Egypt from pre- dynastic times to the present day. This sounds like a really impossible task, but the writer, who is, incidentally, a medical doctor, has managed to produce a book that is not just accessible but also a reference on the history of Egypt from Pharaonic times to the present.
The author has undertaken this immense task with such zeal that the book finally reads like a love lyric to Egypt. When I put down the volume, I certainly felt a great affinity with the author, Hossam Ghoneim. His prefatory words give him away as a genuine devotee of his country:
"To my children -- the source of my inspiration
To you I present history, and yours is the future.
I ask you to tend my real love -- Egypt
Which has possessed my spirit and my mind."
True, there are innumerable books on the history of Egypt. But there is such a dearth of books on Egyptian history by Egyptians that we habitually refer to books written by non- Egyptians. And this is what gives the present book some of its value. Granted, the author is not a historian, but the fact that his profession is medicine only accentuates the passion that has gone into his book. And, in addition to passion, there is the ambition that led the author to pack about five millennia in the space of 360 pages, including photographs which occupy dozens of pages.
Ghoneim is described by Gamal Badawi in his preface to the book as a "loving historian" which, of course, raises the question whether historians should be neutral in their treatment of historical events, or whether they can show more sympathy for one side than the other.
Loving one's country has acquired a bad name; but it need not mean that one is biased. We always talk and write about leaving judgments to history. "History will tell" is the popular saying. But there is, to my mind, no history that can tell the true story. After all, historians base their work on documents, mostly official. But one should ask what authenticity an official document has, as well as who possesses and hence is in a position to manipulate it. I have no ready answers to these questions.
But what I must say at the close of my column is that, unusual as the amateur history undertaken by Ghoneim is a step on the road to considering anew Egyptian identity. Now it is up to other lovers of Egypt to join the campaign for a new Egyptian renaissance.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/809/cu3.htm