رياح التغيير: Defending Egypt’s Flag

Defending Egypt’s Flag

By Alaa Al-Aswany

November 24, 2009

On November 14, 1935 Egypt was seething with protests against the British occupation and a large demonstration set off from Cairo University with thousands of students who began chanting slogans in favour of independence and democracy. The students lifted up one of their colleagues, Mohamed Abdel Magid Mursi from the faculty of agriculture, and he was holding high an Egyptian flag when English troops opened fire on him and killed him. As soon as the Egyptian flag fell to the ground another student, Mohamed Abdel Hakam el-Garahi from the faculty of humanities, rushed to pick it up. An English officer threatened to kill Abdel Hakam if he took a step forward but Abdel Hakam walked on, carrying the flag. The officer fired at him and hit him in the chest. He was taken to hospital, where he breathed his last. All Egypt turned out to say farewell to the martyr, who preferred death to seeing the Egyptian flag fall to the ground. On the first day of the war of October 1973, dozens of Egyptian soldiers gave their lives so that the Egyptian soldier Mohamed Efendi could plant the Egyptian flag in Sinai for the first time since it was occupied. So the flag is not just a piece of cloth but a symbol of the nation, of honour and dignity. I thought about that when I saw my country’s flag trampled underfoot by the Algerian thugs in Sudan, with some of them taking pleasure in throwing it under cars, driving over it, tearing it up and burning it. The brutal attacks on Egyptians in Khartoum revealed several facts:

Firstly, it’s common at football matches for fights to break out between the supporters, but what happened in Khartoum went way beyond fights over football. Algerian air force planes had brought thousands of armed Algerian thugs to Khartoum with a specific assignment: to attack and insult the Egyptians. The testimony of the victims all indicates that the purpose of the attack was to humiliate the Egyptians. What else could it mean when Algerians took off their underwear in front of Egyptian women, exposed their private parts and chanted in unison: “We’re going to screw Egypt”? What was their purpose in forcing Egyptian men to lie down on the ground even after assaulting them with knives and swords? What was their purpose in carrying banners reading “Egypt is the mother of whoredom”? Does this despicable behaviour have anything to do with football? This rabble cannot represent the great Algerian people who fought with us in the war of October 1973 and whose martyrs shed their blood alongside ours. So why this insistence on humiliating Egyptians in this way when the Algerians had won the match? I would understand it if this was the work of an army of foreign occupation but it is truly saddening that it should be the work of Arabs. Would any Algerian allow his sister or his mother to be subjected to this kind of intimidation and outrage? The sight of the Egyptian victims weeping on television at the indignity and humiliation cannot be erased from the memory of Egyptians until we bring to account those responsible for this criminal assault.

Secondly, Egypt is the biggest Arab country and the greatest source of human talent in the Arab world. It was Egyptians who brought about the renaissance in many Arab countries. The universities were set up by Egyptian professors and the newspapers were set up by Egyptian journalists. The institutes of art, cinema and theatre were set up by Egyptian artists. The cities and houses were built by Egyptian architects, the hospitals were set up by Egyptian doctors and even the laws and constitutions there were mostly drawn up by Egyptian law professors. The Algerian national anthem itself was composed by the Egyptian composer Mohamed Fawzi. This special Egyptian status has made the relationship between Egyptians and other Arab peoples a composite, including love and admiration most of the time and sometimes some touchiness and tension. During the period when Nasserist Arab nationalism was on the rise, Egypt supported the Algerian revolution with money and weapons, defended it at international forums, sent its army to support the Yemeni revolution and went to war to defend Palestine and Syria. At that time the feelings of the Arabs towards Egypt were of pure love but as soon as Egypt stopped performing its pan-Arab mission and signed the Camp David agreements with Israel, all the resentments against Egypt came to the surface. I do not have space here to enumerate the dozens of examples of the constant attempts by some Arabs to humiliate Egyptians and denigrate their role and their influence, starting with the way Egyptians in the Gulf have been subjected to the slavery of the ’sponsorship’ system, mistreated and denied their rights, then with the way big production companies have often been set up specifically to exclude or marginalize Egyptian talent, and finally with cultural competitions and festivals held annually at a cost of millions of dollars merely to prove that Egypt is no longer in the forefront of culture and art. All of these are of course desperate, abortive and ineffective attempts, firstly because in spite of all Egypt’s difficult circumstances these petty people cannot detract from Egypt’s status and secondly because the Egyptians, an Arab people, cannot deny their Arab identity or dissociate themselves from their Arab brothers whatever the circumstances might be.

Thirdly, the Egyptian regime’s cooperation with Israel, providing it with gas and cement and taking part in the blockade of Palestinians by closing the Rafah crossing, are mistaken and dishonorable policies unacceptable first and foremost to Egyptians themselves, who have demonstrated daily in solidarity with their brothers in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon. In fact many Egyptians have paid a high price for their Arab nationalist attitudes, most recently well-known journalist Magdy Ahmed Hussein, who travelled to Gaza in solidarity with the Palestinians under blockade there, was arrested by the Egyptian authorities and sent to a military court which sentenced him to two years in jail. The Egyptian regime’s position towards Israel does not at all represent the position of the Egyptian people and cannot be used as a pretext to attack and insult Egyptians.

Fourthly, the attack on Egyptians in Khartoum was a form of state terrorism in which the Algerian regime was implicated, abetted by the negligence and corruption of the Egyptian regime and its inability to protect Egyptians. A whole week passed after the crime was committed without the Egyptian regime taking a firm and decisive position. Those who expect President Mubarak to restore the lost dignity of Egyptians will have a long wait. What has President Mubarak done for the hundreds of Egyptians detained in Saudi Arabia? What has he done for the Egyptian doctors sentenced to be flogged there? What has he done for the Egyptians tortured in Kuwait? What has President Mubarak done for the Egyptian soldiers killed by Israel on the border, or for the families of the Egyptians whom Israel admits it massacred in war? The answer is always: nothing. Egyptians have lost their rights at home and abroad. Why did the Egyptian authorities allow the Algerian player Lakhdar Belloumi to escape after he committed a horrendous crime in Cairo, knocking out the eye of an innocent Egyptian doctor? Would Belloumi have been allowed to escape if he had committed his crime in a respectable democratic country? Would the series of Algerian attacks on Egyptians have continued if Belloumi had been arrested in Egypt and put on trial? The rights of citizens are enforced only in a democratic system, whereas the only concern of despotic regimes is to retain power by any means and at any price. The ruler who usurps power, oppresses his people and falsifies the will of the people at election time cannot convince anyone when he talks about the dignity of citizens. The crime of insulting and humiliating Egyptians in this disgusting way cannot go without questioning or punishment and if the Egyptian regime is unable to hold these criminals to account then it is the duty of us all as Egyptians to put pressure by all means available on the Algerian regime until it makes an official apology to the Egyptian people, arrests the Algerians who attacked Egyptians and puts them on trial. We should never repay one offence with another and we should not confuse the great Algerian people with the despotic Algerian regime which is responsible for this crime. But the time has come for everyone to understand that from now on attacking Egyptians will not be easy or without consequences, not at all. Insisting that those who offended our dignity be punished in no way contradicts our pan-Arab commitment, because, as the proverb says, a debt paid is a friend kept, and fraternal relations between the Algerian and Egyptian peoples can come about only through respect for the rights of all Egyptians and Algerians.

Democracy is the solution.

أضف الى مفضلتك

ـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ
التصنيفات : translated articles | أرسل الإدراج | دوّن الإدراج