I receive gladly many
comments over my articles in Almasry alyoum newspaper… tens of comments written
on my Facebook page are available for everyone who want to read and analyze the
context of our dialogue where many sociological, political and thought perspectives
meet.
However, there is a
comment I believe is important… and it is indeed… because it imposes a
fundamental question I received through my e-mail from my friend, Arab thinker
and elite media man Mr. Ghassan Tahboob, the Arab nationalist Palestinian who
adores Egypt and always recognizes its gratitude over his generation and many others
in more than one field… he is one of those who are still working hard to master
and excel in their field… he is also very proud of his cultural and civilized
Arab composition and a very loyal friend.
Here is an excerpt of
what Mr. Ghassan wrote commenting over last Wednesday’s article… he said: “…
again, I ask you to write your diaries since you had the gift of precisely
detecting people’s everyday life details, whether sociological or economic, and
depicting them in your writings in your own special way.
As to what you said
regarding “reconciliation” balloons… you hit the truth in the results you
reached… however… what is the possible alternative for muslim brotherhood
movement , salafists and all their likes?... what is the alternative that can
fill the big intellectual emptiness in the whole Arab world? How can we have
this alternative?
I believe you notice that some
islamists have started reviewing some of their doctrines… like the case in Ghannouchi in Tunis and before him was the Moroccan Benkirane and after him came muslim brotherhood in Jordan…
most probably, those are nothing but some tactics to cope with current time events…
but such tactics shall have effects on the long run and will attract many young
people... especially, that religion has an established entity in our Arab
societies… the West realizes this fact very well… and that what helped them in
the West to draw their policies in our region since the end of the Ottoman caliphate…
and most probably, it’s one of the secrets lying behind the relation that is
never broken between Britain and muslim brotherhood movement… also, it’s one of
the reasons why the USA still cares about muslim brotherhood and keeps ties
with them…
Unfortunately, the
West has found its target in islamists and succeeded in using them… once
against the Egyptian nationalism in 1919 revolution… another time against Gamal
Abdel Nasser… and third time was in Palestine to weaken the Palestinian
Liberation Organization (PLO)… and today, they use the islamists to dismantle
every Arab country that includes religious or ethnic diversities…
Don’t you notice that
islamists; Sunni and Shiite, are major partners in the devastation of Syria,
Iraq, Libya, Yemen and in the Palestinian division… also in Egypt’s problems…
and the Lebanese and Bahraini cases as well?...
You definitely know that muslim
brotherhood are perfectly pragmatic… compared to them, Machiavelli is
nothing but a young student in their school of pragmatism… so, it’s very likely
that those “reconciliation” balloons are indicating something is being prepared
or negotiated… back to the question… who will fill this big intellectual
emptiness in our Arab life..?
Can the Egyptian elite
nationals come up with a description that can cope with People’s natural
inclination to religion and objective changes we’re going through… can this
description tell how to address young generations, incorporate them in the
society and provide visions to fill this emptiness so that those young people
do not have to reproduce the past…?... I meant the Egyptian elite nationalists
specifically because they represent the leading figures in thought and
modernization in our Arab world… and let whoever say whatever they want…
simply, it’s the truth.
I know you, like me, feel the
burdens of our reality… such burdens that may push you into frustration… but
here I remind myself… since when wasn’t our Arab reality, starting from the
second Abbasid era, free of burdens?... May God help you continue lighting
candles in our dark night…”.
Here ends Mr. Ghassan’s
comment over last Wednesday’s article which talked about the reconciliation
suggested by minister al-Aagati and MP major-general Sa’ad el-Gammal.
First, I’d like to say
that what Mr. Ghassan said is the essence of all that can be discussed over any
national, Arab-national or regional future away from guardianship of any groups
or powers claiming religious reference and ahead of them are muslim
brotherhood, salafists and their likes.
So the question is:
what is the alternative that can fill the space left by the non-existence of
those groups… that space that is not only limited to thought but extends to
people’s daily practical life?
In his comment, Mr.
Tahboob has pointed to a very important historical moment when he made a
connection between the collapse and fall of the Ottoman caliphate and first
appearance of muslim brotherhood funded by Britain, or you can say that the British
have thought of finding another alternative of religious reference in the
region… and so muslim brotherhood group was established in 1928, short time
after caliphate disappeared.
This important notice
reveals that our present and future is not a pure domestic equation… however,
there are other regional and international parties playing roles in this regard…
and so, the question again, can we find the alternative that fill that space
and in the same time doesn’t make enemies of those parties?
This is connected to
another important question I have asked long before… how can we build a strong
balanced cohesive Egypt that interacts with its surroundings without provoking
other parties to prevent them from hitting the Egyptian experiment like what
happened before with Muhammed Ali, Ismail Pasha and Nasser?
I hope we all
participate in such dialogue… I have a lot to say about it which I may write in
another article in addition to the comments I will receive.
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
This
article was published in Almasry alyoum newspaper on June 29, 2016.
To
see the original article, go to:
#almasry_alyoum
#ahmed_elgammal #alternative
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