Thursday 16 March 2017

Historic illiteracy




Every citizen has the right to give his opinion in whatever, whoever or whenever he wants… and in case he made a mistake by insulting or slandering someone, there are ways for the other party to punish the wrong doer… However, if that citizen has a moral responsibility; meaning he is a thinker, intellectual, writer, teacher or role model for generations or a group, his responsibility becomes bigger and he should be wiser before giving his opinion or advice…

But if that citizen took charge of a leading position in the state; for example a president, minister or parliamentarian, more restrictions add to him in a way that makes all what he says; whether talking seriously or joking, highly sensitive… because in this case, his mistake could damage the state interests and people’s awareness if his opinion showed that he suffers from historic, scientific, cultural and intellectual ignorance… and so the first lesson for any official is to be cautious in all his sayings and actions…

Whether the talking attributed to one of the current ministers is right or wrong, I believe such empty-of-meaning talk about the free education and health services and ascribing the causes behind the deteriorated education and health services and other problems to July 23rd revolution and its leader Nasser, must come to a dead end.

In such regard, I recall a situation I was part of a few years ago. I was in one of the private social clubs where you can meet businessmen and well-off people of all social classes and different political and ideological orientations. While I was passing by a group of famous businessmen, among them were Eng. Naguib Sawiris and Dr. Ahmed Heikal[1], Eng. Sawiris opened a nice discussion in which he hinted that I am Nasserist and although he respects Nasser’s ideology and role in the Arab world, he believes Nasser missed everything up because he was the first one to set the rule for free services… in education, health and other things…

I was surprised when I found that all sitting with him agreed to what he said including Dr. Ahmed Heikal. Then I asked him and all of them a direct question: “would you all and the Egyptian capitalism in general be able to accumulate all what you have of assets, fortunes and projects if it wasn’t for the Suez Canal, Egyptian irrigation network, railway roads and Nile bridges that were used as transportation roads?”

The direct answer was: “what has this to do with our talking about Nasser and his policy of providing free services?” I answered: “the relation is that those who digged the Suez Canal, and before and after that the irrigation network that has channels and canals extending for thousands of kilometers, and who extended railway roads when they were established, and who also guarded the Nile bridges to protect them from collapse at the flood, and who kept renovating them to endure the pressure of the vehicles and cattle passing over them… all that “for free”… are the peasants; meaning the sweeping majority of the Egyptian people who digged the Canal, water channels and streams without bulldozers, but actually using axes and palm leaves-woven baskets… feeding on bread, onions and salty cheese… inhabiting homes made of dry corn sticks or even worn-out tents… with no source of clean water… and so they were dying out of endemic diseases… hundreds of thousands of them died after they were slaved and driven by force to do such tasks?”

This is the true story of having free services… then later came generations after generations who tried to put an end to such injustice and to secure the minimum limit of human rights… and so Orabi and his fellows came until the generation of July 23rd revolution; officers of the Egyptian army came… atop of them was Nasser who tried to pay back some of those peasants’ sacrifices… and so he followed the steps of the great Taha Hussien when he applied the free education system… he meant to save the majority of people from ignorance, poverty and illnesses… he spent his whole life believing he was short of doing what should be done”…

At this point of the discussion, the gentlemen criticizing “free services’ system” turned their heads away and ceased to continue the conversation… if we added that the current capitalism – which is mean by all criteria compared to the American and European capitalism – had taken and still is taking free or almost free lands, electricity, gas, security services and exempted from paying taxes… not to mention tax evasion and not playing any social role… also, such capitalism abstains from participating in any national projects like what happened in the New Suez Canal project, we would know that the real free services are not the education, health services or any other of the very little given to the majority of people in Egypt… but actually it is what this people gave to the nation since the digging of the Suez Canal to this moment…

Adding to this that those who pay their souls in the wars defending the country and facing terrorism are the sons of this majority, we would realize the crime committed by those repeating such false talking about free education, health and Nasser’s regime… so, will you please, gentlemen have some awareness and historic and cultural knowledge so they things may go right!

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar


This article was published in Al Ahram newspaper on March 16, 2017.

To see the original article, go to:

#alahram #ahmed_elgammal #nasser #free_education #free_health_services




[1] Son of Muhammed Hassanien Heikal; a renowned journalist and one of Nasser’s closest aides at his time.

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