Yes… there is a respected bunch of intellectuals
burdened with the public affairs of the nation and who adopted an
uncompromising stance towards the will of change during the two revolutions of
January 25th and June 30th… and the more days pass, the
bigger and deeper challenges are… and the more negativities appear on surface
as well… also, the stauncher they become in supporting the regime and leader of
June 30th… with no ambition in any personal gains of any kind or
degree.
Moreover, they see meetings, seminars, and conferences
convene without being invited to… councils formed without having their names
among the lists… while they do know the kind, composition, and behavior of some
whose names recur in meetings, seminars, conferences, and councils… besides, such
bunch of intellectuals – at least some of them – possesses capabilities and
visions more knowledgeable and insightful into the nation’s problems than
others.
That bunch of those burdened with the public affairs
realizes that at certain times in the course of national ruling, specially that
which come after an era of break down, chaos, and weakness of the state,
seeking help from figures with certain qualities is inevitable… consequently,
excluding or postponing seeking help of other figures is logical and
acceptable.
Illustrating such ambiguous phrase, the ruling regime
that tackles the responsibility of bringing stability and reconstructing the
falling-down establishments finds that seeking help from figures that
participated in change, spearheaded some fronts, and mastered the language of
objection and discourse of opposition represents a big obstacle that may hinder
the mission of achieving stability and reconstruction.
Meanwhile, the models that gained past experience from
dealing with the government, authorities, decision makers, and takers; meaning
the state in general are dependable in the decisive intermittent phase… for
this reason, one can simply explain the appearance of names and faces which were
present in similar positions during past or toppled regimes.
I claim having what I may call a “study case” proving
my point of view… as the post-January-revolution government contained figures
that belong to the liberal, Nasserite, and Marxist wings of the opposition in
the times of Mubarak’s regime, including names that used to preside known
parties, others heading demonstrations, third group that enjoy an established
reputation in the field of economy and politics… if an accurate and objective
evaluation process over such figures was made, I believe the result would have
been negative to a large extent.
I do not want to go into detailing names, positions,
and results… not to mention that some other names occupied, and still do,
leading positions of workers’ unions and who belong to those pan-nationalist
and leftist orientations while their performance was not as expected.
Therefore, help was sought from those previously tried
in tasks assigned to them by pre-January and June revolutions regimes… for, at
least, they do not claim to have the right of being rivals and partners… they
do not claim to be retroactively wise… and to exclusively possess the right
vision and the one and only unique revolutionary discipline… most importantly,
those sought-after figures, in plain words, “listen to what they are told to
do”… which means they pick the message and translate it into action without much
need to details and instructions.
Here, I do not mean to underestimate anyone or nail
the efficiency of some others… also, I do not hint at those who took the
decision of choosing such names… however, it is a reality that recurs in many
countries and societies, especially in times of reconstruction and restoring
what fell down.
Few years ago, I wrote about what I called the state
intellectuals and distinguished between them and the regime intellectuals… as
in many times, the professional cultivated intellectual, possessing the vision
and capacity to run an executive position, finds himself enrolled in the
official entities as there is no other way to serve the country and build the
state but to work from inside the already-established entities.
Egypt has witnessed examples of such figures since
Sheikh Hassan al-Attar and his student Refa’a al-Tahtawi to the tens of
professors and experts who worked in the already-existing political
institutions… as it is not logical to assassinate the characters of those who
found no other way to do their scientific or technical mission but through
working and collaborating with the regime.
However, such bunch is different to those profiteers
who serve the rulers for their own gains and who usually have no talent or
dignity… adding to this that nations during phases of transformation – actually
in all phases – are not built by the rule of excluding the efficient talents of
its sons but by achieving maximum use of employing them everyone in his place.
Egypt witnessed unique models of such respected
intellectuals who staunchly supported the state and its leadership despite
being excluded and sometimes even restricting their freedom… in such regard,
one should mention names like Ismail Sabri Abdalla, Fouad Morsi, Abdelazim
Anis, Ahmed el-Refa’ie, and Ibrahim Abdelhalim of the Egyptian Left leaders in
the fifties and sixties who spared no effort in backing the Nasserist
leadership and letting go of many negative acts… also letting go of the harm
inflicted over them during their detention.
Nations, at certain times, need those who can tackle
missionary-like tasks while they have no ambition in gains, positions, titles,
and privileges no matter how tempting they are.
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
This article was published in
Al Ahram newspaper on August 3, 2017.
To see the original article,
go to:
#alahram #ahmed_elgammal
#Egypt #intellectuals
No comments:
Post a Comment