I wish those cooperating with terrorism adding
more fuel to its god-damned mechanism can come back to their senses. Such
cooperation I mean is that which is sought by some capitalists and some of
those considered as belonging to the elite educated and intellectual bunch of
people, as they keep cursing and turning their back feeling ungrateful towards
glorious days in the history of our country, such days full of struggle to
achieve independence, development, liberation and social equality; days written
in history by the martyrs’ blood of fighters and resisting people of our army,
police and other civilian citizens, since the most important target of
terrorism is to hit the whole nation in the heart by uprooting our belonging
and destroying our identity, so that generations with no national identity and
no cultural or civilization roots can be born; generations void of the noble
humane and patriotic morals that once resided in the nation’s conscience and
were the motive behind its vibrant thirst for freedom.
And so, the nation’s modern time
witnessed, as an example, the Cairo revolutions I and II against the French
Campaign, then 1805 revolution that toppled the unjust Ottoman ruler and
imposed another one whom people chose and dictated their conditions to, then
1881 revolution… 1919 revolution… 1935 popular uprising… then 1952 revolution…
reaching to the two big revolutions of January 25th, 2011 and June
30th, 2013. I can confirm that no other people have such live spirit.
For this reason, some people – including me – will not get bored or tired of devoting
all possible efforts to revive the nation’s soul and bring its greatest
cultural and civilization aspects to life once again. That’s why I am writing those
articles about real Egypt; the resisting Egypt; Egypt with its resisting people
fighting occupation and aggression; those who resisted and participated alongside
the armed forces and police in standing against such aggression.
Egypt has witnessed, just like all human
societies, different kinds of peoples with different cultural and social
backgrounds. Some of them preferred submitting and surrendering to the invader
adopting certain logic common in other cultures saying: “if you can’t prevent
rape, then enjoy it”. However, some other kinds chose resistance, resilience
and sacrificing everything, even life itself, and enjoying that!
The 1967 defeat was one of the sorting criteria
used in distinguishing between those two kinds of people who clearly revealed
themselves. As the kind who enjoyed all achievements and greatness of pre-June
1967 era turned their back to the Nasserist experience declaring they were
betrayed. As a result, they denied the whole Nasserist experience and condemned
all which and who belonged to it.
On the other side, there was another
kind of people who did not enjoy these achievements and greatness and who had
only simple legitimate privileges; however, they decided to remain loyal to
their belief and to stick to it; they decided to resist and keep on resisting,
as they realized that the country is the saving ark carrying all of us and that
there is a huge difference between being humans and being mice, since the
latter are the first to jump off the ship if it caught fire or was sinking, for
their stay in the stores and kitchen became threatened. As to humans, the
country is not a sailing ship to jump off it, but a land, heritage, ancestors,
civilization, culture, belonging, existence and all that may represent value to
humans.
This is exactly the difference between a
model like Mr. Amr Moussa who enjoyed working and gained benefits amid the
national Nasserist experience until 1967,
but no sooner did the defeat take place, than he took a decision to deny the
whole Nasserist experience and deny belonging to it. He, however, continued
working in his prestigious job in the foreign ministry until he became a
minister, and between another model represented in those resisting people in
Suez and other Canal cities and others who remained loyal to their beliefs no
matter how tough this was; those who devoted their efforts and sacrificed their
lives to combat and resist aggression and achieve victory over it. Long before them,
Abdallah al-Nadim; a man belonging to the same model and who refused to surrender
to the 1881 defeat, sought refuge in real Egypt and went asking the protection
of its people. Such man was a unique example for the art of resistance and
behavior of resisting people.
There are few still alive of the heroes
of Suez – the city I took as a model to write about in the anniversary of the victory.
Of them are Ahmed Otaifi, Abdel-Moniem Qenawi, Mahmoud Badr and Mahmoud Taha.
In such regard, I would like to talk
about the Arab Sinai group established after the defeat and fostered by the
Egyptian military intelligence and which included some of the noblest sons of
our beloved Egypt from Sinai, Suez and other governorates in frontline with the
enemy. The colleague and friend Mr. Muhammed ash-Shafie; the prestigious
writer, once wrote a book about the heroic works of Arab Sinai group taking
Muhammed Taha; a notable figure of resistance, as a study case in his book.
Also, my late friend Mr. Hamed Hasab wrote a book about Suez called “Suez, a
tale of a city”. In addition, the resistance hero and member of Sinai group
Ahmed Otaifi wrote a booklet about the biography of a fighting civilian.
Despite all this, I believe the story of
Arab Sinai group and the unique civilian patriotic action were not duly
appreciated, whether regarding resisting people from Suez or their colleagues
from Sinai whom some of them are close friends to me. I also know the price
they paid like Sheikh Hassan bin Ali bin Hassan Khalaf al-Soweriki.
Due to this limited space, I will not be
able to write all that fulfills the greatness of such amazing fighting patriotic
work of resistance that revealed the greatest cultural and civilization traits
of the Egyptian people. However, such limited space may allow me to call upon
the patriotic leader; President Abdel-Fattah as-Sisi, to give his orders to pay
attention to Suez, conserve its
important historic monuments, establish a national museum for Suez to be an
important cultural spot containing all that may relate to the struggle of
Egyptians of Suez city in resisting the occupation and preventing the enemy
from taking Suez as a weak point to practice pressure over the national will
and decision in 1973.
Along with conserving the monuments and
establishing the museum, we have to honor those who are still alive of
resistance heroes and honor those who left our world, whether martyred or died.
All Glory to our martyrs throughout all
times until now… and all glory to our country.
Translated to English by: Dalia Elnaggar
This article was
published in Al Ahram newspaper on November 2, 2017.
To see the
original article, go to:
#alahram
#ahmed_elgammal #Egypt #resistance #Suez
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