Real Egypt: two kinds of people

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 25^th, 2011 and June 30^th, 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:

http://ahmadelgammal.blogspot.com.eg/2017/11/blog-post.html

#alahram #ahmed_elgammal #Egypt #resistance #Suez

Models from real Egypt

In hard times, there is no other way but to promote the nation’s mettle and revive the spirit of resilience and giving among the people in order for their deep-rooted cultural and civilization qualities to be revealed… and their ability to stay united and cooperate with army and police men; those who headed the front, to get stronger.

In such regard, there are many models and examples of giving in real Egypt to the extent of sacrificing one’s own soul… those pages of sacrifice were written in the book of history by Egypt sons; those used to be called civilians despite I am against this categorization into civilians and military men… as traitors, who worked for long time to spread this conspiracy of dismantle and disintegration into the heart of our national composition, used this technique of categorization in order to dismantle this composition on cultural, sectarian, and religious bases.

The first model that I would like to revive our national memory of is what our sons in the Egyptian Navy did on the 21^st of October, 1967… meaning four months after 1967 defeat when the missile craft Nr. 504 led by Captain Ahmed Shaker Abdelwahid al-Qareh succeeded in torpedoing the Zionist warship “Eilat” in the Mediterranean… the missile craft crew included 21 fighters in addition to their leader Ahmed Shaker… this battle was the first one of its kind worldwide… afterwards, another battle fought by the missile craft Nr. 501 led by Captain Lotfi as-Sayed Gadallah took place… as the Zionist warship “Haifa” was scuttled when it went out to save the “Eilat” crew… in doing so, two thirds of the Zionist naval forces of warships were destroyed in only two hours before Port Said’s shores.

That battle was the first one to revive the nation’s mettle at that time and which raised hope once again among the armed forces which did not have the chance to go into fight in 1967… after this glorious act, Gamal Abdel-Nasser ordered the two heroes Ahmed Shaker Abdelwahid al-Qareh and Lotfi Gadallah to be awarded the military Star of Honor which was the highest rank military decoration that later was given to the martyr Abdelmonim Riad after his death.

I have no idea why the names of hero Ahmed Shaker and hero Lotfi Gadallah were not mentioned in Egypt celebrations of the Navy Day on October, the 21^st and why media did not talk about them or the fighting heroes who were aboard the two missile crafts… the least to say in such regard is “this is really improper”.

Our armed forces mourned hero Ahmed Shaker after his death saying: “the hero who led the first battle of victory and recorded an eternal worldwide-renowned glory in the history of Egyptian Navy… who raised Egypt’s name high to the sky… and became an example of sacrifice for every soldier keen on protecting his country’s sovereignty”.

After this model of sacrifice, I move with you to other glorious pages of history written by sons of the Egyptian people in Suez… those who caught the fire of patriotism with their own hands and who united with their city and became one cohesive mass that nothing could beat… not the cruelty of defeat, the strength of the enemy, or the treason of those who chose to surrender and who took many forms since 1967 to date… none of these could hit this cohesive mass.

It is really and deeply sorrowful that heroes of popular resistance, especially in the great city of Suez, were not honored either financially or morally… some of them martyred during resistance… some died later… and those who are still alive suffer from old age and sickness.

Moreover, this great city, that is not less than Stalingrad and other model cities of resistance, suffered and still is suffering from negligence… I have already called upon the state represented in its patriotic leader president Sisi to pay his attention to Suez and to compensate it for the decades of intentional negligence and make it a national distinguished city glowing with culture and awareness in addition to its beauty that came from its resilience and resistance of its people.

Of those who stayed alive of resistance heroes until now the patriot fighter Ahmed Otaifi and resistance fighter Abdelmonim Qenawi… each one of them had his role that integrated with roles of other heroes who will not go forgotten in the humanitarian and national history… even if forgotten amid the lights of media whenever the victory anniversary is celebrated.

It is really important to focus in our present time on models of popular resilience and great resistance that Suez along with its people represented a unique example for… as we, especially in this very time, are in bad need to revive the public mettle of the nation and bring the most noble qualities of the Egyptian humanitarian composition to light.

In his book “Suez… a tale of a city”, the patriotic late friend Mr. Hamed Hasab listed the minor details of what happened prior to June 5, 1967 and what followed next until after the victory of October, 1973 and incidents of great resistance that started by donating blood to the extent that the hospitals issued a statement calling upon all people who came in big numbers to donate blood… that the fridges were full and they had to keep the blood in their veins in case they needed it later… and not ending by the armed confrontation with the Zionist enemy to deter its attempt to control the great city that survived a more-than-100-days siege.

The resisting people in Suez realized that the enemy practices his aggression on three main fronts… the first is a cultural aggression represented in bringing in cultures targeting constructive values and spreading factors of dismantle and indifference… cultures targeting our spiritual and national legacy and working on erasing them, disconnecting the nation from its legacy and weakening the collective awareness of the national identity… and how close we are today to what happened at that time.

The second is a political and economic aggression represented in bringing in monopolizing investments that not only did they loot the national resources but also were main points where anti-revolution powers in the society can gather around… and which constitute a political burden hindering the nation from going on its progressive liberation struggle.

The third is a military aggression, either systematic or terrorist, that combines with the previous forms of aggression… due to the limited space allowed, I will continue writing about the epic of Suez city as a model of popular resistance and resilience later.

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar

This article was published in Al Ahram newspaper on October 26, 2017.

To see the original article, go to:

http://ahmadelgammal.blogspot.com.eg/2017/10/blog-post_25.html

#alahram #ahmed_elgammal #Egypt #Suez #resistance

This is real Egypt

According to logical, national, and also humanitarian reasons, we should not celebrate the glorious victory and honor those who achieved it every year in October; whether those who martyred, died, or are still alive while we repeatedly ignore real heroes who contributed to the resistance after the defeat and who established the fighting resisting action in Suez Canal cities and Sinai… they also participated in it, combatted the enemy, and exhausted it… they made the most glorious epics of real patriotic struggle which, alone, deserve to be described as struggle… and not those so-called activists experts in empty talking and professional in hindering, actually hitting the process of building our country that is taking place now.

I here mean tens and hundreds of heroes who strived to stay in the Canal cities despite decisions of compulsory evacuation issued to protect the people after the enemy meant to threaten and hit those cities as a technique to practice pressure over the Egyptian military and political leadership… the enemy also started to destroy vital establishments like petrol refineries of the two companies of Suez and an-Nasr… the image of destroying az-Zaitiya is still present in the mind of all who saw it at that time.

Before going on writing about the resisting action – especially in Suez as a model that does not negate or underestimate Ismailia and Port Said – I would like to write, even if a short note, about certain incidents whose main character was professor Dr. Abdelhamid Safwat Ibrahim Abdelwahhab; most prominent scholar of social psychology in Egypt and the region and who was “reserve first lieutenant” in the great Egyptian Armoured forces in 1973.

I had the great honor that we were colleagues during our study time in the faculty of arts at Ain Shams University… we were also leaders in the faculty and university students’ union and other things not to mention right now… although I will not mention such things, they confirm that a good honorable man is always so no matter the time or the place is.

It is enough to say that Abdelhamid Safwat; secretary of the social committee of the university students’ union in 1970/1971 considered taking a “taxi”, as a means of transport during the time of executing the project of students’ housing that costed tens of thousands, a crime and treason… he used to take the bus and tram and refuse to take back the piaster and a half left… while others were professional in stealing the funds of students’ unions and preferred smoking the “Du Maurier” foreign cigarettes brand.

On October 16, 2016, Dr. Safwat wrote on “Facebook” talking to the youth who did not witness the war and who listen to and read what the Zionist enemy says and claims that Egypt’s capital was open before them at Kilo 101: “… this is lie… my testimony is I was among the battalion 242 of the Armoured forces and which caused massive losses to the enemy troops that wanted to advance and made them stop at that point… I remember, feeling very proud, that my tank chain was the mark defining this point as it was the last tank directly facing the enemy…”

“… A brigadier in the international emergency forces, another of the Egyptian army, and the battalion’s leader came and asked me “where exactly was your tank position last night?”… I pointed to the place which the officer of the international emergency forces recorded over his map… that point was Kilo 101 over Suez road… all what I said was recorded and published in an Israeli book titled “the dereliction” translated by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in the beginning of the eighth chapter…”

“… My question to that Israeli claiming that our land was open before them to Cairo: why haven’t you advanced specially that the command of the third army was at Kilo 95? Why have you stopped at Kilo 101?... I was an eye-witness over the lie and arrogance of the Zionists who claimed that, as I was among the Armoured forces that fought in Defreswar breakthrough and stopped them”… words of Dr. Safwat ended here.

I am honored to present a model that draws a picture for the great Egyptian family… such family that did not spare any effort in supporting the fighters… read with me a comment written by Dr. Safwat’s sister over the incidents related to what we talk about… as she, Ne’amat Ibrahim, said: “We knew what it means to love our country when we saw how much you love and care for everything in it… I give my testimony that you, throughout your life, never attacked your country like they do right now… you always provide constructive criticizing based on your sense of responsibility… remember that gift you brought with you from the warfront?... rings made from the metal of the Zionist airplanes that fell down…”

Here the academic scholar and fighter remembers: “… I will never forget what you Ne’amat along with our sister Olfat did when you wrote about 200 letters to the folks of 200 fighters of my colleagues who assigned me the task of delivering postal orders of their salaries to their folks… that was nearly on October 28^th before the Lesser Bairam Feast… I was the first to go on vacation from the warfront… when I went to the post office and they were about to close… I told them that those postal orders belong to my colleagues in the warfront… I was surprised that all citizens helped me in writing all those postal orders… and that the employees postponed closing the office for about an hour until the volunteering citizens finished their job…”

“… I received the postal orders and you and Olfat started to put each one in a letter and write the name and address over it… it was a great surprise that the salaries of the fighters reached their folks accurately and with no mistakes… my regards to you, dear sister”.

This is real Egypt, you mean bastards… you who want to kill it either by deadly terrorism or by scuttling its attempt to develop with empty talking and doubting everything.

Next week, I will continue writing about the resistance in Suez as a model… we will talk about that great resistance along with some of its leading heroes who survived the hundred days besiege and did what places Suez in the same status occupied by resistance cities in Russia and Europe during World War II… and I will not get bored of calling on the patriotic leader president Abdelfattah es-Sisi to pay his attention to the city of Suez… as I have already asked him this few months before… so, until next week, to continue writing about those who strived, resisted, and contributed to making the victory.

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar

This article was published in Al Ahram newspaper on October 20, 2017.

To see the original article, go to:

http://ahmadelgammal.blogspot.com.eg/2017/10/blog-post_18.html

#alahram #ahmed_elgammal #Egypt #Suez #resistance

Public libraries… key to renaissance and modernization

While I was reading an article for ambassador and intellectual Mr. Abdel-Ra’ouf ar-Ridi in last Friday’s Al Ahram newspaper edition, I remembered what I read long time ago about the European renaissance and how one of the most important features at the beginning and set off of this renaissance was the efforts exerted by the Medici family that ruled Tuscany and Florence at the beginning of the modern era. This family believed and practiced the civilization and cultural role of wealth and responsibility of managing the society affairs. The princes of this family were famous for assuming such role, atop of them was prince Lorenzo the magnificent about whom it was said that he declared his intention to sell the furniture of Medici family houses to continue building the public libraries in Tuscany and Florence.

Ambassador ar-Ridi wrote about sources of terrorism and focused on the role of public libraries in building the civilization and cultural renaissance in Egypt… and of course the scientific and technical ones… he inaugurated the invitation to start building a thousand public libraries in Egypt… here I excerpt part of his article: “… since Egypt’s situation now is not only deteriorated in the public libraries’ field, but in the field of scientific research… as per the index of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Egypt lies almost at the last rank preceded by all other Arab countries except for Algeria and Yemen… as to the UAE, it occupies the first rank with Jordan following it in the second place”.

From this space of opinion pages of Al Ahram, I agree to this invitation and call upon everyone interested in the renaissance of this country to do the same thing so that this invitation sent by ambassador ar-Ridi can reach president Sisi to support the initiative of building a thousand public libraries in Egypt and issuing a law that makes reading a basic right for every citizen and having a public library a fundamental right for every human community… especially that there are many nations that precede us in such field… for example, there is a public library for every 28 thousand people in India… also, Iran has achieved better than this… and the Zionist state is even more and more advanced in such regard.

In my opinion, the hope in achieving the renaissance of our country in all fields starts by building the citizens’ awareness of their important role in achieving such hope… it is also known that building and increasing awareness is qualitatively and quantitatively connected to culture… we also know that means of reading have developed and that it is now available to have a flash memory, the one you can attach to your keys’ ring, which can hold hundreds of books in all fields… for this reason, I have already called more than once in my writings and TV interviews to start a campaign titled “a flash memory for every class”… this flash memory shall include well-chosen books regarding subjects and level to match the age range of those who shall read them.

I would like also to widen the scope of the invitation to include all the well-offs of Egypt and all civil communities; whether political parties, non-governmental organizations and all their likes in the countryside, desert and small towns to share in a collective work and go to the ministry of domestic development, that our good fortune happened to bring a great scientist and pioneering expert in the scientific and IT field on top of it, to start establishing the public libraries nationwide… next to reading and listening rooms, there shall be other halls for seminars and theatrical and artistic performances in general… and so, all who cannot find space to practice such activities in schools and universities shall go to these libraries… in doing so, the public libraries will turn into focal points of collective and creativity activities in all Egypt… side by side with youth clubs and residences of public culture… here I wonder about the current status of these two since we are about to fulfill our hope in building the renaissance of our country!

Ambassador ar-Ridi, that 80-years-old young man full of energy with his agile mind always wondering, has exerted a big and distinguished effort in the field of establishing and fostering public libraries so that they do not disappear with time… and he is still trying hard to fulfill the hope of working on building the first thousand public libraries so that we can have one for every hundred thousand Egyptian citizens… such thing might seem unachievable if we compared the percentage to other countries we mentioned above however we hope we can begin the journey of thousand miles with a single step… this step is the establishment of thousand libraries.

In such regard, the brave city of Suez is waiting to be the first one of the governorates’ capitals to have such public library as a first step… I knew that the land is already available… only the entity that will fund such project is left… as to the content of the library, ambassador ar-Ridi has promised to provide all support to have an international level of quality… and so I ask Mr. Hesham esh-Sherif; minister of domestic development to foster such project so that the efforts of providing the possibilities of building the public library of Suez are done under the auspices of the ministry.

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar

This article was published in Al Ahram newspaper on April 20, 2017.

To see the original article, go to:

http://ahmadelgammal.blogspot.com.eg/2017/04/blog-post_20.html

#alahram #ahmed_elgammal #Egypt #culture #renaissance #1000_libraries_project

Captain Ghazali… and resistance

Some almost prefer to go deaf or blind lest they hear or see any sign or hint of resistance… whether resistance against the British occupation or against the Zionist aggression and occupying Sinai.

Those some have historical roots or are descendants of those who called themselves long time ago “people who have the real benefit”… meaning the benefit from the existence of the British occupation… those who refused any act of resistance against the occupation because it had benefits according to their opinion… as to the grandsons, they are those who adore the Israeli model and believe that not only must we co-exist with it and give a blind eye about its crimes no matter what it does, but also they believe we should go the extra mile in benefiting from it!

And so writing about resistance again and reviving the national memory with those glorious days when Egypt’s sons fought bravely for its freedom, especially those great resistance figures and fighters inhabiting the Suez Canal cities and Sinai… such writing may seem to those deaf and blind as outdated gibberish or meaningless populist talk in our preset time empty of any ideas or beliefs that were always described as the nation’s pillar concepts… as pride and dignity.

Today I write about one of the resistance figures; Captain Ghazali… and about Suez; this brave city I wrote about weeks ago asking the president to give it extra care.

Days ago, Captain Ghazali left our world after long suffering with illness, through which he did not have the due care he deserved as a citizen… that man did not hesitate for a moment to do his best for his country… Muhammed Ahmed Ghazali, known as Captain Ghazali, was not only gifted with composing awareness poems that influence our conscience and strengthen resilience… and was not just a founder of a folklore-art band that plays As-Semsemiya musical instrument and sings folklore songs that encourage resistance and resilience… before and after all this, he is part of a phenomenon known by any living nation when such nation goes through the experience of testing its ability to respond to great challenges… atop of these challenges is facing the foreign aggression against it… that aggression aiming at breaking its wills, occupying its conscience after invading its land and destroying its potentials.

It is the phenomenon where national will gets united and symptoms of selfishness, defeatism and acceptance to live under the rule of the aggressor vanish… then all inherent potentials of the national conscience become clear and stronger; words… music… paints… dance… serving families whose supporters and young men go to fight on the battle front… unconventional ways of resistance come to existence… then holding arms and insistence to stay in your land… its dust, asphalt, buildings, streets, allies, lanes, churches and mosques… sticking to the resistance act like the song saying “we collect the bones of our dead children… whet them… and use them as weapons to defend our country and achieve victory for Egypt”!

It is the phenomenon that any respectful nation does not deny and even considers it sacred in its history to recall it when necessary… necessary here means not only when fighting against the aggression and resisting the occupation but also when rebuilding the country on all levels… as it is more required to ignite the spirit of giving, altruism and volunteering during the process of rebuilding the nation both materialistically and morally.

Here we come to the point I find important… that is the essence of the crime committed by those who mock and refuse the whole thing of national resistance as they deprive the country from the resisting part of its conscience composition that goes from the least level of denying improper behavior in the street like throwing rubbish, not abiding by traffic rules and other acts… to rebuking the one who commits such violation and informing the authorities about him… and goes to the highest level of domains unlimited to count since all fields of daily life include negativities worth of resisting.

We all lived times, especially those who witnessed the wars of 1956, 1967, attrition and 1973, when talking and atmosphere of resistance was part of our pubic national conscience… we also lived times when there was a political and media discourse that aimed at ignoring all phases of resistance and its spirit… then this discourse moved to mocking resistance… then feeling no shame, it attributed all the problems inflicted on our country to the resistance… in the same time, this discourse meant to speak in favor of all that is against all this… until treason became a point of view and a human right!

Captain Ghazali was a figure of the resistance act supporting the fighting act… and Suez stayed a symbol of resilience and resistance… but it paid the price for this… it is time now, as I said before in this very same space weeks ago, we should pay this great city back what it sacrificed for our country as part of acknowledging the role of the great national movement of resistance that started in the modern era by resisting the French Campaign at the end of the eighteenth century and beginning of the nineteenth one.

Let all names of resistance figures and fighters against aggression, occupation and terrorism be inscribed in the book of immortality.

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar

This article was published in Al Ahram newspaper on April 6, 2017.

To see the original article, go to:

http://ahmadelgammal.blogspot.com.eg/2017/04/blog-post_5.html

#alahram #ahmed_elgammal #Egypt #Suez #resistance #fighting #captain_Ghazali

Suez, Mr. President

It is really sad that a writer deliberately revives the collective memory of the society and state institutions of an essential axiom. As ignoring factual matters like this is a sign of the grave danger the whole country is facing… and here I am, feeling totally sad, while writing about the city-governorate that represented our national pride and was an example of sacrifice and resistance… it is Suez… the city that once you arrive at it through a straight-forward distinguished road extending from Cairo, you find another awful thing standing before you. We cannot describe what happened to this city but with ingratitude and denial of all that represents high values in our life. It is as if all eras of politics deterioration and mean Infitah have taken control of the nations’ conscience and took it down to the lowest point of degradation.

Suez… the city that was and still is a distinctive mark in the world’s history and the history of our region in specific. We say pre-Suez and post-Suez when we talk about the history of international relations, old colonization, rise of international liberation movements and nations’ will to free themselves from occupation and tyranny that ruled them for long times.

Suez… the setting point of Muslim pilgrims to Mecca and Medina for long times… harbor of maritime trade, overland convoys and centre of many economic activities. Above all this, it is the city of people who defend their country against any invader no matter how strong it is.

If it was not for those honest resisting fighters; those who resisted and fought using arms, words and music in Egypt’s wars since 1956 to 1973, our beloved Egypt would not have been proud of what it have accomplished in defeating the tripartite invasion or reversing the defeat of 1967 and getting ready for the militant and resisting actions before and during the War of Attrition until the 1973 victory was achieved. It was Suez that fought out bravely during all those battles.

After all what we said about Suez – which is nothing compared to what can be said about the model of Suez – is it acceptable that some say it is a city or governorate despised by presidents and consequently by state institutions; such institutions sometimes headed by inefficient employees who cannot differentiate between satisfying their superiors and doing their national duty?

Is it acceptable to keep appointing governors for Suez who do not know the difference between managing a company and heading a strategic governorate like Suez; this patriotic city long-known in the history of resisting invasion and occupation?

Is it acceptable that cumbersome bureaucracy damages the long-in-history national heritage of this city? If you go there now, you will find that the historical buildings have turned into ruins with ripped-off wooden-pane windows, dilapidated walls and tons of rubbish piling before them. The neighborhoods in the heart of Suez have lost their main features under crowding, poor planning and absence of any plans of development that put into consideration preserving the civilization aspects and cultural features of the city. They even refuse to resort to experts of the Suez people; those who hold the highest scientific degrees and enjoy valuable experiences and broad deep culture.

Is it acceptable that a figure like Captain Ghazali gets sick and old and finds no state or governorate institution to take proper care of him while he was and will always be a symbol for the brave resisting popular action?

Suez has never been the poor-in-resources city. It contains petrol, oil refineries, quarries and fisheries. Before and after this, it has the humans that long resisted very difficult natural circumstances throughout history. For those who do not know this, please read what al-Maqdisi wrote in his book titled “The Best Divisions in the Knowledge of the Regions”.

A promising future is supposed to await all Canal governorates; Suez, Ismailia, Port-Said and the rest of the Suez Gulf area extending southward to the last point of borders over the Red Sea. We have to really ask about the present and future of Suez; city and governorate. Will it always be unreasonably and unjustifiably a prey for those inefficient employees? Even if some of those in charge said that all we mentioned and said above is nothing but illusions, reality, clearly, says something else. Reality affirms that negligence, piling of problems, indifference and absence of strategic plans of sustainable development, preserving historical features and maintaining people’s dignity, can result in something bigger than anger.

I called on the president before regarding construction licenses in Tanta and the issue was gladly resolved. Now I call upon him to tackle the matter of Suez; city and governorate, so that hope can prevail in the life of its sons; those who sacrificed blood and souls in epics documented in poems and songs. The president can just ask to listen to the immortal lyrics and haunting melody of the “Suez houses” song… the song says: “Oh, you houses of Suez… houses of my city; Suez… I shall die and you shall survive”.

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar

This article was published in Al Ahram newspaper in January 26, 2017.

To see the original article, go to:

http://ahmadelgammal.blogspot.com.eg/2017/01/blog-post_26.html

#alahram #ahmed_elgammal #Suez #Egypt