I postpone writing about Talaat Harb for a next time… as
I have ended my last week’s article with a promise to write about him in the
context of the role of the Egyptian capitalism in building the country… I postpone
writing for two reasons… one is I have not finished yet revising the material I
will use as a reference… second, it is necessary to give a detailed citation
for the fundamental reference I will establish my information on… such citation
opens the door for a highly important talk in my opinion despite it may seem
repetitive… such talk deserves to be seriously processed… it is about the role
of the scientific and intellectual elite bunch which is inseparable of the role
of capital and work force together and in the same time.
This reference I would like to hint at is a doctorate
thesis from Chicago University written by Eric Davis… although it was written
and debated since relatively long time, its subject titled “Challenging colonization:
Bank Misr and Egyptian industrialization 1920 – 1941” is still needed in the cultural,
social, economic and political life in Egypt, especially during this time we
live in now.
At the beginning of the research, there is an acknowledgement
to tens of names who contributed to helping the researcher in his thesis including
some I see it is my duty to mention them once again now since the foreign researcher
was noble and honest enough to mention them name by name… first, he mentioned Mr.
Galal Ezzat; husband of Talaat Harb’s granddaughter, the one who gave the
researcher the chance to look at the documents of Talaat Pasha … then came Mr.
Muhammed Fouad Salem who let the researcher view the documents of his father;
Muhammed Fouad Salem Hegazi who was a loyal friend to Talaat Harb… then Mr.
Ragheb Iskandar who offered the researcher the opportunity to see the papers of
his father; Iskandar Messiha; one of the members who established the bank.
Then came names like Mr. Nabil Rafaat from the
ministry of Egyptian treasury… and gentlemen employees of the Egyptian National
Library and Archives that if it wasn’t for their efforts, the researcher would
not have been able to study the archives’ documents… then Mr. Muhammed Amin
Ahmed; administrative secretary of Talaat Harb whom the researcher said about: “…
in addition to the long hours he spent with me in long conversations, he
provided me with extra papers about Bank Misr… also the photos appearing in the
book… his interest in this study reflected his absolute loyalty to Talaat Harb
and the project of Bank Misr”.
As to Mr. Mahmoud Soliman Ghannam, he gave the
researcher a copy of the unpublished records of the closed-door session of the
Egyptian parliament held in 1941 to discuss the financial difficulties facing Bank
Misr and its companies… after this the researcher thanked some figures like Dr.
Ali el-Geritli, Mr. Fathi Radwan, Dr. Abdel-Hamid esh-Sherif, Dr. Assem
ad-Dessouki, Sawsan al-Misseri, Talal Asad… and others.
I mentioned the names of those Egyptian figures whom
the researcher praised… not to fill the space… and not because I know some of
them closely… but to shed some light over the shining Egyptian spirit always ready
to give, achieve and contribute to serious work… such spirit that does not hesitate
to glow once it has the motive… the spirit that finds unlimited joy in
volunteering work as long as it serves Egypt and the truth.
Now I move to the other side where the publisher and
scrutinizer who wrote the introduction for the book are… as to the publisher,
he is Mr. Adel al-Moa’lem whom I think was much marginalized because of the
heavy shadows that hid him and clouded his role as a serious publisher… these
were the shadows of his elder brother that it happened to have all the lights
and roles for a reason or another… but I am not going to discuss this despite I
have a lot to say in such regard.
It was Adel al-Moa’lem who paid the attention of Mr. Dr.
Ibrahim Fawzi to the book… Dr. Ibrahim hinted at his story with the publisher
in his introduction that occupied seven pages… in it, he wrote a long piece
about Mr. Muhammed al-Moa’lem and Adel al-Moa’lem and their roles in the
industry of publishing and enlightenment.
In this introduction, Mr. Ibrahim Fawzi mentioned his
professor in the university college in London; that is Professor “Bishop”, who founded
a high-value national, ethical and human rule in the mind of his student… he
told him that true university professor has to be like a light house sending
out its shining light in every direction around penetrating the gloomy sea
darkness… and that those pulses of light have to keep guiding the small boats
all the time like they do with the big ones despite no one knows who will come
ashore on its light and who will set off in the vast sea.
And so gentlemen, Dr. Ibrahim Fawzi did not hesitate
for a moment to be this light house… to simplify the difficult complicated
sciences in order to enable the scientific thinking to be in reach of the vast
majority of the society… here I remember I wrote months ago about the book of
Quantum mechanics that Dr. Fawzi simplified.
Not a single time I met this respected scientist
unless I find him burdened with the reality of our country, deeply exhausted in
thinking of its future… and so I owe him a lot which I wish I can show some
gratitude to him in the coming article about “Talaat Harb and challenging colonization”…
hoping that wealth owners can benefit from the experiment of the pioneer of
industry and national economy.
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
This article was published in
Almasry alyoum newspaper on May 31, 2017.
To see the original article,
go to:
#almasry_alyoum
#ahmed_elgammal #Talaat_Harb #Bank_Misr #Egypt #industry #industrialization
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