Thus Spoke My Eccentric Friend (1/5): Dreams of the Arabs

JK: Winds of Change.NET's Cairo correspondent Tarek Heggy (see his Winds article archive) says "This essay shows how an overwhelming number of contemporary Arabs are isolated from reality. This isolation is a function of outdated political, educational & media systems."

Thus Spoke My Eccentric Friend (Part 1/5)
by Tarek Heggy in Cairo, Egypt

When we were young Leftists in the second half of the Sixties, a peculiar friend of us became, amongst our group, known as "our eccentric friend" – was an exceptionally well-read Marxist. One could not mention a literary or ideological work without discovering that he had already read it. On June 5th, 1967, it seemed as if a knife had pierced him to the heart. On that fateful day, I recall him saying in anguish: "It is the roots of the tree that are rotten, not the branches or the fruit". He disappeared to Europe, where he lived for several years, and returned with an adamant denial of all ideologies. He would often say, "I believe in science and progress"; and at others times, "an ideologist in today's world is a psychiatric case; you can't talk to such people until they've been cured!"

During the past year, I began to put in writing his enthusiastic outpourings during our discussions, and the resulting article contains some of his observations taken down in the course of four meetings that took place within last month (August, 2004).

My Eccentric Friend, Part 1: Dreams of the Arabs

As usual, my eccentric friend began to put forth his questions tonight with his volcanic vehemence. He said:

"The media in our region has managed to steer public opinion towards the conviction that there is absolutely nothing good about the US; that everything they do is wrong; and that they are intent upon perpetrating crimes against the Arabs.

This same media says nothing about the corruption of the Palestinian leadership; and could find nothing to say about Sadat except that he was a 'traitor'; nor has it ever been mentioned once during the past forty years that the Arabs' current predicament with Israel is the result of Gamal Abdel Nasser's misguided actions in May and June of 1967. This media has never once given voice to the opinion of those cultured Palestinians who see that the suicide attacks against Israel have considerably weakened the Palestinian cause, nor does it ever link between Israel's excessive use of force and these attacks. This media has never dared to criticize its own leadership or mention the corruption ingrained in many of its public figures.

How, then, can any sane person in the civilized world respect the leanings of a public opinion that is so blatantly shaped by this type of media, in countries, moreover, where the illiteracy rate is almost fifty percent?"

My eccentric friend rushed on enthusiastically:

"Don't you agree that the claim made by some Arabs that they are Semites and therefore cannot possibly be labeled as anti-Semitic is one of the most preposterous blunders ever? Anyone with even a bare minimum of knowledge is aware of the fact that the term "anti-Semitism" is synonymous with "anti-Jewish" - i.e. being against the Jews simply because they are Jewish – ever since the atrocious Dreyfuss case in France at the end of the nineteenth century. Yet some of these people speak and write in a manner that confirms their hostility towards the Jews (simply because they are Jews), and not in their capacity as Israelis who have adopted policies that the writer finds unacceptable. Then these same people go on to argue that they cannot be accused of anti-Semitism because they themselves, as Arabs, are Semitic in origin.

It baffles me how a cartoonist could actually bring himself to portray an Arab asking Hitler: "Why didn't you finish your task?!" and then make the outrageous claim that he is not anti-Semitic?!

And how a religious man could stand on a pulpit in order to curse the Jews, stating that treachery and betrayal are in their very nature, and then be defended on the grounds that he is an Arab, therefore a Semite, and accordingly cannot be described as anti-Semitic?! It is common for religious men to denounce Jews from their pulpits during Friday prayers, pouring curses upon them, whereas they could simply condemn the killing of innocent civilians in general, no matter by whom."

He rushed on enthusiastically:

"As you know, the Arabs never stop accusing the West in general and the US in particular of having double standards and of showing no respect for world opinion; yet in the past few weeks, the world looked on in amazement and disbelief as the Arabs denounced international legitimacy when it ruled against their wishes with regard to the events in Sudan; and when the whole world condemned the Syrian intervention in Lebanon, the Arabs raised a hue and cry and launched a vicious attack (headed by the Secretary-General of the Arab League) against the international community. The Arabs were guilty of a far graver and infinitely more disastrous incidence of this type of attitude when they refused to accept international rulings regarding the division of Palestine into two separate states in 1947, one for the Arabs and the other for the Jews.

Ironically, these same Arabs would literally be dancing for joy if they were to be given the same opportunity the United Nations made them in 1947 and which they then refused, leading to the first disastrous confrontation with Israel in 1949 which culminated in Israel's acquiring more land than had originally been allotted to it by the UN decree of 1947. According to former president Clinton's book, published last June, the Arabs would be beside themselves with joy if, in a few years' time, the UN were to make them the very same offer that Yasser Arafat turned down in Camp David four years ago. A striking example of the 'foresight' and perspicacity of some of our current Arab leaders...!"

I would advise you to buy Dennis Ross's book "The Missing Piece," which provides ample evidence of how Yasser Arafat has wasted a probably never-to-be-repeated opportunity for his beleaguered people.

My eccentric friend then switched from his customary discourse to a serious question, asking me:

"Do you think there is the slightest glimmer of hope in this dismal situation where the only concern of most of our leaders is simply how to remain in power?!"

I answered with a firm: Yes! I really am optimistic that the age of totalitarianism is approaching its end, that civil liberties are on the way to becoming a reality, and that political, economic, educational and media reforms will be implemented ("whether anyone likes it or not", as Arafat is fond of saying!).

I also believe that the moderate form of Islam will prevail; an Islam that believes implicitly in coexistence with others and does not claim that any one sect is superior to another, an Islam that defines jihad or the holy war as a legitimate defense of self rather than as spreading the word through the sword; an Islam that wholeheartedly supports the march of human civilization in democracy, civil liberties and social sciences.

It is my firm belief that this, the true form of Islam, will eventually win through, and that the Islam of caves and hideouts; of the brutal killing of innocent civilians; of explosive belts and car bombs, will soon be relegated to the Museum of Evil.

On a smaller scale, there is much that is heartening: for although Lebanon, rather than teaching its neighbors democracy and a respect for the constitution, seems instead to have learned the opposite from them (as witnessed by the events of a few days ago) and indeed to have drawn closer to them, there is yet more than a glimmer of light in the Lebanese situation. I cannot adequately express the extent of my admiration for the four Lebanese ministers who handed in their resignations in protest against the 'modifications' that took place in the constitution to serve the interests of the country's leader rather than its people. Theirs is a noble and honorable stance, and although three of them belong to a group headed by a man I respect but whose views I mostly disagree with – Walid Jumbulat – I maintain that he and the three men in question deserve the unstinting respect and admiration of us all.

I cannot hide my disappointment at the Arab reaction to this momentous event; a reaction that only goes to confirm yet again that democracy is certainly not a priority with the majority of Arab pol.

The Arabs who cry out in protest against the US presence in Iraq did not utter a murmur when one of the most villainous criminals modern history has ever known took control of the country from 1968 until his ignominious capture (he was found hiding in a hole in the ground like a cornered rat) in 2003. These same Arabs who remained unmoved by the atrocities committed by the Arab Sudanese tribes against the Sudanese tribes of African origin (both of whom are Muslims), and minimized the extent of the crimes perpetrated against them, raised a hue and cry over the UN intervention in Sudanese affairs, headed by the Secretary-General of the Arab League.

As if the sovereignty of the Sudan were more important than the lives of the thousands of Sudanese who were massacred and left homeless! What kind of murky reasoning is this?

Next - My Eccentric Friend, Part 2: A Word in the Palestinian Ear

This essay was translated into numerous languages. For instance, you may read the French version, or you can read it in Hebrew, in Arabic and in Russian. For more of Tarek Heggy's writtings in English, please visit www.t-heggy-site-contents.org and for Tarek Heggy's writings in French please visit www.metransparent.com/authors/french/tarek_heggy.htm.