The Egyptian Revolution
by: Eli Zaretsky on February 11th, 2011 | 38 Comments »
(a new People's History poster by Tim Simons)
The Egyptian Revolution is the latest, and most important of a new type of revolution that originated in the 1960s: spontaneous, bottom-up, decentralized, youth-dominated, non-ideological, non-violent, fueled by new media, and profoundly generative of dignity, media, social theory, and new moral practices. Predecessors include the French May of 1968, the Philippine Revolution of 1986, the East European and Chinese Revolutions of 1989, the Palestinian intifada of 2000 and the Tunisian Revolution of 2011. Unlike previous revolutions, made by parties and states, no one owns this new type of revolution, which is anti-authoritarian, anti-patriarchal, and even anti-organizational, at root.
Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008 was another example of this new, post-Marxist revolutionary wave. It seemed to come from nowhere, to be coordinated in new, polymorphous ways, and to represent the deepest instincts of youth. The median age in the Middle East is 22; overwhelmingly, most people in the world are young. Added to that, most are people of color. Given Obama’s place as the anti-war candidate, the person who called not just for a changed policy but a changed mind-set, those who supported Obama hoped that he represented this coming wave in global politics. No one could have predicted the wonderful news from Egypt but anyone who traveled and read and followed the media must have known that this sort of shift was in the works, and it remains in the works, for the rest of the Middle East, for Iran, for Thailand, for Burma, for Mexico, for Colombia and elsewhere.
The fact that Obama — rhetoric aside — chose a different path, namely to embrace the oldest, fattest, whitest, most engorged “warriors on terror,” bankers and corporations and not the wave of youth, should not stop the rest of us from sticking to the vision we had three years ago. We can only take inspiration from the people of Egypt and learn that for us as Americans, we need not live in despair because our government tortures and lies, we need not turn away from politics because our reporters invariably parrot the official line, we need not lose faith in the American people, because they have so often been misled. What happened in Egypt happened because small numbers of people got fed up. A parallel development in the United States will of course take a completely different and still to be determined form. But one thing is clear: we have to start thinking like Egyptians once again.
I would lay bets on the fact that Eli never paid any attention to Egypt 19 days ago. It’s became the fad of the day for him. II have been following Tikkun for several months and I never saw him write blog about the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. He’s never written about the recent uprising in Iran. My guess is that we will not hear from Eli if things begin to erupt in Syria, because it ahs nothing to do with the US
As for Egypt, I see marginal change at best. The tentacles of the military reach far into society. it’s not because of US military aid, it’s because the army had to find something else to do after peace accords with Israel were signed. The military has a stranglehold on civilian industry from the manufacturing of appliances to the control of Red Sea resorts. It’s no longer just an army, it’s an economic juggernaut.. I don’t think this will change anytime soon.
.Eli:
“Given Obama’s place as the anti-war candidate”
I think you missed candidate Obama’s speech in Berlin where he called on NATO to help win the war in Afghanistan. I think Eli could agree that defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan is as important as overturning the multiple dictatorships in the world.
I wholeheartedly concur with Eli: the election of Barack Obama in 2008 heralded the beginning of what was supposed to be the New Revolution of the American people, especially the young who believed in their hearts that they were voting for a true visionary, a second Martin Luther King, who would be offering a formidable challenge to the status quo.
The fact that Obama later proved to be an opportunist, a crafty manipulator, a Talleyrand – the very antithesis of King in practically every respect – says something about one individual, but it says nothing at all about the wonderful energy and divine enthusiasm (“en-theos”) of the young men and women who fought long and hard to win that election and turn the country around.
The Second American Revolution has been dealt a devastating blow, but it has NOT been defeated – merely delayed for a few years. The status quo being absolutely untenable, the question is not WHETHER a revolution will happen but rather WHEN it will happen. But there is also the crucial question of HOW. The groundwork must be carefully laid for the coming revolution to be genuine (no more Obamas or Bidens or Clintons, please), profound (the whole system needs a major overhaul, the power of the corporations must finally be broken), and, last but not least, nonviolent. The latter point is crucial, as there is a deeply rooted culture of violence in America and there are probably more guns in this country than there are stones in Tahrir Square or in all of Cairo.
Only a few weeks ago, the Egyptian people were seen as meek and submissive and nobody in his right mind would have imagined that they could mount a revolution so bold, so disciplined, so effective and so peaceful. Inspired, as Eli so beautifully puts it, by “the deepest instincts of youth”, a whole people suddenly awakened and heard the call to greatness. Perhaps for America too, the time has come to remember that we are NOT the bunch of silly, stupefied consumers that the big corporations have tried to turn us into, but a great people about to hear the clarion call of Destiny.
I think everyone who has studied Obama’s words saw him as a pragmatist not a revolutionary. I never aw him as anything else and therefore voted for him
Obama ran as a “pragamatist”, you say? If this were true, then he would have used a slogan like “Just touching up the Status Quo”… not “Change You Can Believe In”! And there would never have been a wave of “Obamamania” because people would have shrugged their shoulders and thought quite rightly: “There’s no substantive difference between Obama and McCain”.
The truth of the matter is, sadly, that Obama used the color of his skin AND Martin Luther King key words such as “hope” and “change” to CREATE A MYTH, AN AURA OF HEROISM AROUND HIMSELF in order to arouse emotion and galvanize the electorate. The man cravenly sold himself as someone he was not. To me, this is the very antithesis of “running as a pragmatist”.
The Obama team created a false PERSONA for their candidate and sold it to the American people in full knowledge that the man would never deliver the goods. NO WONDER the Democrats lost so much ground in two short years! And look at how the “great man of change” and his sidekick “Mubarak-is-not-a-dictator” Biden reacted to REAL CHANGE in Egypt? It was more than disgraceful, it was pathetic – an insult to the American people, to the Founding Fathers and to the Spirit of 1776. Isn’t it time to holler that the Emperor has neither clothes nor integrity?
Nice try Louie, but you are very much wrong. I would cal health care reform and banking reform
Breaking the color barrier to get into the WH was pretty bold. You never going to get the left wing dream candidate elected in a nation that vote the middle. Be realitistci. The only ones who were fooled were those who did not listen to the intent in his speeches..
Disagree with everything David writes. Eli and Louie are right on. BIG changes taking place in the
world now: post-partisan, leaderless, peaceful moves toward authentic freedom and dignity. Yes!
I wonder what single issue might ignite the American street to start “thinking like Egyptians”?
Well Susan, 18 days into this thing and you are making bold predictions. Jordan, Kuwait and maybe Syria and making some minor changes to assure further survival of the respective regimes, Iran is not going to budge, although it ha the best chance of succeeding as a democracy if change were to come.. Let’s look east. Do you anticipate any changes in Burma, Vietnam, North Korea? What about the biggest fish, China? I suggest that we not get a head of ourelves.
Sad to say, but everyday it’s becoming more blatantly obvious that, for all his charisma and oratory, NO “HE” CAN’T- but let us never forget that “WE THE PEOPLE CAN”.
It’s prettty clear that neither President Mubarak nor his Mr. Fix-It Man, Omar Suleiman, could. But the great people of Egypt, without even as much as a spokesperson, spilled into Liberation Square one fateful/faithful day and at the risk of their lives began to chant : “YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!”
So what if Obama himself can never walk the talk – so many others will! Soon the whole world – yes, including America and post-Tien-an-men China – will be chanting in unison “YES, WE THE PEOPLE CAN” and the words of the Bible may finally come to pass:
“My soul praises the Lord…
Because He has put down the mighty from his throne
And lifted up the lowly
He has filled the hungry with good things
And has sent the rich away empty.”
Luke 1: 52-54.
“My soul praises the Lord…
Because He has put down the mighty from his throne”
Why must the mighty be put down from their thrones? Because the mighty lie to us day in and day out and plainly do not want the happiness of the peoples of the earth.
Barack Obama is most assuredly not an idiot. His grammar and geography are nothing short of spectacular compared to his predecessor’s… But what about his heart? “When President Obama was asked in 2009 if he regarded Mubarak as authoritarian, his swift reply was “no”. He called him a peacemaker…” (John Pilger). A peacemaker who tortures his own people??? Another high and mighty one, Tony Blair, pontificated from his own throne: “Mubarak is a force for good”. And when Joe Biden was asked recently on PBS whether Mubarak was a dictator, he responded: “”Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things and he’s been very responsible… I would not refer to him as a dictator.”(January 27, 2001).
These three, particularly intelligent and especially well-briefed “mighty ones”, cannot possibly plead ignorance… What contempt therefore for the pain and despair of the Egyptian people! And what disdain for the intelligence and fairmindedness of the American people!
If I were the Heavenly One, I daresay I too would have a mind to kick a few too-comfortably enthroned butts…
“My soul praises the Lord…
Because He has put down the mighty from his throne”
Why must the mighty be put down from their thrones? Because the mighty lie to us day in and day out and plainly do not want the happiness of the peoples of the earth.
Barack Obama is most assuredly not an idiot. His grammar and geography are nothing short of spectacular compared to his predecessor’s… But what about his heart? “When President Obama was asked in 2009 if he regarded Mubarak as authoritarian, his swift reply was “no”. He called him a peacemaker…” (John Pilger). A peacemaker who tortures his own people??? Another high and mighty one, Tony Blair, pontificated from his own throne: “Mubarak is a force for good”. And when Joe Biden was asked recently on PBS whether Mubarak was a dictator, he responded: “”Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things and he’s been very responsible… I would not refer to him as a dictator.”(January 27, 2001).
These three, particularly intelligent and especially well-briefed “mighty ones”, cannot possibly plead ignorance… What contempt therefore for the pain and despair of the Egyptian people! And what disdain for the intelligence and fairmindedness of the American people!
If I were the Heavenly One – Glory Be to Him and to Her Alone! – I daresay I too would have a mind to kick a few too-comfortably enthroned butts…
Speaking as a retired teacher I can’t wait for the day that public school teachers, students, parents, administrators, and anyone else interested emulates the Egyptians and simply walks out of the their classrooms, workplaces, and takes to the streets demanding a humane, democratic, and heart felt education for all Americans. Damn the tests, full speed ahead!
Public school teachers, students, parents, administrators would likely have a better chance of succeeding. We have know idea what the end result will be
Eli posted obsessively about events in Egypt. In the mean time he has been silencer since riot police clashed with protesters in Ira, even with the threat of punishing opponents of the Iranian regime with the death penalty, his computer keys lay silent. He can’t type anything unless he blames the US and Israel. What do we call that, a double standard?
“Eli posted obsessively…”, writes David. How many comments does David currently have posted on Tikkun Daily? 50? 70? 90? Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but he might perhaps want to think twice before labeling others as obsessive…
Exactly. Thank you Louie. Ya know this strikes me as a rather leftist site and David is constantly spouting right-wing talking points. It’s like we get it David, you don’t like leftist discourse. Any criticism of the United States or Israel is to be instantly squashed by pointing out that Iran and Syria and Sudan are pretty rotten too. He doesn’t want to acknowledge that the entire region has been under the boot of Western and now primarily U.S. imperialism for a century or more and that that fact is of central importance. He likes to point to Iran. Well David Iran had a shot at democracy in the early 1950′s and the United States/CIA/British said nah we’re gonna overthrow democracy and install a brutal tyranny. That’s important. There’s no 1979 without 1953. But he’s impervious to it all. He’s going to harass anybody that posts anything to the left of the Democratic Party mainstream in the United States. Don’t let it bring you down.
Karl, I dare say that the US is relatively new in the game compared to the old colonial powers. Let’s not forget the old Soviet Union. Yes the US was behind placing the Shah in power, but things don’t seem much better under the Ayatollah. The region remains a collection of a multitude of feudal states and it would be no different if the US or the west were not involved. A far as i can see, there is only one western style Democracy in the region.
Karl, I consider myself left of center on many issues, but I also consider myself a realist when it comes to the region. Democracy is not assured in an Egypt under considerable control of the military. BTW, that is called the status quo since the time Nasser overthrew the king in 1953.It’s an uphill battle but I hear declarations of victory. What was that phrase by the cursed G W Bush, “mission accomplished? Well like Iraq that is very far from the truth
IN THE WORDS OF A POET…
Abul-Qasim Al Shabi is considered to be one of the greatest poets of modern Tunisia. One of his most famous poems, “If the People Wanted Life One Day…” captures admirably the spirit of recent, epic events in Tunisia and Egypt:
“If one day people decide to live Destiny will no doubt respond Night will no doubt dissipate Chains will no doubt break This is what life told me And this is what its spirits revealed to me Those who are not infused by the passion of life Will evaporate in the air and disappear”
(Majid Hannoum trans.)
The last two verses sound like a warning to vacuous types like Obama, Biden and Clinton, who seem to have lost all passion for truth or for life, retaining only a pathetic lust for false power. As Marie Lloyd puts it on Tikkun Daily, “Obama is a vacant presence”… Sadly true and truly sad!
The so called people have issues of their own. The society still l holds on to values outdate in the wets where woman are 2nd class citizens. I don’t see that changing any time soon. The military, so lovingly embraced by the masses is no more a reflection of a medieval society. Officers come from the privileged class and are conscripts are no more than surfs. That won’t change. The much loved military controls the civilian economy, many officers are millionaires. They won’t want to give up the position in society anytime soon. People should not het ahead of themselves on this so called revolution
So what is it you recommend, David?
Cancel the whole thing for being too “medieval” for your taste?
Or perhaps annex Egypt to Eretz Israel, under King Bibi the Wise and his above-all-reproach IDF?
Hope for the best and expect the worst. The Russians really were not prepared for their revolution in 1917. The peasants could hardly read and had no idea what a small minority of intellectuals had in mind for them. The best Democracies are made up of a well educated society. Egypt and the Arab world are not there yet. I hope that I’m wrong. The Muslim Brotherhood are banking on failure.
Forgive my asking, but might you possibly be racially biased against the Arab world? Hopefully you are not, but you definitely are sadly misinformed and rehashing the most tired of clichés. Tunisia and Egypt, like so most other Arab countries, are particularly well-educated societies. And it does seem that in terms of nonviolence (“salmiya”), Israel has EVERYTHING TO LEARN from these two countries who have shown themselves over the past two months to be models of discipline and restraint. Israel could do worse than to heed the words of Gandhi: “An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind”.
71% is not a high literacy rate and I am sure it is muhc lowe amongst the rural population and woman.
Again, I have to press you on this point : might you just have a racially-biased view of the Arab world? Do you consider Arabs to be a horde of savages and ignoramuses just because they happen to be Arab?
According to the statistics published by UNICEF on their official website, between 2003 and 2007 youth literacy rate in Tunisia was 97% for males and 94% for females.
As for Egypt during the same time frame, youth literacy rate was 90% for males and 82% for females. Not too bad after 25 years of iron-fisted dictatorship and extreme social inequality under Israel and America’s great buddy Hosni Mubarak! Watch those literacy figures climb rapidly under a government freely elected by the brave people of Egypt.
As for my comment on “salmiya” or nonviolence, I see you had nothing to say…
Louie,
A 2008 poll by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights found that over 95% of foreign women and over 80% of Egyptian women suffered from sexual harassment. The figure for foreign women is particularly telling, as those women by definition have spent much less time in Egypt and therefore it suggests that the number for Egyptian women is under-reported.
Your literacy statistics are completely irrelevant. Egypt remains a horrible, horrible placce for half of humanity–women. The crude social mores exhibited there, to which most women who spend considerable time there will attest–is an atrocity.
There is no reason to believe that this will change with the fall of Mubarak. However happy we are to see Tunisia’s tyrant leave, there are many women there (who have fortunately not suffered from equal societal ills in Tunisia) about what may happen under a new regime.
To ignore this reality is an insult to women!
Howard,
Thank you for raising the important question of the status of women in Egypt. As a militant feminist since the late sixties, I absolutely share your concern. However, I do not share your pessimism or your sweeping judgments concerning the “crude social mores” exhibited in Egypt. In my opinion, such judgments risk fanning the flames of Anti-Arabism or islamophobia, which are in today’s world every bit as irrational and damnable as antisemitism. Also, I wonder if you are not being just a mite unfair to a people who have just provided the world with a model of discipline, restraint and heroism in nonviolent action rarely equaled in human history.
While vigilance concerning sexism in ANY part of the world remains essential, the women of Egypt do NOT want to be seen as victims and can do very well without our paternalism. I sincerely believe there is hope for them in the New Egypt, as they played a CORE LEADERSHIP ROLE in the revolution, which several Egypt watchers have in fact commented on. May I suggest you read Professor Paul Amar’s article of February 10, 2011, “Why Egypt’s Progressives Win”. This excerpt goes to the very heart of this discussion:
“Given the threat of sexualised physical violence from Mubarak’s police/thugs, there is a gender dimension to this re-imagining and redeployment of security and military power during this uprising. In the first days of the uprising we saw huge numbers of women participating in the revolt. Then the police/thugs started targeting women in particularly horrifying ways – molesting, detaining, raping. And when the police were driven back, the military and the futuwwa groups took over and insisted that “protecting” the people from thugs involved filtering women and children out of Tahrir and excluding them from public space. But women in this revolt have insisted that they are not victims who need protection, they are the leading core of this movement. On February 7, women’s groups – including the leftist April 6 national labour movement, as well as anti-harassment, civil rights groups and the Women’s Wing of the Brotherhood reemerged in force in downtown Cairo – by the hundreds of thousands.”
(NOTE: Paul Amar is Associate Professor of Global & International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His books include: Cairo Cosmopolitan; The New Racial Missions of Policing; Global South to the Rescue; and the forthcoming Security Archipelago: Human-Security States, Sexuality Politics and the End of Neoliberalism.)
As for the literacy statistics, they were definitely relevant to my exchange with David and you can verify them for yourself on UNICEF’s official website. Again, thank you for bringing up this issue with such conviction. Let us join in wishing a bright future to the brave women and men of Egypt!
Why, if you truly are a “militant feminist”, do you pay lip service to this issue and change the topic? I suspect you have spent little time in Egypt, as a truly militant feminist would not respond as you did.
I do apologize for referring to these pathological behaviors as “crude social mores”. They are in fact barbaric, and I ought to have been less politically correct. Thank you.
As to the gravity and prevalence of this problem, ask a group of young Western women who have spent time in Egypt and they will corroborate what I am saying. We are not talking about catcalls or even discrimination.
We are talking about a society’s acceptance of physical and sexual abuse against half its people.
This is not about the dictator Mubarak. It’s about our concern for the future in a society that does not appear to recognize the most basic human right – to be free of gratuitous physical harm.
Making this into a political issue – when most of us are in agreement about the fall of this totalitarian regime – shows that some will always put politics above more universal values.
Howard,
Sorry, but I don’t follow your logic. Pray tell where I am paying “lip service” to this issue and have “changed the topic”… I DO share your concern as to “the gravity and prevalence of this problem” and need no corroboration as I believe you 100%. I cannot begin to tell you how angry misogyny and its manifold manifestations make me. To me, it is a spiritual sickness of mankind, so deeply rooted in our collective psyche that it is evident even in the sacred texts of our great religions, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam! WHEN will our “not so great” religions summon up the courage to go back to their “not so sacred” scriptures and CLEANSE them of every last vestige of their crude and moronic sexism?
My only objection to your remarks is that you seem to make harassment and other pathological sexual behaviour an Egypt-only phenomenon. Come on, man!!! That is letting the rest of us off the hook a little too easily AND is blatantly unfair to the real gentlemen in Egypt, of which there definitely are a good many. You know, Howard, the irony of all this is that the heroines of Tahrir Square would probably be the first to object to your singling out of Egyptians in particular as being “crude” and “barbaric”, and to suspect you of paternalism toward women when freezing them in a victim role… Please take the time to read Professor Paul Amar’s thoughtful article, taking note of the fact that “WOMEN IN THIS REVOLT HAVE INSISTED THAT THEY ARE NOT VICTIMS WHO NEED PROTECTION, THEY ARE THE LEADING CORE OF THIS MOVEMENT”. These women have spunk! I trust them – especially the younger generation – to deal unflinchingly with the sexist retards who will soon be trying to send them back to the kitchen and the nursery.
Long live the brave women and men of Tahrir Square and may their admirable efforts to build a New Egypt and heal man-woman relationships be blessed at each and every step! And may the rest of us learn to “think like Egyptians” and remember that The Almighty gave power to “we the people”, not to a handful of bandits and shysters.
C’mon! I am not saying that misogyny is an Egypt-only phenomenon. But we are talking about Egypt!
Yes, I could have talked about discrimination and other forms of misogyny in the USA, or genital manipulation and torture in places like Sudan and Iran.
But we are talking about Egypt, and the relative silence about this problem–acute as it is there by comparison to China, Russia, India, the USA and a variety of western and non-western nations–is deafening.
You need not compound it by claiming that I am being paternalistic. Just last week, the New York Times reported on the rape of hundreds of Sudanese women refugees by Egyptian citizens, in Egypt
I am certain that the many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of such victims in Egypt would not agree with your gibberish about paternalism.
C’mon yourself, Howard! Level with us, will you?
Why are you obsessing over Egypt and Egyptians in particular? Do you consider them a particularly bad lot? Please explain where you are coming from.
In the meantime, you might want to meditate this quote from a famous Russian novelist and dissident:
“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
People should all read what I wrote. I look forward to a new, democratic Egypt. Egypt is the topic here. Women’s rights are an essential part of democracy. Righteous people recognize this, as well as its place in the current discussion.
If you have facts contradicting the established reports of widespread sexual brutality, harassment and brutality against women, at levels far disproportionate to most other nations, then let us know.
Meanwhile, your continued objection to discussing women’s rights in Egypt–given the prevalence of abuse there–makes plain that you are the one with a strange obsession.
Howard,
Re your 1st paragraph: We are completely in agreement on these fundamental points.
Re you 2nd paragraph: I agree that there is “harassment and brutality against women” ALL OVER THE WORLD, including in Egypt. That is fact. You make the further claim that this is happening in Egypt “at levels far disproportionate to other nations” and you use very loaded terms such as “crude” and “barbaric”, which give one the impression that you view Egyptians as an inferior, sexually crazed people. What facts are your perceptions based on? What are those “established reports” that would back up your claim about Egyptian men? If you are going to make such serious accusations, that many would consider DEFAMATORY to a whole people, you’re going to BACK THEM UP with solid scientific evidence in the form of comparative statistics on sexual brutality from one country to another.
Re your 3rd paragraph: I’m sorry, Howard, but I’m NOT refusing to discuss the issue, I’m simply refusing to buy your biased point of view. And I see that your are not interested in other points of view, not even those of THE WOMEN DIRECTLY AFFECTED BY THE SITUATION. I’m assuming that you must be a man, and I see that you are conveniently ignoring the point of view of Egyptian women themselves, who would never accept your singling out of their menfolk as being “crude” and “barbaric” and would similarly reject your paternalistic view of them as being “victims” of these men: “WOMEN IN THIS REVOLT HAVE INSISTED THAT THEY ARE NOT VICTIMS WHO NEED PROTECTION, THEY ARE THE LEADING CORE OF THIS MOVEMENT” (Paul Amar, U of Califarnia at Santa Barbara, “Why Egypt’s Progressives Win”, February 10, 2011). The brave women of Tahrir Square have found themselves, their dignity and their power, and they are in effect saying to Egypt and to the world: “We’ve come a long way, baby, and we will NEVER be going back!”
So here we are, Howard, two white men pontificating on women’s rights in Egypt as if we were experts on the topic… shouldn’t we leave the last word to the REAL experts, i.e. the women of Egypt themselves?
Are we on the same planet? Read this and stop your obfuscation:
Lucinda Marshall, Feminist Peace Network:
For a few brief days during the Egyptian uprising, women felt relatively safe on the streets of Egypt where sexual street harassment has, for many years, been a problem of epidemic proportions. As The Daily Beast reports, “A survey released in 2008 by the Center for Women’s Rights found that 83 percent of Egyptian women and 98 percent of foreign women had experienced harassment.” But unlike past demonstrations where sexual harassment was rampant and women were discouraged from attending, this time, women were emboldened to take to the streets. It was a heartwarming image. And then CBS reporter Lara Logan was brutally attacked and sexually assaulted*.
People everywhere (including in Egypt) were horrified and her attack serves as a reminder that while the participation of women in the uprising has certainly fueled much optimism, improved rights for women in Egypt is anything but assured. As I pointed out recently on the Feminist Peace Network blog, “there is no real evidence at this point that indicates that violations of women’s human rights will be substantively addressed or ended by a new government”.
“Epidemic”! That’s Egypt, and if you travel throughout the world, you understand that some places are worse than others. Egypt, as Marshall contends, is bad, very bad.
“TWO WHITE MEN”? You have never seen me, and if you did you would be surprised. Some would say that your statement itself is racist. At minimum, it is offensive and ignorant.
Howard,
So you are not a white man… A thousand apologies! If my incorrect assumption – assuming that it was incorrect, you remain vague about it – is the worst kind of “offensive and ignorant” behaviour you ever run into, you are a lucky man indeed and should start counting your blessings right now. And anyway, what does it change about the essence of our discussion? My point was that we are two MALES pontificating about the women of Egypt AS IF WE WERE EXPERTS on the topic, and that struck me as a mite ridiculous…
I take much more seriously the quote from Lucinda Marshall of the Feminist Peace Network. In fact, I’d be really interested to hear what she – and of course, a sampling of women of Egypt – would have to say about our so far “males only” exchange.
Here are two fascinating excerpts of ANOTHER article by Lucinda Marshall, which have DIRECT relevance to the topic at hand:
“Madre’s Yifat Susskind has written an excellent analysis of the real reasons for the extreme escalation in the the number of women being murdered in Iraq and amplifies the urgency of the OWFI statement posted to this blog earlier this week. She writes,
“Despite the clearly political nature of these killings, US media generally portray violence against Iraqi women as an unfortunate part of Arab or Muslim “culture.” For instance, journalist Kay S. Hymowitz has catalogued the “inventory of brutality” committed by men in the “Muslim world,” railing against “the savage fundamentalist Muslim oppression of women.” Hymowitz echoes a commonly held assumption, namely that gender-based violence, when committed in the Middle East, derives from Islam.”
“Susskind compares the violence against women in Iraq to violence against women in Guatemala. BUT THE TRUTH IS SHE COULD HAVE PICKED ANY CULTURE OR COUNTRY ON EARTH AND IT WOULD BE THE SAME. Day in and day out, this blog reports on violence against women throughout the world. The circumstances are always a little different, explained away with various nuances, but in the end it is all the same – women are dead and maimed, their lives damaged and destroyed, and it is all in the name of maintaining the power over dominance of patriarchal control.”
So, Howard, as I said yesterday, if you are going to single out Egyptian males and level such serious accusations at them (“crude”, “barbaric”, etc.), that many would consider defamatory to a whole people, THE ONUS IS ON YOU to back up such incendiary language with uncontrovertible proof, solid scientific evidence in the form of comparative statistics on sexual brutality, otherwise you risk being branded a racist or a hatemonger. Am I insinuating that you’re a racist, a hatemonger, an Anti-Arab or islamophobe? Absolutely not. In fact, I’m sure you’re a man of good will and of the best intentions and that, after doing the thorough research needed to substantiate your claims, you will gradually come to a more nuanced point of view and find it in your heart to apologize to the great people of Egypt.
The OTHER Revolution in Egypt
The next few months and years will be critical to Egypt’s future. There may well be “free and democratic” elections as promised by the military. But will the Egyptian people be taken in by their own homegrown version of Oblabla, the phony politician promising phony change with great charisma and brilliant oratory, only to turn around once in power to make sure that there is NO significant challenge to the status quo?
What nevertheless gives me hope for Egypt is that there is ANOTHER revolution afoot, not a political one, but a religious one, which has so far received little media attention in the West, but which could lead to a major – and long overdue – reform of traditional Islam. This is the equivalent of, say, if Christians in America began to take to heart the original message of Rabbi Jesus on social justice and the pathological greed of the rich (“Woe unto the rich!” Luke 6:24) and “toppling the mighty from their thrones” (Luke 1:52). More and more Christians agree that such a return to the heart of Christ’s teachings is just as long overdue as is the renewal of Islam and Judaism.
To quote from Samir Khalil Samir’s January 26 article, “Egyptian Imams and intellectuals: Renewing Islam towards modernity”:
“Rome (AsiaNews) – Rethinking fraternisation between the sexes; opening the doors to women right up to the Presidency of the Republic, guaranteeing the right of Christians to have access to positions of prestige (even the presidency), purifying and reinterpreting the sayings of the Prophet (the Hadith) ; bringing people to God through wisdom and thanksgiving and not with threats … these are just some of the – truly revolutionary – proposals that a group of professors, theologians and Egyptian imams are putting to their communities. The attempt to modernize the lives of Muslims, to put a halt to (and even stop) the fundamentalist influences that come from Saudi Arabia. The group of scholars holds the renewal of Islamic teaching at heart, as well as a relationship of harmony with Christians.
A score of intellectuals and theologians of Al Azhar have issued a text of enormous importance, entitled “Document for the renewal of religious discourse.” The text was “posted” on the Internet on 24 January at 18:27, on the website of the weekly magazine Yawm al-Sâbi”(“The Seventh Day”). The importance of the document also derives from its signatories, all noted scholars and profoundly committed Muslims.”
Best of luck to this courageous group in their quest to renew the teachings of their faith and may they inspire men and women of other faiths to do the same!
THE MIDDLE EAST FEMINIST REVOLUTION
If interested in the feminist dimension of the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, do not miss Naomi Wolf’s thoughtful article of March 4 on Al Jazeera:
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/03/201134111445686926.html
An excerpt:
“The role of women in the great upheaval in the Middle East has been woefully under-analysed. Women in Egypt did not just “join” the protests – they were a leading force behind the cultural evolution that made the protests inevitable. And what is true for Egypt is true, to a greater and lesser extent, throughout the Arab world. When women change, everything changes – and women in the Muslim world are changing radically.”
Not to be missed: a remarkable article by Fatma Naib
“A long battle ahead for Egyptian women”
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/03/09/long-battle-ahead-egyptian-women
PERCEPTIONS OF ARAB WOMEN HAVE BEEN REVOLUTIONISED
Thanks to Peter Marmorek’s weekly marvel, “Tikkunista” (http://tikkunista.com/), I just discovered this excellent article published by Soumaya Ghannoushi in “The Guardian” on March 11.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/11/arab-women-revolutionised-egypt-tunisia-yemen
An excerpt:
“This new model of homegrown women leaders represents a challenge to two narratives. The first of these, which is dominant in conservative Muslim circles, sentences women to a life of childbearing and rearing, lived out in the narrow confines of their homes at the mercy of fathers, brothers and husbands. It revolves around notions of sexual purity and family honour, and appeals to tradition and reductionist interpretations of religion for justification.
The other is espoused by Euro-American neo-liberals, who view Arab and Muslim women through the narrow prism of the Taliban model: miserable objects of pity in need of their benevolent intervention – intellectual, political, even military – for deliverance from the dark cage of veiling to a promised garden of enlightenment and progress.
Arab women are rebelling against both narratives. They refuse to be treated with contempt, kept in isolation, or be taken by the hand, like a child, and led on the road to emancipation. They are taking charge of their own destinies, determined to liberate themselves as they liberate their societies from dictatorship. The emancipation they are shaping with their own hands is an authentic one defined by their own needs, choices and priorities.”