BARQIYYA

The American University in Cairo
The Middle East Studies Program
Volume 9 Issue 2
March, 2004
BARQIYYA
Word from the Director
Mania for Salvation
"A human being possessed by a belief and not
eager to pass it on to others is a phenomenon
alien to the earth, where our mania for salvation
makes life unbearable. Look around you: everywhere specters of preaching….Everyone trying
to remedy everyone else's life….The longing to
become the source of events affects every man
like a mental disorder. Society--an inferno of saviors. What Diogenese was looking for with his
lantern [he used to say he looked for the truth]
was an indifferent man." Thus spake the
Romanian-Parisian philosopher E.M. Cioran.
I often think of Cioran's words when I hear a
grave, self-righteous sermon of a preacher or a
reformer. They have echoed in my mind ever
since I first came across the US Greater Middle
East initiative (Greater than what?). The GMEI
(note how it has already been acronymed to
confer on it the aura of a reality) purportedly
aims at refurbishing the dilapidated house of the
Arabs. It would furnish it with democracy, equality of women, free trade zones, quality education and, for an icing on this chocolate cake,
money for small entrepreneurs (the big ones
invest their millions in the US and Europe). In sum,
it will deliver a bundle of revolutions-- bourgeois,
sixties, Reaganite/Thatcherite-- in a single stroke.
Such revolutionary talk naturally has made Arab
governments queasy. For one thing, they have
not been consulted by George Bush before he
announced it. They are beginning to feel dispensable. Their ministers have been told they
would be electronically finger-printed at US airports (high-tech humiliation?). And of course
they have no desire to lose their gilded palaces
and security apparatuses.
So they tell the world they are zealots about
reform, but for those unwieldy traditions and
structures of Arab societies and the forces of
darkness lurking to seize the day--blame the
repressed; frighten the world of the Arab street
(haven't you noticed the sudden disappearance of the "Arab street" from expert discourse?).
And, yes, the Arab street and befuddled intellectuals-what is their place in this undifferential
equation? Many say they crave freedom. They
want to have a say in who leads them; don't
want to be imprisoned if they organized a union,
or beaten by dark-uniformed police if they rallied
for Iraq or Palestine; and love for their kids to have
the best education. They say they want this and
more.
But they are squeezed between a rock and
a hard place. They trust Washington and
London as much as they trust their beloved,
highly-electable dictators. The reason is
simple: they have been long in cahoots
with their rulers. These capitals seldom
spoke to the Arab peoples. Their media
habitually anointed Arab presidents and
kings, especially the kings, with adjectives
like, "moderate," and "pro-Western." It mattered little if they were not moderate with,
or pro-, their people. The interests of the
Arab people were marginal in their calculus, cavalierly jettisoned in the world of bigpowers games and expediency to win
elections.
So, what will Washington do next? Stop
supplying arms to the armies of these
regimes? Will it be able to stand the pressure of the corporations that manufacture
the weapons? Will the elected representatives of the US government accept governments chosen by the Arab people? The
only freely elected Arab leader, Yasser
Arafat, has been transfigured into an "outlaw of the peace process," to quote an
original phrase by candidate John Kerry.
Will they order Sharon to dismantle his
Great Wall of Israel? What will be imposed?
And on whom?
So here we go again, confronted with but
the latest instant of distorted interactive
communications between the United
States and the Arabs, the sour fruit of power
asymmetry, mismatch of interests, and
thick layers of unhappy historical memory.
May the bashful Cairo spring give me heart
to endure the impending salvation
mania.1
By Sharif Elmusa
IN THIS ISSUE
Regulars ~
*W ord from the Director
Poetry ~
* I, Orhan Veli
Translated by
Murat Nemet-Nejat
* Spring
by Sharif S. Elmusa
Middle East Talks
~
*Human Rights in Egypt
Articles ~
*Sudanese Studies in the
United States:
A Historical Perspective
* A Musical Meeting of
East and West
*W omen, Gender, and
Mediterranean Migrants in
Nineteenth-Century
Tunisia
* Day 1, Cairo
* In the Neighborhood:
MIDDLE EAST TALKS
H U M A N RIGHTS
IN
O
EGYPT
n March 7, Equal Opportunity Council will not only be a monitoring body, but
and Affirmative Action (EOAA) also act as a preventative mechanism. In order
hosted some distinguished mem- to achieve these goals, the NCHR will map out
bers of the newly founded a national plan for advancing human rights,
National Council for Human verify citizens' complaints regarding human
Rights (NCHR). The speakers were Mr. rights abuses, and ensure honest implementaMounir Abdel Nour, chairman of the parlia- tion of international treaties on human rights.
mentary committee of the Wafd Party; Ms. Other functions will include fostering a culture
Mona Zul Fikkar, senior partner of Shalakami of human rights and presenting an annual
Law Office; Dr. Mostafa El-Fiqqi, chairman of report on the human rights situation to the
president, the People's
the
External
Affairs
Assembly and the Shura
Committee of NDP &
Council.
People's Assembly and Dr.
Laila Takla, chair of Egyptian “Moreover, the memAlthough the formation of
Society for the Conservation
bers
of
the
NCHR
the NCHR is a positive
of Environment.
assured the audience development in terms of
human rights in Egypt,
The event was presented to
that
the
council
will
whether the council will be
be part of a series of panel
able to act independently
discussions that aimed to
be transparent“
from the government still
inform the public on the
remains a crucial question.
responsibilities of the NCHR,
Indeed, this was one of the
which was set up by the government on January 19, 2004, in line with a law main criticisms that was raised by the audience
proposed by President Hosni Mubarak and during the panel discussion last Sunday. The
adopted by parliament last year. Currently, the speakers responded to these criticisms by sayNCHR is headed by Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a ing that it is too early to criticize the NCHR as
former UN secretary general. On the other being pro-government. Moreover, the memhand, it is also affiliated with the Shura bers of the NCHR assured the audience that the
Council, which will be in charge of appointing council will be transparent in its affairs and will
NCHR members for renewable terms of three work for the benefit of people. They claimed
that one should not expect a newly born baby
years each.
to run. Hence, only time will show the fate of
According to the speakers who were present at Egypt's new trial in the enduring question of
the panel discussion, the most vital task for the human rights.1
NCHR will be to lay down the infrastructure of
human rights in Egypt. In other words, the By Hande Bayrak
Sudanese Studies
in the United States:
A
Historical
n a well attended lecture given on
March 4, 2004 by visiting scholar
Dr. Richard Lobban of Rhode
Island College, students and community members in Cairo learned a
great deal about our neighbor to the
south. While Sudan has historically
had many ties with Egypt, both cultural and economic, many modern
Egyptians and Americans know little
about the history of Sudanese studies in the western scholarly world,
and the impact that Sudan and the
W est have had on each other. This
lecture was part of a series dealing
with Africa, particularly dedicated to
the memory of former A U C
President John D. Gerhart, whose
personal and academic interest in
Africa was noted and respected.
I
Sudan being of particular interest
because of the European mania
with finding the "true" source of the
Nile. A strong colonial influence,
lasting until World War II, led scholars to see Sudan as a source of
resources, and thus a place that
should only be studied in order to
better and more easily rule it. At this
time Sudan was not allowed selfdefinition or representation by western academia.
W ith the 20th century, Sudanese
studies began to be less dominated
by classically and/or colonially
trained scholars and allowed new
viewpoints to be seen. The colonial
prejudice is clear, but classical bias
stems from the general view of
Greek, Roman, and Egyptian
Sudanese studies in Europe and sources that Sudan was less
the US (the terms were collapsed sophisticated, less developed, less
for much of the lecture due to the civilized. This implicit belief tainted
colonial perspective of both regions generations of scholarship. Happily
during the relevant time period) has for Sudanese studies (although
undergone fundamental changes unhappily for the displaced populasince its inception. The 18th centu- tion) the building of the Aswan High
ryin America was most marked by a Dam in the 1960s and the subsedistinct lack of interest in Sudan, quent changes to Upper Nubia and
and the larger African and Middle Upper Sudan led to intensive
Eastern regions in general, by archaeological and anthropological
American scholarship. The bulk of studies of this area.
Finally
the work relating to these regions Sudanese studies was able to write
was done by Biblical scholars look- about a self-defined Sudan. This
ing solely for insights into trend has continued, with new topChristianity.
ics of research exploring issues of
gender, southern Sudan, and
The 19th century was perceived at human rights.
the time as an age of exploration
and colonial empires. The interior History has shown to be important
of Africa was probed for its secrets; for its role in uncovering past and
The Creative Side The Creative Side The Creative Side The Creat
Poetry
I, Orhan Veli
I, Orhan Veli.
The famous author of the poem
``Suleyman Effendi, may he rest in
peace,''
Heard that you are curious
About my private life.
Let me tell you:
First I am a man, that is,
I am not a circus animal, or anything
like that.
I have a nose, an ear,
Though they are not shapely.
I live in a house,
I have a job.
Neither do I carry a cloud on my head
Nor a stamp of prophecy on my back.
Neither am I modest like King George
of England
Nor aristocratic like the recent
Stable keeper of Celal Bayar.
I love spinach.
I am crazy about puffed cheese pastries.
I have no eyes
For material things,
Really not.
Oktay Rifat and Melih Cevdet
Are my best friends,
And I have a lover,
Very respectable.
I cannot tell her name.
Let literary critics find it.
I also keep busy with unimportant
things,
Only between projects,
How can I say,
Perhaps I have a thousand other habits,
But what is the point of listing them all.
They just resemble these.
Orhan Veli Kanik
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989
Spring
Two swallows perched on
the rail of the balcony-make a spring.
A few acacias in bloom
fringed by evergreens-make a spring.
Green shutters of a window
and a tiger on an orange towel
roaring from the clothes line-make a spring.
A mint leaf suspended
in a glass of tea,
and Umm Kulsum singing
"One night of love is
worth a thousand and one nights"-make a spring.
Keep your fingers crossed,
the desert stirs
with cynical sand.
--Sharif S. Elmusa
ative Side The Creative Side The Creative Side The Creative Side
A Musical Meeting
of East and WesT
W
hile Cairo is filled with opportunities for enjoying Arabic
music and poetry, AUC students rarely have the chance to hear a
truly new and different interpretation of
these genres. However, a concert
held February 29th 2004 provided us
with just this chance. This concert featured music by Russian composer
Agnes Bashir, who, along with pianist
Nadia Mikhail-Abboushi, provided
piano accompaniment. Palestinian
musician Tania Tamari Nasir was the
vocalist, singing lyrics from the Arabic
poetry of Jabra Ibrahim Jabra.
Although Jabra could not attend this
event, he was very active in collaborating with both Bashir and Nasir during the creative process.
This artistic collaboration was originally meant to be staged in March 2003
as part of AUC's Year of Palestine program. Unfortunately regional tensions
in the past year made travel too difficult for the various artists, but finally
AUC was able to host these three
artists.
Mrs. Tania Tamari Nasir is not a professional singer, but has extensive
singing experience. She has performed in at a number of concerts
both within Palestine and abroad.
Lately, Nasir has focused her interest
on singing contemporary compositions by local composers such as
Agnes Bashir, whose works are based
on poems by renowned Arab poets
such as Jabra Ibrahim Jabra. She
describes these songs as experimental and innovative in nature. Mrs.
Agnes Bashir was born in Tbilisi,
Georgia and holds a masters degree
in musicology, composition and piano
from the Russian State Academy of
Music in Moscow. She moved to Iraq
after marrying the Iraqi musician Fikri
Bashir, whom she met in Moscow.
Bashir is the recipient of many international awards and prizes. Mrs.
Nadia Mikhail-Abboushi shares her
colleagues' love of music and has
been playing piano for many years. In
1969 she studied piano formally at the
State University of Potsdam in New
York. In 1993 Mikhail-Abboushi cofounded the piano department at the
National Conservatory of Music in
Ramallah, and is the head of this
department.
Bashir's music was quite interesting in
its understanding and sympathy for
traditional Arabic music, while also
expressing and emphasizing the
meaning in the poetic texts themselves. This concert proves that a
successful fusion of Western and
Eastern ideas and art is possible, and
that together they highlight each
other's differences while at the same
time creating a new artistic language
that is understood by both.1
By Colleen Johnson & Riman Barakat
Women, Gender,
and Mediterranean Migrants
in Nineteenth-Century Tunisia
Lecture by Dr Julia Clancy-Smith, University of Arizona, 15 March 04
D
r Clancy-Smith's lecture, as
the title suggests, dealt with
the subject of migration flows
across the Mediterranean in the
nineteenth century. Nowadays we
are accustomed to think of migration as primarily south to north, from
the Middle East and North Africa to
Europe, and there is much discussion of the issues raised by the presence of large resident Muslim communities in Europe. It is important to
recall that the problem of nonindigenous migrant communities is
not new, and that the direction of
migration in the nineteenth century
was mainly in the opposite direction, from north to south, i.e., from
Europe, and especially the southern
European littoral (Spain, Sardinia,
Corsica, southern France, Italy,
Sicily, Malta, Greece and the Greek
islands) to the predominantly
Muslim countries of the Middle East
and North Africa. Dr Clancy-Smith
argued that the most likely destination of European migrants in the
middle decades of the nineteenth
century was Tunisia.
Another important aspect of her
talk was the analysis of the ethnic
and social composition of these
migrants. Again, we tend to think of
the Europeans in the age of imperialism as always forming a kind of
elite within the colonial or semicolonial periphery, but in fact the data
she presented showed that there
were tens of thousands of migrants
who were from humble backgrounds. The Maltese are a case in
point, most of whom seem to have
been fleeing the poverty of their
homeland and seeking to find their
fortune in a new location. The ethnicity of these groups also raises the
question of who was a European:
the Maltese generally had British
protection since their island was
part of the Empire, but the British
themselves and persons of northern
Europe would not have thought of
the Maltese as Europeans at all.
High-born Europeans had more in
common with the Bey of Tunis and
his courtiers than they did with the
petty traders and proletarians from
the Mediterranean fringe.
Consular documents, which are
probably the main documentary
record of this migration and its
impact, show that there was an
attempt to rigorously monitor the
influx and behavior of women who
came into Tunisia from the outside
during this period. A special tazkara,
or pass, was required to bring a
woman into the country; and, unlike
men, women who got into trouble
with the law were not incarcerated,
rather they were expelled or repatriated as quickly as possible. Ahmad
Bey, the reforming governor of midnineteenth-century Tunisia, actually
welcomed Catholic orders into his
country as a means of bringing the
unruly migrants under a stricter
moral regime. Single women were
viewed as a threat to the social
order; Ahmed Bey clearly hoped
that the religious orders would aid in
suppressing the wanton behavior of
unmarried European women in the
Regency.
The social history of this period is
obviously still a work-in-progress,
and Dr Clancy-Smith's lecture alerted us to the complicated interconnections of ethnicity, class, and
gender in her analysis of EuropeanMuslim relations in the nineteenth
century Mediterranean.1
A summary by Michael J Reimer,
AUC History Dept.
Day 1, Cairo.
Arrival:
Egypt did not radiate the heavy ambience of sudden death and extreme danger, as one casual tourist would expect.
Instead, the atmosphere was surprisingly easy. Maybe it’s due to the fact that this area has harbored so many souls
through the times, that a dubious Norwegian individual hosed down by an AK-47 or knifed and dumped in the Nile, is
no reason to fall into Western Norwegian melancholy. However, as long as I am solvent, I hope they’ll let me live. That
means that I’m at least safe at the airport.
Cairo is so extremely big that it is hard to contemplate it. The management tasks the Cairo mayor faces must be of
such a nature that a long-time-ago he probably turned into a drewling amoebae. Or, it could be that the mayor of Cairo
actually is an alien from outer space with several heads and hands and some tentacles in reserve in case of emergency.
over a pale and worn out jogging suit;
the handler, an overall in his airline’s
colors. The pro, like the handler,
As expected, I haven’t been able to turns up for "work" at 0800hrs sharp:
achieve much. Day 1 has been just the Finn at the local bench with one
as expected. As expected, my lug- beer in his hand and the handler,
gage did not turn up at the airport. never late for the catering trolley as
Amsterdam airport is infamous for soon as the plane has opened its
incompetence in boarding luggage doors. They are both cosmopolitan.
on airplanes, and even though I am The Finn goes to a bar where huge
tempted to believe that one oppor- clocks display the time in Paris, Lontunistic Egyptian yanked my bag off don and New York and the handler
the assembly line, truth is that 99.9% whistles after the stewardesses flying
of all Egyptians must be more honest in from Paris, London and New York.
than your average Dutch luggage
handler. Any luggage handler in the However, there end the similarities.
absurd world of airports, that is. Let While the Finnish pro is a decent God
me explain, dear reader. The story fearing drunk, the handlers are
about "the handler" is paved with genetically useless, dirty and rude
shady undertones. Must they all face lowlifes that have made it their craft
the eternal fires of hell on their final to be lazy. Instead of carrying lugday! The only thing is that luggage gage from A to B, they are sleeping
handlers are immortals, like the High- on it. An ugly display indeed. And
landers. Only a luggage handler can contrary to the Finnish pro that is
kill another luggage handler. And content with harvesting one beer at a
then they need a holy Samsonite time at the grocery shop, the hansuitcase filled with lead not sporting a dlers have developed a wolf’s instinct
"heavy" tag because their backs are for garbage. These creatures can
fragile, that’s the Achilles heel of any down unlimited amounts of old airhandler.And it also explains why they plane food. As scabbed vultures they
usually are spotted in a horizontal await for the next fill. The luggage is
position.
of course just a distraction in this
Day 1:
On the other hand, luggage handlers
should be respected. They are one of
the universe’s complete creatures.
They are at complete peace with
themselves. The nearest comparison
must be the Finnish professional
drunk. The Finnish pro takes pride in
his trade. He, like the handler wears
a uniform. The Finn, a knitted vest
eternal quest for old buns with
cheese and dry brownies. The "feast"
is naturally consumed horizontally
accompanied by fermenting "coffee,
tea or juice?"
This explains why my luggage never
arrived; however it is only part of the
story. The story runs deeper than
anyone outside the luggage hall ever
could imagine. Why are they allowed
to carry on with their dysfunctional
ways? It is a question that never
could be answered by earthly words.
The mayor of Cairo would of course
know the answer, but hey, he’s from
outer space.
If an earthling like me should attempt
to answer this question, I could in my
inferior ways indicate that maybe the
check-in people give the traveler
such good service that the evil ways
of the handlers are overlooked. However this does not in return explain
why the major international airlines
still have customers.
The transportation industry is much
more simplistic in Egypt. One only
needs a cousin with a Fiat to be able
to drive a Taxi. This has profoundly
shaped the traffic of Cairo. Among
the 20 million residents of Cairo, the
Taxi rules the transportative veins
running in endless one-way ring
roads. The traffic is in many ways as
a water system. Instead of water,
vehicles are running through the
"pipes." Instead of welded joints
there are traffic police sealing the
pipes airtight. It is always beautiful
watching professionals fighting a lost
cause. It signalizes that they take
their duty seriously and the Egyptian
police does exactly that. One day
they issued 17 000 fines. It was
rumored that they had red numbers
in their books.1
In the
Neighborhood :
ll of us who have been attending AUC for some time have
surely noticed and wondered
about the woman who seems to
always be on the couch on Yousef Al
Guindi Street near the AUC library
entrance. To satisfy our curiosity, and
in order to introduce her to the A U C
community, we decided to pay her a
visit and learn more about the life of
this unique woman by giving her a
chance to relate her personal story.
A
Hajja Farida was raised in Cairo by
her father and stepmother. She did
not finish school, as her family couldn’t afford it, although she wanted to.
At a young age her father arranged
for her to marry his first cousin, a
jeweler. After marrying she lived with
her well-to-do husband and his family, but felt continually uncomfortable
and unwelcome in their house. She
eventually left her husband to live
with her sister, but sadly was forced
by her husband to leave her children
behind with him. A short time later
her 10 year-old son died while living
with her ex-husband and his new
wife. This difficult period seems to
have been a defining one in her life.
After finding it difficult to live with her
sister, she found comfort on a street
corner where she opened a small
kiosk to sell chocolates, tissues and
the like. This street corner near A U C
is where Hajja Farida has lived for the
past 25 years.
Hajja Farida cooks for herself on a
small burner she keeps near the
couch and uses the refrigerator in the
nearby travel agency.
She is now 65 years old and finds
solace in the fact that her kiosk has
helped her to live and has provided
for her niece and nephew, whom she
put through school and supported
financially. Her niece, present during
our interview, obviously loves her like
her own
mother, comforting her as
she cried about the past, mostly
about having lost touch with her
daughter. We also tried to comfort
her by telling her that we (students)
are all her children. She laughed and
recalled that most AUCians tell her
the same thing and that she loves us
all like her own. Her open heart and
ability to feel for others, whether relative or friend, is one of her best characteristics.
She remembers the donation drive
that AUC students had for the
Palestinians almost two years ago
and is proud that she was able to
donate to the campaign, saying: "We
need to take care of our Arab brothers and sisters. Our hearts need to
be together.
We love the
Palestinians."
When asked about AUCians, Hajja
Farida said only the kindest things
and told us about how generous students are to her. During Eid they
send her food, and many buy her
medication and give her money. Her
kiosk is not doing well, she says, so
she would like to sell other things,
perhaps stationary products that she
knows AUC students need more than
snacks.
About five years ago Hajja Farida
was hit by a car on the same corner
where she lives. She recalls the support she was given by AUC students
who took her to hospital, paid for
medical fees and were a constant
source of support. She continues to
walk with a crutch as a result of the
accident and has other health problems that include diabetes.
She constantly stresses how much
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ÃThe views expressed here are those of their authors and not necessarily those of Barqiyya, editorial board, or Middle East Studies Program