Monday, January 10, 2011

The Language of War and Peace

I find myself very subdued these days, and not simply from the aftereffects of the ubiquitous flu virus that has apparently engulfed most of the world. Being forced to "take it easy" and to stay indoors for a while to get rid of the pernicious bug, I've had more time to read the news online and think about things that are going on in the world. This is not very cheering. I was horrified to read of the bombing outside the church in Alexandria just before the Coptic Christmas. There have been incidences of violence before that have had aspects of religious issues, but the idea that a suicide bomber might want to target a church was never really considered by anyone, I suspect. News that Muslims went to the churches at Christmas to show solidarity and in hopes of deterring further violence helped quite a bit to restore my sense of the Egypt that I have always loved.

But the problem of religious divisions is not new and it isn't going away any time soon. Various members of the Egyptian community have been thinking, speaking and writing about what is ailing our country in this regard. A blog on Arabic literature summarized the thoughts of Egyptian writers on the topic, and Global Voices posted a translation of an Egypian blogger's thoughts on the subject. He notes that he is soon to become a father and vows that his son will not grow up in a country with the same issues of distrust between Muslims and Christians. BikyaMasr posted a report of governmental and society support for the Christian community, but notes that many issues of contention are not likely to be addressed or solved any time soon.

With the recent shooting of a US Congresswoman and a judge, among others, in Tucson, Arizona, discussions of who and what is to blame for such an action have flown over the internet. I find myself seeing far too many similarities between the founding issues of the killings in the US and in Egypt in the use of language. Keith Olbermann on MSNBC called everyone in the US to task for the ease with which people use words and images of violence in political discussion these days, the prevailing culture of violence expressed on television shows, in the news media, and even in games for children. I've never been one for strict prohibition of games with guns (especially when having refused to buy them for my son, I found him "shooting" one of his buddies with a sneaker as a four year old) and I don't think that my kids' fondness for shooting zombies on an XBox during their odd bit of free time has made them into potential mass murderers. But I do have to wonder about the current fondness for zombies, vampires and other ordinarily rather frightening topics as entertainment on television. A bit of a thrill is one thing but hour after hour of being chased by the undead week after week....am I the only one who finds this a bit odd? I'm highly relieved to note that the previously mentioned offspring prefer such things as Dr. Who.

I had a lovely Coptic family here at the farm last week. They had come from Australia, Germany, and the US for a famly reunion in Egypt. As one might expect among a group of sixty-somethings, conversation naturally ran to comparisons of the Egypt that they had left about the same time I moved here and the Egypt of today. While there were things that we could agree on that seemed to be improvements, discussion of the recent bombing found us all agreeing that there was a greatly heightened sense of differences among Egyptian communities and extremist stances than we had been accustomed to in the past. But, then again, we all agreed that we noticed this in communities in other parts of the world. I found myself realising that I simply didn't categorise my friends by their religious beliefs or affiliations. For me, it isn't relevant information, and my guests noted that this had been the case in their relationships in Egypt before they left. They were quite saddened to think that it had become relevant for people.

Five years ago I wrote about Dr. Leila Ahmed's autobiography, A Border Passage, in my blog. Aside from it being a marvelous book, I was struck by the difference in Egyptian society that she described before and after Nasser's revolution in Egypt. Many people I've spoken to have commented on the multilingual, multinational, multireligious nature of the old Egypt. Could some of the changes be due to the introduction of new words that were brought in to describe this country and the concepts that they suggested? During Nasser's rule, the name of Egypt (at least in English) was changed to The Arab Republic of Egypt (after the United Arab Republic of Egypt, Syria, and Libya sort of fell apart). I find the term "Arab Republic of Egypt" to be something of a conundrum. In the first place, Egyptians aren't Arabs. They never have been and probably never will be. They are Arabic speaking natives of North Africa...not the same. They are Egyptians. And then you have that magic word "Republic"....that sort of still remains to be seen. But by using words like "Arab Republic", my sense is that it makes a fertile ground for some divisive qualifications to be made. It's sort of a chicken and egg question, I guess and I don't pretend to have any brilliant answers, only questions.

I honestly don't know if we can roll back the violence of language to stem the violence of action. I hope that we can. I think that the world now is too complex for most of us to comprehend in its entirety, but at the same time seems often to be so small as to be encroaching on our back porches. Finally, I suspect that our Egyptian blogger has the right idea. We must each do the best that we can to make our part of the world right for our children and our neighbours. Speak softly and with love.
copyright 2011 Maryanne Stroud Gabbani

14 comments:

Richard Lawry said...

I like reading your blog to get a different perspective than is provided by American news media. Things like Muslims going to Christian churches to show solidarity would never be shown on our news.

An Arkies Musings

Unknown said...

Great blog, I will be following closely now that I have found it :)
have you learned Egyptian Arabic well?

Star said...

Thank you for such a beautiful and thoughtful post. Serendipitously, just the other day there were fifteen plus minutes of a heartwarming Italian TV interview with open-hearted, cosmopolitan, charming and still very handsome Omar Sharif, Cairo born (but--he funnily says--sent to an English school, with bad food, to force him to lose weight, since he had been a pudgy child). The interviewer, Carlo Conti, talked him through a brief overview of his career, of course, but Mr. Sharif's delightful personality, came through clearly. For those unable to understand Italian, after speaking about giving up bridge for his three beloved grandchildren to whom he sent virtual hugs and kisses (you'll see it), he closed the interview grateful to God for having given him everything he ever wanted in life. Such a wonderful example of what beauty the world can offer if we only would learn to "live and let live."
If you're interested in seeing the interview, cut and paste the link to the online video of the whole show into your browser. To fast forward to the Sharif interview, place your mouse over the bottom of the "TV" in the middle of your computer screen, and the control buttons will appear; just use the slide to go forward to about the 46th minute, sit back, and get ready to warm yourself from inside out. He seems like such a wonderful man, and it's so heartwarming to see such famous people so down-to-earth and grateful for all that the Cosmos has given them: http://www.rai.tv/dl/RaiTV/programmi/media/ContentItem-db23b13d-06ec-41db-944e-1aa4acecb07e.html
May this New Year bring us all such serenity, the world over.

Star said...

P.S., Italian television did talk about Egyptian Muslims going to Christian churches to sympathize with their losses and protest the violence and about representatives of local Muslim populations going to their Christian counterparts here in Italy, too.

Anonymous said...

Greetings from Southern California :-)

I added myself to follow your blog. You are more than welcome to visit mine and become a follower if you want to.

God Bless You, ~Ron

Anonymous said...

Events seem to be moving very fast - may you and yours stay safely out of the way. I have learned a great deal from your postings and always enjoy your views of the world around you.

Limner said...

Am keeping an eye on the news. Egypt's internet is down. Hope all is well. Hope change and history is being made.

Be well and be safe. Hope we hear from you soon.

Sarsparilla said...

Hearing events in Cairo on the news now, I wish you and all your friends and neighbours stay safe in the troubles.

DJ6ual said...

People need to understand that this will be the streets of America one day. Egypt is for us like the previews at the movie theater. We are the superpower and when we fall we will be the main event for the rest of the world. We can stop it, but only if people wake up, learn to sacrifice, and truly change themselves for the better.

~ DJ6ual

Tear Gas Causes Anti American Sentiment in Egypt

[http://dj6ual.viviti.com/entries/news/the-tear-gas-smoke-bombs-used-against-egyptian-protesters-were-also-used-at-g-20]

The Tear Gas (Smoke Bombs) Used Against Egyptian Protesters were also Used at G-20

Lisa Petrarca said...

Beautifully written Maryanne. I will be following your blog. It is very thoughtful, insightful and well spoken.

I'll definitely be back, I'm now a follower!

http://lisapetrarca.blogspot.com

MunirGhiasuddin said...

I wrote an analogy of what causes a political revolution on deeperzone.com. You think I came close to what is happening in Eygpt today? Atleast in India that is what we think causes people to go against their own goverment. Check it out please

Anonymous said...

an amazing song and video about egypt, made by a rap band in canada.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbz-kX38uKk

re-post it if you appreciate it.

Wash Their Worries Away said...

I just read your blog, and think its really awesome. I am currently senior at Washington State University and an Egyptian girl. I actually just got back from Egypt a couple of weeks ago (over my christmas break) and am trying to raise money for an Orphanage I worked at while in Cairo. If you are able to pass this on, or advertise this that would be greatly appreciated!

http://www.aml.wsu.edu/300S11/egypt/egyptian.html

Monalisa said...

Egypt is an inspiration for the world http://monalisagonewild.blogspot.com/2011/02/lessons-from-egypt.html