The actual influence of the Germans on the Egyptians was, in the past, almost always hugely overestimated. In the tradition of all Egyptian Presidents, the glowing militarist, Sisi, does not allow himself to be drawn into talking about his appearance as an insurgent in the turmoil of the troubles, and absolutely not as an Islamic male who would tolerate neither the sexual orientation of the former Foreign Secretary nor the weaponry of such a commanding woman.
Anyone who has followed Sisi’s rise will know how much the soldier in him dominates his manner. Anyone who watches Sisi knows how sharp and strategic he can be. And anyone who knows him will realise how much of an influence Islam is. All these characteristics make it very obvious how little of a democrat he is. And anyone who has had to get to know the country and the people will also know that it really does rather lack anything that could make for a free, democratically organised country, most especially mature, educated citizens. Democracy will be developed and established only in protracted and complex stages. Simply to try and import it, all wrapped up by the west, made in the image of the west, will be doomed to failure for that very reason, quit apart from another basic issue about how democratic Islamic countries can actually, fundamentally, be.
If the west, including the United States, continues to claim to have political relevance and influence in Egypt, then that really is a consciously dishonest act, a fudging of reality which it will take a lot of persistence to persuade others to believe. Sisi just accepts money. That’s all he does. Subsidies from selected areas for the Egyptian army had definitely been stopped in 2013. But millions of US dollars started to flow out of Washington again, in the age-old tradition, as did the millions of euro from Berlin for science and for schools, and all quite independently of political developments in Egypt.
So, as still seen and reported, these subsidies do not mean that Sisi has made concessions on policy or human rights. In the diplomatic tit for tat, there is simply nobody there who comes across as intelligible and who, more than anything, wants things to happen. Nobody is resolute about axing the annual bank transfers of dollars and euros if Sisi continues to refuse a dialogue about freedom and basic rights with his ideological opponents. In the long battle against Islamic militants in an unstable region, Egypt is quite simply needed too much. That alone is enough to give up on human rights and a reconciliation with Egyptian society.
Sisi is shrewd. He has given back to the Egyptians something which keeps a large part of society calm. And still does. Egyptians can be proud of their country again, maybe because the new Suez Canal was completed in record time. That certainly gives energy and importance, particularly for the dissatisfied and the protesters. Meantime the President is, above all, a man of the army. And the Egyptian army owns almost half the economic power in the land. Without the military, nothing happens. Nothing. It’s been like that for decades. Ever since the appearance of a certain General Nasser in the nineteen fifties. It would be laughable to believe that any of these gents, the Generals, would let their business dealings and influential activities be interfered with by any remotely democratic social grouping. So long as these soldiers wield such enormous power, so long as all those who can remember – whether loudly or timidly – the value system of the west, will do very well not to lose hope. This will be in itself both burden and task for the future. For decades to come, Egypt will definitely not be a democratic state.
Sisi has long since hooked himself and the country up in quite a different way. Sisi really likes entering into pacts with Russia and China because they’re good for business, all the more so with the financial world and shared values of influential Arab states. This clique of leading Gulf States, more than anything Saudi Arabia, favour an Islam they can control, moderate, direct. Together, they march in step against that form of Islamisation they can very much do without. For the same reasons given by Sisi for his constant, unbending battle against the Muslim Brotherhood, the sheikdoms are fearful that the conservative and more fundamental interpretations of the Koran recently becoming apparent will cause the future loss of reforms. Moderate Islam assures the status quo. It keeps the faithful in a state of mental immaturity.
Talking of Islam. Religion is the opiate of the masses. That’s what Marx said. Under the influence and ensnared, then. That’s how it should stay, my Egyptian friends. It isn’t right to have a go at you because of all this. To you, your religion is sacred. Full-stop. However much the mind fights against being determined by the transcendental, whether these are stories or people – peaceful Islam, like any other religion, isn’t at all a bad force for getting along with one another. So when a taxi-driver, after an accident that’s his fault, declares that it was actually Allah behind the wheel, the influence of faith on real events can at least be given some thought. Millions of Egyptians live with this idea. The problem isn’t that they believe. It’s their chronic sense of fatalism that’s so worrying.
Just one final aspect of your preparation for what has been written here about your country. I’m talking now to all my Egyptian friends. Because it is well-known how easy it is to incur your displeasure, and so as not to offend you at a moment’s notice, here is one important tip. What you might consider to be ridicule and disdain is commonly known as satire.
Sometimes satire hurts. Deliberately. But satire is no more than an exaggerated form of words that explains the management and mismanagement of society. And those who indulge in it are only trying to find a form of words which will bring about a change of the better. So, before you send out your aliens policing authority with a reprimand, do make an effort not always to want a German car, and a German car alone just because it comes from what you call Alemannia. Can you already manage a smile? Then we’ll be OK!
2
Two and two make I don’t know
‘What do two and two make?’ Rania, the teacher, asks the group as she picks up a piece of chalk and writes the numbers on the board. When she makes the downward stroke and turns the corner for the right-angle, the chalk screeches on the dark green surface.
They’re all lined up in the classroom like organ pipes; the little ones at the front, the big ones behind. In between are the ones who have never really been sure of their place. The tables and chairs have obviously been brought together piecemeal from all over. The room is light and clean. In spite of the heat outside the working temperature is bearable. On the wall are children’s paintings, number charts in Arabic and posters about the charity.
A few of the children groan loudly about the dreadful noise, some have covered their ears while others eagerly lean forward, each with a hand enthusiastically raised, the index finger pointing excitedly to show they know the answer.
‘I know! I know!’ some call out, almost begging to be allowed to shine for the sheer logic of their calculation.
Rania had used a different technique with the chalk to shape the second number. Now she stands in front of the class. She’s wearing a white summer dress and smiling gently. Her gestures for the children to be quiet have only a very gradual effect. ‘Habir!’ she eventually calls out.
All those with arms raised now lower them immediately as a matter of course. It’s quiet. Unusually quiet for a gang of schoolchildren of this age. One girl holds her hands against both sides of her face while her elbows press hard into the table.
‘What do you think?’ Rania is asking again. ‘If I’ve got two apples. Then I get two more, how many have I got altogether?’
Little Habir maintains an embarrassed silence and shifts uncomfortably on her seat. She’s squirming. She buries her face. It’s quite clear she doesn’t know the answer.
‘Come on now, Habir. You knew the answer last week. What did we learn? Can you remember?’
The girl, probably around ten or eleven, is looking even more intimidated. Then her expression hardens and