Spitting image: Back to the future

It's been something over seven years since I last wrote for Al-Ahram Weekly. I do so today upon the request of my old friend and colleague Galal Nasser, who has just taken over as the Weekly's editor-in-chief.

I do so, however, not as a staffer but as an outside contributor, taking over the space that until recently, and since the founding of the Weekly, had been occupied by the late Salama Ahmed Salama, whose recent passing has lost Egyptian journalism its most outstanding columnist, and one of the noblest and most honourable representatives of the profession.

Looking back at the issue of 5 May 2005 I find my Weekly swan song in the form of two pieces: a front-page "comment" occasioned by rather wretched twin terrorist attacks in downtown Cairo earlier in the week, and the second, my usual op-ed column, published for many years on the Opinion page under the generic heading, "Reflections".

With the benefit of post-revolutionary hindsight, the two pieces had some interesting things to say.

Take for instance, the front-page comment, titled -- upon the suggestion of my friend and colleague Mona Anis -- "Sewage Street story", in reference to the fact that one of the young hapless terrorists lived on a slum street popularly known by that distasteful name.

Focussing on the apparent paradox of terror attacks being launched even as the country's political space seemed to be seething with new life and dynamism, I tried to draw attention to the almost total absence of a social element in the political battles of 2005, which Egypt's political elite had rather appallingly tagged "the year of political mobility".

I wrote: "Busy squabbling over the terms and scope of political reform, has anyone given a thought to the people who live on Sewage Street?... Is anyone interested in helping them find their own way onto the political stage?

"That groups of fanatical, desperate and poorly-educated adolescents can hold a nation's future hostage is outrageous. But they can, and will continue to sprout like so many mushrooms as long as we have security bodies that round up and torture people in their thousands, and an intellectual and political class that is unwilling to ponder, let alone accommodate, the lives of millions of Egyptians, or to perceive them as anything more than objects of manipulation."

Similarly, in my op-ed article titled "Big trouble, small acres", I wrote: "A political system the most remarkable feature of which has been its longevity is finally giving up the ghost, or to use a more accurate metaphor, crumbling under its own weight...

"Where it will lead depends on how and when the Egyptian people finally enter the fray. Enter it they must, that at least is clear. A decades-old high dam made up of fear, intimidation and resignation is fracturing by the day; the waters of pent-up dissatisfaction will inevitably pour through."

A couple of months later, in July 2005, I was given the boot.

Five years later the dam came down, the waters poured through; the Egyptian people gloriously entered the fray.

I had wished it, even came near to predicting it, but had not really expected to see it, at least not in my life time. 25 January 2011, I admit, took me totally by surprise.

My expulsion from the Weekly had also come as a surprise, though I cannot today fathom why. My brother's Thursday morning phone call, upon reading my column, almost invariably began with the question: "Have they fired you yet?"

It was nevertheless relatively mild punishment for years of consistent resolve on the part not just of myself but of our editorial team and much of our staff to "push the envelope" as far as we possibly can.

"Why do they hate you so much?" a senior member of the then ruling National Democratic Party's Policies Committee and an old friend of the family asked me some time later. "They" were the State Security Intelligence, who had been the principal actors in my deletion from the Weekly. I had no answer save that the feeling was mutual.

It was a paltry price to pay for what ultimately was little more than holding onto the minimum of personal and professional integrity necessary for one to be worthy of the label, journalist.

A mere month before, on 2 June, a remarkably like-minded friend, Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir was assassinated in front of his home in Beirut. That was his punishment for expressing in writing -- elegantly, intelligently and compellingly -- what he believed to be true, the very definition of what a true journalist is.

I remarked on this in an article in the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat a few months later, citing it as indicative of the relatively mild nature of Egyptian authoritarianism when compared to its Levantine, in this case Syrian, counterpart. This observation, needless to say, has been made horrifyingly glaring in the course of the past months.

Yet, the story of the anomaly that was the state-owned Al-Ahram Weekly is still to be told, and it is, I believe, an interesting story, revealing aspects of the life, vitality and, indeed, subversion that seethed beneath the stagnant, putrescent waters of Mubarak's Egypt.

This being said, I feel bound to conclude my first contribution to the Weekly in seven years, by remembering -- lovingly and with immense gratitude for having known, befriended and worked with them -- a group of remarkable people, both staffers and contributors, who amazingly collected under the Weekly's rather humble ramshackle roof, redefining it as something so much larger than just one of 17 publications issued by the state-owned Al-Ahram.

Al-Ahram Weekly would not have been what it was if it were not for: the saintly, boundless courage of Founding Chief Editor Hosny Guindy, the scholarly genius of Edward Said and Iqbal Ahmad, the brilliant intellectual audacity of Mohamed Sid-Ahmed, ever dauntlessly leaping where angels fear to tread and the nobility and integrity of Salama Ahmed Salama.

It was, however, the newspaper's most popular columnist, among our readers as indeed among ourselves: Fayza Hassan, whose incisive intelligence, insatiable thirst for knowledge and razor-sharp wit provided the very spice that -- for many years -- gave the Weekly its unique taste.

My relationship to Al-Ahram Weekly, turbulent as it had been, leaves me with no regrets. Save one: when Fayza died in August 2009 it had been several years since I had last seen her.

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Spreading like wildfire

The Syrian crisis is spreading to other states in the region, threatening their stability, writes Bassel Oudat in Damascus

Military clashes between the regular army and the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) have escalated over recent months across Syria, with anti-regime brigades taking control of a number of cities and towns across the country and regular forces losing control of other parts. The fighting has displaced hundreds of thousands of Syrians, who have fled to neighbouring states, while others continue to suffer as a result of an ongoing humanitarian crisis.

The Syrian regime headed by President Bashar Al-Assad claims that Arab and non-Arab jihadists and Al-Qaeda fighters have infiltrated the country in order to assist rebel forces, and Arab and Western states have voiced concerns about the escalation of the violence in Syria.

They are worried that the arrival of thousands of refugees in neighbouring states will destabilise the host countries, and that Syria will become a "failed state" like Afghanistan if jihadists continue to pour into the country to support the mostly Sunni opposition against the Alawite-led minority regime.

The Syrian crisis has cast a shadow over the security of neighbouring states like Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan, all of which have voiced concerns that the chaotic situation in Syria could spread to them. If the crisis in Syria continues, these countries' security could be seriously threatened, making it incumbent on them to protect themselves.

Turkey's National Security Council (NSC) issued a statement recently declaring that the country was committed to combating terrorism and emphasising its determination to act against any threats resulting from the deteriorating security and humanitarian conditions in Syria.

The Turkish Council added that the country would firmly deal with "terrorist elements" trying to use the power vacuum in Syria for their own advantage, a reference to the separatist Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey that for years has been supported by the Syrian regime.

Meanwhile, there have been violent clashes in north Lebanon between Lebanese supporters and opponents of the Syrian regime, resulting in the deaths of several people and wounding dozens. Several Syrians have also been kidnapped in Lebanon in response to the kidnapping by the FSA of Lebanese nationals believed to be members of the Lebanese Shia group Hizbullah fighting alongside regime forces.

The Lebanese authorities have revealed that a former Lebanese cabinet minister allegedly conspired to undermine stability and civil peace in Lebanon in coordination with the Syrian regime, which remains very influential in Lebanon.

The UN Security Council has warned against attempts to jeopardise Lebanon's security and stability as the violence escalates in Syria.

It has also been reported that jihadists from Syria have entered neighbouring Iraq, and that Iraqi troops have clashed with the Syrian army after Syrian rockets hit a border patrol and destroyed an Iraqi town. Border crossings between the two countries were closed several times over the past month, out of fears that Syrian refugees would attempt to enter Iraq.

The government in Baghdad is concerned that the Syrian crisis will have ramifications in Iraq, which is already struggling against armed groups, as well as sectarian violence.

Baghdad has also admitted that fighters are crossing the border into Syria from Iraq. As border crossings between the two countries have fallen into the hands of Syrian opposition fighters, the Iraqi government has decided to close the border with Syria, refusing to accept any further Syrian refugees.

Meanwhile, several artillery rockets have landed in Syria's neighbour to the south, Jordan, sometimes in residential areas. The armies of both countries have clashed, apparently because Syrian troops have been targeting Syrian refugees after they have entered Jordanian territory.

The international community has acknowledged the dangers of the situation in Syria and expressed concern that the war between the regime and its opponents could deteriorate into chaos. This could attract further jihadist fighters from around the world, transforming Syria into a "failed state."

Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey said recently that the Syrian crisis threatened the stability of the region, warning that Syria could soon become a failed state.

Dempsey held Al-Assad responsible for the violence in the country, hinting that the option of military intervention to end the violence in Syria was not far from US thinking. He added that creating safe zones in Syria was a political, not a military decision, and that the US has no intention of establishing buffer zones for Syrian refugees in Syria for the time being.

European states believe that Al-Assad's departure is the key to stability in the region, arguing that his departure would not create more mayhem but would help to stabilise the situation. French President Fran??ois Hollande and Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy said recently that Al-Assad's stepping down "is a fundamental key to reaching a political solution to the Syrian crisis".

They added that Al-Assad's "departure will not create havoc in the region, but will be a stabilising factor," and urged that the crisis be resolved before it expands beyond Syria's borders. The two leaders emphasised that countries supporting the Syrian regime, such as Russia and China, should understand that this would be the best solution for Syria and the other countries in the region.

As military operations by Syrian troops escalate, following some 30,000 civilian deaths and 500,000 refugees fleeing to neighbouring states, the international community remains sharply divided about how best to deal with the Syrian crisis.

Some countries, led by the Arab states, the EU and US, believe that the solution is for Al-Assad to leave, followed by a transitional government being formed from the opposition and regime figures not complicit in the killing.

Another group of countries, led by Russia, China and Iran, argues that events in Syria are an internal affair that should be resolved through national dialogue and that there can be no precondition of Al-Assad's departure.

Former Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa has warned against armed confrontation in Syria spreading to neighbouring states. Moussa said that it was foreseeable that fighting in Syria would affect neighbouring countries on the humanitarian and military levels, warning that violence between Sunnis and Shia in the region could expand as part of a wider sectarian crisis.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria have created a humanitarian crisis in neighbouring states, which are worried about the ramifications of the crisis on their economic, political and security situations.

The UN has reported that Jordan alone is hosting 200,000-250,000 refugees, some living in refugee camps and others integrating into Jordanian society, while thousands of others are waiting for the chance to cross the border, including a growing number of unaccompanied children.

Meanwhile, Turkey has announced it will open new refugee camps to keep up with the growing number of Syrian refugees, since the existing eight in Turkey, estimated by officials to hold more than 80,000 refugees, are insufficient.

Lebanon and Iraq have been compelled to open their borders to tens of thousands of refugees, while Algeria, Libya, other Arab and European countries are hosting thousands more.

Syrian towns and villages have become ghost towns, and hundreds of families whose homes have been destroyed by the army have relocated to public parks, pavements and mosques. Observers warn that the children of these families will likely take up arms against the regime, especially since the regime is doing nothing to help them.

All neighbouring states have said that they are unable to take more refugees because of the economic burden or their inability to ensure their security. They have called on Arab, Islamic and western states to shoulder their responsibilities on the issue.

For its part, the Syrian opposition has called for the creation of buffer zones inside Syria, to be enforced by UN troops, in order to protect Syrian civilians such that they are not forced to leave the country.

However, Russia has blocked any international resolution on the issue, and Syria refuses to discuss it. France, Britain and the US have warned the Syrian regime that military intervention to create safe areas inside Syria is not impossible, though it is unlikely for now.

"As the Syrian regime teeters, with limited control in many areas, and as the chaos spreads, emigration is on the rise at a startling rate due to fears of regime violence or the unsafe conditions that could follow the regime's collapse," Suleiman Youssef, a Syrian opposition figure, told Al-Ahram Weekly.

"If we want to save the Syrian state from descending into mayhem, the transitional phase should be brief and the regime removed as soon as possible."

Observers believe that as moves at the UN Security Council seem to have reached a dead end, and as the crisis continues to lead to the deaths of thousands every month, the risk is greater than ever that the crisis will spread to neighbouring states, threatening their security.

This risk is all the more serious in that conditions in many of these countries are already fragile, presenting the international community with virtually insurmountable problems.

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To the letter

Contemporary Egyptian artists are exploring the resources of Arabic calligraphy, among them Omar El-Nagdi, writes Mohamed Mursi 'God created perfection and absolute beauty in a world of eternal being before man was created. He created the world of the transcendental, light-giving logos before anyone could read it, as it preceded the creation of man. When God created man, his first command was: read'

Calligraphy was not known to the Arabs when the Quran made their language the dominant tongue of the region. But it wasn't long after the establishment of the first Muslim empires, first in Mecca and later on in Damascus, Baghdad and Cairo, that cohorts of talented scribes turned the art of writing into one of Islam's main decorative arts.

Arab artists today are still exploring ways of using calligraphy in their work, and sometimes it can fetch very high prices. Not long ago, a calligraphy piece by London-based Egyptian artist Ahmed Mustafa called the Night of the Israa sold for $850,000 at auction in Doha.

The Egyptian artist Omar El-Nagdi, whose work is inspired by the Islamic heritage, is another master of this kind of art. Born in Bab Al-Shaariya not far from the Al-Shaarani Mosque, El-Nagdi developed an eye for calligraphy from an early age. Visitors to the Museum of Letters and Manuscripts in Paris had the chance to admire some of his exceptional work not long ago.

El-Nagdi envisions his art in a wider perspective than the merely physical. This is how he puts it: "God created perfection and absolute beauty in a world of eternal being before man was created. He created the world of the transcendental, light-giving logos before anyone could read it, as it preceded the creation of man. When God created man, his first command was: read."

The Arabic alphabet includes all the elements of geometry in its three-dimensional as well as its two-dimensional forms. Looking at the Arabic alphabet, one can almost imagine the touch of a hand exploring its calligraphic potential, investigating its various paths, moving from the circular to the angular, following the curvatures of its nature and aspiring to the heights of its architecture.

Take the letter (Ì), for example, with its concave structure and elegant capping, or (ã), with its subtle composition and malleability of form. There is a poetry in the way the Arabic letters connect and a subtleness in the way they flow. In the hands of a skilled artist, the scope for innovation is immense, and in the hands of an adventurous one, it is almost unlimited.

Across the Arab world, many artists have pushed the boundaries of calligraphy, taking it from tradition and into the globalised world of contemporary appreciation. People like Jamil Hammoudi, Madiha Omar, Wagih Nahlah, Salwa Shoqeir, Othman Waqiallah and Ibrahim Al-Salhi have all experimented with the classical forms of calligraphy at some time in their careers, some taking the letters down unexpected paths.

To capture the gamut of classical calligraphy is not an easy task, but some artists have sought to go further and to explore horizons that extend beyond tradition. Some have turned the art of calligraphy into a riff on abstraction, for example, while others have infused it with the energy of expressionism. However, the link with the past remains intriguing, and even those who have wanted to explore the outer horizons of calligraphy have never lost their appreciation for the roots of their art.

The Iraqi artist Abdel-Ghani Al-Ani has said that Arabic calligraphy is an endless quest for perfection. It is like music or poetry: there is no end to exploration or boundary to the unknown. According to Al-Ani, "calligraphy is like the sea; it belongs to all. But if you take some water from the sea and place it in a bottle, then this bottle and this part of the sea are yours."

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