A football game between Egypt and Algeria has given rise to one of the most significant issues scrutinised in 2009
The football game between Egypt and Algeria last November, in which Algeria qualified for the World Cup final, ended in controversy that far outweighed anything warranted by a game. Prior to the game, no-one could have anticipated the underlying antipathy between Egyptians and Algerians and the fan war that accompanied the game which the media exposed. Gone was the staunch Egyptian support of the Algerian resistance against the French until Algeria gained independence in the 1960s, and gone was the substantial economic and cultural assistance offered by Egypt ever since. The battle assumed ominous proportions as Egyptian businesses and activities in Algeria were attacked and plundered, and the Algerian government resorted to adverse measures against Egyptian interests there.
No longer valid
Egyptians, who had imagined the game would warrant no more than the usual rhetorical mud-slinging or perhaps stone-throwing, were in shock. The general sentiment seriously brought into question the Nasserite Arab National Movement with many waking up to the notion that it was no longer a valid project.
History reminds us that it was only after Sadat’s peace convention with Israel, which Egypt signed in 1979, that most Arab countries excluded Egypt from the Arab Nationalist group. Yet Egypt always regarded herself as part and parcel of the Arabs, taking the role of the ‘elder sister’ that is fated to turn a blind eye to its younger siblings’ irrationalities. That fateful football game and its aftermath, however, got the majority of Egyptians to think twice about the so-called Arab Nationalism. Many young people and commentators began raising mottos of the type: “The priority is Egypt” while others went so far as to call for a boycott of anything Arab and the reinstitution of Egypt’s Pharaonic identity instead.
After the furor settled down, Watani decided to sound analysts and intellectuals on the issue.
Remittances
Abdullah al-Ashaal, assistant to the Egyptian Minister of Foreign affairs, said it was a mistake to abandon the idea of Arab Nationalism because more than three million Egyptians worked in the Gulf states and sent money home amounting to five billion Egyptian Pounds a year. Mr Ashaal believes that Egypt did not handle the Egypt-Algeria crisis wisely because it did not differentiate between the brutality of the Algerian fans and the fibre of the Algerian people themselves, who are an integral part of the Arab tapestry. The media had brought in a group of Arab commentators who served to add oil to the fire and poison relations between the two nations. Mr Ashaal thinks that boycotting Algeria is a risky move, especially after the Lawyers’ Syndicate burnt the Algerian flag and described the Algerian ambassador in Egypt as a traitor. It was Egypt’s right to feel angry and insulted because of Algeria’s onslaught, Mr Ashaal said.
Mr Ashaal added that Arab nations admired and respected Egypt, but there existed at the same time a certain degree of schadenfreude because Egypt bore some connection to Israel which is anathematised on the Arab front because of its policy and practices against the Gazans.
An illusion
Emad Gad, a consultant at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, says that most talk about Arab nationalism is an illusion. Relations between countries, he says, are measured by common interests. Dr Gad believes that any talk of Arab Nationalism is exaggerated, and that Egypt never benefited from it although she has always played a major role in any fighting in the Arab region, in solidarity with Arab nations. On the cultural level, Egypt has always sent teachers, doctors and artists to Arab countries. These Arab countries no longer need Egypt and are now looking down upon her.
For his part, Baheieddin Hassan sees no contradiction in claiming that “the priority is Egypt”. Even though we bear Arab, African and Mediterranean identities, he points out, it is impossible to overlook Egypt’s historical role, especially on the educational front. He agrees with Dr Gad that Arab countries no longer need Egypt since the petroleum leap brought in so much wealth and foreign investments. That is when Egypt’s role became marginalised and Egyptian labour is no longer appreciated.
“There is no doubt that Egypt belongs to the Arab World both geographically and culturally,” Mounir Fakhri Abdel-Nour, secretary of the Wafd Party, says. He believes that it would be a mistake for Egypt to put up boundaries with other Arab countries at this crucial time, because it retains common interests. Mr Abdel-Nour believes that the media has overreacted to the football match and that our Arab identity should not be confused in sports issues.
Lost dream
Talal Ashi, a Syrian writer and intellectual, says the conflict between Egypt and Algeria is not just a fight over a sport, but rather over a lost dream. The outcome is that Egyptians feel protected by belonging to their pharaonic rather than their Arab roots. He insists that Arab Nationalism is not just a dream but a reality, because the Arabs represent a huge humanitarian resource in Egypt and abroad.
“We are Egyptian Arabs,” Salah Eissa, editor-in-chief of the Cairo weekly Al-Qahira says. But it is hard to detect Arab Nationalism in a morbid climate where Arab countries intentionally insult Egypt. And it should be borne in mind, he said, that Arab countries are widely divergent when it comes to wealth, culture and development.
Hussein Abdel-Raziq, secretary-general of the leftist al-Tagammu party, backs the idea of Arab Nationalism and says that nothing can jeopardise our Arab sense of belonging. Egypt, he says, is interlinked to three spheres: the Egyptian, the Arabic and the African, and it is therefore hard to choose a priority since we have a contribution to make on all fronts.