One civilisation, but many faces. In March the German Marshall Fund (GMF) of the United States organised a fellowship programme for the collaboration of civilisations, choosing 12 journalists and activists from the Middle East to visit four countries: Belgium, France, the United Kingdom and the United States. I was one of the lucky ones chosen.
GMF is a non-partisan American public policy and grant-making institution dedicated to promoting greater cooperation and understanding between the United States and Europe. It was founded in 1972 through a gift from Germany as a permanent memorial to the Marshall Plan.
In spite of being part of an official delegation to Europe, the Egyptian participants had great difficulty in dealing with three embassies, those of Belgium, the United Kingdom and the US, to obtain visas. The most difficult of all was Belgium, as we did not receive our travel documents until the day before we left.
Cold but warm
We arrived in Brussels on 27 March, where in spite of extremely cold weather we were given a warm reception by representatives of the Belgian people. There, we attended the famous Brussels forum, where intellectuals and experts in all fields from around the world gathered to discuss global issues, the most debatable of which is climate change.
Besides the forum, Brussels is the seat of both the European Union and NATO and is famous for the manufacture of electronic and chemical systems and cars. Here there is the old city on a lower level than the current one; so much lower that we descended to it in a lift. The old city is reminiscent of the heart of other European cities that still showcase churches and houses dating from the middle ages.
Before leaving Brussels we attended Palm Sunday prayers. The people there celebrate the feast with their own traditions using roses and green plants.
It was during our visit in Brussels that the Belgium Parliament voted to ban the wearing of the full face veil in public places.
On our last day in Brussels we visited the European Parliament and met delegates of the European Union.
London and Paris
We travelled from Brussels to London by train on Eurostar. Even though we arrived late and the weather was wet and cold, we insisted on walking to see Big Ben, the theatre district, and the museums and churches. Coming from the notoriously chaotic traffic of Cairo, my greatest impression of London was the general respect for the traffic rules.
We were excited to visit the most famous of all multimedia companies, BBC, on a tour of the television and radio studios. We also visited the BBC Arabic Service, which competes in the Arab World.
Our second visit in London was to the British Council, which is showing an interest in cooperating with Egypt. The branch in Egypt is one of its oldest branches.
We left London to Paris—the city of beauty and culture. There we saw the Eiffel Tower, the Egyptian obelisk in the Place de la Concorde, the charming Champs-Elysées and Notre Dame. Even the hotel where we stayed was a wonderful piece of art.
Muslims in Europe; non-Muslims in Egypt
Freedom to wear the veil and the rights of Muslim immigrants in the West dominated the discussions in Paris. I could not help feeling as though we were a delegation from al-Azhar and our mission was to improve the image of Islam and advocate religious freedom for Muslims in Europe. This prompted me to bring up an angle of religious freedom that appeared to have escaped the participants, that of the curtailed religious freedom of non-Muslims in our region in the world, especially that non-Muslims here are not migrants but the original nationals of the land.
We then met the counsellor of the French Foreign Minister, where talks centred on the success of the Euro-Mediterranean Conference headed by Egypt and France.
It was important to visit the Institute of Islamic Culture where we learned about the institute’s duty to inform others about Islamic culture and to screen films and mark Islamic celebrations and special Arab evenings during the month of Ramadan. The institute, we were told, is located in a region that absorbs people from 70 different nationalities.
Institut du Monde Arabe
The visit we enjoyed most in Paris was that of the Institut du Monde Arabe, which was established on the bank of the Seine in 1980 when 18 Arab countries concluded an agreement with France to establish the institute to disseminate information about the Arab world and set in motion detailed research to cover Arabic and the Arab world’s cultural and spiritual values. Libya joined the agreement in 1984.
The institute also aims at promoting cooperation and cultural exchanges between France and the Arab world, particularly in the areas of science and technology, thus contributing to development of relations between the Arab world and Europe. The building houses a museum, library, an auditorium, restaurant, and offices.
WATANI International
20 June 2010