"History is the most dangerous concoction the chemistry of the mind has produced. It sets people dreaming, intoxicates them, engenders false memories, exaggerates their reflexes, keeps their old wounds open, torments their leisure, inspires them with megalomania and persecution complexes."
These words by Paul Valéry, according to Ofra Bengio, the author of Saddam's Word: Political Discourse in Iraq, might come from a textbook teaching the Ba`th how to look at history. "Whether known to Ba`th ideologues or not, they tally with the party's most obsessive preoccupation with tar'ikh (history), a preoccupation fully shared by Saddam Husayn personally. By his own testimony, history has penetrated his whole being and is present in all his thinking... ." Bengio was writing this book in the late 1990s; much before the US invasion of Iraq and removal of Saddam.
Although, this Israeli writer seeks to present a convincing case of how history was used as a lever of politics in Saddam's Iraq, there's no doubt about the fact that unlike followers of other faiths and beliefs, Muslims always had a far greater sense of history.
For example, Bernard Lewis points out that Islam, from the very beginning, has attached enormous importance to history. He feels no hesitation in making this highly profound claim that in many parts of the world, reliable history begins with the advent of Islam. "The history of Islam is essential part of history without which even our own history is not fully intelligible," writes Lewis in his From Babel to Dragoman-interpreting the Middle East.
A beleaguered Hosni Mubarak's defiant speech ( which is said to be in Modern Arabic Standard, not Egyptian Arabic or unlike Zine el-Abidine ben Ali of Tunisia's in dialectical Arabic for the first time in a desperate and failed attempt) that he delivered last Friday and that led to clashes between pro- and anti-Mubarak protesters at Cairo's Tahrir Square and elsewhere in Egypt sought to cool down the uprising by his feeble attempts aimed at fortifying Egyptians' pride in the history of their nation based on a narrative that he has been trying to sell to rather unwilling buyers. But the question again that begged an answer was about the identity of the country-Egyptian or Arab.
The Egyptian President was quite careful in the selection of his words: since the traditional official line is Arab he saw no reason to underscore the need for rousing a greater sense of Egyptian loyalty over pan-Arab nationalism (which found its most profound expression in the unification of Egypt and Syria as United Arab Republic from 1958 to 1961) among his audience during what he terms "critical times that are testing Egypt and its people which could sweep them into the unknown".
Nevertheless, he sought to strike an Egyptian loyalty chord, albeit unsuccessfully, at the end of his speech. The last lines of his speech say: "The nation remains. Visitors come and go but ancient Egypt [since the founding of unified kingdom in c. 3150 BC by King Menes, leading to a series of dynasties that ruled Egypt for the next three millennia?] will remain eternal, its banner and safekeeping will pass from one generation to the next. It is up to us to ensure this in pride and dignity."
But he was smart enough to take advantage of that occasion by identifying himself with his constituency, the armed forces, in that speech by reminding people that "the people know" what he had offered to Egypt in war and peace, "just as I am a man from the armed forces and it is not in my nature to betray the trust or give up my responsibilities and duties".
His hand-picked Vice-President Omar Suleiman's warning to protesters and opposition on Wednesday that if their movement doesn't enter negotiation a `coup' could take place causing greater chaos appears to be a part of Mubarak's strategy aimed at going back to his "constituency" for help and adding to the confusion that pervades the country and the region in particular.
As the protests against him acquiring a new momentum with the passage of time, there's a strong likelihood of a change in Mubarak's strategy of how to make his narrative more sale-able or acceptable among Egyptian public subscribing to different historical identities.
There will be a little surprise if "ancient Egypt" becomes the title of his approach to a highly volatile situation by openly introducing debates on themes that can divide the Egyptian society whose members appear to be unanimous in their call for Mubarak's ouster at this critical juncture of history of modern Egypt. It looks highly unlikely that the most organised group in the opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood, will ever seek to derive strength for its political ideals that the party has been vigorously propounding since its founding in1928 by subscribing to or even supporting the "ancient Egypt" theme.
(To be continued tomorrow)
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