Page 43 - Shahrvand BC No.1252
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43 Egyptian brothers and sisters!

Internal divisions will hinder Egyptians and will compromise the their revolution, argues scholar Hamid Dabashi.

grace me with the magnanimity of your bruising and false divisions between Organise a national day of mourning for all

Hamid Dabashi gracious company, as a person blessed by pro-Morsi and anti-Morsi, between these brave pro-Morsi demonstrators who

the generosity of your repeated hospitality, religious and secular, is threatening to were martyred. They are the martyrs of the

Hamid Dabashi asks Egyptians to forget your kindness, your camaraderie, sully your world historic revolution. revolution, your revolution, which is also

the artificial divisions that promise to collegiality. Here is a case that you are both right their revolution. Honour their memory,

1392 ‫ دادرم‬25 ‫ جمعه‬- 1252 ‫ شماره‬/ ‫سال متسیب‬ hinder development and to embrace one Think me in the extended shadow of your - both those who valiantly took to the give solace and support to their families,

another in a common endeavour towards greatest minds - philosophers like the late street and demonstrated in your millions call and consider them your brothers and

self-determination and dignity [EPA] Nasr HamidAbu Zayd, filmmakers like the against Morsi and those of you who stuck sisters! Remember the days and nights of

Brothers and sisters - comrades of our late Youssef Chahin or Yousry Nasrallah, to your convictions, both Islamic and the Tahrir Square in those fateful days of

common dream! novelists like Son’allah Ibrahim or Ahdaf democratic, that he must stay in office as your January revolution when you could

The time to write in diverted tones and as Soueif, scholars like Samia Mehrez or the manifestation of the democratic will not tell one from the other!

if the fate of your magnificent revolution Mustafa El-Labbad, literary critics like of his people and given a chance to finish Those of you who demonstrated for

is of no immediate and vital consequence Samah Selim, Noha Radwan, or Firial his term with the dignity of his office! It is Morsi do not think of those who rallied

to me and to millions of Muslims and non- Ghazoul, journalists like Hani Shukrallah, impossible in good conscience to take side against him as your enemies - they are

Muslims like me is past - we must talk, Mona Anis, or Rasha Saad, film critiques with either of these two positions, either not - just like you they are Egyptians,

directly - as Muslim brothers and sisters, like Samir Farid. of these two sides - and we must not, and mostly Muslims, share your fate and

as human beings sharing the fate of a Think me an Iranian version of my late you must not. dream your common dream for a free and

fragile planet, as a people deeply affected friend, colleague, and comrade Magda This division is the historic fate of your democratic future. They were not asking

by the violent and enduring bruises of a al-Nowaihi. Think me and millions of revolution, the pains of it the birth pangs for a military coup. They were exercising

colonial and postcolonial world that has others like me as Egyptians in a different of our delivery to posterity, to a better their democratic rights.

left us baffled, searching, seeking to take garb, integrally invested in the fate of your world, a world of our ancestral dreaming. Overcome the nasty old colonial divide

control of our own history. revolution. This division is the historic turning point between the religious and the secular, and

I write to you not in the convoluted voice Today we are all Egyptians! when we were destined to overcome the the equally pernicious divide between

of a scholar, a thinker, or an idle observer. Like millions of others around the globe, I cruel fate of our colonial history. Sunni and the Shia, the Muslim and the

I write to you as an Iranian, a Muslim, have watched your magnificent revolution Overcome it for all of us, for all Muslims Copt, the Jew, the agnostic, the atheist!

a fellow-human being, and a person in awe, with hope, and with an abiding and non-Muslims, Egyptians and non- They are all false divides. Look into each

deeply, vastly, and enduringly invested in sense of undeterred admiration! Egyptians! Recognise the colossal other’s eyes - see your brothers and sisters,

your world-historic revolution. I am one You did it for all of us - humans, Arabs, responsibility that our history has with or without a beard, with or without a

of you. What you are doing today will Iranians, Turks, Afghans, . . . Muslims, bestowed upon your heroic shoulders, niqab. Arrange for joint rallies, hold each

affect generations of our children, of the non-Muslims, men, women, young, old, men and women, young and old, Muslim other’s hands - you are not each other’s

posterity of who and what we are. frightened, hopeful. and non-Muslims! enemies. The enemy is not personified - it

In touch with Iranian diversity Think me an honorary Egyptian, and And yet, your division, your bitter and Your glorious revolution is in danger - is structural to the world we have inherited

in danger of being kidnaped by corrupt and your revolution has paved the way for

or compromised politicians, by an army us to change.

knee deep compromised in the geopolitics Your magnificent revolution has taught us

of the region, in its structural rootedness how to heal these enduring wounds. Those

in American imperialism, and by regional who come with billions to give you they

powers each poised to serve their own are not the solution - they are part of the

benefits at the heavy expense of your problem. Egypt does not need hand out,

revolution and what it means for you, and Egyptians do not need generosity - your

Lawyers ICBC ‫ﻭﻛﻼ‬ the rest of us, for the region at large, for magnificent revolution is the definition
Claims ٦٠٤- ٩٨٢- ٤٠٥١ all Arabs all Muslims, all human beings, of generosity. With your industry, your
604 - 982 - 4051 ٦٠٤- ٩٨٠ -٨٥٧١ from Asia to Africa to Latin America, and hard work, your ingenuity, you will make
604 - 980 - 8571 even in Europe and North America! Egypt a model for the rest of the world to
Think your future together, draft your follow and emulate.
constitution together - let your best, What matters is not Morsi or another

Vol. 20 / No. 1252 - Friday, Aug. 16, 2013 irrespective of any false identity as politician, Morsi or another president -

Muslim or liberal, religious or secular, what matters is the future of Egypt, the fate

Sunni or Shia, Copt or otherwise, tell you of millions of human beings and the hopes

how they dream of a better Egypt. of even more millions watching Egypt and

‫ﺑﺮﺍی ﻣﺸﺎﻭﺭﻩ ﺣﻘﻮﻗﻰ ﻟﻄﻔﺎ ﺑﺎ‬ Make Egypt safe for Egyptian women hoping and wondering and dreaming.
- let their safety, security, and integrity The world watches you with fear and

‫ﺁﻗﺎی ﻛﺎﻣﻴﻞ ﻟﻄﻔﻌﻠﻰ‬ be integral to your dreams. Your sisters, hope, which way will you go - will false
mothers, daughters, wives - they are divisions destroy your hopes, our hopes,

the measures of your revolution. If they or will the dawn of a new generation of

.‫ ﺗﻤﺎﺱ ﺑﮕﻴﺮﻳﺪ‬،‫ﻭﻛﻴﻞ ﻓﺎﺭﺳﻰ ﺯﺑﺎﻥ‬ are not safe in the streets and alleys and thinking, of solidarity, of purposefulness,
squares of your history nothing, no ideal, deliver you and deliver us all to better

no aspiration, no dream is safe. days?

Do not allow the fate of your revolution May the force of reason, may the light of

in compromised hands! Politicians and sanity, and may the grace of your collective

Kamil Lotfali, lawyer military officers are the last people to be will be with you and guide your way!
entrusted with this historic task. Take your Your brother in faith, and in solidarity!

‫ ﺳﺎﻝ ﺗﺠﺮﺑﻪ ﺣﻘﻮﻗﻰ‬٣٠ ‫ ﻣﺆﺳﺴﻪﺣﻘﻮﻗﻰ "ﻧﻮﺭﺕﺷﻮﺭﻻ " ﺑﺎﺑﻴﺶﺍﺯ‬- fate in your own hands.
Those of you who protested against Morsi, Hamid Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian

‫ﺩﺳﺘﻤﺰﺩیﺩﺭﻳﺎﻓﺖﻧﺨﻮﺍﻫﻴﻢﻛﺮﺩ‬،‫ ﺩﺭﻳﺎﻓﺖﻧﻨﻤﺎﺋﻴﻢ‬ICBC‫ ﺗﺎﺧﺴﺎﺭﺕﺷﻤﺎﺭﺍ ﺍﺯ‬- do not allow a military coup be written in Professor of Iranian Studies and
your name. It is time to go and seek the Comparative Literature at Columbia

ICBC ‫ ﺩﺭﻳﺎﻓﺖ ﻫﺮﮔﻮﻧﻪ ﺧﺴﺎﺭﺕ ﺟﺎﻧﻰ ﻭ ﻣﺎﻟﻰ ﺍﺯ‬- hands of those who protested for him - University in New York. Among his most
seek your brothers and sisters on the other recent books is The World of Persian

NORTH SHORE LAW side of the divide - go to their homes, go to Literary Humanism (2012).

4 3 LLP their neighbourhoods, go to their mosques
6th Floor, 171 West Esplanade, North Vancouver, B.C. - they are your mosques, your homes, your The views expressed in this article are the

klotfali@northshorelaw.com neighbourhoods. Peace, peace, peace - author's own and do not necessarily reflect
white flags, open hearts, extended hands! Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
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