Lately, i have been finding the need to start addressing the issue of Egyptian tolerence to jews and israeli's in my blog after having read so many different views on the topic in deifferent blogs and after discussing it with different people. But first, i would like to express my dissapointment at AIESEC for not making it known that some of the salaamers in Egypt are jewish. Though i understand and respect that this may threaten their security cause i have to admit that egyptians truely show very little tolerence to jews in general and even among the educated they don't really distinguish between jews, israeli's and the government let alone the the different parties. It is even worse when america and jews are referred to as one thing. That is why i feel that for the purpose of the Salaam program, it should have been left up to the discretion of each trainee to determine whether they want it known that they are jews or not and i feel that they should have taken the risk because it would of have had a huge impact on many egyptians and it could have changed a lot of perspectives which ultimatly is the purpose of being a salaamer; however, this is only my pint of view and maybe i would have felt differently had it been me who had to take the risk and i think a lot of them handled it well.
It has always amazed me how as egyptians (and i hate to be stereotyping here bas it is funny) we have something to say abt everyone from the sudanese and fellow arabs from the gulf to the americans..we just can't let anything go by. There's a lot of stereotyping that it leads to discrimination everywhere. But let's walk in Egypt for a while, the education system allows u to see little diversity and that's if u've been to school unless u got private schooling so it's no wonder a lot beleive that we won the 1973 war and got our land fair and square. The economic frustration that builds up makes ur smile found only at a joke making fun of someone else be he se3eidi or a rich arab from the gulf or a jew; The political system discouraging participation such that u blame all ur problems on America and some weird ass conspiracy theory that the jews are out to get us. The lack of action in the arab world and it's rusty institutions feeds into growing hatred against the Western world and worse, toward all jews simply cause we can't solve a loong historical and political conflict with israel so we just wish that they would all dissapear and vanish into thin air and if we can't do it we might as well let the terrorists finish the job for us and then we'll condemn them. I'm not trying to justify any of this and i want to make it clear that this should not be generalised to all Egyptians needless to say all arabs, i'm just trying to understand how it grew to all this, how did all the different cultural and social factors foster such little tolerence to difference?
With regard to homosexuality, i think it is mainly because in Islam we beleive that homosexuality is some sort of unnatural imbalance that it led to society not accepting homosexuals and thus the government denies them any rights and u can get jailed because of it. However, there are gay people in Egypt and i have gay freinds but booooy do they have a hard time in Egypt and a lot of them don't come out. Then again, for me, that's understandable. I may not understand ur orientation but i respect ur decision and belive that every indivisual should live however they want to live. But the government doesn't think so but i ask those who diss egyptians for denying gays their rights to try and think why our culture would have little tolerance to that and maybe they can learn to accept such a rich culture even if they can't appreciate it and do not agree with its values. It is true that there are a lot of things that we need to change in the culture starting with the need to become more proactive and actually do change instead of lying back and becoming as fatalistic as we are. I would personally start with harrassment on the street..as a girl walking around in the streets of Cairo, i will no longer be passive abt harrassment on the street. I will also vote for a change! I have a voice and i want it to be heard!
But going back to the issue of intolerence to jews, as i said many stereotypes exist as they exist everwhere in egypt but the most significant is the steroetyped hatred towards jews that is passed thru generations. I have never really given much thought to this issue till i came to the states. Now i do realize how many anti-semitic remarks we usually throw around as jokes but they lead to a deeper feeling of hatred when u don't really know what ur hating. And i must make clear, that we cannot compare muslims in the US to jews in the arab world simply because though there is undoubted discrtimination against muslims sometimes and they do face some issues..it cannot be compared to what jews must face. But what i found surprising here, is how arabs in the US complain about being discriminated against here when they in fact discrimante against all others, when i first got here and had some issues with transportation, i was going to take the bus to work and then this lebanese guy says no way, i'll drive u, u can't take the bus it's for slaves only!!!!!!!!! Can u imagine how shocked i was when i heard this!!! Some arab-americans here actually view african americans as slaves!!!!!!! well not all of caurse, but there is a part of the lebanese community here that feels that way. Now if u open up the subject of jews they would get started with how it's all a conspiracy theory against arabs and how during the civil war in lebabnon they were constantly changing sides, traitors..etc. And this comes from the christian lebanese as well as the muslims..very interesting.
But while i was here, i met some jewish americans and some jewish arab-americans and had very intense discussions with them and one of my close freinds here happens to be jewish. And that is why i wish that the jewish Salaamers who were in Egypt could've said that they were jewish without having to put their security at risk because of the huge impact it would've made; i'm truely sorry that some had such a hard experience in Egypt from the anti-semitic behaviour adopted by some but i think they should be very proud of their experience because they took a bold and active step towrds changing some of the views prevailing there by participating in the program ( and respecting its policy!) and attempting to understand the culture and why some think that way. For me, being here in US and though this was not the first time that i meet jewish people it was the first time i put some constructive thought abt the issue, i have realized that there can be prospects for peace and that there is a pressing need for bridging the gap, understanding and correcting some misunderstandings because if i as a muslim arab girl can sit and talk with another jewish girl then why can't two states do it? I know this sounds naiive and i understand how history can't be put aside especially for those who lived it but isn't it a nice thought to have?
And if i can be in the US and have absolutly no fear of saying that i'm a muslim girl from Egypt then why can't the jewish salaamers have the oppourtunity to do the same? I think that through the Salaam program, one day this can happen, it's sometimes a risk for others to take but think of the impact u can have on random ppl in the street and possibly nations one day...I want to be the change i want to see in this world. I want Salaam.
It has always amazed me how as egyptians (and i hate to be stereotyping here bas it is funny) we have something to say abt everyone from the sudanese and fellow arabs from the gulf to the americans..we just can't let anything go by. There's a lot of stereotyping that it leads to discrimination everywhere. But let's walk in Egypt for a while, the education system allows u to see little diversity and that's if u've been to school unless u got private schooling so it's no wonder a lot beleive that we won the 1973 war and got our land fair and square. The economic frustration that builds up makes ur smile found only at a joke making fun of someone else be he se3eidi or a rich arab from the gulf or a jew; The political system discouraging participation such that u blame all ur problems on America and some weird ass conspiracy theory that the jews are out to get us. The lack of action in the arab world and it's rusty institutions feeds into growing hatred against the Western world and worse, toward all jews simply cause we can't solve a loong historical and political conflict with israel so we just wish that they would all dissapear and vanish into thin air and if we can't do it we might as well let the terrorists finish the job for us and then we'll condemn them. I'm not trying to justify any of this and i want to make it clear that this should not be generalised to all Egyptians needless to say all arabs, i'm just trying to understand how it grew to all this, how did all the different cultural and social factors foster such little tolerence to difference?
With regard to homosexuality, i think it is mainly because in Islam we beleive that homosexuality is some sort of unnatural imbalance that it led to society not accepting homosexuals and thus the government denies them any rights and u can get jailed because of it. However, there are gay people in Egypt and i have gay freinds but booooy do they have a hard time in Egypt and a lot of them don't come out. Then again, for me, that's understandable. I may not understand ur orientation but i respect ur decision and belive that every indivisual should live however they want to live. But the government doesn't think so but i ask those who diss egyptians for denying gays their rights to try and think why our culture would have little tolerance to that and maybe they can learn to accept such a rich culture even if they can't appreciate it and do not agree with its values. It is true that there are a lot of things that we need to change in the culture starting with the need to become more proactive and actually do change instead of lying back and becoming as fatalistic as we are. I would personally start with harrassment on the street..as a girl walking around in the streets of Cairo, i will no longer be passive abt harrassment on the street. I will also vote for a change! I have a voice and i want it to be heard!
But going back to the issue of intolerence to jews, as i said many stereotypes exist as they exist everwhere in egypt but the most significant is the steroetyped hatred towards jews that is passed thru generations. I have never really given much thought to this issue till i came to the states. Now i do realize how many anti-semitic remarks we usually throw around as jokes but they lead to a deeper feeling of hatred when u don't really know what ur hating. And i must make clear, that we cannot compare muslims in the US to jews in the arab world simply because though there is undoubted discrtimination against muslims sometimes and they do face some issues..it cannot be compared to what jews must face. But what i found surprising here, is how arabs in the US complain about being discriminated against here when they in fact discrimante against all others, when i first got here and had some issues with transportation, i was going to take the bus to work and then this lebanese guy says no way, i'll drive u, u can't take the bus it's for slaves only!!!!!!!!! Can u imagine how shocked i was when i heard this!!! Some arab-americans here actually view african americans as slaves!!!!!!! well not all of caurse, but there is a part of the lebanese community here that feels that way. Now if u open up the subject of jews they would get started with how it's all a conspiracy theory against arabs and how during the civil war in lebabnon they were constantly changing sides, traitors..etc. And this comes from the christian lebanese as well as the muslims..very interesting.
But while i was here, i met some jewish americans and some jewish arab-americans and had very intense discussions with them and one of my close freinds here happens to be jewish. And that is why i wish that the jewish Salaamers who were in Egypt could've said that they were jewish without having to put their security at risk because of the huge impact it would've made; i'm truely sorry that some had such a hard experience in Egypt from the anti-semitic behaviour adopted by some but i think they should be very proud of their experience because they took a bold and active step towrds changing some of the views prevailing there by participating in the program ( and respecting its policy!) and attempting to understand the culture and why some think that way. For me, being here in US and though this was not the first time that i meet jewish people it was the first time i put some constructive thought abt the issue, i have realized that there can be prospects for peace and that there is a pressing need for bridging the gap, understanding and correcting some misunderstandings because if i as a muslim arab girl can sit and talk with another jewish girl then why can't two states do it? I know this sounds naiive and i understand how history can't be put aside especially for those who lived it but isn't it a nice thought to have?
And if i can be in the US and have absolutly no fear of saying that i'm a muslim girl from Egypt then why can't the jewish salaamers have the oppourtunity to do the same? I think that through the Salaam program, one day this can happen, it's sometimes a risk for others to take but think of the impact u can have on random ppl in the street and possibly nations one day...I want to be the change i want to see in this world. I want Salaam.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home