نجمة

يقف الظابط مذهولاً امام الحشود.

"من اين اتى هؤلاء، اين كانوا، وهل غابت عنهم بصمات الأعوام الثلاثين التي قضيت اغلبها اتدرج زاحفاً الى رتبتي هذه؟  كنت انتظر ترقيتي آخر هذا الشهر بعد انتظار اعوام اربعة. ربما تمكنّي زيادة الراتب أن استكمل جهاز ابنتي او اشتري للصغار جهاز الكومبيوتر الذي يحلمون به. ربما كانت لتضيف النجمة الجديدة على كتفي هيبة تستشعرها زوجتي التي منذ ما يشابه القرن باتت تتمنع كلما توددت اليها. ربما تسمح تلك النجمة لهذه القامة، او بعض منها بالانتصاب.

من هؤلاء الذين يملؤون الساحات ويظهرون اليوم على الشاشات باسمين .. من هي تلك الفتاة ذات الشعر الأجعد التي باتت تظن ان المكان والزمان ملكها؟ من تلك الأخرى تندد بالتعذيب في السجون؟  التعذيب.. هو ان تكون الفاعل والمفعول به اقول.. التعذيب ان تقف بين بدي ظابطٍ يكبرك نجمة او نجمتين .. يتخلص من ذل ظابط يزيده نجوماً عبر اذلالك.. فتعود انت الى مجنديك وسجنائك تحمل ذلك وذل مرؤوسيك.. هذا هو التعذيب.. هذه هي الأثقال التي تتطأطئ  تحتها قامتي. وتسأل نفسك، اين اتخلص من حملي هذا؟ اين أُخفيه حتى لا تراه زوجتي حين اعود الى منزلي هذا المساء؟

انا لم اختر ذلك، لم أختر ذلك.. قيل لي "كلية الشرطة المصرية"، أبي أرادني ظابطاً ليزهو بي. أبي ارادني ظابطاً كي اعيل عائلتي لأنه هو لم يتمكن من اعاله عائلته. رحمك.. وسامحك الله يا والدي.

ها هو امامي، احدهم. العلم المصري على كتفيه، في يده شعار لأسقاط ذلك الذي كان سيأمر بترقيتي وزيادة راتبي. ها هو يمر امامي باسماً مزهواً بقامته. ربما لو رأته زوجتي لأختارته دوني. نهار عملي انتهى لكن لا قدرة لي على العودة الى المنزل. ماذا اقول لها الليلة؟ كيف اخبرها عن غدٍ لا اعرف معالمه؟ لا زيادة في الراتب ولا في النجوم بل متاهة غموض تبتلعني. من سأكون غداً؟ من اكون دون النجوم على كتفي."

يُخرِج الظابط مسدسه. يتردد لثواني.. يصوبه على الحشود. يعود ويصوبه على صدغه. ترتجف اصابعه قبل ان تطلق النار.. على نجمة في وسط علم على كتف شاب يحمل شعاراً مطالباً باسقاط النظام

War, dictatorships, and enemies of enemies..

In the year 2003, and when people were marching in the millions against the imminent war on Iraq, I chose a demonstration in Beirut that was one of the smallest. Organized by groups of leftist youth, around three thousand demonstrators walked under the banner “no to war, not to dictatorships”. Some criticized the slogans for equating the “War led by the US” with “Saddam who was one of our own”. Other demonstrators on that same international day of solidarity with Iraq marched holding pictures of Saddam Hussein, equating opposition to the war with the support of Saddam, the dictator; following a cherished Arabic proverb “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”.

Since then, and with the aid of Mr. Bush’s post 9/11 clear dichotomy between good and evil, we continued to choose not friends, but enemies of enemies. Bush had already decided that what the majority of Arabs cherished and aspired for was evil, and many of the Arab leaders (read dictators) presented themselves as the defenders of these same things. Saddam was not the only one who was clearly an “enemy” of the US agenda in the Middle East, but so was Assad of Syria, the Iranian regime, radical Muslim groups, Aljazeera of Qatar, you name it. All those rose in popularity, not because they had by necessity any intrinsic qualities that make them worthy of that support, but because they appeared to be against that which we too stood against.

The dichotomy Bush created was deeper and has inflicted countries across the world; that of Security vs. Freedom, as if both can’t coexist. We were told that since the dangers against us were so blatant, we had to let go of some of our freedoms to guarantee protection. Regionally, Iraq was descending into chaos, and life there was not one the citizens of the Arab countries wanted, so many of us chose to keep our dictators and their tight control. Some of leftists in Tunisia thus, were convinced by their dictator that having him in control (despite him being the enemy) is better than having the chaos and control of the Islamic groups as in Algeria. When the army indiscriminately attacked civilians in Lebanon’s Nahr el-Bared in 2007 and held prisoners without trials, some were OK with it because, “after all” as one friend put it “we don’t want our country to become another Iraq”. The same goes for many of the countries allied with the USA in the region, including Jordan and above all Egypt. Was that not exactly what Mubarak has said and done in the past couple of weeks? His exact words were “If I resign now there will be chaos”, and his actions as he released his thugs and camels on the demonstrators gave us an example of what chaos is.

This was not always the case though. What I learnt about politics as a child in the 70’s and 80’s was very different. I was told that dictatorships were evil, including that of Saddam, Assad, and Mubarak, no matter what agenda they claimed to follow. That Arab dictatorships in particular (though I was raised in an Arab nationalist house) were evil and that freedom inside these countries was not only a goal by itself, but also the only way we could obtain liberation from the Israeli occupation and the imperialist agenda in the region. That occupation and oppression were one and the same; in fact that the former was not possible without the latter. That security and freedom were one and the same; indeed the former was not possible without the latter.
I am reminded of this now, not only by the words of one soon to leave dictator, but by the clarity with which the Egyptians have been stirring their revolution.