اقرأ باللغة العربية Political and intellectual life in Egypt is plagued by a severe deficit in “intelligentsia”, which is the backbone of progress and the wellspring of new blood in any society. For decades Egypt has lacked a truly dynamic intelligentsia able to contribute seriously and tangibly to the advancement and progress of society, enabling it to change constructively and catch up intellectually and technologically with the developed world. This form of poverty is evident in all fields of political and economic life and in civil society bodies such as political parties and syndicates. It is as though the country is on autopilot drawing solely from the impetus of civilisational assets accumulated over past centuries, or as though society is a collection of sectors and departments run according to the routines of bureaucratic administration with no innovation, thought or, quite frequently, common sense. Also, unfortunately, in the nooks and crannies of routine and stagnation the various ills of corruption bred and became a way of life. Perhaps the lack of a genuine intelligentsia and the attendant stagnation was a cause of the 25 January 2011 Revolution and a reason why it was hijacked by the forces of ignorance, backwardness and regression disguised behind a veneer of religion. Through the cynical exploitation of religion and religious sentiments, these forces attempted to convince the masses, who had rallied in huge numbers for the sake of freedom and human dignity, to barter away their revolutionary demands in exchange for the easy path to paradise which requires no more than to blindly heed and obey the instructions and commands handed down by their hallowed leaders. The intended result was to defer all the issues and concerns of human suffering and injustice to the hereafter and usher in another period of dependency, abdication of responsibility, apathy, intellectual lethargy and other modes of behaviour that run counter to the tenets of both Islam and Christianity. Without an intelligentsia and a vibrant exchange of ideas, the structure of society remained substantially unchanged. Eventually it became so steeped in ignorance that a portion of it slid into the grips of extremism, the chief source and manufacturer of terrorism and its practitioner, ideologically and practically. Equally if not more detrimental to society at large is that this creates layers of mental insulation, inhibiting the ability of the collective intellect to open itself to and merge with the tides of progress and civilisation and facilitating designs to propel society backwards to the antediluvian eras of savagery and tribalism that preceded the rise of religion and the prophets. This is the ideal environment for the groups of fanatics that thirst to rule by the sword and mete out cruelties in the name of some handpicked arcane ancient texts that the fanatics venerate more zealously than the holy books and the true precepts of the faith. Meanwhile, there has always been a type of ruling order that managed the affairs of society by means of a succession of governmental systems the prevailing trait of which was a nationalistic militaristic methodology in its approach to ordering the affairs of society, in accordance with which it has always prioritised stability, security and safeguarding national territory and society against any potential invader or occupier in this region that is the most volatile and turbulent in the world. Therefore, political conflict has always been confined to a tug-of-war between two poles. On one side are the Islamist trends, which seek to undermine and demolish the state so that they can impose an “Islamic” style rule, or “Islamic caliphate” as they would put it, even if each of those Islamist sects has its own miniature personalised model of the envisioned holy hierarchy topped by a “supreme guide” or “emir”. On the other side are those types of governments and political orders that carry the entire legacy of government and political rule that has characterised the Egyptian state from antiquity to modernity. While it is true that some leftist and liberal ideas had emerged on the fringes they have not had a significant impact on the evolution of the state since they have largely remained confined to books, conferences, cardboard political parties and a number of contributions from left-wing and liberal intellectuals who constitute such a tiny minority as to effectively fade to insignificance. The rejuvenating ideas and capacities of an intelligentsia have long been missing. Without them there could be no hope for change and progress as defined scientifically on the basis of the benchmarks of evolution created by innumerable contributions to human advancement in the course of mankind's civilisational experience. The revolution failed, as did others before it. The huge political vacuum could only be filled by a political party linked to a ruling authority or by a different type of party that operates behind the cloak of religion and that uses a lexicon that plays on the emotions of frustration and hope for a better life in the afterworld, having succumbed to despair at being unable to realise a better life in this one. A salient symptom of this ailment is the rise of the types of political elites that have played the central roles from one era to the next. The purpose of these elites is to revolve around the throne and rival one another in their incessant attempts to ingratiate themselves to its occupant. The elites that fawned on and sought to curry favour with Hosni Mubarak on every conceivable occasion in the press and the media are the same elites that kowtowed and grovelled to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the Muslim Brotherhood when in power, president Adli Mansour and, today, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi. The same faces and ideas have been going around and around in an endless game of musical chairs. How can anything new emerge from this? The same inputs can only yield the same outputs. Revolutions succeed, countries progress, performance differs and the yield increases through periodic renovation of the intelligentsia and ideas. When a new order produces new elites and new faces, it creates hope. When these new elites perform effectively they enrich political and intellectual life in the form of initiatives, political parties and movements capable of engendering a real revolution in society while simultaneously fortifying it against the ideas of reactionary groups and conspiracies that seek to undermine the security, stability and governing institutions of a country and, indeed, threaten the very existence of a society. Societies fortify and safeguard themselves by enhancing awareness and promoting enlightenment. Appeals to vigilance and caution can have little effect in a society that remains in the grips of ignorance and the recycling of outworn and hackneyed ideas. When we have a successful fusion between the eternal Egyptian legacy of rule and a plethora of new and enlightened ideas, and when this is fortified by solid groundwork to ensure an ongoing process of intellectual renovation that continually propels society forward, we will have created a formidable shield in the battle against extremism and terrorism masquerading under the banner of religion.
