By Salama A Salama The football match with Algeria gave the media, and assorted officials, the chance to get it all wrong. Satellite stations and second-rate newspapers grabbed at the opportunity like a drowning man to a straw, blowing things out of proportion and demonising the Algerians, both people and government. Now that the dust has settled it is time to look sensibly at what happened. It is time to ponder the thin line that divides patriotism from demagoguery. It is time to think of what went wrong, and who was responsible. A much-respected journalist was in Khartoum with her son for the match and her version of events is unusually level headed. She speaks of how poorly organised things were. She says that Egyptian officials acted in a naïve manner and should have expected the riots and taken action. We all heard stories about Egyptians being hunted down in the streets by Algerians brandishing knives. We all heard how the Algerians were hell bent on avenging themselves for alleged attacks on their team in Egypt. And yet no one seems to have taken any precautions for that eventuality. The Sudanese were understandably shocked. No one in the Arab world knew where to stand on that particular crisis. Riots after a football match are hard to control, and much harder to assess when the Arab world is so divided; when the Arabs have lost their sense of solidarity, when consensus is a thing of the past. Football fans, as it turned out, have no respect for Egypt's history and status as leader of the Arab world. When push comes to shove, differences in mood and culture, and perhaps old grievances as well, win the day. But we cannot let prejudice run wild. It is the responsibility of the intelligentsia and officialdom to put some sense back into the angry crowds, not to egg them on. We cannot let demagoguery and the herd instinct decide the fate of relations among nations and countries. Quarrels over football games have ended in wars before, as in the case of Honduras and Salvador. We cannot afford to let this happen to us. And we cannot encourage calls for boycott and hatred. We cannot let hooligans decide our fate, or inspire our policy. But many of our leaders, intellectuals and politicians were caught up in the whirlwind of emotion. Many forgot that patriotism is not about prejudice and that love of country is not about bias. We have made mistakes. Our officials failed to provide protection for the thousands of fans who were flown to Khartoum in a hurry. We knew that Algerian fans were spoiling for a fight and yet we did nothing about it. Khartoum was a trap and we walked into it without thinking. This was gullible to say the least. The Egyptian ambassador to Khartoum, who was interviewed by Al-Masry Al-Yom, said a few things that suggested prior knowledge of the dangers awaiting our fans in Khartoum. Yet no precautions were taken. Blame the Algerians all you want, but we're not free from blame. I heard threats and anger in the statements made by Gamal and Alaa Mubarak. And I heard our information minister, a champion of the campaign against Algeria, threatening to sever cultural ties with that country. This doesn't make sense to me. Egypt may not take kindly to insults, but we cannot let raw emotions lead us astray. I heard people say that Qatar and Iran instigated the football row in order to seize Egyptian investment in Algeria. This is just silly. Igniting regional conflicts is not a good way to mend our injured dignity.
