He looks like Gandhi with his frail body and ascetic nature. I have known Abdel Ghaffar Shokr since the mid-sixties when I joined the Arab Socialist Youth Organization, where he was our tutor. Among my colleagues in the organization were Dr. Ahmed Youssef, Dean of the Arab Studies Institute, Osama el-Ghazali Harb, President of the Front Party, Dr. Othman Mohamed Othman, Minister of Economic Development, and Mona Zulfuqar, the lawyer and international human rights activist. Shokr was a young man with a BA in history. He was a man of clear argument and orderly thinking. He supervised me when I became a member of the Central Committee, responsible for the youth of Cairo in addition to my full time job writing for the Arab Youth magazine that was linking the students abroad with their homeland. We got closer after the 1967 defeat. We used to discuss the worries of the nation in his old Jeep that his driver Magdy used to take us in to work. I found out how patriotic that man was. He had no personal vendettas with anyone. We were separated when President Nasser appointed me in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But I kept following-up his endeavors, trying to bring hope to the youth at that sad period in Egypt's history. When President Sadat came to power, the Nasserite Shokr joined the opposition and the leftist 'Tagamu' party, where he was respected by everybody. He remained faithful to his political beliefs, while his students have exchanged them for some false posts. Shokr wrote a book a few years ago about the Socialist Youth Organization, analyzing the factors for its rise and fall, while avoiding talk about how the centers of power have tampered with it. We are still in contact despite our different political dispositions, because we both share the common premise of loyalty to Egypt. And his students still see him as a model that gave a lot and gained little. When I met him a few days ago at the 30th anniversary of the 'Tagamu' party, I still saw in him that great, honorable and modest man, who will always be my tutor. I see him as our nation's conscience.
