CAIRO: “I’m proud to be a conspiracy theorist, said Galal Amin to a packed hall at the Cairo Opera House’s Open Air Theater on Saturday.
The American University in Cairo’s economics professor stole the show at Diwan Bookstore’s fifth anniversary celebration, which also hosted journalist Robert Fisk, and novelists Bahaa Taher, Ahdaf Soueif and Ahmed Al-Aidi.
Asked to speak about what the past five years meant for him, Amin, in his characteristic sense of humor, tried to prove (and disprove) the “secret thread connecting Diwan to Sept. 11, 2001.
“Is it a coincidence, he asked, “that the bookstore opened less than a year later? How else could they have sold all those Bernard Lewis books?
“Things are not what they seem, he repeated.
In typical light-hearted cynicism, he began enumerating those who most benefited from the terrorist attacks on the US in 2001.
The biggest invention resulting from that war, he said, was “terrorism . But it wasn’t only the US administration that benefited – using the elusive “war on terrorism as a pretext to invade Iraq – but the Egyptian government too has made use of it.
“They have now ‘amended’ Article 179 of the constitution to introduce an ‘anti-terrorism law’ which all you ladies and gentlemen will be asked to ‘vote’ on very soon, he said amid heavy applause.
For his part, British journalist and Middle East correspondent for The Independent Fisk expressed how the past five years were “the longest, most dangerous and worst in [his] life as a journalist.
Criticizing the US invasion of Iraq, he said that he had seen the “collapse of the American dream in Iraq which he repeatedly described as a “hell disaster.
“What the Arab world wants, he concluded, “is freedom from us.
Less fiery, though equally poignant, were the words of Bahaa Taher. Again referring to the barbaric wars on Iraq and in Lebanon last summer, he described how the past few years felt both like the “whole of eternity and “one boring, repetitive day.
When he turned to speak about internal politics, his tone was even more despondent.
“I thought that demonstrations would change things, but after the beatings and the tear gas, I realized that protests will not change the stagnation. No more demonstrations for me, he said, “I neither want to be a hero nor a victim.
On a more positive note, Ahdaf Soueif said that it has been a time of political and cultural activism.
“There’s a lot of good, she said.
“I have felt the growth of a global awareness of the new colonial age we live in. On the political front, the moral battle has been won. People everywhere know of the great injustice that is being done.
But, she asked, how do we translate popular will into political action?
At the same time, she said that she was heartened to see how young people in Egypt have become active and energetic.
“Still, I don’t know what kind of world they will inherit from us.
The speeches ended with a short anecdotal talk by up-and-coming novelist and scriptwriter Ahmed Al-Aidi (author of the award-winning “Being Abbas El Abd ) who emphasized his confidence in the Egyptian reader.
“Only a great reader makes a great writer, he said.
The fervor picked up once again during the question and answer session that followed.
Asked his opinion about Arab leaders, Fisk fired away: “Arab rulers since the [First World War] have been put in place because they [the West] want to control you. As long as they keep to the rules we lay down, they’re friends of the West. They don’t represent you . the only reason why people listen to Bin Laden is because he says things that Arab leaders don’t say.
He derided regional governments with ministries of information, which he scorned as “temples of truth and described the Egyptian government as “purists in bureaucratic chaos.
“Locking up the Muslim Brotherhood is not the pathway to democracy, he said. “But Egyptians must decide on their future. You must stop asking the Brits. Solve it yourselves.
The evening ended with a reception and book signing.
Since opening shop in 2002, Diwan has almost single-handedly been behind a renaissance in Cairo’s cultural scene, eliminating the distance between authors and readers through book-signings, readings and a slew of literary activities.
