CAIRO: In a six-part interview with Ahmed Zuweil that ran in Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper last week, the Nobel Prize winner for chemistry talks about Egypt’s past, present and future, and the place of the Arab world on the global map.
Zuweil says that the timeline of Egypt’s modern state began with Mohammed Ali at the turn of the 19th century, who, despite the fact that he was illiterate until the age of 40, had the vision to build a modern state.
“[Mohammed Ali] was not a democratic ruler, Zuweil told Magdy El Gallad, chief editor of Al-Masry Al-Youm, “but I believe that what is best for any nation is either to have a fully fledged democracy which nurtures the creativity and skill of its people, builds institutions and breeds leaders; or to have a dictator with a vision, citing as an example former Malaysian President Mahatir Mohammed.
The intellectual and cultural renaissance of the early 1900s that made Egypt one of the most agriculturally and culturally developed countries in the world gradually gave way to industrial power following the 1952 revolution.
Asked about his assessment of Egypt’s post-revolution era, Zuweil said that revolution marked another milestone in the timeline of Egypt’s contemporary history, but although nationalizing the Suez Canal and building the High Dam were a source of pride, the country was “making strides without a soul .
By “soul he meant the democratic system that should have developed hand-in-hand with industrial and national progress.
“This would have guaranteed the continuity of our achievements. But the problem was our lack of a clear political system which set the scene for the era in which we live today.
Yet Zuweil stressed his belief that Nasser had “good intentions but was not a politician and did not know the meaning of democracy.
“Any president, continued Zuweil, “usually has good intentions, but it is the ‘circles’ around him that lead to his isolation, explaining that most US presidents take up office without necessarily being shrewd politicians, but that institutions and experts around them teach them what they do not know.
To this El Gallad asked the logical question of whether Zuweil believed that Arab politicians would accept expert advice.
“This depends on the individual. Dialogue is the most important value whether at home, at school or at university . our problem is that we have a culture that does not accept differences of opinion . there is a huge difference between civilized dialogue, noise and chaos.
Is Egypt not ready or capable of being a democracy, then?
“Anyone who says that, replied Zuweil, “is oblivious to Egypt’s history.
His own vision for the future centers on the need to come up with a new paradigm for running the country, to be built on four pillars: the constitution, respect for the law, nonprofit educational institutions combined with a reassessment of free public schooling and finally transforming the media, which should not be controlled by the government.
Regarding the place of scientific research in Egypt, Zuweil says that it is not a commodity. It is not enough to build a center, buy equipment and hire researchers.
“This could only lead to more backwardness, he said.
The only hope in that department is to guarantee a good standard of living for the researcher who should not be afraid of being creative and innovative. “We must have a scientific climate conducive to that. Otherwise, even if we tripled our research budget, nothing will change.
Without getting into too much detail Zuweil explained why his proposal to set up a national scientific research academy in Egypt never saw the light of day.
“It was those circles again. Add bureaucracy and fear of change to the mix, he said.
The conversation turns back to politics. Asked about whether democracy will be achieved from the top down or from the wider base up, Zuweil says that throughout history, change was always the result of the presence of an intellectual elite that was at the forefront of change.
He later added that the notion of the rotation of power is not only relevant to the president’s office, but to all positions of authority.
On a regional level, Zuweil is optimistic about the fact that the heads of some Arab states are taking steps towards political reform and the protection of personal freedoms. This has been the result of internal pressure groups that have been agitating for change and can no longer be ignored.
But how can the Arabs have leverage in global politics if they are scientifically behind?
Zuweil concurs that the Arabs have no presence on the global scene.
He recalls the time when the Israelis made incursions into the Aqsa Mosque.
“Condemning Israeli and America is not enough. We must force them to respect us by being strong . but strength does not mean armies and weapons, it means strong societies, knowledge, economy, industry and internal cohesion.
Through his deep understanding of the West, Zuweil asserts that they are afraid of Islam, not only because they fear the rise of the Islamic civilization but because of the fanaticism of some Muslims. “We do not reflect the true face of Islam, he said.
The problem with Arab leaders, he believes, is that they lack the vision and will to achieve their goals.
In discussing the future of science, Zuweil begins with the assertion that there is no conflict between science and faith. “The human being is born with a thirst for knowledge, but there are tens of secrets we do not know yet such as why one person has a conscience and another doesn’t . faith and knowledge is the essence of life.
Zuweil believes that in the next few decades three main sciences will have a profound effect on humanity: nanotechnology, the science of large sizes (which will help build huge settlements on the moon) and life sciences involved in cloning and organ creation.
Zuweil believes that the 21st century is the era of biology, the “age of the cell revolution . Even though statistics prove that the US is the leading country in scientific research, when it comes to stem cell research, South Korea is at the helm. But the strongest contender to the US in this area is China, which Zuweil says spends billions on research.
“It is not a coincidence that the US’s share of the global market is 37 percent while its share in scientific research is 34 percent . the more you spend on research, creativity and innovation the stronger your competitive power becomes in the global market.
