Publication
Omar Shaban Ismail · Sama News Agency · 2011
Three months after the Egyptian revolution, Omar Shaban argues that its success is an Arab interest par excellence and calls on Arabs to support it with action rather than praise. He proposes directing 10 million Arab tourists a year to Egypt, where tourism brings in at least $15 billion and employs more than five million Egyptians; more Arab conferences and investment; 30,000 Arab students a year; better conditions for Egyptian workers in the Gulf; and Gulf states buying and rescheduling Egypt's external debt of about $30 billion and depositing $20 billion in the Central Bank of Egypt. In return he asks Egypt to drop hostile media discourse towards Arabs and ease investment, and says the best Palestinian contribution is to achieve reconciliation.
Omar Shaban, May 2011: Egypt’s revolution is an Arab interest; Arabs should back it with tourism, investment, debt relief and deposits, not praise.
Three months have passed since the start of the Egyptian revolution, which succeeded in replacing the Egyptian regime in a highly civilized manner, winning the admiration of foe before friend. This revolution ushered Egypt and the Arabs into the age of renaissance and modernity, as this unique revolution, in both its results and methodology, worked to change not only the image of the Egyptian people, but also the image of all Arab peoples before themselves and before others as well. The Egyptian revolution has placed the Arabs on the map of persevering peoples who do not accept humiliation and abasement, contrary to the prevailing impression in the West about Arab peoples in the past, as stated in a press report published by Le Monde diplomatique in an analytical article on the Arab revolutions written by journalist Alain Gresh and published a few weeks ago. The Egyptian people are still continuing their efforts to ensure the revolution’s success, bring it safely to shore, and overcome the raging waves and obstacles that the enemies of the revolution, at home and abroad, place before its course. Therefore, it is essential that the Arabs not remain merely spectators and admirers of the Egyptian revolution without giving serious thought to how to support it and infuse it with the lifeblood of success and continuity. The success of the Egyptian revolution is, par excellence, an Arab interest.
The continuing spring of the Arab revolutions, beginning with Tunisia and passing through Egypt, Syria, and Yemen, until it reaches all peoples aspiring to freedom and development, will work to change the stereotypical image of Arab peoples as peoples who do not seek freedom and do not exert much effort to attain it, and as peoples who do not know democracy or how to practice it, and as peoples content to live under the shelter of family-based and tribal regimes that confiscate their freedom and plunder their wealth. These revolutions have contributed to strengthening the self-confidence of Arab peoples and their ability to bring about change, and have proven that they are no less aware of, and committed to, democracy than the rest of the peoples of the earth.
We can clearly observe this in the Arab media, which continuously glorifies the revolutions of Egypt and Tunisia. The time has come for the Arabs to support the revolutions of change not only with praise, but through action, by means of the following proposals:
At the Arab level
· Working to adopt a media policy and discourse supportive of the Egyptian revolution, without exaggeration or understatement
· Organizing artistic and cultural events and celebrations in Arab countries that celebrate the Egyptian revolution and spread its principles, to which Egypt’s artists, intellectuals, and philosophers are invited, in a way that strengthens feelings of support and solidarity and reshapes the relationship between Egypt and the Arabs as it should be in reality, not as it had come to be. Here comes the role of Arab civil society in organizing such events.
· Directing Arab tourism toward Egypt, so that Egypt receives 10 million Arab tourists annually, given that the tourism sector in Egypt is one of the most important sources of income and employment in the Egyptian economy, generating no less than $15 billion in income and employing more than five million Egyptians. In this regard, work must be done to strengthen the culture of tourism among the Egyptian people and to address the negative behaviors of some segments of Egyptian society that are in direct contact with tourism, such as drivers, hotel workers, and police in airports and ports, etc.
· Intensifying the organization of Arab conferences in Egypt, strengthening cultural and academic exchange programs, and working to organize them in Egypt’s main cities, in a way that generates income for the Egyptian economy and affirms to the Egyptian people the support of Arab peoples and organizations for the people of Egypt in these special circumstances.
· Directing and strengthening Arab investment in Egypt, including in all sectors, taking into account that the investment environment in Egypt after the revolution will be better and more profitable, as the revolution has eliminated the centers of power that used to monopolize and control investment opportunities, while the symbols of the former regime used to practice forced partnership, tyranny, and commercial extortion. Many scientific studies have confirmed that investment opportunities in Egypt are unlimited and span all fields. Scientific research has also revealed that Egypt’s deserts are full of natural resources such as lithium and uranium.
· Encouraging and directing Arab students to study at Egypt’s venerable universities and institutes, so that the number of Arab students enrolling in Egyptian universities reaches thirty thousand Arab students annually.
· Arab governments and peoples that host Egyptian labor, such as the Gulf states, should work to improve working conditions for Egyptian labor and facilitate the remittances of Egyptian workers from those countries to Egypt, so that Egyptians abroad can contribute to confronting the economic crisis currently facing the Egyptian economy and to providing the financial resources for the development plans that the revolutionary government in Egypt has begun to formulate.
· The wealthy Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, should purchase Egypt’s external debt and then reschedule it for the coming Egyptian government while granting it a long-term grace period. Egypt’s external debt amounts to around $30 billion, on which enormous interest is paid annually. Egyptian Finance Minister Dr. Samir Radwan stated that the U.S. debt owed by Egypt, amounting to about $3.5 billion, carries around $025 million annually in dues, meaning that over the past years Egypt has paid the value of the principal several times over. There is no doubt that the United States uses political pressure on Egypt by holding the sword of debt and U.S. aid over the neck of sovereign Egyptian decision-making.
States such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar have enormous cash revenues estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars in their treasuries and sovereign funds. These states and their sovereign funds have for some time been seeking investment opportunities into which to inject this liquid capital. It is well known that the existence of large cash surpluses without investment causes inflation, raises prices, and increases the volume of luxury consumption, as happened in the UAE and Kuwait after the massive rise in oil prices several years ago, which drove inflation rates up dramatically and prompted some Gulf governments to take unscientific steps, such as distributing large sums of cash to all members of the population and purchasing bank loans from their citizens, for no reason other than getting rid of these cash surpluses, which harm the economy if they are not invested.
· The wealthy Gulf states should deposit $20 billion in the Central Bank of Egypt and the major Egyptian banks, which would raise the degree of safety and confidence in the Egyptian economy in the eyes of international investment institutions, increase confidence in the Egyptian stock exchange, and halt the downward trend from which the Egyptian stock exchange has suffered since the revolution. It is worth mentioning here that in the aftermath of the devastating Israeli war on Lebanon in July 2006, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia hastened to deposit $4 billion in the Lebanese Central Bank, which had a decisive effect in preventing the collapse of the Lebanese economy, which was groaning under the burden of external debt and the requirements of reconstructing what the war had destroyed. These deposits are not loans; they are merely guarantees deposited by the Saudi government with the Egyptian Central Bank.
· At the Egyptian level, for this to be achieved and for the Arabs to be able to support Egypt, there is much that must be done by Egypt—government, people, and institutions. These are some proposals in this regard:
· The Egyptian media must stop the hostile discourse that used to prevail toward the Arabs in the past, the essence of which was “the Arabs hate Egypt.” This discourse was deliberately planted by figures of the former regime to prevent Arab-Egyptian communication, just as was the case in attempts to occupy the Egyptian people with football disputes, such as those that occurred between Egypt and Algeria, or those fabricated disputes between Egypt and the Palestinian people, or in attempts to sow sedition between Egypt’s Muslims and its Copts. The Egyptian revolution, as it swept away the regime, also swept all these false claims from its path—claims that the previous regime had worked to promote with the aim of distracting Egyptian public opinion. The Arabs hold great esteem for Egypt, its people, its civilization, and its role, and this esteem has increased many times over after the revolution.
· The Egyptian government must facilitate Arab investment in Egypt, ease procedures, laws, and regulations, and present an investment map of Egypt, so that the Arab investor may become acquainted with it and proceed to invest in Egypt without fear and with high confidence in the viability of investment.
· Egypt’s ambassadors in the Arab world and friendly countries must intensify their meetings with various segments of society in the countries where they serve, in a way that helps clarify Egypt’s new policy and affirms Egypt’s faith in and commitment to its Arab surroundings and its causes. Such meetings also work to garner Arab support and backing for revolutionary Egypt. Egyptian civil society organizations should also host Arab ambassadors in Cairo within cultural and political activities in a manner that bridges the gap and strengthens mutual understanding and solidarity.
· Everyone realizes that Egypt needs time, perhaps a long time, to rise again, and that the revolution still has much to accomplish in order to bring Egypt to safety, and that failure, God forbid, or slowness in reaping the fruits of the revolution will not harm Egypt alone but will mark the end of the Arab dream of a better future. Therefore, we must all stand to aid Egypt and repay our debt to it not with poems, but with practical plans and programs that the Egyptian people can feel and that will benefit both sides of the relationship—Egypt and the Arabs. On the Palestinian level, the best way for us to support Egypt, when we have neither oil nor vast sums of money, is to relieve it of our problems by achieving reconciliation and national unity swiftly, which would lift a great burden from Egypt’s shoulders and end one of the most important files that had been a cause of tension in Egyptian-Palestinian relations in recent years.
Topic: Regional & International Politics — Egyptian revolution · Arab investment · Gulf states · external debt — Text © Sama News Agency — archived here with attribution to the source. — Original source