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Egypt : New political parti "Egypt the Motherland", the Arabization of Egypt as similar to the colonization of certain countries of Africa by France
A group of Egyptian intellectuals and members of free professions have formed a party called "Egypt the Motherland" (Misr al-Um) that will represent those Egyptians who see their culture as distinct from the Arabic culture, According to Mohsen Lutfi, one of the founding members of Misr al- Um, "We are Egyptians and not Arabs.... The Arabs are our friends and neighbors and we have common destiny, but we are not Arabs." The party, to be registered at the end of the Moslem month of Ramadan, will be unique in calling for the abrogation of Egypt's Arab identity, forged by Moslem conquest under the early successors of Mohammed. Lutfi sees the Arabization of Egypt as similar to the colonization of certain countries of Africa by France, which led to the colonized people adopting the French language. "But no one [of those French- speakers] says he is French," Lutfi said. In that spirit, Lutfi calls for reviving the Hieroglyphic and Coptic languages. Another one of the party's founders, Talaat Radwan, said they are in favor of dropping the word "Arab" from the state's formal name, the Arab Republic of Egypt. Radwan explained that "our call is separate from what has been... years of failure of the Arab nationalism project...." As for relations with Israel and Iraq, Radwan said that Egypt "will be on equal footing [with Israel]. Our principle is to have pride in the Egyptian nationality.... We support the rights of the Palestinian people to liberate their homeland and establish their own state and also the right of the Iraqi people to liberate their soil." The Egyptian daily al-Wafd on Tuesday carried an article by Egyptian writer Jamal Badawi, who wrote against "those of the Pharaonic trend", who "are not brave enough to show hostility to Islam, and therefore they concentrate their arrows on Arabization, and bunch the Arabs together with the foreign forces which occupied Egypt."
Source : Arabicnews.com.
A group of Egyptian intellectuals and members of free professions have formed a party called "Egypt the Motherland" (Misr al-Um) that will represent those Egyptians who see their culture as distinct from the Arabic culture, According to Mohsen Lutfi, one of the founding members of Misr al- Um, "We are Egyptians and not Arabs.... The Arabs are our friends and neighbors and we have common destiny, but we are not Arabs." The party, to be registered at the end of the Moslem month of Ramadan, will be unique in calling for the abrogation of Egypt's Arab identity, forged by Moslem conquest under the early successors of Mohammed. Lutfi sees the Arabization of Egypt as similar to the colonization of certain countries of Africa by France, which led to the colonized people adopting the French language. "But no one [of those French- speakers] says he is French," Lutfi said. In that spirit, Lutfi calls for reviving the Hieroglyphic and Coptic languages. Another one of the party's founders, Talaat Radwan, said they are in favor of dropping the word "Arab" from the state's formal name, the Arab Republic of Egypt. Radwan explained that "our call is separate from what has been... years of failure of the Arab nationalism project...." As for relations with Israel and Iraq, Radwan said that Egypt "will be on equal footing [with Israel]. Our principle is to have pride in the Egyptian nationality.... We support the rights of the Palestinian people to liberate their homeland and establish their own state and also the right of the Iraqi people to liberate their soil." The Egyptian daily al-Wafd on Tuesday carried an article by Egyptian writer Jamal Badawi, who wrote against "those of the Pharaonic trend", who "are not brave enough to show hostility to Islam, and therefore they concentrate their arrows on Arabization, and bunch the Arabs together with the foreign forces which occupied Egypt."
Source : Arabicnews.com.