http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.671421
Egypt Sees a Return of the Pharaohs
Ever since Sissi began his presidential term, he has frequently
spoken of the Egyptian people as a single entity – not Muslims, not
Christians, but Egyptians.
On August 6, the new Suez Canal was
inaugurated with great pomp and circumstance. In honor of the historic
event, there were two ceremonies, attended by both Egyptian and foreign
dignitaries, that recalled the festive dedication of the original canal
in 1869.
Numerous media reports
discussed the political and economic aspects of this event, but they
missed the aspect that was simultaneously most interesting and most
surprising: Islamic and Arab identity are both out, while pharaonic
culture is returning in a big way. One could say the most salient trend
at both ceremonies was their presentation of the new Egypt as marching
forward while also connecting to its pharaonic past. As President
Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi put it in his speech, “Egypt is a great country
and has a civilization of 7,000 years.”
As expected, the army was the
focus of the ceremony, which included a military parade and an air show,
both as a mark of appreciation for the enormous effort it made in
digging the canal and because of its role and stature in Egyptian
society. Even Sissi, the hero of the event, was in uniform.
But
alongside the militarist motif, one could also detect pharaonic ones.
The most prominent was the line of trumpeters dressed in pharaonic garb
that greeted the president.
To this we can add the design
of the ceremonial stage: the official emblem of the Suez Canal Authority
along with the date of its nationalization, July 26, 1956, plus the
emblem of the new Suez Canal along with the date of its inauguration,
born aloft by the hands of two pharaonic figures.
Not far from the stage, on the
banks of the new canal, a new sculpture was unveiled for the first
time. Its official name is the Statue of Awakening, but it is better
known as “the winged lady” or “the winged peasant woman.” The focus of
the sculpture is a woman who resembles the pharaonic goddess Isis,
thanks mainly to her wings, which symbolize strength, freedom,
protection and security. Behind her is a large obelisk, and at her feet
are two sphinxes.
The sculpture clearly
symbolizes the integration of modern and ancient Egyptian tradition,
each of which preserves the other: The sphinxes, pharaonic lions,
protect the eternal Egyptian woman, while she spreads her wings over
them.
In 1928, Egyptian King Fuad
inaugurated a sculpture called “Egypt’s Awakening,” by the famous
sculptor Mahmoud Mokhtar, in one of Cairo’s main squares. The statue was
supposed to symbolize the start of a new era – the rebirth of the
Egyptian nation on the basis of its glorious pharaonic past. The
similarity between this sculpture and its new counterpart, from the
standpoint of both their names and their characteristic motifs, is
striking.
The second ceremony, which
took place at night, was laden with pharaonic motifs. The stage was made
in the form of a ship sailing on the Nile, with its mast in the form of
a pharaonic ankh, which symbolizes life and/or the Nile River.
The ceremony itself could be
divided into three parts. The first part consisted of opening remarks
and greetings to those present by the two Egyptian masters of
ceremonies, who were dressed in the colors of the Egyptian flag. The
second part featured a musical extravaganza by the Egyptian composer and
musician Omar Khairat. The third and most interesting part presented
excerpts from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Aida.”
The popular belief is that
this opera was commissioned by Egypt’s ruler in honor of the
inauguration of the original Suez Canal, but this isn’t exactly true.
Its inaugural performance at the Cairo opera house actually took place
in December 1871. The section impressively performed at the current
inaugural ceremony was the “Triumphal March.” It should be stressed that
the entire opera deals with pharaonic culture; it is based on the plot
of “Bride of the Nile,” by the French Egyptologist and archaeologist
Auguste Mariette, and takes place in ancient Egypt.
A small story from the
sidelines of the event underscores how Islamic and Arab symbols were
deliberately excluded from the ceremony. People involved in the
rehearsals raised an outcry over the fact that some of the women in the
opera company that performed “Aida” insisted on wearing headscarves in
addition to their pharaonic costumes. But the event’s management made it
clear to them that this was permitted only during rehearsals; at the
ceremony itself, they would have to wear “full pharaonic dress.” And so
it was.
Ever since Sissi began his
presidential term, he has frequently spoken of the Egyptian people as a
single entity – not Muslims, not Christians, but Egyptians. In order to
implement this vision, and also to fight the ideology of the Muslim
Brotherhood, he has to moderate the Islamic motifs that are deeply
entrenched in Egyptian identity.
During and after the
presidential election, both Egyptian and global media outlets made many
comparisons between Sissi and the legendary Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel
Nasser, who promoted pan-Arab unity. But the inaugural ceremony for the
canal gave a clear answer to the question of where Egypt, or at least
its ruling elite, is headed: not toward Islam, and not toward
pan-Arabism, but toward building a deep-seated identity based on
Pharaonism.
Even if the Egyptian media
exaggerates when it compares the building of the new canal to the
building of the pyramids, there’s no doubt the project’s completion
within a year constitutes an impressive achievement for both Egypt and
Sissi. It will become a symbol of the regime, just as the Aswan Dam was
for Nasser’s. But the president still has a lot of work to do to return
Egypt to political stability and economic growth.
Prof. Elie Podeh teaches
in Hebrew University’s Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies.
Elad Giladi is a doctoral student in this department.
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