الخميس، يونيو 20، 2013

Do Societies and Nations, like Men and Women, each have a Distinctive Character?


Culture can be seen as a "Way of Life" which a group of people developed to face the challenge of survival in a particular place. In this view culture encompasses values,attitudes,behaviors,traditions, systems of economic interaction, architecture, food, etc. Egypt has an overwhelming character which is shaped by geography and natural environment and its particular challenges. Forcing a group of people to change their culture (way of life) according to some ideology fails because culture comes from social evolution and is shaped by environmental and geopolitical challenges. Each stable nation has over time developed a character which reflects its culture. To say that a nation like Egypt does not have a character which reflects its culture is like saying that a person does not have DNA!! What I mean by Egypt's Character, is the distinctive Culture as defined above. This does not mean that all Egyptian think or act alike or have similar personalities. What it means, is that the Egyptian Society as a whole, or as a "Group" exhibits certain characteristics which could be distinguishable from other societies or groups. The ability to learn from and accommodate other cultures within a stable Nation like Egypt is in itself a cultural trait. But this is also influenced by Egypt's geography, the relative location, prosperity &nature of routes bringing foreign influence. A Part of why the Muslim Brothers enterprise have failed in Egypt, is that it aimed to change this character and mold Egypt in a shape which the Brotherhood desired or thought right. Moreover, the Brothers do not recognize Nation-States. The MB instead believes in Faith-State. As a result, the MB has no objection to changing Egypt's borders, dividing it if necessary into two states, one for Christians and one for Muslims, or to be more precise, one for those who accept the MB dominion and those who do not. This is similar to what they did in Sudan which broke into two states after imposing Islamist Ideology and laws upon the country. The same also happened in Palestine, which broke into two fragments, one loyal to Hamas and the other is not. But this could never work in Egypt. Even if it happens for a period of time, it can not be sustained unless major geographic, environmental and hydrological changes, such as the threats taking place with the new Nile Basin Treaty. Perhaps, this may explain why the Muslim Brothers do not seem genuinely bothered with the Ethiopian Dam.

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