AUC Times - November 2018

- 2018 -

- November -

Editorial Note Dear Reader, What is "I"? It is an image of the past, a specter of the future. It compiles all that you were and all that you will be, all that is in constant encounter, in one word: Experience. But experiences are countless, and they dominate more than that which is us. They saturate the spheres of our existence as well as others.

Tragically; euphorically; you partake, you build the collection of you and glimpse that of others.

They differ by each infinitesimal element. You are birthed and thrust into an experience by virtue of your ancestry; of race, of class, of nationality, of ability; of subjective existence.

You are not born into your preferential political and social climate, for that is something you must persist in; but you grow beyond. For, even then, we are shaped by loss, and the grief that

is married to it; by passion, and the power it has over us; by victory, and our path towards it; by trauma, and the devices by which we cope; by turmoil, and its socioeconomic consequences; by tragedy, and everything we leave behind; by words, by memories, by people, by things.

We are woven into narratives and, in this seamless fabric of experience, we are met with our own existence, and that of others. Dear reader, this issue provides you with looks, inward and outward, of the experience of the overwhelmingly countless perceptions of "I".

Theoretically, practically, and personally, we examine the question of Experience. For now, experience us, and the ideas we have to offer.

Mahmoud ElHakim Editor in Chief

Correction of Error: The October 2018 issue included a factual error in the article entitled “Deconstructing the Other” in which the author referred to Michel Foucault as an anthropologist who studied amazonian “savages”.

This is incorrect: Michel Foucault was a historian/philosopher who never undertook such an endeavor. At AUC Times we rigorously work

to offer our readers with sound, critical, and high-standard work. In our highly elaborate process, we try our best to ensure mistakes like these don’t happen. We apologize to have went to print having such an error and have reflected and re-evaluated our model to ensure this does not happen again

Contents

Displaced, Assimilated, and Retold: (Non-) Narratives of a Refugee

Reassemble

Memories in Materials

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English Section

Copy Editors Amy El-Zayaty Laila Ghoneim Lauren K. Clark

Managing Editor Laila El Refaie

Academic Advisor Ramy Aly

Associate Managing Editor Laila Ghoneim

Graphic Designer Nada Hesham

English Editors Chadi Ben Ghanem Laila El Refaie Mahmoud El Hakim Mahmoud El Shabba Mahmoud Fadel Nour Ibrahim Raneem Mangoud Thomas Mikhail Yasmeen Badawy Yasmine Haggag Youssef Fahmy Zeyad Elbadrawy

Photography Head Nada Mohamed

Editor in chief Mahmoud ElHakim

PR Head Alaa Mahmoud Treasurer Youssef Abohammar

Copyrights All uncredited photography and/or artwork is either used upon permission or licenced for noncommercial use.

Disclaimer AUC Times is a student publication. All opinions expressed in the publication are the writers' own and do not reflect those of the magazine or the AUC administration.

/ auctimes

The Language of Experience

I Don’t See (Techni)Color

The Elephant In The Room

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AUC Times

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By: Laila Ghoneim / Editor: Yasmine Haggag

DISPLACED, ASSIMILATED, & RETOLD: (Non-) Narratives of a Refugee Every two seconds, one new individual in the world is displaced. Currently, a harrowing 68.5 million people on the planet have been forcibly displaced from their homes, 25.4 million of whom are refugees. More than half of them are children under the age of eighteen. Clearly, a significant number of people in the world have gone through the painful and often lonely experience of displacement and dispossession, yet many of their stories seem to be shrouded in silence. However, one area where these experiences—or more precisely, the memories of these experiences—are put under scrutiny is the process of seeking asylum..

The screening process for asylumseekers in most Western nations is a rigorous and gruelling set of invasive procedures. According to Jana Mason, a senior adviser to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), “of all the categories of persons entering the U.S., these refugees are the single most heavily screened and vetted.”

In the United States, asylum-seekers are first screened by U.S. national security agencies, including the National Counterterrorism Center, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and the Department of State, as well as the intelligence community. They are then made to endure additional in-depth interviews by Homeland Security and UNHCR representatives, where they must convincingly recount stories that fall in line with the typical “refugee experience”, even being asked to present evidence to substantiate their claims. A single inconsistency can delay the procedures indefinitely, or ensure the automatic rejection of the application—effectively sending them (back) to their graves. At the end of the process, which takes eighteen to twenty-four months on average, only

slightly over half of the applicants end up “passing” and being granted refugee status. This entire system is ultimately damaging and unjust, as it fails to take into account the disjointed nature of displaced people’s memories, and how it is often impossible to find language that can adequately describe the horrors they have experienced. It also forces them to relive those horrors over and over again, causing severe damage to their mental health. Still, they bear it in silence in order to secure a sliver of a chance at a peaceful life. Throughout these interviews, asylum-seekers are asked to subscribe to a single monolithic narrative to prove that their trauma is “worthy of saving”. Therefore, the narratives they form (if they do form any) end up being contrived and meticulously constructed with the sole purpose of pleasing interviewers that are dissatisfied with the fragmented memories they can actually recall. What the screening process really shows is that asylumseekers will continue to be treated like criminals until they prove otherwise.

Memory after trauma, especially displacement, is fragmented.

This makes displaced individuals unable to adhere to conventional narrative structure. Their memories are no longer linear, no longer continuous records with distinct events. Valeria Luiselli, a Mexican writer who immigrated to the United States, points this out in her book Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions, in which she chronicles her experience as an interpreter for undocumented Central American children and teenagers seeking legal status. She writes, “the children’s

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Photo by Aya Nashed

Nov ‘18 issue

stories are always shuffled, stuttered, always shattered beyond the repair of a narrative order. The problem with trying to tell their story is that it has no beginning, no middle, and no end.� Her role ended up being not just to translate language, but to also piece together a coherent, succinct story out of fragments so that they could be in line with the requirements of the immigration process. However, most asylumseekers are not lucky enough to have an interpreter doing that for them and, consequently, must do it themselves. The memory of the traumatized is often an elusive, fragile thing. It divides itself into cryptic snippets that hide away in the concealed crevices of the mind. It slowly, quietly beckons in the dark, hoping to be brought to the surface, but immediately runs back into hiding whenever a full story threatens to be formed.

This fractured memory is also suggestible; it molds itself in an image determined by the leading questions that are asked, or by the narratives fed to the victims by their abusers or other figures of authority. By imposing structure onto memories defined by discontinuity and multiplicity, the interviewers force displaced individuals to alter what they know to be true, thereby stripping them of a vital aspect of their experience.

Both the development and the recollection of memory are strongly tied not just to time, but also to place.

This means that displaced individuals

are already cursed with another great impediment to remembrance besides the original trauma in their homelands. The spaces they occupy automatically become sites of struggle, where they must reconcile their relationship with this new hostile territory and their lingering connection to the home that has betrayed and banished them. The resources and memory cues to which the displaced individuals are accustomed are gone, destabilizing their conventional modes of remembrance and perception of their experiences. This is especially marked when they are placed in harsh and forbidding environments, such as detention centres. This consigns them to a state of limbo, making the maintenance of concrete memories even more difficult.

Hence, it becomes clear that the refugee screening process, with its uncompromising requirements and limiting conception of memory, is extremely violent and designed in a way that sets asylum-seekers up for failure.

Nevertheless, refugees have developed their own ways of coping with the trauma they have gone through, including that of the screening process. The tragic truth is that, even if the wars end, the possibility of refugees returning to live in their home countries is minuscule; they will most likely live out the rest of their lives in exile, deprived of the familiar resources they would normally use to help them recollect memories. As a

result, they build their own collective memory, planting their experiences in the historical archive. For refugees, recounting memories is no longer a passive, apolitical act, but a powerful act of resistance against the oppressive memory policing to which they were subjected. They learn to retell their stories on their own terms without having to conform to uniformity or chronology, without having to fit a stereotypical and constraining narrative that Western structures of power approve of. They are told to completely assimilate, erase the memories that they continually had to relay during the strenuous screening period. Instead, they choose to formulate a sense of belonging by reviving their traditions, or intertwining their mother tongue with the new language they have to acquire: practices of remembrance by which they imbue their new environment with their identities.

The identity of a refugee is one shaped by extreme violence, caused by the initial conflict in their homeland and in the accusatory interrogation that precedes resettlement; it is shaped by exile and loss, and an invisible tether to a dissipating concept of home. Most importantly, it is shaped by a unique sense of memory, reconstructed out of fragments and an ever-evolving experience of home that transcends time and place.

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(When it hurts,I deny things.)

REASSEMBLE Content Warning : This article contains sensitive material relating to sexual assault.

Disclaimer: I just want whoever is reading to know that this is my own account. I would never claim that this is how everyone who goes through a similar experience feels, so please don’t generalize. And for those who have been through this, you are not alone. We exist and we are striving to be ourselves once more.

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By: Marute

When it hurts, I deny things. I block memories that hurt, I bottle emotions that I deem unnecessary. But there comes a time when my body tells me that what I’m doing is unfair; that whether I like it or not, I need to let it out or else it’s going to force me to. This is how it all began: my mind forcing memories upon me that were shoved so deep in the back of it that, at a point in my life, I completely forgot they existed.

I dream a lot, and I always remember my dreams. I thought this was a gift, but the joke was on me; the first nightmare I got felt so real that it shook me to my goddamn core. I felt pieces of me break. I couldn’t sleep that night. Or the night after, or the one after that. Nightmares turned into unspeakable and hysterical panic attacks that still follow me to this day.

When I discovered that it wasn’t just a nightmare, but something that had happened to me, I fell apart. But I didn’t cry—I couldn’t—I felt numb. I couldn’t believe it; I still don’t.

I was ten when she ruined it for me.

She ruined a body that was so full of nurture and love by just existing in it. Words were twisted, actions were played out and everything I can deem unholy took place. She said it was a game, that it was going to be fun—it was all a lie. And for the first time in my life, I now admit that I was sexually assaulted. I don’t remember every single detail of it or how I even got home that evening, but I somehow keep recalling specific details that are engraved in my brain - when the only thing I should remember is that it’s over. I remember her name. I remember her face. I remember the tone of her voice and that damned fake smile that she plastered on it. I remember her saying "don't worry, this isn’t wrong". I could describe in detail what every forced touch felt like, my failed attempts to stop her, but I would rather not. All I could

feel towards myself was disgust. I wanted to rip my skin off and wash everything away, even long after it was over. But I didn’t speak of it. Not to a mother, a father or anyone of that sorts.

Till this day, I have never said the words out loud. I don’t think I ever will. In my head, it gives me some type of separation from her; the tenyear-old girl that had to go through this. An external being who lived in my body for a bit and then moved away. It allows me to believe that it wasn’t really me. If I think of it like that, I can patch myself up and live every day. It’s the only thing that could keep me going: pretending that it didn’t happen.

But this person moves in again. She takes hold of my body, and I go back to being a ten year-old girl who just wants to blink this all away. I shrink into myself. I’m terrified of what people can do. No matter how good this person appears to be, I always have to second-guess my feelings and trust for them. Because I knew her. There were even moments that I thought she was sweet, and caring, and I don’t know if this was a facade she was able to maintain for a period of time, or if she just had always had a sinister side to her that I wasn’t able to see until after what had happened.

The most trivial of things would take place and they would remind me of how powerless I was—and how powerless I am. A body that accidentally brushes upon me, a hand that touches me. And all I can do is flinch. I can’t help it, but I have to stop myself from flinching because nobody can know of this. And the worst of them all: a person who calls upon me or gives me a look that tells me their brain might delude them into thinking that it would be okay to sexually assault me. These moments terrify me so much because all I can

think of is that I wouldn’t able to stop them again, I wouldn’t have the control over myself to.

Sometimes I get mad, about an aspect that nobody will understand, except maybe others who have gone through this: I get mad at myself. I tell myself that I let it happen; I didn’t fight hard enough; I could’ve stopped it, but I didn’t. And on top of this, I still find it in me to believe that the person who did this still deserves my forgiveness. Because I choose to believe that no one can be this cruel without being sick. And then this mere thought gets me even madder, starting an infinite loop of selfloathing and self-destruction.

All of that being said, I am not a victim. And I refuse to be classified as one. I am strong, yet vulnerable.

I am deeply wounded, but I still choose to walk with wounds, doubts, and insecurities daily. I will not let myself be an outcome of the actions she has forced upon me. This is not just an obstacle one can get over, but an injury. One that paralyzes me from trusting myself and those around me. Even though I’m not at peace with it now, I’m living with it. One day, I will be able to tend to this injury and make peace with it. But until then, I fight with every fibre of my being to let myself know that I am me. I rebel against ways that I would count as cowering away. I dress in my own style even if someone would categorize this style as "asking for it". Because I wasn’t— no one ever is. I laugh, believe and have faith in people, choosing to trust that not all of us are bad, that some of us out there are good at heart. Maybe it’s silly to believe this, but every time I truly laugh, smile, or feel happy just for the sake of it I’m telling her that she has no chains over me. I believe that I am me and not a shadow of a broken soul that she has created.

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By:Rawan Sohdy / Editor: Chadi Ben Ghanem

EXPERIENCING ABSENCE You have a shadow that isn’t yours. It has no eyes but it is always looking straight at and into you. It has no weight but it drags your steps to a snail’s pace. It has no texture but its roughness scrapes against the tenderness of your heart. It takes no space, but it fills every corner and crevice of your memory. It is a shadow of what has once been: someone who no longer walks our Earth, or walks it a thousand kilometers away. Or maybe someone who walks right beside you, but whose shadow screams for a friendship that once roared with life between you. And sometimes, it is a shadow of the person you were before life changed you. It is a lost presence. It is cruel absence.

But absence can also be very kind.

It reminds you of the things worth living for. It comforts your growling stomach with the memory of freshly baked bread, and reveals the hidden treasures in your mind to bring beauty and life to the dullness of your work. It is the trampoline that catches your fall and helps you spring right back up, reminding you of the battles you conquered when you’re curled up on the ground in a pool of tears, and illuminates the light of your lost piety when you are engulfed in the darkness of sin. It is potential; it is the simultaneous hope and possibility of presence.

Yet, absence can be a black hole that sucks you in. I know a story of a workaholic who couldn’t make time for his family. Never showing up to Father’s Day celebrations, his son was thought to have been brought up by a single mother; a brutal singleness that never escaped his wife, one which the wedding band embracing her finger never eased or comforted. For a ring could not occupy the silence that lingered between them as they sat on the couch and his mind wandered to next day’s presentation. It was as if his last name only loosely hung onto hers and he couldn’t see that it could no longer bear the weight of the distance between them. After all, how could she call him her partner, when he rarely shared a meal with them anymore? When his seat at the dining table seemed destined to be eternally empty? He was a ghost, and his family’s reproachful gaze reminded him of that every day. So, to free himself from the guilt and to free his family from unfulfilled hope,

he left for good. He left; verifying that anything could change, except for his absence.

This idea of constant absence is a frightening one. Think of the many family gatherings you do not attend, and how many times your name was forgotten on the guest list once you have stopped showing up; how your obsession with a sport or academia turned your absence into the norm.

How sad is it that you might never be missed because your presence was never truly felt in the first place? That you are not an interwoven detail in the events of anyone’s day, that the smell of your perfume isn’t infused in anyone’s nostalgic memory, and that you leave no trace of yourself where you have been – it appears as though you have never existed; you have succumbed to that black hole.

Absence can also be quite frightening. Among many, four teenagers have recently gotten into a car crash, skidding off the Nasr City Bridge and subsequently falling to their demise. Their friends, still on the threshold of their undergraduate life, were sharing Facebook posts with subliminal death wishes, feeling like they might be next.

This suddenness reminds me of a girl with a sunlit smile I used to come across daily who dropped to her unexpected death during the holy days of Ramadan. Over a year later and a Facebook page in her loving memory still receives posts aching for how her beaming face had the power of restoring faith and hope in those around her. And just this semester, three friends lost their mothers to merciless cancer,

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Photo by Yasmin El Nawawy

Nov ‘18 issue

leaving ice to creep where warmth once flowed at home. The reality of these events makes me want to bury myself in my mother’s embrace when she walks through the door and to slip beside her in bed, as I did back when I was a child. It urges me to tell my family and friends how much I appreciate their presence, celebrating it with every passing day.

So the next time someone randomly texts you how much you mean to them, know that the shadow of absence might have paid them a visit to remind them of what is at stake.

Make use of every bit of presence before it becomes too late, soften the impact of absence before it strikes.

But when it strikes, remember this: I once read that people with amputations continue to experience the existence of their limb, sensing pain, itching or having the tendency to pick things up with a “phantom limb”. Their eyes cannot forget where that limb should have been. The memories of being able to run free as a bird never stop haunting them, motivating some to participate in marathons when they were never even the athletic type before. Others, unfortunately, are held immobile by their depression far more than their disability-, letting their life revolve around that one thing that has gone absent. So whether you befriend absence, challenge it, surrender to its darkness, or try to cherish every moment before it, one thing is for sure: you cannot deny the intense presence of absence.

Absence demands to be felt, to be experienced.

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MEMORIES IN MATERIALS By: Thomas Mikhail / Editor: Raneem Mangoud

A slave walks the streets, unnoticed, and remembers. He remembers everything. It is his purpose. His charge. He is a slave to memory itself.

Millions of memories cloud his mind.

Most are not his own. Memories of an elderly lady’s conversation; a young man’s coughing pains; a squirrel’s lunch, all are equally his responsibility, and all must be his burden.

Photo by Yasmin El Nawawy

His obligation to memory leaves him no room for rest. He is ordained to be a nomad, always wandering to find new things to remember – old experiences to revisit. Every stone, animal, plant; every person; every grain of sand and dust, he is to wander past them and absorb what they remember; every tale to become a part of his mind. It is his duty.

He cannot act on what he remembers, nor does he have any interest in doing so. It is merely his place to observe and remember.

However, he has been overcome with an insatiable boredom, a weariness that has become his shortcoming.

He is no longer content with just keeping memories; he now reflects.

At first, it did not affect his purpose, but he soon grew more interested in learning from the memories than blindly recording them, as he should.

He sought to learn all he could, intentionally going after memories that would help him to this perversion rather than remembering all. He is a flawed slave.

He used to try to justify his treachery to memory, but no longer. He is too overcome with that clawing, throbbing, all-burning boredom to think of his master. He no longer

Nov ‘18 issue

wanders, he travels; a set destination in mind, hoping to fill in gaps within his knowledge. He is an addict, thinking of nothing else.

He passes someone, but its experiences do not interest him.

Humans corrupt their memories.

They have gaps. They forget memories, often small ones that are more significant than they realize.

They repress memories, an ability the slave does not have and reviles.

Though he does not admit it, the fact that people tend to keep more of their bad memories than good ones depresses him. He does not need to re-experience the tragedy of others; he is his own tragedy.

Beyond this, he has realized that they alter memories. He has viewed the memories of several people within the same event. No two recollections are the same. Every experience gets filtered through their worldview, oftentimes becoming not but a shadow of what actually occurred.

In his mind, to experience a person’s memories is to take a journey through disjointed events, more good than bad, only to learn nothing.

“They disrespect my master,” he thinks. He does not realize his hypocrisy.

He is much more interested in the worn out pendant it has. Objects have tales to tell, tales unbiased and true, tales that are often very different from the ones we tell ourselves. Objects have no pride to uphold, no opinions to bias them, no sense of self-preservation; they are objective. They have not a care in the world; they simply exist to remember every scratch, dent, and tear. They are just as he should be, without reflection.

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The pendant remembers its creation…

A hunk of blue-white quartz, jagged and craggy… A jeweler’s hands chisel it to a near perfect circle… Passionate and skillful, he carves symbols across its face… He speaks as he carves the symbols of the Sun and Jupiter…

He speaks to his daughter, a voice full of love...Symbols of equality, of compassion, he tells her… Symbols of their people, though the daughter knows that... He speaks of Mars, says nothing good… She listens, her expression wide eyed… She loves the pendant; she begs to keep it… The father chuckles and gives a nod of agreement... And so begin a thousand memories… She shared many with the pendant, for she wore it frequently…

And even more so after the death of its creator… She wore it, devastated and teary eyed, to the funeral… But she recovers from the loss… For there are then thousands more memories…

Memories that turn a girl into a woman...The woman that now walks past the slave...

She will not remember him, but every time she has worn the amulet will forever rest in his mind.

As he reflects on these memories, he continues his march to his planned destination. He now notices that the aforementioned symbols are everywhere. This confuses him.

The stone roads remember a third symbol… There is one missing today, used alongside the prior two, centuries ago… The symbol of Earth, a symbol of humility… No longer anywhere to be seen… As memories continue, it slowly fades… None speak of it… They do not seem to notice its disappearance.

The slave reflects that they need his master.

As he curses humanity for abandoning memory, he comes upon his destination. An old house that screams of wealth, passed down five generations, he remembers.

An old chalice, older than even the family that owns it, lies within. He intends to collect its memories.

Shaking with excitement, he stops as a person leaves the house. Hoping to

sneak a look at the objects inside, he taps into its memories. He not only gets a knowledge of the house and its treasures, but also of the person itself. Our slave, however, notices something he has seen before, a bias that clouds truth. He decides to focus on its clothing instead. Such is his way.

His gloves remember things as they were… The man frequents the temple…

He aids the sick and poor… Protects his community… Flaunting Jupiter and the Sun upon his clothing...The people love him; he is everything he should be…

An unofficial leader, one for advice or aid...But not to all, he believes some are a threat… One day, a small group enters the community, seeking aid…

Their feet blistered, their children sick, they beg for sanctuary… The man gathers a mob, they chase them out…

He throws stones and slurs… All in the name of the symbols on his chest…

Symbols of equality and compassion…

A woman is hit, she makes no sound…

She’s obviously accustomed to pain, new bruises mean little … All that matters to her is her late mother’s necklace... A Symbol of Venus around her neck...

This memory doesn’t surprise the slave, for he has collected countless similar ones.

The slave is overcome with his boredom and frustration. He came here expecting something new, but he sees now that his obsession with reflection could no longer keep him entertained, for memories are too repetitive to provide a constant source of knowledge.

The slave recalls the memories of an arsonist. Hopelessly enraged, he completes the betrayal to his obligations by acting on the knowledge within him, but he feels no guilt. His master is ignored by humanity; they may change the objects they surround themselves with, but the memories these bear repeat the same things, they always have. He must force the creation of fresher experiences.

The slave reflects once more, then speaks, something he has never done.

“I have remembered; I have reflected; now I act, it is my place alone to do so.”

AUC Times

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By:Arwa Hezzah / Editor: Zeyad Elbadrawy

Photo by Adham Hegazy

THE LANGUAGE OF EXPERIENCE

“wine-looking”, one’s mind will most likely immediately imagine a dark red sea.

It is no secret that language has an undeniable impact on how people think. For decades, linguistics have disputed the ability of language to change the way people perceive the world. The truth is, words have always had the power to shape thoughts; our ability to communicate clearly has had more power on human experiences than one may believe. The differences between languages are plenty, and not everything can easily be translated from one language to another. Such differences can actually change the way in which we experience the world.

An example of this can be seen in Homer’s Odyssey. Homer used the color purple to describe certain aspects such as blood or a dark cloud. He also referred to the sea as “wine-dark”. Additionally, linguists have noticed that there were no references to the colors blue or orange throughout the entire text.

Does that mean that in Ancient Greece they didn’t see the same colors we see now? Or did they just use different words for them? The conclusion has been made that the ancient Greeks simply didn’t have a word for the color blue, and thus had no way of describing it. Consider how these descriptions might affect the way we, as readers, might look at the text now. If one is reading a text and the author describes the sea as

The effects of color descriptions can also be seen in differences between languages nowadays. In Russian, there isn’t one single word for the color blue, as a primary color, but rather there are two words to describe light blue (“goluboy”) and dark blue (“siniy”). Does this mean that native speakers of Russian think of the two shades as two different colors? As it turns out, they do.

According to one research conducted in 2009 by Lera Boroditsky, a cognitive scientist specializing in language, native Russian speakers can distinguish between two shades of blue much more quickly than native English speakers. The distinction between the two shades in the Russian language can be compared to the distinction between red and pink in English.

A different means by which language creates this kind of contrast in people’s minds is grammatical gender. Grammatical gender is a noun class system in which words that fall under particular genders get treated differently in grammatical syntax. In languages such as Spanish, Russian, or Arabic inanimate objects have different genders, unlike, English, where all objects assume the same gender.

For instance, in German, the "the"s and "a"s are gendered according to the noun, becoming “der”, “das”, and “die”, all of which ultimately mean “the”. So, “der teller”, meaning “the plate” is masculine, while “die

Nov ‘18 issue

zeitung”, meaning “the newspaper” is feminine. In Arabic, it is the nouns themselves that are gendered.

"Chicken" and“car” in Arabic are feminine, while words such as “house” or “book” are masculine.

In another study conducted by Boroditsky, both German and Spanish speakers were asked to describe the word “key”. Due to the fact that the word “key” is masculine in German, but feminine in Spanish, German speakers were more likely to use tough words such as “metal”, or “hard”, while Spanish speakers used softer words such as “golden”, “intricate”, or “shiny”. That being said, the testing itself was done in English—a language that doesn’t use grammatical gender. Nonetheless, the test subjects’ native language ultimately affected the way in which they viewed or experienced the world around them, causing their ideas to remain unchanged regardless of the language they were speaking.

Moreover, no extensive research is necessary in order to see the aforementioned effects of language-just look at art. If one looks at paintings in which abstract ideas such as death, victory, strength, or the seasons are personified, one can see the difference language truly makes in the way people view things.

This is especially true when deciding whether such abstract ideas should be depicted as men or women. In paintings done by French artists, for example, Winter is always a woman, while German and Dutch artists often depict winter as a man. In Russian art, death is most likely portrayed as a woman, while shown as a man in German art. In fact, in about 85% of artistic personifications present in Boroditsky’s study, the choice of male or female figures was predicted by the word’s grammatical gender in the artist’s native language.

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These are all the distinctions between various languages, but what about particular differences within the same language? What effect does semantic change have on one’s perception? Semantic change is simply a change in word usage, usually to the point where one word has a completely different meaning from its original meaning. A word like “pretty” acts as a good example.

Using a phrase like, “pretty ugly” in this day and age sounds normal, but such a phrase a few decades ago would have been considered oxymoronic, or self-contradicting.

Another example is the word, “gay”.

In the past, gay simply meant lighthearted or cheerful. Nowadays, gay refers to someone, more often than not male, who is a homosexual.

Because that meaning is used far more frequently, the moment someone says gay now, the latter meaning is what pops into people’s minds. These are clear shifts in associative semantics, or mental understandings, of certain words, that caused changes in perception, and consequently experience.

While fictitious, a wonderful example of how semantic change can dramatically alter experience is George Orwell's 1984. In the novel, Oceania, the totalitarian state the protagonist lives in, imposes a form of the English language called “Newspeak”. This version of English is primarily used to limit people’s thoughts and change their perspectives about the doings of the government. Furthermore, the term “Ministry of Truth” is used to refer to the part of the government which produces fake historical facts and propaganda to trick the people of Oceania. The “Ministry of Love” is used to describe the place where prisoners are detained and tortured. In this sense, the government associated the words “love and “torture” so that people

ultimately feel that torture is love.

Moreover, the government removes English words such as "freedom" and "revolution" from Newspeak to further limit its people’s thoughts, begging the question: Can the concept of freedom exist if there is no way to describe it? In a sense, the government of Oceania attempted to eliminate certain terms from people’s minds altogether in the hope that if people couldn’t find words to describe factors of dissent, they won’t be able to conceptualize them at all.

It is safe to say that language is a source of power. For ages, languages have been developing, and new languages have been arising all over the world. People never realize that a language adds so much to what one is; to how one sees the world.

Learning a language that is not originally one’s own offers a pathway into the world of its native speakers.

Though one may never be entirely like them, one will ultimately possess a part of what they are and what they know. Knowing a language, or speaking and understanding a language, opens up a portal into its world; and a small part of one becomes a small part of it.

AUC Times

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By: Omar Abo Mosallam / Editor: Mahmoud El Shabba

I DON’T SEE (TECHNI)COLOR If an emerging art piece claims to nobly channel the furor of the marginalized, should we not scrutinize whoever holds the pen, brush or camera? Should those who are cradled by privilege subsume the experience of the subjugated and dramatize it? And, if they do, how valid are their depictions? These questions are especially pertinent to Hollywood, where, when it comes to heroically representing oppressed communities, White filmmakers humbly take up this selfless task—at least most of the time. Their films are highly indicative of Hollywood’s entrapment in the unnavigable web of power relations, which, in a fascinating display of hegemonic adhesion, holds the status quo firmly in place.

One outgrowth of this web is Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight (2015), which, by trapping a handful of characters in one cabin, impressively manages to explore the complex racial relations of nineteenth-century America. Tarantino, a White director/ writer, centers his discussion of the African-American experience on Samuel L. Jackson’s character, Major Warren. Halfway into the film, Warren, with a cool and dignified affect, points out to the group that they “have no idea what it’s like being a Black man facing down America.”

Warren is indubitably correct.

However, as much as his virulently racist acquaintances have no clue what a Black person’s life was like in the late 1800s, neither does the film’s writer. Director Spike Lee has voiced this concern since the beginning of Tarantino’s career, alleging poor representation of African-Americans.

Moreover, Lee ridiculed Tarantino’s copious use of the N-word (present heavily in The Hateful Eight), claiming Tarantino used it so much that he wondered if he longed to be named “an honorary Black man.”

Lee’s frustrated cries echo through the cavernous gap that permeates Hollywood, finally exposing—to the

dismay of many—how far removed a White person’s understanding may be from reality.

Assessing the validity of Tarantino’s portrayal, or the validity of any White voice on this decidedly Black subject, by combing over a single case would leave us analytically stranded. We must first weave our way into the power structures that any Hollywood film navigates.

Illustrating this ever-present trace of power, Tarantino once said, “dealing with race in America is one of the things I have to offer to cinema . . . it’s what I have to offer the Western genre, because it’s really not been dealt with [there] in any meaningful way.” Racial themes have indeed been absent from Westerns, and, more alarmingly, there have only been a handful of Westerns directed

by Black directors; an observation explained by the historical and systemic barring of Black storytellers from Hollywood. Due to this staggeringly slanted power dynamic, the experience of African-Americans is objectified on screen, wherein the actual experience is foreign to both filmmaker and audience.

These looming power relations deny the Black experience a voice on the big screen, separating the subjects from their representation.

Nothing more solemnly echoes this than Lee’s admonishment of Tarantino’s depiction of slavery in Django Unchained (2013), writing, “American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It Was A Holocaust. My Ancestors Are Slaves.

Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them.” The deeper we entrench ourselves into this massive web, the smaller the role of a single author seems to be.

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Photo by Nada Elgarhy

Nov ‘18 issue

With the industry’s gears still churning as they always have, attempts to throw wrenches into Hollywood’s monotonous goingson have been startling. Chief example is Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther (2018). By placing the subjects of the Black experience in charge of depicting themselves, the film tips the scales of the aforementioned economy of power. However, beneath the film’s thunderous acclaim, a somber doubt still lingers. While the film is an authentic example of Black expression, it comes up slightly short in dismantling the totality of oppressive power. Coogler’s main pitfall is shared with conventional anti-authority struggles, which is, as Michel Foucault postulates, eschewing the pursuit of the chief enemy, while focusing instead on the immediate enemy. The immediate enemy the film combats is the general lack of Black representation, but this is a symptom of the unaddressed core problem: the rule of corporate power over cinema. While Black Panther nobly fights for diversity, it remains a subservient organ of the larger Disney corporation, whose influence, alongside other firms, maintains the power relations in question.

It is Boots Riley who undoes the winding web of oppressive power in Sorry to Bother You (2018). Riley’s deliciously satirical screenplay takes aim at monolithic corporations,

while championing their archnemeses: the working class and union activists. Protagonist Cassius Green, a telemarketer far more enamored with promotion than with organized labor, is at odds with his unionizing co-workers.

Riley’s background is essential to this representation. Baptized in the waters of activism, Riley attended his first strike at the age of fourteen and joined the Progressive Labor Party the following year; not to mention his stint as an actual telemarketer.

The film’s revolutionary stance mirrors Foucault’s conception of anti-authority struggle (somewhat differently than Black Panther), as it attacks “everything which separates the individual, breaks his links with others, splits up community life . . . and ties him to his own identity in a constraining way.” This may be the most radical expression of working-class life ever to bypass the industry’s doctrinal attachment to risk aversion—but how exactly did a first-time director, known for releasing songs like “5 Million Ways to Kill a C.E.O.,” release this film? It could ultimately be due to a slight erosion of Hollywood’s power—a process that is accelerated by Riley’s film.

Towards its final act, Sorry to Bother You sums up the crux of the issue of representation in one pivotal scene.

At a billionaire’s party, Cassius, one of the two Black men present, is politely forced by his drug-addled corporate higher-ups to rap for their amusement. With a self-professed inability to rap, a distressed Cassius just rhythmically repeats the N-word over and over again, and the White crowd eats it all up—even singing along. Here, Riley shows how the Black identity and experience can be uncomfortably wrung out and woefully misunderstood by White people. He also emphasizes how hollow a victory advancing up the corporate ladder can be for workingclass people. These conclusions may sit uncomfortably with both Coogler and Tarantino. Sorry to Bother You urges us to look twice at the existing nature of representation, as it may not always be as authentic or valid as it seems. This wreath of radicalism surrounding Sorry to Bother You is accentuated by Riley’s quote, "This idea of 'cool capitalism' is still capitalism . . . It doesn't matter if Elon Musk quotes Nas.” Scrutinizing art remains our sole method of severing authentic representation from misunderstood, and harmful, conceptions. However, our scrutiny—the unrelenting force that it could be—should not limit itself to the director’s chair, the writer’s pen or the artist’s brush, but should barrel through these obstacles and interrogate the larger power relations that dictate our art. Should we remain blind to our dormant capacity to reject the seemingly innocent representations of our on-screen selves, the far-reaching web of power will inch further and further towards enveloping all media, keeping unmitigated and unaltered experience absent from cinemas near you.

AUC Times

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By: Laila El Refaie / Editor: Yasmeen Badawy

ONCE UPON A TIME: On Stories & Storytelling Once upon a time, there was you. This is not a shocking revelation, nor is it the beginning of a fantastical tale. It is simply the truth. Each person is simultaneously living their own story, comprised of hundreds of other stories.

At times, we tell these stories, be they in the form of memoirs or gossip. At others, we present these stories in the form of narrative fiction. The wonder we find in a novel, or even in a series on Netflix, comes from the simultaneous experience of the story and of the creator of that story. The immersion that leads us to see ourselves in a fictional character is also a reflection of the storyteller’s insertion of part of their own personal experience into that character. The result? A plot that unites them both. It is that immersiveness that Maurice Merleau-Ponty sought to explain, founding the field of philosophy known as Phenomenology: the study of that which is experienced, felt, and perceived. That trinity is precisely what makes stories so enigmatically enticing, both in their creation and their consumption.

Photo by Nada Mohamed

Instinctively, one would choose to marvel at the inherent individuality and uniqueness of each story.

However, the commonalities they share are undeniable. Joseph Campbell summarised these commonalities into a study of numerous stories, from folktales to Bible stories; fictional and real, and found the common ground between them: The Hero’s Journey. For example: Reem is sitting comfortably in her home. She receives a knock to her door, but ignores it, not wanting to be disturbed. The knock becomes more urgent, and she opens the door to find an elderly woman. The woman asks her to leave her house and help her find her purse. While searching the area, Reem has to deal with rain, sludge, and the woman’s

endless gossip. As she comes closer to finding the purse, she finds herself confronted by a group of thieves. Through a gruelling process, she faces her fears and eventually manages to convince them to take her watch instead. Finally, with the purse procured, the woman rewards her with a sum of money. Reem returns home, now comfortable to spend future nights in the warmth of her bed, or venturing out to explore the alleyways of the city. The story here seems familiar, or at least it should. Campbell claims - and rightly so - that this was the general format for every existing story.

Simultaneously, this general format is precisely the reason why these stories have stood the test of time to become worthy of study.

The most significant aspect of Campbell’s studies is not that all the stories he references are iconic, but rather that he explores the reason as to why they are so. It is here that phenomenology comes into play. Merleau-Ponty presents the significance of experiencing through processes; when we watch a film or read a book, we do not experience them as outsiders, but rather as members of the narrative, inserted within the story. Stories are heralded for their immersiveness— the extent to which they draw us in and convince us that the experience is indeed our own. Merleau-Ponty offers significance to the “mythical consciousness.” He claims that the mythical world, or fictional world as we now know it, is “a projection of

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once upon a time

Nov ‘18 issue

existence and an expression of the human condition.” Quite simply, it is because of the stories that Campbell studies that the story of Reem seems so familiar. Subconsciously or not, these stories appeal to some facet of our real-life experience. Philosopher Paul Ricoeur unifies Merleau-Ponty’s theories with the conceptualisation of storytelling. To Ricoeur, the soul—the conscious mind—pursues the same experiences of its past when interacting with narrative fiction. This is precisely why there is a common misconception attached to Campbell’s theory. Campbell did not write from a prescriptivist perspective; he did not present a formula for storytelling. Instead, he was describing the formula used for stories that happen to be the successful ones. In short, the reason for the success of the application of Campbell’s formula is because it appeals to our personal experiences.

Stories are not made only for consumption. Any writer will recognise the intimacy that comes with incorporating one’s own experiences into the narratives of a story. It is here that Dan Harmon, writer of Community and Rick & Morty, offers the formula for the successful story: The Plot Embryo.

Harmon’s Plot Embryo is comprised of three concentric circles. The innermost circle represents the two stages of the protagonist’s mindset throughout the story: Ignorance and Enlightenment. The second

circle represents the outer setting: Familiar, and Unfamiliar. Lastly, the outermost circle represents the journey. To reiterate the story of Reem following Harmon’s template: Reem was a young woman who had grown up in a conservative family.

She was quiet and introverted. She always wanted to be outspoken, but she never knew how. But when an elderly woman knocks on her door, she finds herself actively searching for a purse in the street. It rains, and she constantly slips and falls, tearing her clothes and scraping her knees.

Nevertheless, she persists. When she finds the purse, it is with a group of thieves. She manages to procure it, but only after offering her father’s watch to the thieves she finds so frightening. She finally returns home, with a newfound confidence in herself.

The added intimacy in Harmon’s edition of the story is undeniable.

Harmon’s template makes it so that the storyteller’s emotions are prominent in the narrative. The choice of Reem’s personality, her desires and fears, is an extension of the storyteller’s experiences. Another writer would have made her bitter and loud, or outgoing and comedic.

Rachael Stephen, a writer and Youtuber, set up her own variation of the Plot Embryo: The Tragic Plot Embryo. To put it briefly, Stephen set up the framework for a story that reflects the storyteller’s pains and demons, rather than their hopes and

dreams. This intimacy comes from Alfred Schutz’s claim that “meaning is merely an operation of intentionality, which, however, only becomes visible to the reflective glance." In other words, it is when the storyteller incorporates their personal sentiments into the narrative—and in doing so, looks back on them— that the characters’ experience is given life. The characters’ ignorance and enlightenment mirror those of the storyteller; the familiar and unfamiliar settings are the storyteller’s own comfort zone and lack thereof; and the plot points in between are the hours and seconds that shrink and expand as the storyteller’s experience of the world runs its winding course.

Phenomenology is an immense field with a thousand and one realms to explore. The question of why stories are so appealing to both writers and readers alike will only give birth to other questions that delve deeper into the nature of our consciousness and our experience of the world around us. Campbell, Harmon, and Stephen’s models act as illustrations and proof that our experiences define and accentuate our interactions with stories. In true spirit of Merleau-Ponty’s desires to see philosophy applied to practice, the analysis of stories opens the door for the questioning of the nature of our minds and our experiences. Once upon a time, there was you; and your experiences were the story.

AUC Times

Page 18

By: Mohannad Samir / Editor: Yasmeen Badawy

Photo by Georgenia Bassily

THE LIVES WE MISS OUT ON

Nov ‘18 issue

Page 19

The calm weather of September roamed the streets of New York: not too hot and not too cold. Jay loved this weather; he loved it so much that he decided to spend his morning strolling around the park five blocks away from his workplace. He usually takes his strolls around lunchtime, but he didn’t have to be at the office until 9:30 AM. He was reading the New York Post as he walked through the community garden of Washington Market Park; he came across an article citing the increase in the unemployment rate. It reminded him of the employees he had recently fired. He shook off that thought and moved on to another article that he deemed sexist; he smirked as he thought about how pissed his wife would be if she read this. Jay, with his eyes on the newspaper and his mind on his wife, walked past the neighborhood park’s red playground. He turned his back to a moment of maternal satisfaction- a child, wearing untied shoes, leaves the playground and walks to her mom, who is sitting on a bench reading a book. Her mother smiles and touches the child’s face in tenderness. Jay, oblivious to what was happening behind him, puts his newspaper away, takes out his Discman and plays Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast”.

Six year-old Harper walks up to her mom, to tie her mother's shoelaces.

Her mother puts her book down on the bench, carries her and plays with her daughter’s hair. “Forty, forty two, forty two, seventy four, double O, forty five” Harper said.

She kept repeating these numbers in an inexhaustible voice until her mom told her to go continue playing with her friend. She used to wonder why her child was so peculiar until she was diagnosed with Savant Syndrome. This meant she was highly intelligent yet very eccentric. She loved her with all of her being, but she was scared of what the world could do to her.

Harper was never good with people; she struggled to understand them, and they hardly understood her either. That was the reason her mother, Esther, brought her to the park so early in the morning- when it was least crowded. She watched her daughter as she swang in unadulterated joy which loosened the grip her anxiety had on her chest; she played back every memory she had of Harper in disbelief that she had grown so quickly. Esther entered her own bubble and grew so detached from the world around her that she didn’t hear the two young paramours kissing twenty yards away in the gardens.

The overwhelming emotions that overtook her brain compelled her to cry, leaving stains of salty water on her gray sweatpants. Wiping her tears, Esther grabbed her book and started reading again; “Twin Stories”

by Robin Farell Edmunds.

Twenty four paces away from where Esther was sitting, Lila and Levi sat in the garden on a red and white gingham blanket. It was apparent

from the sandwich basket that they were having a breakfast picnic. Lila was never the person to wake up early for a picnic, but she didn't mind doing it for Levi. She didn’t understand why she liked him so much; there was something about the way he moved, talked and looked at things that made her compelled to constantly gaze at him. They had only been on two dates but he made her feel alive again, more alive than it was safe to feel after a couple of dates. “So how do you like my eggs and bacon sandwich?” He asked. “It’s as average as your choice of place.” She replied. She really liked the park, but she preferred being a source of provocation. He leaned close to her, touched her face and pushed his lips against hers, kissing her tenderly yet no less passionately. The eye contact that followed this kiss had altered both of their perceptions of the world. Nothing, but themselves, existed during these few minutes, not the trees, not the grass, not the park and not even the woman vehemently slapping some guy at the other end of the garden.

Pain and love, just as they were since the birth of life, co-existed in the park; standing at opposite ends of the garden. Elliot was looking into the apathetic eyes of his wife, Jude, knowing that she just found out about his infidelity. She took off her ring calmly and gave it to him as he smiled in masked agony. There, on the ruins of their marriage, they stared into each other’s eyes in a manner quite unlike that of Lila and Levi. Anger blinded her eyes and crippled her mind. An urge to slap him across the face rose inside of her but she fought it; she wanted to prove to herself she was better than that. “Sorry, hurting you was the last thing I wanted to do. I hope you know that I still love you and I-” Jude, losing control over her senses, slapped him. “Shut your mouth,” she said as waterfalls of tears streamed down her face.

“Jude” he said in a brittle voice. “Please hear me out”. Her hands cover her mouth in utter shock. “I wasn’t thinking straight; don’t leave me,” he continued. She pointed to the sky behind him, he looked back and dropped his jaw.

Next to them was Jay, prancing around while listening to “Run to the Hills” by Iron Maiden on the highest possible volume on his Discman.

A large Boeing 767 crashed into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Dark smoke painted the sky of New York. Harper cried while shouting “Forty, forty two, forty two, seventy four, double O, forty five” louder and faster each time.

“Shut up!” Esther shouted between sobs, but the girl wouldn’t shut up. Harper defiantly roared the ambiguous words; “What are you even saying?” Esther asked. Forty, forty two, forty two north, seventy four, double O, forty five west. The coordinates of the World Trade Center, the place where her father worked. In shock, Levi let go of Lila’s hand; they watched in disbelief as the star of the Manhattan skyline crumbled into heterogeneous rocks. She buried her face in his neck.and he could feel her shaking but he took comfort in being with her at that moment. Elliot hugged Jude as they both cried all the tears they had been repressing; they almost forgot that they were fighting. Jay danced as the song got to the chorus; “run to the hills … run for your lives”. He began to smell pungent smoke, and took off his headphones to be met with the sight of black smoke gushing into the air from afar. He looked at the newspaper in his hand, dated september 11, 2001, and still couldn’t believe that his job was now gone along with the tower he worked at.

He casually lit up a lucky strike and called his wife, “hey honey, I don’t have work today. Wanna go try that coffee place we talked about?”

AUC Times

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By: Nourhan El Hadba / Editor: Chadi Ben Ghanem

THE ROOTS OF OUR BEINGS What is responsible for shaping our personalities? Some argue that one’s behavior is a by-product of genetics; the mechanics of their brains and nature. Others argue that people are shaped by their upbringing, childhood experiences, and environment (i.e. culture, traditions, etc.). The debate of nature vs. nurture stems from aforementioned dichotomy. Yet, which side prevails? The answer appears unclear to us. While we find ourselves learning more from every single experience, we are guided by our natural upbringing. We also choose to conform to the structures we abide to. There seems to be a cooperation of forces, rather than the domination of one.

To understand the different arguments, it is important to comprehend how these factors operate. The nature argument relies on the belief that our physical characteristics, and personality traits, are a result of our inherited genes.

This side of the debate can be highly supported by Plato and Descartes’ philosophy of innatism; which states that the mind is not merely a “blank slate” at birth. It is full of ideas, beliefs and knowledge, which shapes us into who we are. Plato’s argument for innatism relies on the fact that people have knowledge of certain things; without going through necessary experiences to acquire that knowledge. Thus, he concludes that knowledge is innate.

This idea can be observed when examining hereditary talents; rather than deemed, acquirable. Therefore, following the idea that people are born with innate knowledge and ideas, it seems completely plausible for people’s personalities to be the result of hereditary transmission.

Nonetheless, proponents of the nurture argument make very strong opposing points. English philosopher, John Locke, refutes the idea of innate knowledge, and insists on the idea that the mind, at birth, is a blank slate. It is filled with experiences we go through, and the behaviors surrounding us. For example, children growing up with parents, who enjoy reading (and provide their children with books), will more likely be skilled readers. However, those growing up in households,

which do not enjoy reading are less likely to be skilled; taking it up as a hobby. Psychologist, Albert Bandura, conducted an experiment to assess if violence is an acquired behavior.

The premise was that children learn by demonstration, and hence, will completely absorb and imitate the actions they see. His famous Bobo doll experiment had a non-violent scenario; in which a model, observed by the children, played around with the set toys, and did not touch the doll. There was also a violent scenario, where the children had to watch the model attack the doll; also using aggressive phrases. The results showed that those who saw the violent behavior were more likely to imitate it; which demonstrates how human behaviors stem from environment.

Can these two conflicting ideas work together in shaping personalities, or are they in direct opposition?

Genetically, people are believed to have differing capabilities; inheriting characteristics and certain genes, which contributes to how they turn out. These genes create the genetic system that people use to experience the world. Therefore, a good theory is that the experiences we go through are guided and absorbed by our genes; working to repress or push the experiences.

Genes are in charge of responsive behaviors; displayed by factors of the environment. Environmental factors add to these natural characteristics, which are hard to understand particular, social cues. Thus, nature and nurture appear to work sideby-side with people responding differently; according to their nature and the environment they grew up in. The BBC Horizon documentary “Are You Good or Evil?,” featuring neuroscientist Jim Fallon, delves into the debate of nature vs. nurture; while reaching the same conclusion.

Interestingly, Fallon reached this

conclusion when he found that his own genes and brain structure were linked to violent behavior; having the brain profile of a psychopath. Despite his “nature”, Jim’s pleasant childhood prevented triggering of these violent genes. His story is a great example as to how the effect of nurture is sometimes more prominent than that of nature.

However, why is it that no one considered how personalities are also shaped by our decisions? People are constantly making decisions based on actions-where they go and what to do. So, why is personality and behavior also not a result of choice? Our worlds are full of institutions; whether they are social, educational, political, or religious.

People either choose or are forced into them. While there is agency in the choice, you subsequently become an agent for that structure. You might even go as far as reshaping your identity to conform to your chosen structures, while fabricating the perfect agent user. This agency could be working along with nature and nurture; becoming the only way in which a person can control their outcome. Otherwise, their whole existence would be a result of genes and factors of their environment. It makes perfect sense in contributing our makeup through agency; even if conducted, unconsciously.

Nature is something we are born into. Agency is something we develop later in life. This leaves room for interactions between nurture and genetics, as the initial deciders of fate. That’s why our experiences, as well as the environments and behaviors inflicted upon us, are larger contributors in who we turn out to be. While so many grow up in tragedy, poverty and perhaps

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violence, we often hear of success stories by those who managed to prevail; in spite of the odds against them. Nonetheless, there are those who face the same circumstances and turn to a path of destruction, rather than success. Thus, the same environmental factors stimulate different responses by genes. They are partly responsible for those who turn out to be “good,” “evil,” and other moral categories of classification. Experiences, later aided by decisions and fortified, or impeded by nature’s rule over our lives, create these understandings of our world; fabricating the heroes we admire, and the villains we criticize.

Nevertheless, the nurture argument weakens our cries of help against injustices of natural forces. It puts assessment of everyone around us into perspective. For it is partly the fault of nature (or nature of their experiences), that people have turned out the way they have. It stresses on the reality that evil is an acquired construct. It is not our inherent virtue or malice. Rather, it is the accumulation of events, and our created perceptions, which helps us see the world in the way that we do.

The debate does not deny any form of individuality through genetics, but stresses on the attention required to the environmental needs of each person; thereby, leading to their full development.

Photo by Nada Mohamed

Nov ‘18 issue

AUC Times

Page 22

By: Mariam El Ashmawy / Editor: Youssef Fahmy

WHEN THE INK DRIES The blank page of a notebook has boundless revolutionary potential. It signifies a space for expression; an utter rendition of your inner thoughts onto a medium that absorbs your inked experiences into the starched paper. There is no censorship, no second thoughts about vocalizing the intimacies of your existence. Keeping a diary can be considered a revolutionary act in times when history washes away our words and silences us. However, the blank page still poses the question to us all: how long will we accept the diary as our only sphere of subversive expression?

in a time when Jews within NaziGermany’s sphere of influence were not able to publicly express their hardships. Therefore, our diaries can serve as a lens through which we document what we cannot publicize – maybe not for the time being, but hopefully for a time when we can publically vocalize our experiences.

Our social media feeds also function as our blank pages for diary entries.

According to a survey conducted

by Hootsuite in 2018, there are 39 million active social media users in Egypt. Unsurprisingly, Facebook is the most most accessed platform

by Egyptians for sharing personal posts, videos, and news. Thus, our turn to writing Facebook posts is more prominent than ever in our contemporary moment, as it allows for instant responses, be they empathetic or antagonistic, from the general public. People’s explicit experiences are then made available with a click of a button.

Lately, it's getting more and more difficult to publicly vocalize experience through social media in Egypt. In July 2018, the Egyptian Parliament passed a law allowing state powers to block social media accounts and news outlets, and penalize those who circulate fake news. Some supporters of the law view it as the means through which the state is able to “protect” freedom of expression, and maintain state security. However, others believe that it gives the state a legal basis to crack down on public expressions of dissent, and to control the types of experiences being circulated.

Photo by Nada Mohamed

The most prominent example of diary-keeping in times of political turmoil is that of Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl who documented her life while hiding in Nazi-occupied Holland in her personal diary, later published as The Diary of a Young Girl. Frank’s documentation of hiding in a warehouse in Amsterdam is a vocalization of her experiences that is done privately on paper during difficult times. However, the posthumous power of her private expression of living in fear, and with fear, is important; it presents readers with a glimpse into the lives of Jewish people under Nazi persecution

It is easy to put pen to paper. The safety of such an expression is still valid for the mental and physical safety of activists; especially now with the enforcement of the new law. Crackdowns on public spaces of expression should make us question whether it is escapist of us to document our experiences in a diary and be content with that.

What of fighting to gain ground in public spaces in order to vocalize our daily encounters socially, politically, and economically? Or is it important for something to be documented nevertheless in times when nothing is spared long enough to be presented to the light? Once the ink dries, and you run out of pages, you’re faced with the question of what other kind of medium your outlet of expression will be: turning another page in a diary, or retaking lost ground?

Nov ‘18 issue

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By: Youssef Fahmy / Editor: Thomas Mikhail

QUANTUM PHYSICS AND EVERYDAY LIFE On the surface, quantum physics and philosophy may seem to be two entirely unrelated fields. The thought of combining the two was rejected by most scientists for being too absurd. That said, some theories actually can be applicable to philosophical arguments. One such 'absurd’ theory was the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle:

ΔpΔx≥h/2π It states that we can never know the exact location of the electron without having a high error value in the uncertainty; the more we know one measurement and the more accurately we know one value, the less accurately we know the other. Basically, nothing is certain; we can only describe things using probability.

But are mathematical expressions only valid for infinitesimal subatomic particles? Imagine a father focusing immensely on his work. Would this father not sever his relationship with his family in doing so?

In physics terms, would there not be a high level of uncertainty with his family when he is focusing on his work? This theory was hard for scientists to believe; even Albert Einstein quoted the famous expression “God does not play dice” and spent years attempting to disprove it, only to find it true before his death. If Einstein were alive today, he would surely say, “God does play dice.”

Another noteworthy theory is the Pauli Exclusion Principle, which states that electrons must pair together as opposites for them to co-exist. If one electron takes a clockwise orientation spin, then the other electron must naturally take an anti-clockwise electron spin. A good example of this principle in real life is given in an interview by Slavoj Zizek, a Slovenian critical theorist.

He compares the Leftists and the Conservatives with electrons; electrons pair up as opposites just like Leftists and Conservatives. If Leftists take a side on a subject, then the Conservatives will immediately take the other side, as if they are natural enemies.

But what can we deduce from these theories in relation to our human interactions? Should we reduce our experiences to mere mathematical expressions?

This could be analyzed using the famous Schrodinger equation: ψE=ψH In this equation, H is the Hamiltonian operator and E is the total energy, signifying that if we were to combine kinetic energy with potential (internal) energy, we would

have the total energy output of the system. Imagine applying this concept to a human being, where their thoughts, movements and internal chemical reactions could all be calculated to give an energy value.

This energy value would be each human being’s uniqueness. Absurd, but not necessarily impossible. This comes from the theory that “energy is neither created nor destroyed, only converted from one form to another.” And since we are made up of infinitesimal subatomic particles, then our movements, interactions and even basic brain functions are simply the conversion of one form of energy to another. Some scientists like Max Planck even believe that matter itself is a derivative of our own consciousness; that matter and substance are the same (unlike in classical physics).

Unfortunately, the trend of relating our consciousness to quantum theory became unpopular with time.

However, this does not mean that physics is obsolete in explaining our fundamental origins. When we read philosophies of different subjects, very rarely do we see a philosopher or a critical theorist use quantum physics as a basis for their argument, which is why many believe that physics is merely a branch of applied science. Nevertheless, explaining consciousness through quantum theory is an important practical method, attempting to explain the fundamentals of our existence and our life experiences.

AUC Times

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By: Lauren K. Clark / Editor: Thomas Mikhail

IMAGINING WHAT'S REAL: Connecting Einstein's Theory of Relativity to Human Creativity The theory of relativity is associated with the world of darkness and light, having been designed, sculpted, and crafted into equations, scientific experiments, and a host of other things. According to Dr. John D. Norton of the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of History and Philosophy of Science, the theory of relativity is explained as the following: “In Einstein’s theory, the presence of the sun disturbs—that is, curves—the very fabric of space and time. The Earth then merely moves inertially in this new, disturbed spacetime. It follows an inertial trajectory, but that trajectory has been distorted so that it ends up as an ellipse in the space around the sun; or, more precisely, a helical trajectory winding around the sun’s worldline in time.”

Humans grapple with, dissect, and present aspects of Universal movement patterns. And yet, we continue to miss the true wonder of relativity theory. How time and space can be re-shaped and re-designed is one of the highlights of the theory.

It challenges the idea of structures being rigid and disconnected from each other.

In Chapter 3: “Space and Time in Classical Mechanic”s, in The Special and General Theory, by Albert Einstein, the following is stated on fluidity and position: “The purpose of mechanics is to describe how bodies change their position in space, with ‘time.’ I should load my conscience with grave sins against the sacred spirit of of lucidity were I to form the aims of mechanics in this way, without serious reflection

and detailed explanations. Let us proceed to disclose these sins.’’

It is one of the legacies of Albert Einstein; his removal from the linear notion, in observing the unknown.

He refused to only see a linear angle of Point A from Point B. Rather, he could envision the shape of Point Z to Point P. The fact that direction is not solely linear is what is truly innovative and phenomenal in the establishment of the theory of relativity. There is a challenge against what we are taught to see. There is a challenge against what we are deemed as only having the ability to see. Furthermore, through creativity, the theory of relativity transcends being an object of study to being a life force, which is connected to the sensory. Imagination allows for the theory to become alive.

When we imagine, the theories acquire sensory. They become alive. They are felt, tasted, touched, and absorbed. Soon, the human existence has the ability to explore other possibilities.

Einstein’s interesting use of ‘’sin,’’ leads to further inspection. If we explored further, could we also articulate ‘’sin,’’ being humanity’s failure to recognize our own lucid position in space and time? And, could it be that our inability to recognize (or see) this phenomenon as hidden in our failure to tap into our imaginative powers? The fact that it is imagination, which allows us to see the invisible is a wonder, in its own right. The natural phenomena of being immersed within the Universe are invisible to those who merely

Nov ‘18 issue

study it. The theory of relativity allows us to envision how humans can reshape their being. The main concern is to wonder if there is a greater dimension to the mental capabilities of humanity. Movement patterns of human existence lead to a natural performance of this theory; that if we remove ourselves from seeing Einstein’s theory as an object of laboratory study, while actually being part of the process, the infinite wonder of discovery is amplified.

One of the highlights of this theme is to focus on the power of imagination in discussions relating to Einstein’s theory of relativity. How is it that going into different dimensions, and grappling with what is perceived as “imagination,’’ allows for theory. The possibility of natural performances of Einstein’s theory of relativity takes a central place in the article. That even in our studies of the world of the unknown, we are not above universal energy. In actuality, we are part of it. We depend on it, and our movements (and very existence) are intertwined with the Universe, light, and all studies associated with this theory. The fact remains that the theory of relativity was designed and created through daring to imagine what was invisible. Those who dream and tap into the creative psyche seem to be those who end up closer to even a hint of connection with the existence of the theory. Therefore, it is through imagination, where theories are created; and can be given life.

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‘’Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.’’ It is important to delve further in our connection to a theory.

Acknowledgement of life’s existence, within this theory, is what amplifies the possibilities of discovering something greater than what we have already explored. We begin to view and sense that this “theory’’ has a shape, color, feeling, design, and a particular occupation in the Universe, which governs humans’ connection to darkness and light.

It is part of the fascination, that comes when humanity is not always trying to control life, or dominate it.

Rather, when humanity immerses; and liberates itself in the comforts of performance with light and dark, we witness and experience infinite possibilities.

AUC Times

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By: Karim Abdel Hamid / Editor: Raneem Mangoud

BEAUTY OF CHAOS

Computer graphics is a fascinating field that permeates many facets of our modern lives. They exist in ways we can obviously see, in the art, animation, and games of today, but also in ways we don’t, through simulations and architecture, for example. The way that it entered my life, though, was through video games.

The sunrise over a calm morning ocean. Light shining through the leaves of trees. A frosted window blurring its background on a winter day. These are all breathtakingly beautiful, but we tend to take them at face value. We understand these things as different phenomena: we think the blurring of windows has nothing to do with water, and that same blurring has nothing to do with the bright green that adorns the leaves of a tree as the sun shines over it. Nevertheless, the law of the universe - physics - surrounds us all every day, but most people have a very superficial understanding of it. Any understanding of physics, through a course or otherwise, is rarely applied to the world around us because of our superficial intuitive understanding discouraging us from delving deeper into an understanding of the world around us. The issue with that fact, though, is that it alienates us from a more profound understanding of why these things are beautiful, and what makes them special. One good way to understand the beauty of life can come from an understanding of computer graphics.

CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) is basically considered black magic by those who know little about it, but it’s actually simple physics.

Whether in reality or in animated movies, rays of light are bounced throughout a scene, and arrive at the human eye, changing colors and intensity on their way. With CGI, this is done through a process called path tracing, which works very similarly to real physics.Lights are simulated to be shot out - either from the camera seeing where it will go, or the light trying to find its way back to a camera. Every time they reach a surface, some are absorbed, some are reflected, and some of them are even sent through the back and refracted, twisting the rays so that whatever is behind them looks distorted. All these complicated aspects of computer graphics reflect on the complexity of reality itself.

In fact, to capture a single frame of a Pixar movie, hundreds of large, powerful computers the size of fridges are placed inside a large room, taking hours to compute the trillions of rays bouncing around.

Games are where a lot more of the “black magic” comes in, as what you’re seeing changes as you interact with the game. This means that each frame must be drawn really quickly, usually 60 times a second. However, computers are simply not strong

Nov ‘18 issue

enough to keep track of the trillions of tiny rays of light in that short of a time span. Therefore, many tricks are needed to fake the realism. For example, to show the shadows in a tiny crevice, a technique is used which simply checks if there are too many objects too close together, and if so, it starts to shade it. These illusions are fascinating, as when they’re all put together - while it’s very complex and introduces limitations - it can closely resemble real life if done carefully. With games, it’s a bit less of a science, despite you having to know the science behind it; it’s more of an art, where you try to figure out what is the best way to get around a certain problem, and what looks right - figuring out the best practices of both the system you’re trying to create and the what the human eye will or will not catch.

When I go to the beach now and take a look at the morning sunrise, my experience of reality has shifted. As an artist and as a computer graphics developer, the nuances of life are now apparent to me. The light, after traveling 150 million kilometers, scatters through the layers and layers of air to produce a blue hue.

They bounce against the surface of the waves, reflecting at such a steep angle that the light is directed straight into my eyes, shining a bright orange. Half the light, though, gets scattered into the water as it dives right in, rebounds between molecules of water and tiny sand particles, and comes back out, giving the water a far different green color.

The features of light are not all that capture my interest now.

As I walk through the streets of Maadi, I no longer see perfectly manicured blades of grass, cleancut stones of pathways, or uniform leaves far above my head. I see the imperfections of the world. As a kid,

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I always found perfection beautiful.

Perfectly cut geometric angles.

Consistent hues and shapes. Now, I realize nothing is perfect. Nothing is uniform. Everything in life is broken, chaotic, and disorderly. Your left eye may be a fraction of a quarter inch higher than the other. The sidewalk has tiny cracks with little blades of grass shooting through. But then again, life tends to find the perfect balance between the chaos and the order, and that is where beauty lies.

Clearly, not everyone needs to learn computer graphics. It’s a very complicated field, and its specifics don’t lend themselves to most people’s lives. An understanding of how the world around us works, though, can be invaluable, and that understanding can come from anywhere. CGI taught me about art; art taught me about composition, and therefore about photography.

I’ve learned about architecture by admiring the complexity and construction requirements behind any building, how to think more detail-oriented in terms of design, and a lot more. Despite all that, Computer Graphics, as well as art, are all about portraying an experience, whether it be real or fantasy. When you really come down to it, learning about how that experience is made has become a lot more fascinating than the experience itself in most cases. Understanding how experience happens helps us understand individual experiences; and there’s no better way to understand the beauty of life than through its own chaos.

AUC Times

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By: Danya Koueider / Editor: Mahmoud El Shabba

MANIAC: We Can Take Your Pain Away!

I had nothing else to watch when I got into Maniac. I couldn’t have possibly known the heavy emotional turmoil I was about to experience.

Most of the episodes left me feeling a mysterious mix of melancholy and nostalgia for something I’d never experienced, and although it enveloped me with this disturbing feeling, I couldn’t stop clicking the “watch next episode” button. It was like a car crash I couldn’t look away from. It captured the worst, most raw aspects of what it means to be a human being, and all the ugly feelings that come with it—whether we like it or not. This mainly comes through due to the complex narrative of both of the main characters, and the cinematic characteristics of the show that reach the audience through the screen, creating what every filmmaker knows is vital in making a work successful: empathy. The lighting, cinematography, soundtrack, actors, and even the costume design that seemingly creates different characters for the simulative experiences, make this show all that it is.

Maniac is set in a dystopian version of the United States, and stars Emma Stone as Annie Landsberg and Jonah Hill as Owen Milgrim. In the futuristic setting of the show, everyone’s problems are taken care of by newly-created technologies (there’s even a dog poop-scooping robot). Annie and Owen sign up for a scientific trial facilitated

by Neberdine Pharmaceutical Biotech and overseen by Dr. James Mantleray, played by Justin Theroux, to test a new drug that will erase all feelings of pain and suffering. We only find out later in the show that his ambitions to create the drug stem from a fixational urge to erase his own suffering. Mantleray is joined by

Sonoya Mizuno’s character, Dr. Fujita: a scientist whose cigarette habit is excessive to the point where it could be considered part of her costume design. Both doctors think that this drug will be humanity’s answer to the question of how pain should be dealt with, i.e. never having to experience it again. The pill is administered in three stages (A, B and C), and the audience comes along for the ride of traumatic experiences.

The ‘A’ pill, or ‘Agonia’ (Greek for struggle), unveils the single most traumatizing event a person has experienced. This comes as a shock to the audience because, earlier on, we find out that Annie is addicted to the ‘A’ pill, which is the reason she joined the drug trial. So, why is Annie purposefully reliving the most haunting experience of her life?

Because it means she gets to see her sister as often as she wants, on the day before she died in a car crash on a road trip they were taking together.

Annie is willing to experience the mind-numbing pain over and over again, just to be able to see the only person, aside from her dad, that she cared about deeply; the only person that truly understood her. Owen, a paranoid schizophrenic, conversely takes part in the trial as a means of escape from the debilitating pressures of familial interaction.

Both Annie and Owen’s experiences are tangible manifestations of what human beings inadvertently do as they roll over their greatest source of suffering over and over again with no real sense of closure at the end

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Photo by Netflix

Nov ‘18 issue

of the tunnel. This feeling is captured beautifully by Annie as she chases a dreamlike sense of pleasure that is always accompanied by the pain she feels, whether this stems from her survivor guilt, or is a result of a created self-destructive drive.

The B-pill exposes and breaks down people’s natural defense mechanisms—the ways in which they lie to themselves about who they are. With every pill, Annie and Owen delve into surreal alternate realities that weave their real-life difficulties into roles and situations that they unknowingly take on. Through the story of chasing a Don Quixote paper that’s supposed to hold people in their fantasies forever, we see both characters’ true natures. By the end of the simulation, we see them relay what they felt to Dr. Mantleray, and it's quite difficult for them to vocalize.

They have to do something that a lot of people either try to avoid doing often, or don’t do at all: introspection.

They are forced to reveal the worst aspects of themselves and often to someone other than themselves, which makes the experience all the more expository.

The C-pill has to do with the attainment of closure. This is the stage people, in reality, want to achieve, without going through the

throes that come with the earlier two pills. This is exactly when the trial fails. Although this has to do with the malfunctioning of GRTA, the AI regulated machine that processes subject data, more than anything, it’s symbolic in that there cannot be closure without pain, which is what the creation of the pill would have tried to absolve. Going through trauma is inevitable. The pain is needed and it’s the only way to achieve any semblance of the Edenic bliss humans have always, and will always, strive to obtain.

The aspect of the entire show that hurt the most lies within this pill.

Delving into the emotional suffering of both characters regarding their overwhelming loneliness, and no matter how much I felt like I was sucked into the same feelings of emptiness, absolutely nothing hurt as much as Annie’s willingness to remain in the third simulation— ultimately risking the prospect of becoming catatonic in the real world, in order to stay with a simulated version of her dead sister. After witnessing Annie’s growth through the episodes, after watching her improve and evolve, we see her give in. We are reminded of the volatility, the fragility of the human condition. After having identified and sympathized with an addict, and having witnessed their turbulent

journey only to observe their imminent relapse, viewers are confronted with the unrelenting realization that Annie is just human.

The scenic manifestation of the simulation shifts once again and a distraught Annie goes to look for her late sister, Ella. Instead, she sees the troubled projection of GRTA, who was given the capacity to feel emotions in an effort by the doctors to have her empathize with the trial patients. GRTA is overcome with dolor and Annie, seeing this, realizes in a moment of profound clarity that they both share the same fate: lives led by necessary pain. She finally understands the symbolic meaning of the C-pill. In one of the most hopeful cinematographic shots, we see an awoken Annie and Owen's road trip to Salt Lake City.

Annie breaks Owen out of a mental facility after everyone, including his own family, has convinced him that he is too psychotic to function, Annie convinces him otherwise. In a beautiful execution of shots, the mental facility workers chase their pick up truck as they burst out into laughter and there is sunshine. There is the prospect of recovery.

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By: Anonymous

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM “Don’t let them in. Don’t let them see. Be the good girl you always had to be.”

Hearing this song for the first time was a beautiful moment for me. I never knew that this song would soon reflect my feelings. I was a 21 year-old getting emotional over a children’s song, simply because its words spoke for my previous experiences as a special young girl.

Let me introduce myself, I am a young woman in my third year of college. Like everyone else, I am still figuring out who I am and who I want to be. I started this year with a newfound eagerness. I finally began to participate in extra-curricular activities in the university; I started new projects, and I am now trying to speak out against injustice. My problem was that I never focused on myself. This year, I started to reach the universal moment: the wake-up call.

Since childhood, I’ve always seen myself as a regular girl. Living in an Egyptian-American household left an impact on my personality. My mother always told me, “just because everyone is doing something, does not mean that we should do it.”

This always annoyed me. I wasn’t allowed to have cool things like my schoolmates. I wanted to connect with the other girls in my class and I couldn't, assuming it was because I didn’t have a phone. My anger was all focused on how my mother didn’t want to help me get along with the girls, being the typical child that I was. Getting along with the kids in my school was a disaster for me, and I never understood why they treated me so badly. They never really said or did anything wrong that would imply that they were bullying me, but it was all psychological. For example,

when I would speak to them, they would talk through me, as if I were invisible. No matter how hard I tried to be friends with them, I never succeeded. I had one friend, the bus driver. The best friend I ever had in my elementary life. I would sit next to him, and he would tell me stories that would make my day. He was one of the few people that realized what I never knew, that I was hearing impaired.

My mother always wanted to protect me from the crudeness of the world.

She wanted me to hide that I was hearing impaired ,by not letting me learn any sign language, and making sure I pronounce words right. At the same time, she made sure that I would tell the teachers, and those who should know, that I am hearing impaired. She never made me ashamed of it, but she always made sure I knew that my disability was my own strength. She would sometimes threaten to give my hearing aid to my older sister as punishment.

Whichever one of us was a good girl could have the device. My sister wasn’t hearing impaired but she would support my mother in raising me to be strong. With my mother’s assistance, being disabled became my strength, rather than my weakness.

Growing up hearing impaired, I always knew that hiding it was a victory to be celebrated. I acted like I wasn’t struggling, and people praised me for it. The more I was praised, the prouder I was. I had an image of myself that I was strong because I was fighting my primary struggle – disability. I kept fighting, to the point where people didn’t even realize I was hearing impaired. You would think they would notice that I can’t hear, or can’t talk well. But they didn’t. I fought hard to overcome the fact that I was deaf. I practiced to speak well like everyone else, I fought to hear in groups, and in spite

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Photo by Samer Habib

Nov ‘18 issue

of loud noises, just like everyone else. I dealt with people as if I had no troubles; like everyone else.

Fighting the fact that I should come across as normal wasn’t always my top priority. When someone would make fun of how I said something, it made me more depressed; it made me feel weak. It pushed me to try harder, yes, but it was tiring. It felt like I was pushing against the wall, but I was too stubborn to admit it because I was aiming for a goal that I wanted to reach. I always felt like I was like everyone else. I might have needed a little help, but I was just like everyone. I was normal.

and give a big speech, I would never be afraid. In fact, I was very outgoing.

Most of my speeches were successful and I enjoyed it very much. However, coming to AUC was stressful. I had to fight harder. Going through stages from not hearing in class, to not hearing in groups, gave me a hard time continuing in education, but I never asked for help. I delayed receiving accommodations from the Office of Student Wellbeing. But it’s not like I never acknowledged the matter, I was not blind; I knew I was disabled but I also knew that I could be like everyone else. I could forget my limits.

Going to AUC was a call for knowledge and a call for strength.

I was an introvert, calling it my personality. The idea of getting attention from people was too daunting for me. However, I thought highly of myself; I thought I was conveniently confident when I needed to be. If I were to stand up

As I mentioned, AUC was a wake up call. Not that I realized that I am disabled, but realizing that the strength I thought I had in me, was my only weakness. Going through these stages made me angry; angry that they were attacking the only precious thing I had: my confidence.

Someone once told me: you’re

forgetting the elephant in the room.

I didn’t understand what he meant until now. The elephant in the room was my disability. I realized that this was denial. I realized that everything that was holding me back was that I was pushing myself toward a wall – a limit I could never pass. That was the elephant in the room. The one that depressed me; it was the reason why I would give up on endeavours that I couldn’t get right on the first try. Coming to AUC taught me an important lesson: you don’t become fully complete until you actually believe what you really are. The moment I said “I am disabled”, and believed it; that was when my actual strength manifested. If I could go back and talk to my younger self, I’d make her understand that there is nothing to be ashamed of. I would tell her to embrace who she really is: the deaf girl. Because I now I know my worth; I am hearing impaired and I am proud to be. That’s where I spread my wings.

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Photo by Adham Hegazy

AUC Times

By: Sara Yamama / Editor: Mahmoud Fadel

ENTREPRENEURIAL DREAM Running your own business, having your passions fulfilled, reaching your dream; being innovative, doing almost nothing, making money. These are just some of the things people believe entrepreneurs do.

But, are they true, or are they just stereotypes?

According to the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, an entrepreneur is “a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.” The key word here is “any”; the entrepreneur is capable of identifying any shortage in the market and filling it with a product or service. Entrepreneurs don’t have to invent, or create something out of nowhere; they need only

fill the market gap by satisfying a specific need. As such, economic development becomes possible, as starting new businesses improves the economy as a whole. For example, Christopher Khalifa, the CEO and founder of Zooba, is an entrepreneur because he found a gap in the market, taking advantage of the fact that bourgeois Egyptians love showing off to the point where they don’t mind paying 50 pounds for a koshary plate worth 10 pounds.

They believe it makes them look and

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Evidently, that means that both startups and businesses could end up being the same thing at one point.

However, once a company reaches a point where it seems very likely it will still be around in four years, then it is no longer a startup; it is now an enterprise, and it can never become a start-up again. feel good. Therefore, he created his own brand which offered oriental food with high quality ingredients. As a result, he was able to distinguish himself from others and cement his brand in the minds of customers.

Zooba was a new business (an oriental food restaurant) that opened the door for a whole segment of gourmet local food in Egypt, (Tabali, Yokal, etc.) and set an example for younger generations who want to get into the industry. And in that, Zooba actually made a positive contribution to the Egyptian economy and entrepreneurial scene.

Work in an entrepreneurial context is saturated with emotional experiences. Meeting an important deadline, pitching an idea to another investor, deciding whether or not to follow through with an investment, and negotiating with clients and suppliers. These examples play a pivotal role in shaping human cognition, motivation, and behavior, and consequently influence entrepreneurial performance. Entrepreneurship is also associated with important cognitive and motivational benefits, because it increases creativity and stimulates effort while dealing with entrepreneurial tasks. It is also generally associated with negative implications for entrepreneurial performance, as it cultivates constant rewarding social ties, creativity (even when unnecessary), or adjusting to dynamic environments.

The entrepreneurial experience is so perplexing because it is so rewarding, even if it has a relatively negative effect, which is adjusting to the environment. Nevertheless, some people can adjust easily enough, and love the thrill of the unknown.

An entrepreneur could begin by opening a startup. Building a solid financial base can help create a longer personal financial runway for future startup ventures. Establishing a successful small business can build credibility and connections within the business community, which will be paramount when launching a startup that requires outside investments.

Startups encourage creativity and equality due to their flat organisational structure – meaning that there is no formal hierarchy, and that all employees are equal in position – but does that make them resoundingly better than corporates? Corporates are less risky, and there is a clear career ladder that one climbs, reaching higher job positions and earning greater salaries. However, corporates treat their employees poorly by making them work excessive hours. People also experience boredom when they engage in a repetitive work routine.

Corporates thrive on violence, benefiting from the unpaid labor of their low-level workers. Some corporates like Apple encourage creativity, and encourage their highly paid employees to speak their minds, especially when it concerns the Research and Development and Marketing departments. But they benefit from their Chinese labor in sweatshop factories where workers are just paid just £1.12 per hour to produce Apple products that are shipped to the West. They exploit the Chinese workers who are not protected by the regulations advocated within the US as a way to reduce their expenses. They are no better than normal corporates, even if they encourage creativity – in just one country – unlike normal corporates like P&G that have a formal hierarchy that all employees must abide by. In the end, all corporates – whether they are based on having an entrepreneurial appearance or not – benefit off of their employees; how they benefit is the question. Do they exploit their workers like Apple does?

The entrepreneur’s drive should be their intrinsic motivation; to focus on their internal interests and desires, usually following passions which they use for their own satisfaction and success. Entrepreneurs do not get stuck in boring office routines, which makes it an attractive appeal to many. Yet, according to research done by Professor Shikhar Ghosh in Harvard Business School, 75% of startups and over 50% of small businesses fail. Hence, the drive and

thrill to open a business does not guarantee success; the economy also affects the success of that business.

One of the reasons startups and small businesses could fail is due to the free market. The market is left to the interaction power of demand and supply, because their offered product or service might not end up being in high demand. Hence, the product will not be bought, nor monetized which leads to failure.

However, true entrepreneurs should learn from this experience, and find out how to benefit even through the tough market structure. Also, they could fail due to not having enough capital, this means that they will not be able to do anything due to shortage in cash. Morevore, the startup could fail due to not having the right team, maybe the team is just excellent on paper and not in real life.

Despite that, Egypt is now an enriching ecosystem for entrepreneurs to open startups and thrive, especially after the contribution of the Greek campus, which acts as an entrepreneurial hub for startups. There are over 130 startups there which have inspired other companies to relocate to be closer to the Greek campus. Thanks to Chairman Ahmad Al-Alfi, the Greek Campus is the perfect spot for those wishing to fulfill their entrepreneurial dream. No doubt there are other spots as well, but this is arguably the most prominent. There is a high growth potential for startups in Egypt in the next few years. As such, Al-Alfi did not give up when AUC refused selling it, and persisted until opening after the revolution.

Each one has a different experience, be they an entrepreneur, businessman, or even an employee.

It is all about that experience, regardless of whether they open a startup or a corporate, as they end up being the same at one point.

It all depends on the persona and whether or not one has an appetite for high risks. Patience is also key; nobody becomes profitable or successful overnight; they must experience a lot of failure before succeeding, just like Al-Alfi.

The “entrepreneurial dream” is a challenge, but is it worth it?

AUC Times

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By: Amr Abdelazeem / Editor: Nour Ibrahim

THE ROMANTICIZATION OF POOR CULTURE Before coming to AUC, I had the fortune of spending a semester in Alexandria University. Without dwelling over academic differences, the Faculty of Engineering there had to accommodate roughly 16,000 students, and even more in the Faculty of Science and the School of Medicine across the street.

Imagine having over 16,000 young men and women coming to this street every day.

Photo by Almasry Alyoum

Naturally, we needed food, a place to sit down to chat and work and, of course, coffee. This was perhaps the first time that I was properly introduced to the world of small local coffee shops and Egyptian street food. Countless hours were spent at “Zaza”, a coffee shop dominated by the Engineering students. I would order my usual cup of black coffee or tea, and my friend would order shisha. At times we would get some food first from the nearby “foul” cart. There was an element of camaraderie in these places.

The food and drinks were cheap, accommodating everyone in the university. It didn’t matter how much money you had in your pockets, or what your educational background was. Students who went to a public school named after some martyr would stand shoulder to shoulder with those who went to “somethingsomething international school”, eating their falafel sandwiches. After that semester I came to AUC and I am now staying (and indeed writing this article) in Tagamoa. I was eager to replicate my experiences here, and I asked my friends for guidance.

I was horrified at what I found.

To be clear, I did find my street food, and I did find my coffee shops, but there was something essential missing; the camaraderie, the atmosphere. In place of the “foul” cart, I found Zooba and the “oriental bistro” – Tabali. I highly doubt that the man serving the food over the cart would describe his humble food outlet as a French “bistro”.

Nevertheless, one must acknowledge that the coffee shops and the “foul” carts came to serve a need for food, social gathering and recreation for what is considered by many as the

First is the “back to the roots” dips. The exotic trips, even the safari, of the affluent into the lives and realities of the masses.

This is the occasional trip taking the cheap and beaten-up public transportation; the metro, the buses and the microbuses. This is also the occasional meal on some street-food vendor whose sanitation standards are “suboptimal” to say the least.

These dips, these occasional trips and intrusions on some people’s daily realities are a form of recreation and identity affirmation.

It’s the rich person’s method of affirming the shared identity with the poor they often shun beyond their socioeconomic bubble – “We are one of you, for the day at least.” It is also a way to seek the thrill of the unstable and fragile lives of the poor, with the safety net of wealth to fall back on; like parachute jumping.

The other way this romanticization of the lives of the poor manifests itself is in the appropriation of their lifestyles. Traditional dishes such as “foul”, falafel and koshari, originally became a staple of the diet due to their lower costs; the dishes are traditionally made of legumes and pasta, cheap staples that can be found everywhere and can be stored for weeks. These dishes are now being served at chic oriental bistros at prices which the poor simply cannot afford, in colorful packaging and on tablecloths that look like newspapers. The traditional carts, colorful and lettered with quotes which reflect the people’s traditions, beliefs and superstitions are replaced in the wealthier areas by imitation carts which sell the exact same dishes with a smile and a smart “efendim”; a word unheard of between working men. If I were to tell Hany (the proprietor of Zaza coffee shop near the Faculty of Engineering in Alexandria University) about the price of a cup of coffee at what’s supposed to be your average coffee shop, he would be appalled.

He would be even more appalled if I told him about the Shisha.

The reason these outlets are popular with the young and trendy is that they cater to the same need for

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establishing an identity and “battling” inequality, by engaging the rich in the lifestyles of the poor. These outlets provide a perfect imitation of the life of the poor but leave out one minor detail: the poor themselves. They allow for extended exposure to the lifestyle without actually venturing out of their socio-economic bubble.

They allow you to “walk the walk and talk the talk” within the safety of established social borders between patron and waiter. They are poor bistros, exclusive for the rich.

In all fairness to these bistros, they do have some merits. For example, one could argue that they are more inclusive of women, for women couldn’t find a place for themselves at “Zaza”. One could also argue that they provide the international community within places such as AUC with a taste of the culture without all the threats that come with it. But these are all “solutions” to the wrong problems, they don’t tackle the elephant in the room: the ever growing cultural gap between the poor and the rich.

For of course it’s fair and lovely to be poor – when you can afford it, at least.

Photo by Aya Nashed

#green_burger

lower classes of society. Both are places for the working man to have a cheap traditional breakfast and have a decent (I dare not say good) cup of tea. The intrusion of the well-off who do not have to literally sweat for their bread, and who don’t have to bear the words “you’re only worth your daily wage” as a constant reminder of their fragile situation manifests itself in two ways.

#foul_car

#uncle_abdo

Nov ‘18 issue

AUC Times

Page 36

By: Merna Ahmed / Editor: Mahmoud ElHakim

MARX AND CAPITALIST CHANGE A colleague of mine once said, “if you’re twenty and you’re not a Marxist, then you’re an idiot. However, if you’re forty and you’re still a Marxist, then you’re an idiot.”

Marxism is a lot of things, but for this article, I want to focus on Marx’s critique of Capitalism.

Karl Marx, a dedicated socialist, explained the concept of Capitalism, how it is an exploitative system where the owners of the “means of production” (the tools used to produce commodities) exploit the “working class”. Workers are therefore alienated from the product of their labor. He lived in a world where workers were immiserated under Capitalism, and his analysis led him to believe that workers would continue to be so until they spontaneously revolt, inciting a transition in the modes of production and ultimately progressing towards Socialism. According to him, the revolution wouldn’t need a leader since Socialism was a historic inevitability and he didn’t care much for human agency; believing that all of us are products of history, molded by our circumstances to think or act in a certain way. He believed that history is a natural progression that individuals had no control over, and thought Socialism would be the end state. Marx, however, believed that under Capitalism, workers could at least decide who to sell their labor power to, making it better than Feudalism. For him, Capitalism is a natural “mode of production” that precedes Socialism, and is necessary for the transition. Thus, countries must go through a Capitalist period to reach Socialism - something to think about, especially since the Soviet Union and China are so-called failed Socialist states, although they hadn’t gone through a period of Capitalism first.

Marx didn’t believe in incremental change; he believed in revolutionary change and thought that every mode of production in history is changed through a revolution. So, he thought a revolution would move us from Capitalism towards Socialism.

However, he thought he’d see the revolution in his lifetime. This is where the problem begins. If his logic was sound, why is Capitalism still the dominant mode of production?

Vladimir Lenin thought it was because workers needed a leader to revolt. Many other explanations arose, but after the failure of the so called “communist” Soviet Union, Marxism’s reputation was tarnished, especially in the West.

So, was Marx wrong in his understanding of Capitalism? He experienced Capitalism as complete immiseration of workers, and so believed that Capitalism would stay the same and workers’ conditions would continuously worsen until it becomes too much to bear.

However, as Capitalism has shifted from Classical Capitalism, with no governmental intervention in the economy, towards Global Capitalism and the welfare state; workers have gotten more rights, and more agency. They began to work less hours and in much better conditions and can now participate in the stock market. Of course, that’s mostly just in developed countries and really, you could argue that these are all very superficial and limited improvements. According to Marx, workers would still be impoverished in relation to Capitalists and, as long as the means of production aren’t communally owned, they will continue to be exploited. Regardless for their awareness or care for the matter.

Regarding stocks, I should mention

Nov ‘18 issue

Page 37

inequality in developed countries and the inequalities that persist are explained away as human error.

Marx blamed the system; Capitalism blames individuals. There is no objective consensus as to where the blame lies and it depends on how you choose to view the world and the importance of individuality.

Photo by Nada Mohamed the “Agency Problem”. It’s the problem in which the manager of the firm doesn’t work his/her hardest towards maximizing the firm’s profit and instead works to maximize their own. The solution? Bring the manager into the system, or at least make him/her feel included. Give the manager a share of the firm’s stock, or tie their salary to it, perhaps even give the him/her a bonus and relate it to the firm’s profit. This is to make him/her feel like it would be beneficial if the firm makes more profit and encourage the manager to work for the firm’s benefit instead of their own. The problem here is distribution, while the manager would have a share in the company, relative to the original stockholder, it’d be very minuscule. Moreover, the means of production would still be privately owned which continues to allow for exploitation. Even the manager would still be somewhat alienated from the product of his/ her labor, perhaps less so now that s/he owns a share of the firm, but still nonetheless. According to Marx, no one would be getting enough payoff for their labor - because whenever there’s profit there’s theft.

The workers who’ve produced the

output are exploited and their payoff is stolen while the Capitalists who’ve produced nothing would be making profit.

Most people agree that Marx was a genius; he spent a lifetime deconstructing Capitalism, and in spite of the apparent changes, many of his theories still apply. In fact once I heard someone say “if you want to be rich, read Capital and do everything Marx hates.” So, was Marx right? Well, there’s controversy there.

I mean, most of his explanations still hold, however it's been years and there has been no sign of a revolution. Does that mean that, perhaps, Capitalism has ceased to be exploitative?

Capitalism condones inequality. It deems it necessary; people can’t all be equal. They should all have equal opportunity - according to Capitalism in its current form - but they can’t all be equal. So, inequality is pretty essential to Capitalism. When Marx was alive workers barely had any rights and there was prominent inequality. Working conditions now are better than they used to be in most places. There is less visible

Marxism nowadays is viewed as immature; a framework for the lazy who don’t want to be integrated into the “working” system. People don’t consider that perhaps those “lazy” don’t want to join the system because they don’t support its condoning of inequality. It is commonly believed that Marxists will “grow up” and understand that while the world maybe unfair and exploitative, if you work hard enough you can be happy and then it doesn’t matter. The fact might be that if workers benefit, even marginally, from the system and feel like they have a voice in it; they cease to care that there are millionaires living off of their “labor power.” Marx said that Capitalism alienates workers from the product of their labor, however, if workers are under the impression that they are less alienated, perhaps they could disregard that.

The issue in the struggle between Socialism and Capitalism is that there is no objective answer. If someone believes that individual agency is most important and that people make their own future then the inequality of Capitalism makes sense: The world is unfair but you can work your way through it. However, if someone believes that private property is a human construct and that inequality is unacceptable then it would be hard to subscribe to Capitalistic notions such as the “natural rate of unemployment”.

Thus, no one can declare which state is better for human life; it depends on the lived experience.

AUC Times

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By: Mariam Zakzouk / Editor: Yasmine Haggag

AUTHORITY: A Method of Control Or An Invitation For Rebellion?

Authority is something everyone struggles with, whether it be the rebellious teenager who refuses to submit or the vessels of authority themselves failing to exercise control over their subordinates.. According to Max Weber (philosopher and sociologist), there are three types of authority: charismatic, legal-rational, and traditional. Charismatic authority depends on a certain individual that is capable of and possesses the superior power of charisma to rally people, so they put their trust and faith in that individual. The problem is in its consensus; the leader rallies his/her people to face an achievable cause. Traditional authority is built by a dominant personality that depends on tradition and order which gives them mandate to rule. This form is problematic in its lack of morality in the creation of its laws. Legal and rational authority is formed on clearly mandated and structured laws that rule and govern the people. The problem with this authority is in its influence on the creation of systematic behavior such as bureaucracy. These three types are relevant to all portrayals of authority in our daily lives.

not, at some point, authority seeps into our lives and we choose to live under it.

Authority and respect work together.

When we respect a person, we listen to what they say, and more often than not, we take their opinion seriously. This is very relevant to charismatic authority. However, sometimes people equate fear and respect, which is very dangerous.

One shouldn’t respect someone because they fear them. According to Psychology Today, fear is the prime motivator, even ahead of love, hunger, or power. It is rooted in us and manifests subconsciously, reviving fears we had as children and relating them to our modern contexts. Citizens who are fearful or on edge follow the state’s laws without question.

In history, the word might signify the authority of the occupiers of a land over the occupied, as in the case of imperialism which has existed, in one form or another, for millennia. Imperialists decided that they were the patriarchs of the modern world and that everyone should listen to them because, quite simply, they were better.

They were more educated, and they lived in a “civilised” manner.

Even beyond the realms of history and politics, the word “authority” is still very relevant to our daily lives; we see authoritative figures in our classrooms and our teachers, and within our families at home. We see it in the shape of a controlling parent, or in a patriarchal society led by men in power. We also see its essence in the Panopticon concept (the fear of being caught and punished), which is both relevant to legal and religious punishment. Whether we know it or

When we talk about authority in politics, what comes to mind is a lack of liberty and oppressive regimes.

However, that might be the wrong take on political authority. Every single political regime arguably exhibits a form of authority.

The most basic example is the contrast between democracy and dictatorship. The main difference between the two is the concept of choice. Regimes who lean towards democracy generally allow some authority to be in the hands of the common people, while dictatorships either have just one person or a very select number of people in power. A prime example of this is authoritarian regimes, in which there is one ruling central power, or totalitarian regimes who depend on charisma, to ensure the submission of their subjects. Both authoritarian and totalitarian regimes are oppressive dictatorships; one of their

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Photo by Aya Nashed

Nov ‘18 issue

main differences lies in their forms of control.

Additionally, we see authority in our patriarchal society; in our laws based on a skewed idea of religion. When misinterpreted, religion becomes a catalyst to the formation of authoritarian households and, on a bigger scale, regimes. This makes no sense since at its core, religion (Islam) calls out for equality between people.

For instance, Islamic scripture calls out for equality between the sexes. It’s only when patriarchal societies came to existence that the core values of the religion were manipulated for the gain of the patriarchs.

The concept of authority is very complex; when exercised too much, it dilutes human liberties. When a girl’s family forces her to wear the hijab, she becomes a victim of her family’s excessive authority. She is stripped of agency over her own body and loses her right to protest.

Now, that might not be the case for many other girls, but for this specific girl, she loses a lot. The choice of following her family’s orders; the choice most of us have to make on a daily basis; can it be blamed on the religious pressure to defer to authority we’ve been receiving our entire lives, or can we blame it on culture? In reality, the balance

between these two is very tricky. If it is a cultural thing (even though the boundaries between religion and culture are blurred for most Egyptians because religion is an integral part of culture), why is it that we are forced to forgo our liberties and submit to forms of authority from a young age?

In reaction to this abuse of authority, many people rebel. Revolutions are a very familiar way of rebelling politically. We also see a little bit of rebellion in journalism, particularly in newspapers like Mada Masr.

Alas, Mada Masr is one of the few exceptions to Egyptian journalism that portray rebellion. They are currently faced with backlash in the form of government-based censorship and hate speech.

Anthropologically, acts of rebellion through style are widely studied. In the 1950s in London; the youth were put to work and forced to abide by their parent society’s ideals. To rebel, they formed gangs and dressed in a way that was deemed unacceptable.

They wore fancy Italian suits (the norm) but over huge jumpers, or they made them in a different cut than what was acceptable. Another group were more obscenely dressed, with non-gendered outfits and ripped jeans. Which is what today’s fashion is mostly based upon.

In the face of oppression, people find creative ways to create their freedom. Rebellion isn’t always stylistic; more people rebel with actions. A modern example of intellectual rebellion would be picking a social science instead of business as a major.

Dejectedly, rebellion isn’t the only reaction to authority. Another reaction to authority might be organized crime. When they were done being forced into a certain standard; they created their own method of life.

Authority can go both ways, it can be used as a tool for control or a method of oppression, with a very slight difference between the two.

Control, to some extent, makes it easier to live in a society, while oppression creates anger and misdemeanor. It seems impossible to live in a world where everyone is equal. While authority as a concept is important, we tend to take it to the extreme. When taken to this extreme, we rebel. At the end of the day, control is variable, some of us hate it while some of us find comfort in it. A certain amount of controlling authority is healthy and functional.

Alas, like anything else, we’ve managed to take it too far; inviting rebellion.

( I am worthy of love..)

AUC Times

Page 40

A BLACK MASK FOR WHITE SKIN: A Look At Fanon and His Paradox of Blackness In Black Skin, White Masks, Frantz Fanon presents the reader with countless themes concerning the category of blackness in the Antilles islands. Frantz Fanon grapples with the position of blackness (through culture, socio-economic positioning, and inclusion into humanity) in the context of French colonialism.

Utilizing various authors of the Negritude Movement (I.e. Aimé Cesaire, Leopold Senghor), Fanon articulates the role and ideology of the Negro’s self-identity, under the lens of Whiteness through the European gaze of the African and French-colonized islands. Highlights of the Black-American experience in the United States come into play and the term Negro is presented to contextualize the role of Blackness, not only in French society or French colonies, but also among Antillean societies themselves. If the Antillean is not “educated” through French society and customs, then their humanity is subordinate. And while becoming “properly educated’’ in French traditions and customs, one’s blackness is no longer visible. The Antillean Negro becomes an honorary White Frenchman.

Nov ‘18 issue

Page 41

By: Lauren K. Clark / Editor: Mahmoud El Shabba

When bringing Black Skin, White Mask into the context of Black identity, it must be stated that blackness or Negro, is often referred to in the masculine. Race and Black identity is seen through the context of the Black man. His experience becomes the primary target and focus of race. His counterpart, the Black woman, and her experiences (the intersectionality of race and gender) become invisible.

This is articulated in the book, All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave; edited

by Akasha Gloria Hull, Patricia BellScott, and Barbara Smith.

“Because of white women’s racism and Black men’s sexism, there was no room in either area for a serious consideration of the lives of Black women … And even when they have considered Black women …

Black men have remained blind or resistant to the implications of sexual politics in Black women’s lives.”

One finds the presence of Fanon’s male privilege in the chapter dedicated towards “The Coloured Man and White Woman,” where he proclaims that when Negro men are with White women, it is often through love. On the contrary, for the Negro Antillean woman, her relationship with a White man is always in a position of subordination. He is her “master,” as Fanon describes the relationship.

Furthermore, in the chapter dedicated to “The Coloured Man and White Woman,” he incorporates love letters from a White woman to a Negro, Antillean man. Fanon’s inconsistencies make it clear that Negro, Antillean women are not given a way out of the restrictions of blackness, whereas their male counterparts are. In Chapter 2, “The Woman of Color And the White Man”, Fanon utilises the text Je Suis Martiniquaise, by Mayotte Capecia.

Within this section of Black Skin, White Masks, Fanon articulates the following: “Mayotte loves a white man to whom she submits in everything. He is her lord. She asks nothing, demands nothing, except a bit of whiteness in her life. When she tries to determine in her own mind whether the man is

handsome or ugly, she writes, ‘All I know is that he had blue eyes, blond hair, and a light skin, and that I loved him.’”

On the contrary, in Chapter 3: The Man of Color and the White Woman, Fanon paints a different description, as it concerns the White woman.

“Now…who but a white woman can do this for me? By loving me she proves that I am worthy of white love. I am loved like a white man. I am a white man. Her love takes me onto the noble road that leads to total realization … I marry white culture, white beauty, white whiteness.”

Fanon defines the Black woman as enslaved with White men; while Black men can be loved by White women.

When making this connection to Egypt, one has various incidents; reflecting similar auras. The first one relates to the prevalent use of skin bleaching cream by Sudanese and other African women in Cairo, Egypt. In the article, “In Sudan, pale is beautiful but price is high” from the Sudan Tribune, one is presented with the reality of black skin on women, being considered unfeminine; associated with a lower socioeconomic class.

‘People judge you by your colour. . .If they see me and someone else with lighter skin wearing the same clothes, they would say she is living a comfortable life, and I’m a poor woman,’ states Rasha Moussa a Sudanese maid in Khartoum, Sudan Another quote states how ‘more Sudanese are getting white wedding dresses, so they want to look like Egyptians and Europeans…’” states Samira Magar, Egyptian owner of Modern Styles bridal store in Khartoum, Sudan.

The notion of the Black man being able to ‘’elevate’’ himself, by marrying non-Black is also up for discussion in Egypt. It is evident with the experiences of the writer of this article. There have been numerous experiences of French, German, Korean, and Egyptian-Arab women,

seductively approaching her partner, and ignoring her presence; reflecting the mentality of Black femininity being invisible. Supposedly, that it was easy to ‘’take him,’’ from her because white (non-black) skin is considered to be more feminine; that Black relationships are not to be taken seriously. Despite the fact that he is a Black man, it was abnormal for him to choose a Black woman.

Throughout Cairo, a Black person is bound to hear the term “aswad” (or abd-slave). Often, the term can be heard shouted, with obvious, malicious intent. The concept of Negro, as independent and aesthetically pleasing, is foreign, unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and even insulting. This is not only on the part of the Egyptian-Arab population itself; but also among particular African communities, who prefer dependency and slave stature; rather than thriving on one’s own autonomy; seeking validation of non-Black cultures. Again, the African being viewed as more civilized with a non-Black woman or Black woman, who is subordinate to the dominant structure.

The dilemma of Blackness, in the context of Fanon, is one that paralyzes between the disharmony between the feminine and masculine principles. Blackness is in constant discord in validating, substantiating, organizing, and proclaiming its own beauty. It is deemed void of controlling its own aesthetics in the Francophone world. Yet, the phenomenon of Beyonce and Jay Z (The Carters), and their video ‘’Apesh**t,” challenges the dilemma articulated by Fanon. For the video presents blackness (through different facets of Black American culture; while highlighting Marie Benoist’s “Portrait d’une negresse;” the Great Sphinx of Tanis, and important issues associated with Francophone history and the visibility of West African and Caribbean figures) occupying French spaces and showing Black love. It opens new discussions as to how a new epistemology of blackness is being rebirthed in the Francophone and Arab/Islamic worlds.

AUC Times

Page 42

By: Sawsan Ali / Editor: Nour Ibrahim

CLOUDED LOVE Photo by Adham Hegazy Now we know of love, And I know it’s okay That it’s sometimes muddled up.

But you’ve been told it’s all shiny; That you’ll meet someone mesmerizing; In sync with your every move; Perfectly beautiful In a way I could never be.

Your friends clouded your thoughts With that slanderous tale; When will you learn?

Perfect love is a lie and a fairytale.

I blame you For being deceived; Leaving me lost and hurt, Swimming in a sea of empty words.

Broken promises That mean nothing now To the one who first spoke them.

What of our promises?

The clouds we went surfing on In our dreams; The waves we promised would hold our secrets; The castles we built On the holes we dug rocks from; Those rocks we called jewels; Those rocks we turned into crowns.

I was the queen of the sand, And you were the king of the sea.

Our knees submerged in the water, Our hair fluttering in the breeze.

I claimed your scepter; A wooden stick– Our greatest treasure.

You let me have it; I knew not then That you’d claimed my heart You really were a wizard; That scepter was your wand, And I was spellbound.

You gifted me a rock and a shell; Made me promise to hold onto them, Because they would carry a secret I could not retell– A promise.

We recited that promise for years; I kept your secret.

Little did we know, This would all soon end.

Our promise was made in a broken shell; Our love could not withstand The influence of your friends, Who now have you believing That love is meant to be perfect.

And your feelings for me Were so easily bent.

I’m tired of trying to mend our love, But I’ll ask you again: What of our promises?

Those pinky swears and hand spits.

Remiss of you To dismiss spoken words, As though they’re not binding.

Silly of me To spend time reminding you Of when we were kids, When you’d have chosen my heart Over your scepter in a blink; When we knew nothing of love.

You charmed me and claimed my heart.

Even now with a broken heart, I will tell you this much.

Love is not meant to be perfect; It is not found in beauty, Nor in telepathy.

I don’t have to read your mind, Or be perfectly in sync with you, To have a heart like yours.

Love is not found in perfection.

It is in the calmness I feel with you on the beach; In the laughter you bring to my heart; In our quarrels and the fire we unleash.

You residing in my heart– That is love.

But your thoughts have become clouded By what your friends paint as love.

Now your clouded thoughts Have obscured our love, Just as those clouds Obscure the sun.

Our perfect day on the beach, Ruined by fog and rain.

The sandcastles we built, Torn down by thunderous waves.

You no longer see What our love once was; Too busy searching for a perfect girl You will not find, Because none of what your friends say of love is true, And that is the last promise I will ever make you.

‫عدد شهر نوفمبر ‪٢٠١٨‬‬

‫صفحة ‪٢٤‬‬

‫كتبته شيرين أبو الوفا‬

‫خاطرتان نثريتان‬ ‫تصوير چورچينيا باسيلي‬

‫لتعمروا‬ ‫األرض‬ ‫ذهني‬ ‫ال تفارقه هذه الكلمات‬ ‫تحثني على مساءلة نفسي‬ ‫ما أنا بفاعلة قبل الممات؟‬ ‫تزيد شعوري بالقدرة‬ ‫تلك المهدرة ىف سبيل الهدم‪..‬‬ ‫سلطة‪ ،‬فقوة‪ ،‬فنشوة‬ ‫ينبعن من كل ما هو ظلم‪..‬‬ ‫تبعث ىف كياين أمال ً‪،‬‬ ‫كاذبًا ربما‪ ،‬ولكني أميل‪..‬‬ ‫أميل لنور الصباح‬ ‫ً‬ ‫مستحيل‬ ‫مهما كان‬ ‫تحثني على تشبثي‬ ‫بما لم يتشبث به غيري‪..‬‬ ‫قرر بنو آدم نسيانه وتناسيه‬ ‫تجاهله وتحاشيه‬ ‫تنس قدرك يا من خلقت من طين‬ ‫ال َ‬

‫فما المعاناة إال‬ ‫سبيل للحياة‬ ‫للقلب‬ ‫تتبس ُم نفس‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫ِ‬ ‫متبعا‬ ‫لتواسي حزنًا‬ ‫ً‬ ‫لمسير ِة حياة فاتر ٍة‬ ‫تقودك نَحو ال َيأس‬ ‫َ‬ ‫أسي ًرا‪،‬‬ ‫َموت ِ‬ ‫َل ْم ُتخ َل ْق لِت‬ ‫لعالم فاقد لهويته‪..‬‬ ‫يأسرك بأساطير الوهم‬ ‫كفاقد ذاته وضميره‬ ‫ستراين سارحة يف ظالم أفكاري‬ ‫ال تنبهني!‬ ‫ستراين أعاين من كثر ِة شغفي‬ ‫ال توقفني!‬ ‫أتألم مِ نْ بُع ِد أحالمي‬ ‫ستراين‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫ال توقظني!‬ ‫ستراين أعاين‬ ‫معا‬ ‫فلنعان ً‬ ‫ِ‬

‫صفحة ‪٢٣‬‬

‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫تصوير چورچينيا باسيلي‬ ‫اصطدم هو اآلن بروحه المقيدة‪ ،‬فال يعرف لها‬ ‫طري ًقا ليفك أسرها‪ ،‬ولكن ماذا يفعل؟ هل يضحي‬ ‫بكل إنجازاته هذه من أجل مشاعره التي عكف‬ ‫على وأدها؟ وما النفع من مشاعر قد اتفق الجمع‬ ‫على عدم صحتها؟‬ ‫استمر صديقنا يف طريقه غير مبال ًيا بمشاعره‬ ‫الجامدة‪ ،‬وتمكن من االرتفاع بأهراماته ألبعد‬ ‫سماء‪ ،‬فلقد أصيب بالوسواس من الخطأ‪ .‬ال يهدأ‬ ‫له بال إال إذا حصل على الدرجة النهائية يف كل‬ ‫شيء‪ ،‬وال يغمض له جفن إذا انتقص أ يًا من‬ ‫فروض عبادته‪.‬‬ ‫ماذا يفعل اآلن بكل نشاطه هذا وقد أصيب‬ ‫بهوس الكمال‪ ،‬وغابت الفرحة عن نهاره‪ ،‬وال يعرف‬ ‫إال رضا القوانين والفروض؟ ال يعرف إال "يجب"‬ ‫و"الصواب"‪ .‬كيف يتحرر من أغالل "المفروض"‬ ‫التي قيد بها نفسه لسنوات؟ لقد فقد اآلن ثقته‬ ‫بنفسه التي كان يتوهمها‪.‬‬ ‫يريد اآلن أن يبحث عن نفسه الضالة المعقدة من‬ ‫الفشل حتى يف إرضاء نفسها!‬

‫قرر أن يبحث عن نفسه‪ ،‬ولكن كيف؟‬ ‫سأل نفسه‪ :‬ماذا تريدين؟ ولم يجد إجابة نافعة‪،‬‬ ‫فهذا السؤال يمكن أن يستغرق منه سنوات يف‬ ‫الرد عليه‪ .‬هو اآلن يريد أن يخرج للعالم بذاته‬ ‫ويجد معنى ألفعاله من غير خوف وال قلق‪.‬‬ ‫يسير اآلن يف طريق نفسه فقط‪ ،‬وسيعرف كيف‬ ‫يحبها من غير شرط واجب عليها‪ ،‬وال فروض‬ ‫ملتزمة بفعلها‪ .‬سيتعلم كيف يحب نفسه كما‬ ‫هي لذاتها‪.‬‬ ‫سيحول فشله اآلن ألدراج يصعد عليها ً‬ ‫بدل من‬ ‫حملها فوق رأسه‪ .‬هو يعرف مدى وعورة الطريق‬ ‫وطوله‪ ،‬ولكنه بدأ ولن يتوقف‪.‬‬ ‫سيتعلم كيفية الطيران بأجنحته ً‬ ‫بدل من االرتفاع‬ ‫ً‬ ‫فروضا من أجل‬ ‫باألهرامات‪ .‬لن تكون عباداته‬ ‫محو الذنوب التي لطالما ظلم نفسه باقترافها‪ ،‬بل‬ ‫ستكون ح ًبا لروحه وإلهه‪.‬‬ ‫لقد قرر أن يخلع لباس أفكاره المثالية وينسج‬ ‫أفكا ًرا يستمدها من روح حرة مرفرفة يف الفضاء‪.‬‬ ‫عرف أن فشل الماضي ليس عا ًرا‪ ،‬ولكنه فخر‬ ‫بإدرا كه يف الحاضر‪.‬‬ ‫ُترى‪ ،‬هل سيأيت اليوم الذي يعرف فيه نفسه‬ ‫الحقيقية المستحقة للحب يف كل وقت؟ هل‬ ‫سيتأكد من أحقيته يف الحب؟‬ ‫نعم‪ ،‬هو محبوب حتى من نفسه المسكينة التي‬ ‫تنتظر أن تعبر له عن هذا الحب‪.‬‬ ‫سيدرك هذا الحب وقت مالمسته إلنسانيته‪ ،‬فهو‬ ‫محبوب ألنه "إنسان"‪.‬‬

‫عدد شهر نوفمبر ‪٢٠١٨‬‬

‫صفحة ‪٢٢‬‬

‫كتبه فادي صفوت‬

‫كعكة‬ ‫بسكر‬ ‫يتعرض الطفل يف مجتمعنا للعديد من الوصم والتنمر من زمالئه‪،‬‬ ‫وتختلف أشكال ودرجات الوصم تبعً ا لطبيعة المجتمع المحيط‬ ‫فمثل‪ ،‬الفتاة السمينة تستقبل ً‬ ‫ً‬ ‫رفضا من زمالئها ألنها تشبه‬ ‫به‪.‬‬ ‫"الفيل"‪ ،‬والطفل الذي تنم نحافته عن ضعفه‪ ،‬فهو "سفروت"‪،‬‬ ‫واألسمر الشوكوالتة يشبه "بكار"‪ ،‬وغير المجتهد يف دروسه‪ ،‬فهو‬ ‫البليد الخائب المرذول من كل الفصل؛ وهذا باألخص يلقى ً‬ ‫رفضا‬ ‫من كل األطراف المحيطين به‪ ،‬مثل زمالئه المحتقرين للعب معه‪،‬‬ ‫ألنه "بليد" وهم "متفوقون"‪ .‬أما أهله دائمو مقارنته بأقرانه أو‬ ‫اخوته‪ ،‬ناهيك عن استعمالهم آلليات عقاب مختلفة‪ ،‬ليعدل هذا‬ ‫الطفل عن هذه "الكعكة بالسكر"‪ ،‬ويصبح من أوائل فصله‪ ،‬حتى‬ ‫يكون له يف المستقبل شأن وقامة‪.‬‬ ‫وال تختلف نظرة المعلم أو المعلمة لهذا التلميذ عن الباقين‪ ،‬فهو‬ ‫محروم من الهدايا‪ ،‬وال يكتب اسمه يف كشف المتفوقين‪ .‬حتى‬ ‫نظرات الحب واإلعجاب ال يستحقها طبعً ا!‬ ‫كل هذا الرفض ال ينبع من أولئك فقط‪ ،‬بل‬ ‫من داخل نفس الطفل ً‬ ‫أيضا‪ .‬ألنه وجد نفسه ال‬ ‫يستحق وال يكفي‪ .‬ال يستحق الفرح الذي يأيت‬ ‫بعد ظهور النتيجة ألنها ليست مرضية للتوقعات‬ ‫المنتظرة منه‪ ،‬حتى ولو كانت توقعاته هو لنفسه‬ ‫مرضية! ال يكفي ما يحصل عليه يف الدراسة‬ ‫ليكون صاحب مكانة عالية ً‬ ‫مثل!‬ ‫ينج هذا الطفل من كل صور التصغير وعدم‬ ‫لم ُ‬ ‫ينج ً‬ ‫أيضا من رفض نفسه؛‬ ‫مساواته باآلخرين‪ ،‬ولم ُ‬ ‫ولكنه يهرب من كل هذا إىل لعبة ممتعة من‬ ‫ألعاب الكمبيوتر‪ ،‬أو ينضم إىل شلة من الفاشلين‬ ‫أمثاله ليقبلوه ويقبلهم‪ ،‬فهم مرفوضون ً‬ ‫أيضا‪،‬‬ ‫وال يتكبر منهم أحد على اآلخر‪..‬كلهم سواسية يف‬ ‫الفشل‪.‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ممتعا‪ ،‬فلقد تبقى‬ ‫وأيضا‪ ،‬وقته مع نفسه كان‬ ‫ً‬ ‫بعض الحب المتمسك بهذه النفس‪ .‬حب غير‬ ‫مشروط لها‪ ،‬ثقة كبيرة بها‪ .‬كان يبحث‪ ،‬ويقرأ‪،‬‬ ‫ويستمتع بألعابه الحالمة التي يستمدها من‬ ‫عالقته بشخصيات المسلسالت الكرتونية‪ .‬لقد‬ ‫ً‬ ‫أبطال شبه‬ ‫كانت هذه الشخصيات الكرتونية‬ ‫حقيقة داخله‪ ،‬يتسع بها خياله ليفرض على‬ ‫الواقع حقيقتهم هم‪ .‬سيستطيع يف يوم من األيام‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ومنقذا للعالم‪ً ،‬‬ ‫بطل‬ ‫أن يكون مثلهم ربما‪ ،‬مؤث ًرا‬ ‫حقيق ًيا يتحدثون عنه‪ ،‬واث ًقا من نفسه‪ ،‬ماح ًيا‬ ‫ماضيه‪ .‬لكنه يتشكك بعد ذلك‪ ،‬فهل هو مؤثر‬ ‫ح ًقا؟ أو أن له دو ًرا مختل ًفا يف هذه الحياة؟‬ ‫لقد حاولوا أن يدفعوه ليكون مثلهم‪ ،‬ولكنه لم‬ ‫يستطع‪ .‬حاول ولكن ليس له ما يف يده‪ .‬كان‬ ‫يحاول‪ ،‬فيفلح مرة‪ ،‬ويخفق عشرات المرات‪.‬‬ ‫ورغم هذا اإلخفاق‪ ،‬فقد استطاع أن يجد نفسه‬ ‫يف أشياء أخرى‪ ،‬كمتابعة أبطاله الكرتونيين‪ ،‬أو‬ ‫إنباته لبذرة ومتابعتها وهي تشرق بثمرة‪ ،‬ولكن‬ ‫خيبته تتابعه عندما تبتلعها طيور السماء‪ ،‬فيتذكر‬ ‫فشله الذي وصم به والتصق على جبينه‪ .‬فهل‬ ‫يلوم نفسه الفاشلة فيما فعلته العصافير بزرعته؟‬ ‫وهل هو السبب فيما لحق بها من دمار؟‬ ‫عالقته باآلخر لم تكن هي األخرى على أحسن‬ ‫واع‪ -‬أنه لن‬ ‫حال‪ ،‬فلقد ترسب داخله ‪-‬وهو غير ٍ‬ ‫يحظى بالقبول ما دام ال يفعل ما هو عظيم من‬

‫إنجازات دراسية وحياتية‪ .‬حتى نفسه لن تعطف‬ ‫عليه إن لم يمتلك ما يبهرها به من تفوق‪.‬‬ ‫لم يقبل نفسه‪ ،‬ولم يقتنع بقبول أي من الذين‬ ‫حا حقيقية معهم مثل التي‬ ‫قبلوه‪ ،‬فلم يجد رو ً‬ ‫ترفرف يف حلقات مسلسالته‪ ،‬وال التي يجدها مع‬ ‫الحيوانات ً‬ ‫مثل‪ .‬أصبح هوسه الجديد هو مداعبة‬ ‫الحيوانات‪ ،‬هذه الحيوانات الرقيقة عليه‪ ،‬فحبهم‬ ‫هو لذاته وروحه التي ترافق روحهم‪.‬‬ ‫أحب القطط كثي ًرا‪ ،‬وداوم على االعتناء بها واللعب‬ ‫معها‪ ،‬حتى اقتربت يف ألفتها حد وفاء وفاء الكلب‬ ‫لصاحبه‪ ،‬رغم أن القطط ال تفضل االعتمادية على‬ ‫صاحبها‪ ،‬وال التقرب منه وجدان ًيا مثل ما يفعل‬ ‫الكالب‪.‬‬ ‫لكن هذه اللعبة انتهت عندما طردت والدته القطة‬ ‫ً‬ ‫خوفا من جلبها لألمراض‪ ،‬فانسد ذلك الثقب‬ ‫ً‬ ‫وقبول خف ًيا‪.‬‬ ‫الذي أضاء له ح ًبا‬ ‫دائما ما‬ ‫أقنع نفسه هو اآلخر بأن الصواب‬ ‫ً‬ ‫يتعارض مع مشاعرنا‪ .‬إذن‪ ،‬فلتمت مشاعرنا‪،‬‬ ‫ولنفعل الصواب!‬ ‫قرر أن يميت روح الفرح يف اللهو والخيال‪ ،‬وأن‬ ‫ً‬ ‫"رجل"‪ ،‬مشاعره تحت قدميه‪ ،‬وأفكاره صائبة‬ ‫يكون‬ ‫ً‬ ‫دائما‪ .‬قرر الطفل أن يكون ً‬ ‫وعامل فقط‬ ‫رجل زاهدًا‪،‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫من أجل النفع‪ ،‬ولت َُمت كل هذه الشرور المه ِد َرة‬ ‫للوقت‪ .‬قرر أن يكون سلف ًيا راه ًبا متشددًا يف عمله‬ ‫صارما يف قرارته‬ ‫وعبادته‪ ،‬زاهدًا يف مأكله ونومه‪.‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫الحادة العنيفة‪ ،‬وتائ ًبا عن ذنوبه وكسله‪.‬‬ ‫انقلب الولد إىل أقصى القطب اليمين منتظ ًرا‬ ‫بشارة من جبرائيل يف يوم من األيام‪ ،‬فلقد استعد‬ ‫للدعوة التي ولد من أجلها‪ ،‬أال وهي صالح األرض‬ ‫وتعميرها‪.‬‬ ‫كان يذا كر لساعات وساعات متصلة‪ ،‬مميتًا‬ ‫ذنوب اقترفها من قبل‪ .‬واستمر‬ ‫نفسه‪ ،‬ومكف ًرا عن‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫ساه ًرا يف صلواته لسنين هذا عددها‪ ،‬فلن يغفر له‬ ‫دائما‪ ،‬فهو‬ ‫الرحمن‪ .‬يكفي أن بايق قومه المقصرون‬ ‫ً‬ ‫يعيش اآلن وسط قوم من المستهزئين برحمته‬ ‫تعاىل‪ ،‬وطول أناته عليهم‪ ،‬مستمرين يف خطاياهم‬ ‫غير نادمين‪.‬‬ ‫توقف حكمه على نفسه‪ ،‬فيستطيع أن يلجم‬ ‫نفسه بقبضة من يده قبل أن تخطئ‪ ،‬وأصبح‬ ‫يحكم هو اآلن على مجتمع بأكمله‪ ،‬غارق يف‬ ‫الذنوب والمعاصي‪.‬‬ ‫ولقد تمكن من دروسه بعد أن عكف عليها ليل‬ ‫ونهار مع فروضه‪ .‬استطاع أن يبهر أساتذته بذكائه‬ ‫ومهاراته يف االستذكار‪ .‬كان هو األول على أقرانه‪،‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫حاصل على أعلى الدرجات‪ .‬نعم‪ ،‬هو ليس بفاشل‬ ‫ً‬ ‫وملتزما‬ ‫متفوقا يف دراسته‪،‬‬ ‫اآلن‪ .‬لقد أصبح‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ومثال ُيحتذي به يف أخالقه‪ .‬استطاع أن‬ ‫بعبادته‪،‬‬ ‫يعوض كل سنوات خيبته‪.‬‬ ‫هيا يا ولد‪ ،‬افرح اآلن! فلقد يئست كثي ًرا من‬ ‫نفسك‪ ،‬وها اآلن أصبحت مصدر فخ ًرا لنفسك‬ ‫ولهم‪.‬‬ ‫الصادم اآلن هو فشله يف الفرح‪ ،‬وخيبته يف الرضا‬ ‫عن نفسه‪ .‬هل هذا الذي كانت تريده نفسه ح ًقا؟‬ ‫ً‬ ‫أصل؟!‬ ‫وما الذي تريده نفسه إذن‬

‫صفحة ‪٢١‬‬

‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫على‬ ‫أعتاب‬ ‫الحياة‬ ‫قد نألف الشيء حد السكون‪ ،‬وقد نعتاده حد‬ ‫الركود‪ ،‬فنحسب أننا صرنا يف معزل عن كل‬ ‫أذى‪ ،‬تسحبنا الطمأنينة من على شفا الجرف‬ ‫فتستعصي الهاوية عن ال ِذكْر‪ ،‬نسلو الوجل‬ ‫ولفحة الهواء التي ترجف منها أطرافنا‪ .‬البعض‬ ‫جره هواه‬ ‫م ّنا يميل للحافة‪ ،‬فكلما تقهقهر عنها ّ‬ ‫جراً‪ ،‬البعض ال يركن للقلب ويقفو األطراف‪،‬‬ ‫البعض يحيا ليرشف من كل األباريق‪.‬‬

‫كتبته مريم البرنس‬

‫كالهما‪ ،‬من سكن ومن سأم‪ ،‬يبلو الحياة ما أحب‬ ‫منها وما قلى‪ .‬وإن الحياة ال تنفك تدفعنا نحو‬ ‫الغيب مما نحبذ ومما ال نختار‪ .‬قد نج ّرب ما‬ ‫نخشى وما نرغب دون أن نقنع ودون أن نرضى‪،‬‬ ‫وعل أشد الوعظ وأنفسه ما ُتل ّقنه لنا األقدار‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫وم َ‬ ‫رغمين‪ .‬يصيب المشيب يف ساعة‪،‬‬ ‫معصوبين ُ‬ ‫غاض‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫وليس العجز إال لحظة‪ ،‬يدهم المرء فجأة‬ ‫الطرف عن عمره‪ ،‬يانعا ً كان أم كهال ً‪ .‬إن حادث‬ ‫مستعص عضال‪ ،‬أو‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫موت لحبيب‪ ،‬أو خبر مرض‬ ‫خصام م ّر مع عزيز الروح‪ ،‬أو إنهدام وطن‪ ،‬أو إشهار‬ ‫إفالس قد يجتمعون على أحدهم أو يأتوه فرادى‪،‬‬ ‫فيعمر المشيب القلب قبل الرأس‪ ،‬ويخط الزمن‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫رسومه وقصصه على الروح قبل المح ّيا‪ .‬حوادث‬ ‫الدنيا ال تنتهي‪ ،‬وال تألو الحياة جهدا ً إذا ما ابتدعت‬ ‫عتي الباليا‪ .‬وهنا نفطن لحقيقة أن الحياة أ كبر من‬ ‫ضحكاتنا وعبراتنا‪ ،‬فتسير هي كما شاءت‪ ،‬ونسير‬ ‫كما شئنا‪ ،‬ويف األخير يس ّير هللا كلينا كما شاء‪.‬‬ ‫أما ما نختار أن نخوض بداخلنا لحاجة يف أنفسنا‬ ‫نقضيها أوع ّلة نستأصلها‪ ،‬فهو ما يجري عندما‬ ‫يسكننا من ننازله كل يوم‪ ،‬نحاول إرغامه على‬ ‫التغ ّير واالعتياد على ما ال يألف‪ .‬نظفر جولة‬ ‫وننهزم يف األخرى‪ ،‬ننتشي إن ظهرنا‪ ،‬ونخزى إن‬ ‫ُغلبنا‪ .‬ولكن النفس ال تهدأ وال تظفر بسالمها إال‬ ‫لماماً‪ ،‬فلو أىت االعتداد مصاحبا ً للسكون لننتشي‬ ‫بما َعمِ لته أيدينا‪ ،‬أو إن ركنّا إىل ما ُفرض علينا‬ ‫‪..‬سوف يعاودنا يف األوىل جزع النفس ال َن َهمة‪،‬‬ ‫ويف الثانية سيوخزنا الفشل حال أفلح غيرنا‬ ‫كل‪ ،‬إن ارتجافة أول م ّرة‬ ‫ممن عصى وتم ّرد‪ .‬على ّ‬ ‫تتالشى بين ط ّيات التع ّود‪ ،‬فيعود الغريب قريباً‪،‬‬ ‫ويرتد الوجل سكناً‪ ،‬فتجنح الخوافق لك ّرة أخرى‪.‬‬ ‫ولكن أحياناً‪ ،‬شيء ما بجوفنا ال يتغ ّير أبداً‪ ،‬شيء‬ ‫ما تتالطم عنده كل التيارات‪ ،‬وال تجرفنا‪ ،‬شيء‬ ‫يسمح لنا أن نظن لوهلة أننا قصونا عن كل ما‬ ‫نبغضه يف أنفسنا‪ ،‬ثم يردنا على حين غِ ّرة عندما‬ ‫نحسب أننا قطعنا أشواطا ً طواالً‪ .‬حين ندعس‬ ‫مخاوفنا‪ ،‬وندحض أوهامنا‪ ،‬للحظة نحسب أننا‬ ‫أدركنا المبتغى‪ ،‬للحظة نحسب أن الماضي‬ ‫جمنا ولعنا بشيء‪ ،‬خلنا أنفسنا‬ ‫مضى‪ .‬فإن ل ّ‬ ‫صغار الحوادث‪ ،‬ثم‬ ‫نتس ّيد غرائزنا‪ ،‬إىل أن توهننا ِ‬ ‫ننتكس لهزيل العلل‪ .‬وإن نازلنا ما نخشى‪ ،‬حسبنا‬ ‫أنه قد انتفت كل دواعي الخوف من الدنيا‪ ،‬إىل‬ ‫أن يصاحبنا أرق يف ليل بهيم‪ ،‬أو يوجل صدورنا ما‬

‫المصدر ‪pixabay‬‬ ‫لسنا نملك حياله شيء‪ ،‬لتعاودنا رجفة األيدي‪،‬‬ ‫عل كل مساعينا‬ ‫وندى الجبين‪ ،‬وخفقة القلب‪ّ .‬‬ ‫لدفع الخطب تعززه‪ ،‬فيضرب الشيء جذوره‬ ‫يف مهجنا كلما حاولنا اقتالعه ليثبت المفروض‬ ‫صحته‪ ،‬ولو لملمنا من المدحضات ألفاً‪.‬‬ ‫صهاء الجياد‬ ‫شئنا أم أبينا‪ ،‬سوف نمتطي ِ‬ ‫ونعتلي ُمتُن السفن ونطوي الطرق ط ّياً‪،‬‬ ‫سوف نجوب البالد طولها وعرضها ولو لبثنا‬ ‫يف نفس البقعة ألف عام‪ ،‬سوف نعدو ونتعثر‬ ‫ونهوى‪ ،‬سوف نسبح ونغوص ونطفو‪ ،‬سوف‬ ‫نبسم ونضحك ونعتبر وننتحب‪ .‬مذ وطأت‬ ‫أقدامنا أديم األرض‪ ،‬ونحن نسير نحو أقدارنا‬ ‫ما لم نختره منها وما نظن أننا اصطفيناه‪ .‬يف‬ ‫مستهل كل يوم نحن نج ّرب الحياة تا ّرة أخرى‬ ‫حتى لو لم يطرأ جديد‪ ،‬نختبر األمس الذي‬ ‫يرفل يف ثوب اليوم ‪ ..‬ثوب جديد ال ندري ما‬ ‫نطلع على خباياه‪ .‬على أعتاب‬ ‫يحمله لنا وال ّ‬ ‫الحياة‪ ،‬البعض ينكص على عقبيه محجما ً‬ ‫ويولّ الدبر‪ ،‬والبعض يسير بتؤدة وروية حذر‬ ‫الزلل‪ ،‬والبعض يثب مشرعا ً ذراعيه غير عائب‬ ‫المدجج بالمجهول‪ ،‬سيان أن تدفعنا‬ ‫باآليت ُ‬ ‫توطئ لنا السبل إذ نَ ُهم‬ ‫الحياة للحافة‪ ،‬أو ّ‬ ‫بخوض غمارها‪ ..‬فعلى أعتابها نصطف جميعا ً‬ ‫لنشهد منها وجوها ً عِ دّة وأطوارا ً متباينة‪ ،‬منها‬ ‫لسنا نخرج أبدا ً كما ولجنا‪.‬‬

‫عدد شهر نوفمبر ‪٢٠١٨‬‬

‫صفحة ‪٢٠‬‬

‫كتبه مينا عماد‬

‫النفق األسود‬ ‫المقدس‬ ‫أقسم أنني رأيت هللا ألول مرة يف صورة امرأة أمازونية فاتنة‬ ‫كالمنِّ الذي نزل من السماء على شعب موسى يف البرية حينما‬ ‫َ‬ ‫خرج من أرض عبودية فرعون‪ .‬كانت هي يل‪ ،‬وكنت أنا يف زحام‬ ‫القاهرة أتيه يف وجوه من حويل‪ ،‬أهرب مني وأسرح يف ردود أفعال‬ ‫الفايكينج المندفعين إىل أعمالهم يف الشركات‪ ،‬مع الحمالن‬ ‫قاعدي الرصيف‪ ،‬و"متشعلقي" األتوبيس‪ ،‬ومركويب الحكومة‪.‬‬

‫رأيتها تعبر بين إشارة المرور وتجري بجانب‬ ‫طفلة تمد يداها وتطلب أج ًرا مقابل علبة مناديل‪،‬‬ ‫فانتزعتها بقوة إىل جانب الرصيف ووبختْها‪ ،‬ثم‬ ‫احتضنتْها‪ ،‬وخبأ ْتها تحت جناحها‪ ،‬وقالت لها‬ ‫الكلمة التي كنت أتوق إليها‪" :‬اتبعيني"‪.‬‬ ‫ثم شرد بعيدًا يتابع بعينيه أحد العابرين بين‬ ‫المقاعد‪ ،‬يتزاحم ليجلس يف الصف األول‬ ‫رغم وصوله المتأخر‪ ،‬وعندما نظر له من حوله‬ ‫باستهجان‪ ،‬همهم بعجالة وقال لهم‪" :‬أصحاب‬ ‫الساعة األخيرة يا بهائم ذكرهم المسيح يف‬ ‫اإلنجيل بـ "أصحاب الساعة الحادية عشر‬ ‫ويأخذون نفس األجر‪ ".‬ثم جلس متفاخرا َ ورفع‬ ‫عينيه على الواقف عند المنصة يف صمت ثقيل و‬ ‫مزعج جدًا‪ ،‬ثم تابع الشارد حديثه ‪..‬‬ ‫كانت الخالص الوحيد لهذا العالم من قذارته‬ ‫وانحداره نحو الجحيم‪ ،‬آخر نغم لموسيقى‬ ‫كالسيكية متوحشة من جرامافون قديم‪ ،‬وترنيمة‬ ‫تحيل أوكار الظالم لدور العبادة‪ .‬أتذكر ً‬ ‫مثل كيف‬ ‫كان العراك يسكن الشوارع حينما تعبر بين‬ ‫المتخاصمين‪ ،‬وأتذكر كيف كان أصحاب الدكاكين‬ ‫يتلون الذكر حينما يرون محياها‪ ،‬حتى يف إشارات‬ ‫المرور‪ ،‬كانت هي النسيم الذي يجبر السائقين‬ ‫على التوقف عن سب الدين للتسبيح‪ .‬كانت هي‬ ‫األراضي المقدسة يف الفاتيكان ومكة وأورشليم‪،‬‬ ‫وكنت أنا وحدي كل الحجاج إليها‪ ،‬طمعت فيها‬ ‫لنفسي‪ ،‬وسكنتها وحدي‪ ،‬وقدستها وحدي‪ ،‬واآلن‬ ‫أتحمل كل األلم وحدي‪.‬‬ ‫ثم صرخ عال ًيا كالمسيح معل ًقا على الصليب قبل‬ ‫أن يسلم الروح‪:‬‬

‫تصوير آية ناشد‬

‫أتتني بفستان أزرق قصير‪ ،‬وشراب أسود كلونيه‪،‬‬ ‫تخرج من محطة قطار رمسيس وتتجه نحوي‪.‬‬ ‫ومن بعيد‪ ،‬كنت أظنها تسير حافية القدمين‬ ‫وكأنها تمشي على الماء‪ ،‬ولكن حينما كادت أن‬ ‫تقترب مني‪ ،‬أمسكت أنفاسي وأخفضت رأسي‬ ‫تلقائ ًيا وكأنها تدعوين ‪-‬دون أن تطلب – للسجود‪.‬‬ ‫وهنا رأيت حذا ًء رقي ًقا ترتديه قدماها‪ .‬نسيت‬ ‫اسمه لحظتها‪ ،‬ولكن حينما تجاوزتني ورأيت‬ ‫خصالتها الشقراء تتمرجح على ظهرها الالمع من‬ ‫نادما مرددًا‪:‬‬ ‫بعيد‪ ،‬ارتد الضوء على عيني فانتبهت‬ ‫ً‬ ‫"باليرينا!"‬ ‫ابتعدت "فينوس" ووجدتني أتبعها ال تلقائ ًيا‪ ،‬أريد‬ ‫أن أصرخ وأقول لها‪" :‬يا مسيح‪ ،‬أال تحتاج اآلن‬ ‫ألول تالميذك ؟"‪ ،‬ولكنني اخترت الصمت‪.‬‬ ‫وفجأة توقف عن الكالم و بلع صديدًا يف حلقه و‬ ‫تابع ‪..‬‬ ‫كانت راقصة مليئة بالحياة‪ ،‬اختارت أن تنزل كل‬ ‫فترة محطات المترو للتبشير‪ ،‬ال بالمسيحية وال‬ ‫باإلسالم‪ ،‬لكن بدين " الباليه"‪ ،‬وفرض الخمس‬ ‫رقصات يف اليوم‪ .‬كانت تدب الحياة وتهبها‬ ‫لألموات السائرين‪.‬‬

‫أصبحت‬ ‫فينوس فينوس‪ ،‬لماذا تركتِني؟ يا آلهتي‬ ‫ِ‬ ‫اآلن مصدر شقايئ ووجعي‪.‬‬ ‫ثم قطع صالته وحول نظره إىل الحاضرين‬ ‫بأجسادهم‪:‬‬ ‫لقد ماتت اآلن التي كنت أحيا من أجلها‪ ،‬ماتت‬ ‫آلهتي وأصبحت كاف ًرا‪ .‬اآلن أيها المنافقين‪ ،‬أعلن‬ ‫انقضاء العزاء‪ ،‬وال تحاولوا أن تعزوين وأن تتصنعوا‬ ‫حس المشاركة‪ ،‬وأبشركم أن اآلن هي ساعة‬ ‫القيامة‪ ،‬فلتذهبوا جميعكم إىل الجحيم!‬ ‫ثم اغرورقت عيناه بالدموع عنوة‪ ،‬ونزل من على‬ ‫خشبة المسرح‪ ،‬وعبر بين جميع المتسربلين‬ ‫سريعا‪ ،‬فكانوا مِ ن حوله كأنهم نفق أسود‬ ‫باألسود‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ً‬ ‫مسرغا؛ ظنًا أنها تقف يف نهاية‬ ‫طويل يمشي فيه‬ ‫النفق تنتظره‪ ،‬حتى اختفى يف صمت‪ ،‬وأصبح‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ثقيل جدًا على كل من يف العزاء‪ ،‬ولكنه لم‬ ‫الهواء‬ ‫يكن أثقل من صاحبنا الذي ال يعرفون عنه إال أنه‬ ‫جاء هذه القرية من زمن بعيد‪ ،‬وقد بلغ الثمانين‬ ‫من عمره؛ ولم يعرفوا عنه وال عن فينوس أي‬ ‫شيء‪ ،‬إال أنها اآلن قد ماتت وهو ألول مرة أصبح‪..‬‬ ‫وحيدًا‪.‬‬

‫صفحة ‪١٩‬‬

‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫تصوير ملك وجيه‬

‫يفر منه‪ ،‬حيث تجرفه ذكرى طيبة ألخرى نَكِدة‪.‬‬ ‫وإنه إذ يسير يف أروقة العمل ومع كل ما يعتمل‬ ‫يف عقله‪ ،‬إال أنه يحاول جهده التبسم للغادي‬ ‫أمل فارقته منذ زمن ليس‬ ‫والرائح باثًا فيهم روح‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫كصفوان‪ ،‬لكنه يف‬ ‫بالقريب‪ ...‬يبدو أمامهم َصلدًا َ‬ ‫داخله يرتجي ليومه أن ينتهي بال خسائ َر تفضح‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫الهشة‪ .‬فبرغم ما ُيبديه من حماسة‬ ‫حقيقة روحه‬ ‫احترف اصطناعها‪ ،‬إال أن ُ‬ ‫شحوب وجهه ووزنَه‬ ‫الزائ َد كشفا إهما َله شأن نفسه أمام أقرانه يف‬ ‫العمل‪ .‬يدرك أنهم ما أن يعلموا بسجن ماضيه‪،‬‬ ‫سيأتونه ملقين على مسامعه ما حفظوه طوال‬ ‫دهور‪ ،‬ما كأن حيواتهم قد قلبها الماضي ظه ًرا‬ ‫بأس أو كان‬ ‫لبطن‪ .‬ال فارق عنده إن لم يكن بهم ٌ‬ ‫الشقا ُء أنيس أيامِ هم‪ ،‬هم ما عاشوا هول ما عاش‬ ‫كل‪ .‬كيف يغلِظون األَيمانَ بإدرا كهم ما يم ّر‬ ‫على ٍ‬ ‫به وما ج ّر بوا معشار ما الىق من األذى؟ طال َعت ُبه‬ ‫على حفظ ِة المواعظ والنصائح‪ ،‬إذ حان موعد‬ ‫الغرق يف غمراتِهم‪ .‬األن يأتيه ال َّردى من حيث ال‬ ‫عسل ُيقرِيه إياه أحدهم كأنه‬ ‫س ّم يف‬ ‫يدري‪ ،‬كمثل ُ‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫ُيطعمه‪ ،‬وإنه لقاتِ ُله‪ .‬يأتيه ليبدي له رأ يًا يف شي ٍء‬ ‫ما ثم يقول "تبدو شاح ًبا اليوم!" أو تنظر إليه‬ ‫إحداهن نظرة من نوع "يا إلهي! كيف زاد وزنه كل‬ ‫هذه األرطال يف مثل هذه الفترة القصيرة؟ ترى‬ ‫ماذا يمر به؟!" هذا وليس تجمعه بهم إال َعالئِق‬ ‫العمل (إن جمعتهم)‪.‬‬

‫عالم رأَوا يف عينه ال َقذى ونسوا الجذوع يف‬ ‫َ‬ ‫أعينهم؟ لم يعلم هؤالء أن كلماتهم كال َّرصاص‪،‬‬ ‫قلوب‬ ‫تخترق الصدور كأسياخ النار‪ ،‬وتحترق بها‬ ‫ٌ‬ ‫لطالما حاولت التماس محيص من ألسنتهم‬ ‫التي سلطوها على غيرهم كالسياط‪ ...‬كأنما‬ ‫هم أرباب الكمال الناطقون باسم الفضيلة يف‬ ‫األرض‪ ..‬أو أن لهم من العصمة ما يرون به كل‬ ‫شيء على حقيقته المطلقة‪ .‬ال عليك من اختالف‬ ‫الفالسفة يف مفهوم الحقيقة منذ آالف السنين‪،‬‬ ‫َّ‬ ‫واألدق‬ ‫هم يعلمون أ كثر‪ ،‬هم األذكى واألكثر خبر ًة‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ك غال ًبا ما‬ ‫ح َ‬ ‫تحليل لألمور‪ ...‬غ َفلوا عن أنّ راج َ‬ ‫الثبوت قد ال‬ ‫قطعي‬ ‫رأوه‬ ‫ما‬ ‫وأن‬ ‫هم‪،‬‬ ‫ح‬ ‫مرجو‬ ‫يكون‬ ‫ِ‬ ‫َ‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫يزال عندك تحت مجهر الر ْيب‪ ...‬ثم أطبقت عليهم‬ ‫ظلم ُة غفلتهم لما تجاهلوا أن مِ ن الناس َمن‬ ‫تجرحهم النظرات والكلمات‪ ،‬وأن إراقة ماء حياتهم‬ ‫لهو دون إراقة ماء ُمح ّياهم‪ ...‬يضيق باألسئلة‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫رعا‪ ...‬يو ُّد لو يصرخ أن "يا هذا أنا أعلم بسوء‬ ‫َذ ً‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫فعلت ما بوسعي كي ال أ كون‬ ‫حايل منك‪ ،‬ولقد‬ ‫ً‬ ‫فضل عن‬ ‫يف موقفي هذا‪ ..‬فال تحاكمني بعينيك‪،‬‬ ‫كلماتك‪ ،‬فإين على األرجح قلت لنفسي كل ما‬ ‫َهم أنت بقوله يفّ‪ ..‬فإال تكن يل معينا فال أقل‬ ‫ست ّ‬ ‫من أن تكفني أذاك"‪.‬‬ ‫ال لن يصرخ اليوم‪ ،‬فقد حان لهذا الجمع أن ينفض‬ ‫إذ دقت عقارب الساعة مؤذنة بنهاية يوم عمل‬ ‫آخر‪.‬‬

‫عدد شهر نوفمبر ‪٢٠١٨‬‬

‫صفحة ‪١٨‬‬

‫كتبه إبراهيم عبدهللا‬

‫يوم‬ ‫عمل‬ ‫آخر‬

‫حا قاصدً ا العمل‪ ،‬يستجدي النشاط الذي غاب عنه منذ الزمته عادة‬ ‫خرج من بيته صبا ً‬ ‫السهر‪ .‬ما عاد يف أحسن حاالته بعد أن طحنته رحايا التجارب األخيرة يف حياته؛ لكنه ال زال‬ ‫البسا قناع اللطف والجلد أمام الناس‪ .‬ما كان لهم ذنب ليروا منه ما يسوؤهم‪ ،‬وال يحب‬ ‫ً‬ ‫إشرا كهم فيما ال يخصهم‪ ،‬وليتهم يفقهون ذلك‪.‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫طفل شاردًا‪ .‬سرعان‬ ‫شرد فكره يف الزحام‪ ،‬ثم استقر به عند طيف أتاه ُمذكِّ ًرا إياه بنفسه‬ ‫ما استحال طيف الطفل شابًا مراهِ ًقا مر َه ًقا بالقيود والوحدة‪ .‬ثم مرت بباله‪ ..‬تذكر اختفاء‬ ‫العالم بوجودها‪ ،‬حبه لها‪ ،‬هجرها له‪ .‬كان قد درب عقله طوال شهور على تفادي األفكار التي‬ ‫تسوقه نهايتها إليها‪ ..‬لكن ماذا عن الخواطر؟ كيف له أن يحكمها؟ّ! قرأ يف أحد أبحاث علم‬ ‫النفس أن فواجع العاطفة ال تثخن جراح الروح ألكثر من عام على األرجح‪ ،‬وها هو ذا العام‬ ‫ْ‬ ‫دخلت حياته‪ ،‬فأشرق النور‪ ،‬وأضاء‬ ‫قد انقضى‪ ،‬وأمثاله معه‪ ،‬وما َضمِ د نزيف روحه بعد‪.‬‬ ‫ظالما لم ُيج ّرب سواه‪ ،‬ثم َو ّلت وكأن كل ما كان ما كان‪ .‬كان‬ ‫أركان قلبه الذي كان قد ألف‬ ‫ً‬ ‫قديما بما أورده جبران خليل جبران من أن المرء ال يموت دفعة واحدة‪ ،‬بل يموت‬ ‫مؤم ًنا‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ْ‬ ‫ذهبت‪ ،‬كان يسخر يف‬ ‫جز ًءا تلو اآلخر‪ ،‬ولكنه لم يكن يعلم أنها آخ ُر ما تبقى فيه‪ ،‬لذا حين‬ ‫بال‬ ‫داخله من الموت األكبر ‪-‬على حد تعبير جبران‪ -‬الذي لن يجد يف داخله شيئًا ح ًيا ذا ٍ‬ ‫ليقبضه‪ .‬سيحاول نسيانها مجددًا‪ ،‬اآلن على األقل‪ ،‬فجعبته مألى بذكريات كثير ٍة أُ َ‬ ‫خر‪ .‬على‬ ‫ذكر الموت والحياة‪ ،‬تذكر شبابه الذي قا َرب الفناء‪ ،‬ها هو ذا يوشك أن يستحيل ً‬ ‫كهل وما‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ترياقا ُينسي اإلنسان ماضيه لكان أقدَ َر على‬ ‫قدم لنفسه شيئًا ذا بال‪ .‬لربما لو كان هناك‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫بذل روحه لحاضره‪ ،‬ولكن حاصرته ذكريات الماضي كالضباع التي ما عرف عنها إال جبنها‪،‬‬ ‫فيستحيل ضع ُفك موتًا ال قيامة بعده‪.‬‬ ‫تفترسك وأنت أضعف ما يكون‪،‬‬ ‫ُ‬

‫وق زمرة‬ ‫أعلنت إشارة المرور الخضراء اإليذانَ َ‬ ‫بس ِ‬ ‫الطوعي لثمان‬ ‫أخرى من الناس إىل حيث الحبس َ‬ ‫ساعات على األقل‪ .‬ما أفاق من شروده إال على‬ ‫صوت بوق إحدى السيارة المنتظرة خلفه‪ ،‬يسبه‬ ‫تتابعا اشت ُِهر بين السائقين‪ .‬انطلق‬ ‫مترنما‬ ‫بأمه‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ً‬ ‫والذكريات ال تفارقه‪ ،‬تحاصره كظالم يطارد أفكاره‬ ‫كلما قاربت النور‪ ،‬فتظل حبيسته على طول‬ ‫المسير‪ ،‬لكنها ال تصل إىل النور‪ ،‬كأنه كتب عليه‬ ‫أي تجارب الماضي‬ ‫شقاء الماضي أبدًا‪ .‬ال يدري ُّ‬ ‫تحديدًا كانت القشة التي قصمت ظهر بعيره‪،‬‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫ماض أبت‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫ذكريات‬ ‫فالنتيج ُة واحدة ٌ على أية حال؛‬ ‫وتمنع أحالم المستقبل‬ ‫إال أن ُتكدِّر خواطر الحاضر‬ ‫َ‬ ‫من ورود عقله‪ ...‬هي كأ ُ ْس ِد َفال ٍة تتعقبه من خلف‬ ‫حاجز زجاجي‪ ،‬فال هي تاركتُه بزئيرها الهادر ِ فيجدُ‬ ‫محيصا‪ ،‬وال هو يستطيع الرجوع إليها‬ ‫من الصحراء‬ ‫ً‬ ‫فيغتالها‪ ،‬أو تفتك به‪.‬‬ ‫أخي ًرا‪ ،‬يصل إىل مقر عمله ليبدأ طو ًرا يوم ًيا جديدًا‪،‬‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫دوامات ذكرياته المحرقة المغرقة‪.‬‬ ‫إنها الدوامات؛‬ ‫تجاهل نيران جلد الذات التي تلهبه‬ ‫إنه‪ ،‬وإنْ‬ ‫َ‬ ‫بسياطها‪ ،‬فكيف له أن يتجاوز بحور نظرات الناس‬ ‫المستغرب ِة إليه؟ مازالت تذكيه مواقف عفا‬ ‫ماض لم ُيخمِ دها رما ُد‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫عليها زمان طويل‪ ...‬نيرانُ‬ ‫الحاضر‪ .‬يتوسل إىل عقله أن ينتهي عن التفكير‬ ‫يف ذلك‪ ،‬واللعين ال يفعل‪ ،‬بل إنه يزداد حماقة‬ ‫َ‬ ‫مواقف أ ُ َ‬ ‫خر‪ ...‬أتذكر لما حدث كذا؟ كيف‬ ‫بسرد‬ ‫لم تلتفت إىل هذا األمر؟ وكيف لم تتصرف بهذه‬

‫الطريقة أو حتى تلك؟ يا َلحماقتك! صار يخشى‬ ‫ً‬ ‫خوفا من أن‬ ‫الذكريات‪ ،‬حتى الط ّيبة يف ظاهرها‪،‬‬ ‫تأخذه إىل حيث ال يريد‪ ...‬موقف غريب هنا‪ ،‬نظرة‬ ‫مريبة هناك‪ ،‬أو تعليق سخيف من أحدهم يمحو‬ ‫ألوان الذكرى وطيبها‪ .‬يعلم أن الصواب النظري‬ ‫ً‬ ‫إيجابية فيتعلم مما‬ ‫يحتم عليه أن يكون أ كثر‬ ‫سبق من التجارب‪ ،‬يفكر‪ ،‬يحلل‪ ،‬يستنتج‪ ،‬ويودّع‬ ‫الماضي ب ُرعو ِد غمام ِه وصواعقه‪ ،‬منتب ًها لحاضره‪،‬‬ ‫متطلعا لمستقبله بعقل أ كثر استعدادًا لما ‪-‬وال‬ ‫ً‬ ‫شك‪ -‬سينفثه المستقبل‪ .‬كيف ال‪ ،‬وقد تس ّلح‬ ‫بمعرف ٍة تقي ِه شر ما سيأيت حيث صقلها سوء ما‬ ‫أىت‪...‬‬ ‫ولكنه لم يفعل! ظل حبيس الذكرى‪ .‬يعلم أنه اآلن‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫تصرف عن‬ ‫ل بغمائمِ أفكاره السلبية التي‬ ‫مظل ٌ‬ ‫ذا كرته خي َر ما م ّر به‪ُ .‬يذكّره هذا بالسطور األخيرة‬ ‫خطاب نجيب محفوظ حين تق ّلد جائزة نوبل‪،‬‬ ‫يف‬ ‫ِ‬ ‫كان من ذلك قوله "غاية ما يف األمر أن الشر‬ ‫صخب ومرتفع الصوت‪ ،‬وأن اإلنسان‬ ‫عربيد ذو‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫يتذكر ما يؤلمه أ كثر مما يسره"‪ .‬اآلن ينصرف‬ ‫ذهنه إىل أيام الصبا والصبابة الخوايل‪ ،‬حيث كان‬ ‫الشغف دافعه‪ .‬ما زال يذكر ميوله الطفولية‬ ‫التي كانت تدعوه لتجربة ألف شيء يف آن‪ ،‬حيث‬ ‫اعتلجت نجاحات التجارب مع سقطاتها‪ .‬كانت‬ ‫هذه أوقاتًا طيبة‪ ،‬قبل أن تسود السقطات‪ ،‬وتقل‬ ‫النجاحات‪ ،‬ويموت الشغف‪ .‬ترتسم ابتسامة‬ ‫ساخرة على جانب شفتيه‪ ،‬مرة أخرى يقع فيما‬

‫صفحة ‪١٧‬‬

‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫تصوير شيرين الجندي‬ ‫إن تجارب اآلخرين قد تحتوي على إجابات كافية‬ ‫فيما نود معرفته عن التجارب التي نود القيام‬ ‫بها‪ .‬ولكن هل يجب علينا أخذ آرائهم كدليل قاطع‬ ‫وكاف لنبني عليه قراراتنا وتجاربنا الحياتية؟‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫جميعا نعلم أن المخدرات شيء مروع‪ ،‬فهو‬ ‫فنحن‬ ‫ً‬ ‫غير مقبول اجتماع ًيا ويعاقب عليه القانون‪ ،‬ولكن‬ ‫مع ذلك هناك الماليين ممن يقومون بتجربته‬ ‫يكتف أولئك بآراء من جاءوا‬ ‫سنويًا‪ .‬فلماذا لم‬ ‫ِ‬ ‫قبلهم؟‬ ‫أعتقد أن اإلجابة هنا ستكون أنهم أرادوا أن‬ ‫يجربوا بأنفسهم‪ .‬فالحياة تجارب معادة‪ .‬فكل‬ ‫شيء ستقوم به‪ ،‬قد سبقك أحد يف فعله‪ ،‬ففي‬ ‫تلك الحالة يمكننا أن نسأل الناس عن كل شيء‬ ‫نود تجربته‪ ،‬فنعلم ما سيحدث إن فعلنا مثلهم‪،‬‬ ‫وبذلك نكون قد أرحنا أنفسنا من عناء التجربة‪.‬‬ ‫ولكن أتكون تلك حياة؟!‬ ‫هناك نظرية دفاعية أخرى تتمحور حول أننا ال‬ ‫يجب أن نأخذ تجارب اآلخرين وخبراتهم السابقة‬ ‫ونبني عليها حياتنا‪ ،‬فلكل إنسان نظرته الخاصة‬ ‫للعالم من حوله‪ ،‬وكل يراه من منظوره الخاص‪.‬‬ ‫فلماذا إذن نحكم ألنفسنا بمنظور ليس لنا‪.‬‬ ‫نعم يجب علينا الخروج من دوائر راحتنا‪ ،‬ولكن‬ ‫ليس من الواجب أن تقفز من أعلى جبل يف أعمق‬ ‫نهر! فالحياة تجارب نخوضها‪ ،‬تشكلنا وتعلمنا‪،‬‬ ‫وعلينا أن نحكم نحن فيما نمر به‪ ،‬ولكن علينا أن‬ ‫نكون على دراية ويقين كافيين أين نضع الحد‪.‬‬ ‫فنعم‪ ،‬إذا ركضت أمام ثور‪ ،‬سينتج جسمك كل‬ ‫خصيصا إذا‬ ‫ما تريد من األدرينالين والدوبامين‪،‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫لم تصب يف النهاية‪ ،‬ولكن أتلك تجربة تستحق‬

‫أن تغامر بحياتك من أجلها؟ المخاطرة شيء‬ ‫مفيد‪ ،‬فال شيء ينتج‪ ،‬وأنت بمأمن تحتسي‬ ‫"النسكافيه"‪ ،‬ولكن يجب عليك أن تعلم جيدًا‬ ‫لماذا تخاطر‪ ،‬فثمن تلك المخاطرة سيكون‬ ‫حياتك!‬ ‫لتقوم بالتجربة‪ ،‬يجب عليك أن تكون إنسانًا‬ ‫شجاعا‪ ،‬فليس كل إنسان قادر على أخذ قرار‬ ‫ً‬ ‫السباحة مع أسماك القرش‪ .‬فلكل إنسان مقدار‬ ‫من الشجاعة‪ ،‬وعلى حسب ذلك المقدار تكون‬ ‫تجاربه‪ ،‬وهو أمر ال يعاب عليه أحد‪ .‬فسواء كنت‬ ‫ممن يمتلكون قلب أسدـ أو تخاف من صرصور‪،‬‬ ‫يجب عليك أن تخوض التجارب التي تستطيع‬ ‫أن تخوضها يف الوقت الحايل‪ .‬فما التجارب إال‬ ‫انتصارات صغيرة مستمرة على النفس‪.‬‬ ‫مهما طالت سنوات حياتك‪ ،‬ساعات عمرك لن‬ ‫تسع كل التجارب التي يمكنك القيام بها‪ .‬وهو‬ ‫أمر قد يؤرق أي شخص يود بتجربة الكثير‪ .‬لذلك‬ ‫يجب أن نختار بدقة ما نُقدم على فعله‪ ،‬فالحياة‬ ‫قصيرة‪ ،‬واإلمكانيات ال محدودة‪ .‬ويف النهاية‪،‬‬ ‫التجارب هي من تشكل وتصنع من نحن‪ ،‬فكن‬ ‫حذ ًرا بما تصنع بنفسك‪ ،‬فأنت نتاج تجاربك أنت‪.‬‬

‫عدد شهر نوفمبر ‪٢٠١٨‬‬

‫صفحة ‪١٦‬‬

‫كتبته منة هارون‬

‫(ال أحب الفاصوليا‬ ‫يا أمي‪)...‬‬

‫تجربة‬ ‫أن‬ ‫تجرب‬ ‫هل تريد قطعة من‬ ‫"البراوين" الساخنة التي‬ ‫تمأل رائحة الشوكوالتة‬ ‫بها ذرات الهواء من‬ ‫حولك؟ ما رأيك يف تجربة‬ ‫نوع جديد من معطر هواء‬ ‫السيارات؟ هل تود أخذ‬ ‫صورة لك وأنت تحتضن‬ ‫ذلك الشبل شبه‬ ‫المغشي عليه؟ أتريد‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫نفسا من تلك السيجارة؟‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ماذا سيحدث إن قررت‬ ‫القفز بمظلة؟ من ال يريد‬ ‫تجربة السفر وحده؟‬ ‫المخدرات أيضا تجربة‪.‬‬

‫تأيت جملة الحياة تجارب مكررة‪ ،‬باهتة ومستنزف‬ ‫منها كل عبارات اإلبداع‪ .‬وتلك هي الحقيقة‪ -‬إن‬ ‫كان هناك شيء يدعى ذلك ‪ -‬ولكن السؤال‬ ‫يكمن هنا يف لماذا نخوض التجربة‪ ،‬وهل أي‬ ‫تجربة ُتخاض؟‬ ‫"ال أحب الفاصوليا يا أمي"‪"..‬عليك أن تجربها‬ ‫فقط!"‪ ،‬من منا لم يسمع تلك الكلمات من أمه‬ ‫ولو لمرة واحدة على األقل خالل طفولته‪ .‬فنعم‪،‬‬ ‫إن التجربة هي الطريقة التي نتعلم بها‪ ،‬فنتعرف‬ ‫من خاللها على ما نحب وما نكره‪ .‬نعلم ما‬ ‫نستطيع فعله‪ ،‬وما ال نستطيع عن طريق القيام‬ ‫به‪ .‬فكيف لك أن تعرف أنك تستطيع الرسم‬ ‫دون أن ترسم‪ ،‬أو أنك ال تستطيع التحليق‪ ،‬دون‬ ‫أن تلتف بمالئتك كرداء وتقفز من فوق حافة‬ ‫الفراش؟‬ ‫للتجربة فوائد أخرى على غرار التعلم والتعرف على الذات‪،‬‬ ‫فكم مرة ركبت قطار الموت‪ ،‬وشعرت أن قلبك سيتوقف‪،‬‬ ‫وأن آخر وجه ستراه قبل وفاتك هو وجه صديقك الشاحب‬ ‫سريعا‬ ‫التي تكاد عينيه أن تخرج من مقلتيهما‪ ،‬وفمه يتحرك‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ليخرج كلمات أنت ال تفهمها مع بعض اللعاب؟ وعلى األغلب‬ ‫ستكون كلمات سباب لك‪ ،‬ألنك من أقترح ركوب القطار‪ .‬ولكن‬ ‫ما أن تنزال سالمين‪ ،‬حتى تجدا نفسيكما واقفين يف نهاية‬ ‫الطابور منتظرين دوركم مجددًا‪.‬‬ ‫فالسؤال هنا ماذا يشدنا إىل لحظات الهلع تلك‪،‬‬ ‫ولماذا نختار أن نخاطر بحياتنا من أجل تلك‬ ‫التجارب المخيفة‪ ،‬بل بالعكس‪ ،‬نحن ال نخوض‬ ‫التجربة مرة واحدة فقط‪ ،‬بل يف أحيان كثيرة نعود‬ ‫من أجل المزيد‪ ،‬وما أن نعتاد ذلك المقدار من‬ ‫المخاطرة‪ ،‬نذهب باحثين عن شيء به خطورة‬ ‫أ كثر‪ .‬إن كنت تبحث عن إجابة عزيزي القارئ‪،‬‬ ‫فهو بكل بساطة الدوبامين‪ .‬ذلك الهرمون اللعين‬ ‫الذي يسمى ب "هرمون السعادة"‪ ،‬ذلك الهرمون‬ ‫الذي يفرزه المخ كمكافأة لك كلما فعلت شيئًا‬ ‫جديدًا‪ .‬ليس هذا فقط‪ ،‬بل إنه يدفعك لتجربة‬ ‫أشياء جديدة كلما اعتدت على تجاربك السابقة‪،‬‬ ‫دائما يف رغبة لفعل ما هو جديد لتحصل‬ ‫فيجعلك‬ ‫ً‬ ‫على مكافأتك منه‪ .‬ففي األغلب‪ ،‬أنت لن تكون يف‬ ‫انتظار نتاج التجربة بقدر ما أنت منتظر ‪-‬ال واع ًيا‪-‬‬ ‫حصتك من هرمون السعادة‪.‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫إحقاقا للحق‪ ،‬فائدة التجربة ال تكمن يف إفراز‬ ‫ولكن‬ ‫الهرمونات فقط‪ .‬بل إنها تجعلك تنمو‪ ،‬فأنت بعد‬ ‫كل تجربة تكون على دراية أ كثر بنفسك وبالحياة‬ ‫إبداعا‬ ‫من حولك‪ .‬باإلضافة إىل أنها تجعلك أ كثر‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ومعرفة‪ ،‬فكلما مررت بموقف سواء شئت أم‬ ‫أبيت‪ ،‬ستتعلم ماذا ستفعل إن وجدت نفسك‬ ‫به مجددًا‪ ،‬وبذلك تكون ذا خبرة أوسع‪ .‬ودعنا ال‬ ‫ننسى أن تلك التجارب سواء كانت مخيفة أم ال‪،‬‬ ‫تجعلنا نشعر أننا مازلنا أحياء‪ ،‬ففي النهاية إنه‬ ‫لشيء ممل أن تظل يف األمان‪.‬‬ ‫ولكن ردًا على سؤايل ساب ًقا‪ ،‬كيف لنا أن نعلم أننا‬ ‫ال نستطيع التحليق دون القفز من أعلى الفراش؟‬ ‫جميعا قد‬ ‫يف الحقيقة‪ ،‬هي إجابة يف األغلب أنتم‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ذكرتموها يف لحظتها‪ ،‬وهي عن طريق تجارب‬ ‫اآلخرين‪ .‬فكل تجربة هناك من جربها قبلك‪ ،‬ومن‬ ‫السهل سؤالهم عن تجاربهم السابقة لتعلم نتيجة‬ ‫التجربة التي أنت مقبل عليها‪ .‬فأنت اآلن لست‬ ‫يف حاجة ألن تدخن لتعلم أن التدخين يسبب‬ ‫سرطان الرئة‪ ،‬وال يجب عليك القفز من حافة عالية‬ ‫لتكتشف أن اإلنسان ال يستطيع الطيران بمفرده‪،‬‬ ‫فقد أثبت عباس بن فرناس ذلك منذ القرن قبل‬ ‫الماضي‪.‬‬

‫صفحة ‪١٥‬‬

‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫كتبه أحمد المنايلي‬

‫ْ‬ ‫الحظ‪،‬‬ ‫حسنْ‬ ‫ولِ ُ‬ ‫المال‬ ‫أنَا‬ ‫أحب َ‬ ‫ُ‬

‫ما أعظمها تلك العبارة التي تقول‪" :‬السعادة ال ُتش َترى بالمال"‪ ،‬وما أجملها‬ ‫عندما يقولها من يمتلك المال‪ .‬قدرٌ فيها من الحكمة والموعظة يفوق عرض‬ ‫وطول البحار‪ ،‬وأنهار من التمجيد الثقايف والديني تتدفق‪ ،‬فتروى جذور ذلك‬ ‫اإليمان ليبقى ُيو َّرث أبًا عن جد‪ .‬نعم‪ ،‬يعجبني ذلك‪ ،‬ولكن ما يعجبني ح ًقا هو‬ ‫أن واقعنا أبعد ما يكون عن ذلك‪.‬‬

‫تصوير ملك وجيه‬

‫مرغما أو مح ًبا‪-‬‬‫الواقع هو أن معظمنا يستيقظ‬ ‫ً‬ ‫فقط ليجلب المال ‪-‬أو ليتعلم طريقة لجلب‬ ‫المال‪ -‬ثم ينام فيحلم كيف ستصبح الحياة إن‬ ‫امتلك كثي ًرا من المال‪ .‬الواقع هو أن كل حكاوينا‬ ‫ٌ‬ ‫أحداث جانبية يف‬ ‫وتجاربنا وخبراتنا هي فقط‬ ‫رحلتنا الدائمة الكتساب المال‪ ،‬وإن منعتنا‬ ‫فلسفتنا ورفعة أنفسنا من إقرار ذلك‪.‬‬ ‫والحق هو أننا ال نفعل ذلك فقط ألنّ المال‬ ‫أصبح أهم شيء يف عالمنا اليوم‪ ،‬بل إن ارتباطه‬ ‫المتزايد بالسعادة والنجاح صار يهدد ثوابتنا‬ ‫وإيماننا‪ .‬إذا كنت تختلف‪ ،‬فدعني أقول لك‬ ‫أن االرتباط ذلك ال يقتصر فقط على مشاهد‬ ‫المشاهير واألغنياء المزيفة ‪-‬أو غير المزيفة‪ -‬التي‬ ‫تمأل مواقع التواصل االجتماعي وغيرها‪ ،‬فتظهر‬ ‫مدى سعادتهم واستمتاعهم بالحياة؛ فقط ألنهم‬ ‫يمتلكون المال‪ .‬وال تقتصر على كون أرىق وأعظم‬ ‫جامعات العالم التي تخ ّرج نخبة المجتمع وقادته‬ ‫كجامعات الـ"‪ً "Ivy League‬‬ ‫مثل هي يف الواقع‬ ‫جامعات خاصة ال يتحمل تكاليفها إال أعلى‬ ‫ً‬ ‫دخل‪ .‬وال تقتصر ً‬ ‫أيضا على أن‬ ‫طبقات المجتمع‬ ‫كافة خدمات المجتمع كالمستشفيات‪ ،‬واألندية‪،‬‬

‫والمجتمعات السكنية‪ ،‬والمحال التجارية‪ ،‬وغيرها‬ ‫تكون حص ًرا فقط على من يملكون المال‪ .‬بل‬ ‫إن ما يعقد األمر أ كثر هو أن الدراسات الحديثة‪،‬‬ ‫كالدراسة السنوية التي تجريها األمم المتحدة‬ ‫لتحدد "أسعد شعوب العالم"‪ ،‬تبرز أن أسعد دول‬ ‫ل‬ ‫العالم حال ًيا كفنلندا والنرويج وغيرها هي دو ٌ‬ ‫ال تتربع على عرش االقتصاد الدويل‪ ،‬ولكنها يف‬ ‫ً‬ ‫عوامل‬ ‫دخل عال ًيا للفرد" إىل جانب‬ ‫"تؤمن‬ ‫المقابل‬ ‫َ‬ ‫ِّ‬ ‫أخرى‪ :‬كاألمن‪ ،‬واالستقرار‪ ،‬فتضمن لشعوبها‬ ‫حياة أسعد وأ كرم‪ .‬والحقيقة هنا هي أن المال هو‬ ‫العامل األهم؛ فهو وحده يستطيع أن يوفر درجات‬ ‫أ كبر من األمن واالستقرار‪ ،‬ويستطيع أن يمنع‬ ‫ألوانًا من الظلم‪ ،‬ويمنح درجات أعلى من العدل‬ ‫والمحاباة‪.‬‬ ‫ٌ‬ ‫طريق‬ ‫قديما أن السعي وراء المال‬ ‫قد قيل‬ ‫ً‬ ‫للعبودية‪ ،‬يسلخ اإلنسان من إنسانيته‪ ،‬ويضيع‬ ‫عليه سنين حياته أجملها‪ ،‬ويفرق بين المرء وأخيه‪.‬‬ ‫ويف ذلك نصف الحق؛ فما أسوأ إلنسان من أن‬ ‫يجتمع به المال مع الجهل؛ فالمال يظل سيدًا‬ ‫ً‬ ‫فاحشا لمالكه طالما جهل كيف يديره ويتحكم به‪.‬‬ ‫أما النصف اآلخر‪ ،‬فهو أن إدارة المال اليوم صارت‬

‫علما؛ وعلى قدر تعقيد ذلك العلم‪ ،‬فإنه ال يمنح‬ ‫ً‬ ‫صاحبه القدرة فقط على زيادة المال وحسن‬ ‫التصرف به‪ ،‬بل إنه "يحرره" من سيطرة المال‬ ‫وسطوته‪ ،‬ويجعله بذلك أ كثر رضا وسعادة‪ .‬قد‬ ‫يصعب علينا إذن أن نستوعب معادلة المال‬ ‫والسعادة‪ ،‬ولكن ال يصح أبدًا أن ننفي أن الثانية‬ ‫قد تترتب على وجود األوىل‪ .‬وإن كان لنا أن نأخذ‬ ‫من األمر حكمة‪ ،‬فالحق أن نأخذها من تجارب‬ ‫العباقرة الذين نجحوا يف صنع ثروتهم يف سن‬ ‫وأمثال‬ ‫وبسبب‬ ‫مقنع‪ ،‬وليس من حكمٍ‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫مبكر ٍ‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫قديمة نظمها قائلوها يف أوقات عصيبة عاشوها‬ ‫يف الغالب فقراء‪.‬‬ ‫خالصة القول إذن أنه ال يجب أن تظل السعادة‬ ‫مادة للتنظير والفلسفة كما الماضي‪ ،‬فهي لم‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ً‬ ‫مستحيل للجميع كما عهدناها‪ .‬لقد‬ ‫هدفا‬ ‫تعد‬ ‫تقدم الزمن‪ ،‬وتغيرت المفاهيم والطبائع‪ .‬تغيرت‬ ‫معطيات الفقر والغنى‪ ،‬وتغيرت معها معاين‬ ‫السعادة والرضا‪ .‬ال‪ ،‬لم تعد القناعة يف عالمنا‬ ‫هذا كنز ٌ يف جميع األحوال‪ .‬فالقناعة أصبحت‬ ‫ً‬ ‫مرادفا للسلبية واالستسالم والتخلي عن‬ ‫غال ًبا‬ ‫حتما‬ ‫الطموحات‪ .‬والحق ‪-‬لمن يريده‪ -‬هو أنك‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ال تستطيع أن تكون فقي ًرا وسعيدًا؛ فاألمراض‬ ‫تماما‬ ‫جسدية أو اجتماعية ال تشتهي إال الفقراء‪،‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫كما يرتبط الفساد والغرور والنرجسية باألغنياء‪.‬‬ ‫حتما تصطنع‪ ،‬أو أقنعك بذلك‬ ‫وإن كنت‪ ،‬فأنت‬ ‫ً‬ ‫من يحكموك‪ .‬أما المال فليس هو بذاته الحل‪،‬‬ ‫إنما هو عصب الحياة الذي قد يكون وحده‬ ‫وسيلة للسعادة إذا عرفت كيف تحكمه وتديره‬ ‫وتفلت من قيود سيطرته‪ .‬أما عن الحكمة‪ ،‬فقد‬ ‫قال أحد الحكماء ح ًقا‪" :‬المال ليس أهم شيء‬ ‫يف الحياة‪ .‬الحب هو أهم شيء‪ .‬ولحسن الحظ‪،‬‬ ‫أنا أحب المال"‪.‬‬

‫عدد شهر نوفمبر ‪٢٠١٨‬‬

‫صفحة ‪١٤‬‬

‫تصوير سايل الفيشاوي‬ ‫كتبه مينا عماد‬

‫الهروب‬ ‫من القطة‬ ‫السوداء‬ ‫متــى نســتيقظ ونتحــرر مــن ســطوة هــذا‬ ‫الكابــوس المتسلســل المر يــر؟ الحيــاة‪ ،‬المــوت‪،‬‬ ‫الخلــود‪ ،‬ثــم الالشــيء‪ .‬أتســاءل أي مرحلــة‬ ‫أســكنها أو تســكنني اآلن؟ ولكننــي ال أحفــل‬ ‫باإلجابــة الطمئنــاين بــأن كل مــا يحاوطنــي مجــرد‬ ‫حلــم علــى درجــة عاليــة مــن االحتــراف الواقعــي‬ ‫يف كتابــة تراجيديــا وفانتاز يــا النــص‪ ،‬وإتقــان‬ ‫التصو يــر‪ ،‬وإخــراج اإللــه‪.‬‬

‫كيف لنا أن نفرق مابين الحياة والموت‪ ،‬ونحن لم نختبر إال إحداهما فقط؟ ولماذا نطمع يف الخلود‪ ،‬ونحن‬ ‫النعرف شيئًا عن الالشيء الذي يلي الخلود؟ وهكذا‪ ،‬ظ َّلت األسئلة تتوارد إىل ذهني‪ ،‬وأمسيت كأعمى‬ ‫يبحث يف حجرة مظلمة عن قطة سوداء ال وجود لها تقري ًبا‪.‬‬ ‫من هي القطة السوداء؟ ربما تكون لغز نشأة الكون وماقبل االنفجار العظيم‪ ،‬طبيعة اإلله‪ ،‬مابعد الخلود‪،‬‬ ‫أو على أقل تقدير‪ ،‬حقيقة وضعنا اآلن‪ .‬ال نملك إجابة األسئلة‪ ،‬ولكننا ال نكف عن التساؤل‪ .‬ليس هناك‬ ‫ثابت‪ ،‬وكل شيء قابل للتأويل‪ ،‬ومن يقول‪" :‬اآلن قد وصلت"‪ ،‬تالحقه القطة السوداء‪ .‬إليكم الحقيقة‬ ‫المرعبة‪ ،‬إن كل الباحثين الذين كادوا أن يصلوا لتمام المعرفة هم فئران عواجيز‪ ،‬ما إن تشتم القطة‬ ‫رائحتهم‪ ،‬لن يستطيعوا الفرار ألعبائهم الصحية؛ وهكذا‪ ،‬تنتهي رحلتهم ونعود إىل نقطة الالشيء من‬ ‫جديد ‪.‬‬ ‫وبرغم اختالف الوسائل يف تحديد المعالم إىل الباب السحري‪ ،‬إال أن جميعهم اغتصبتهم القطة السوداء‬ ‫ً‬ ‫أميال واحتضنهم الموت قبل الوصول‬ ‫بعد أن فاحت روائحهم الزكية قبل أن يتخطوا عتبة الباب‪ .‬قطعوا‬ ‫بأمتار! وكأنها تحاول أن تحافظ لنا على الصورة البائسة التي عهدناها عن الفئران‪ ،‬كالرائحة النتنة‪،‬‬ ‫الضعف‪ ،‬والعجز‪.‬‬ ‫القطة تمنع الفئران من مغادرة الجحور‪ .‬وهنا يأيت السؤال األهم‪ ،‬لماذا يحظى البعض بالوصول إىل الممر‬ ‫السحري للقطة السوداء وقتما تشارف سنينهم على النضوب؟ رغم أن كثيرا َ من الجهابذة كآينشتاين‪،‬‬ ‫وهوكينج‪ ،‬ونيوتن‪ ،‬وأديسون‪ ،‬ودافنشي‪ ،‬وهيجل‪ ،‬وكانط‪ ،‬وسارتر‪ ،‬وغيرهم الكثير بدأوا منذ نعومة‬ ‫أظافرهم يف البحث والتساؤل ومحادثة الطبيعة تارة بالفيزياء‪ ،‬وتارة بفرشاة األلوان‪ ،‬وهناك من استند‬ ‫على عكاز الفلسفة‪ ،‬ولكن الجميع قد مات قبل أن يترك اإلجابة الشافية‪ ،‬لقد تركوا أثرا َ طيبا مازال الفكر‬ ‫البشري يقتات عليه حتى اآلن‪ ،‬ولكن كل المحاوالت تؤول إىل تحسين صورة الواقع الحايل‪ ،‬وال محاولة‬ ‫فردية تفك عقدة الغيب‪ ،‬والسؤالين األكثر أهمية يف تاريخ البشرية‪ :‬ماذا قبل اإلنفجار العظيم‪ ،‬وماذا بعد‬ ‫الموت؟ ما معنى كلمة أبدية؟ إن التجربة تخبرنا أن تعريف كلمة اللذة هي أن يكون للشيء نهاية‪ .‬فمثال َ‪،‬‬ ‫كل دعاة التنمية البشرية ورجال الدين يثمنون الوقت‪ ،‬ويدعوننا الستغالل الفرصة والسعي؛ ألن رحلتنا‬ ‫يف الحياة قصيرة‪ ،‬ولكن إذا كانت الحياة مضمونة لألبد‪ ،‬حتى ولو كانت يف النعيم‪ ،‬فهل هذا حقا َ نعيم أم‬ ‫سجن مدى الحياة؟‬ ‫وما معنى جحيم نيران إىل األبد؟ ماذا سيجني هللا من تعذيب قوم أخطأوا إىل األبد إال صراخ وعويل؟‬ ‫هل هناك فرصة أخرى؟ هل ح ًقا البوذية ومفهوم تناسخ األرواح ما سنتفاجأ به دون أن ندري؟ مفهوم‬ ‫التناسخ هو أننا سنعيش عدة حيوات أخرى تبدأ بعد الموت‪ ،‬وستتحدّد إذا كانت الحياة مؤلمة أو‬ ‫سعيدة بنا ًء على الحياة السابقة وما صنعنا من خير أو شر فيها‪ ،‬وهذا ما يسمي بالكارما‪ ،‬تحديد الحياة‬ ‫التالية بناء على كشف حساب الخير أو الشر يف الحياة التي سبقتها مباشرة‪ .‬وسوا ًء كنا يف حلم ُيدعى‬ ‫حلما‪ ،‬والموت يتربص لنا‪ ،‬والخلود قالت لنا األديان أنه ينتظرنا‪ ،‬نحن نعيش على‬ ‫الحياة‪ ،‬أو حياة نظنها‬ ‫ً‬ ‫الرجاء‪ ،‬و عوالمنا ستكون مختلفة‪ ،‬لكنها محصورة يف خيارين ال ثالث لهما‪ ،‬جنة أو نار‪.‬‬ ‫والمدهِ ْش أن األديان أيضا َ وضعت لنا قطة سوداء وسق ًفا للمعرفة وحدهم المتصوفون بأحزابهم ‪-‬وعن‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫تجربة‪ -‬استطاعوا شق غوره إىل حد كبير؛ و تغاضت عنهم القطة السوداء‪ ،‬فهي ال تستطيع اإلمساك‬ ‫بالنسور‪ .‬وهنا أقول‪ ،‬إذا أردت بلوغ المعرفة وتخطي حاجز القطة السوداء‪ ،‬كن متصوف الطباع؛ فالشهرة‬ ‫حتما َ ستبلعك‪ ،‬فقط حاذر أن تفوح رائحتك؛ تَ ْس َل ْم‪.‬‬

‫القتصاد ال‬ ‫ينعزل عن‬ ‫حكاوي‬ ‫الناس يف‬ ‫األوتوبيس‬ ‫البيزو األرجنتيني أمام الدوالر األمريكي‪ .‬يهدف‬ ‫الصندوق بتلك الشروط إىل إنقاص العجز المايل‬ ‫للحكومة األرجنتينية‪.‬‬

‫روسيا‬ ‫يف عام ‪ ،٢٠١٤‬اتخذ البنك المركزي الروسي‬ ‫إجراءات نحو تحرير سعر صرف الروبل الروسي‪.‬‬ ‫قال البنك أن التقوية االصطناعية للروبل تكلف‬ ‫موسكو مليارات الدوالرات يوم ًيا من االحتياطي‬ ‫النقدي األجنبي‪ ،‬أي من ما يملكه البنك المركزي‬ ‫من عمالت أجنبية‪ .‬يف مقابل ذلك‪ ،‬يقول بعض‬ ‫االقتصاديين اليوم‪ ،‬أي بعد حوايل ‪ 4‬سنوات من‬ ‫بدء تحرير سعر صرف الروبل‪ ،‬أن عملية التحرير‬ ‫تلك هي فقط على الورق‪ ،‬ولم ُت َفعل ح ًقا يف واقع‬ ‫االقتصاد الروسي‪ ،‬حيث مازال البنك المركزي‬ ‫الروسي يتدخل بشكل كبير ومؤثر يف سعر‬ ‫صرف الروبل عن طريق شراء وبيع العمالت‬ ‫األجنبية‪ .‬من ناحية أخرى‪ ،‬اتهم الرئيس األمريكي‬ ‫ترامب روسيا مؤخ ًرا بتعمد تخفيض قيمة‬ ‫الروبل الروسي بهدف تمييز الصادرات الروسية‬ ‫عن الصادرات األمريكية‪ .‬ردًا على ذلك‪ ،‬أ كد‬ ‫البنك المركزي الروسي أن روسيا ملتزمة فقط‬ ‫بسياستها المالية بتحرير سعر صرف الروبل‪،‬‬ ‫وأنها ال تتعمد تخفيض قيمة الروبل أمام الدوالر‪.‬‬ ‫كان للعقوبات األمريكية االقتصادية على روسيا‬ ‫ً‬ ‫أيضا تأثير سلبي على الروبل‪ ،‬حيث انخفضت‬ ‫قيمته ألقل قيمة له أمام الدوالر منذ سنتين يف‬ ‫إبريل الماضي‪ ،‬بعد أن فرضت واشنطن عقوبات‬ ‫جديدة على روسيا‪ ،‬يف ظل أزمة مقتل جاسوس‬ ‫روسي سابق يف بريطانيا باستخدام غاز األعصاب‪.‬‬ ‫ليست روسيا يف أفضل حاالتها اقتصاديًا‪ .‬ففي‬ ‫ظل تلك العقوبات االقتصادية‪ ،‬اتخذ النظام‬ ‫الروسي منهج الحذر وجعل االستقرار والتأهب‬ ‫االقتصادي أهم أولوياته‪ ،‬حتى وإن كان ذلك‬ ‫ً‬ ‫فمثل‪ ،‬تنوي‬ ‫يؤثر سل ًبا على التنمية االقتصادية‪.‬‬ ‫روسيا االستمرار يف تخزين مبالغ كبيرة من عائد‬ ‫صادراتها من النفط يف صندوق الثروة السيادية‬ ‫(‪ )National Wealth Fund‬الذي تتحكم‬ ‫فيه الحكومة الروسية‪ .‬قامت ً‬ ‫أيضا الحكومة‬ ‫الروسية مؤخ ًرا برفع سن المعاش الرسمي‪ ،‬يف‬ ‫خطو ٍ​ٍة ُيقال أض ّرت بشعبية بوتين‪ .‬كما رفعت‬ ‫الحكومة الضرائب على صادراتها من النفط‪ .‬تأيت‬ ‫تلك السياسة االقتصادية االحترازية كنوع من‬

‫االستعداد لوقوع سيناريوهات أسوأ‪ .‬حيث قال‬ ‫مسؤولون روسيون أن روسيا تدخر ما يكفي من‬ ‫المال لتكون على استعداد لمواجهة أي عقوبات‬ ‫ً‬ ‫حد من‬ ‫جديدة من الواليات المتحدة‪،‬‬ ‫وأيضا لت ُ‬ ‫تأثرها من أي انخفاض مستقبلي يف سعر النفط‪،‬‬ ‫كون روسيا إحدى أ كبر دول العالم تصدي ًرا للنفط‪.‬‬

‫الصين‬ ‫تختلف تجربة الصين يف تغير قيمة عملتها‬ ‫عن بايق التجارب يف هذا المقال‪ ،‬حيث قامت‬ ‫الصين بتخفيض قيمة اليوان الصيني عن عمد‪،‬‬ ‫تماما‪ ،‬لتتغير قيمته حسب قوى‬ ‫ولم تتركه ح ًرا‬ ‫ً‬ ‫العرض والطلب‪ .‬يف عام ‪ ٢٠١٥‬قام بنك الصين‬ ‫الشعبي‪ ،‬أو البنك المركزي الصيني‪ ،‬بتخفيض‬ ‫قيمة اليوان الصيني على عدة مراحل متتالية‪.‬‬ ‫كانت عمليات تخفيض القيمة تلك هي أ كبر نزول‬ ‫فعلي لقيمة اليوان أمام الدوالر األمريكي يف يوم‬ ‫عاما‪ .‬قال البنك وقتئ ٍذ أن تلك‬ ‫واحد منذ عشرين ً‬ ‫الخطوة تدخل ضمن استراتيجية البنك لتحويل‬ ‫االقتصاد الصيني لنظام السوق الحر‪ ،‬حيث‬ ‫بشكل‬ ‫تسمح تلك الخطوة لقوى السوق بالتأثير‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫أ كبر يف سعر صرف اليوان‪ .‬فيما قال بعض‬ ‫االقتصاديون أن الخطوة جاءت لجعل الصادرات‬ ‫وقت كان االقتصاد‬ ‫الصينية أ كثر جاذبية‪ ،‬يف‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫الصيني فيه يف تراجع‪ .‬جاء ذلك التعويم الجزيئ‬ ‫بعد خطوة اتخذتها الحكومة الصينية بتخفيض‬ ‫نسبة الفائدة ً‬ ‫أمل يف دفع الصادرات الصينية‬ ‫لألمام‪ .‬تختلف تجربة الصين يف تخفيض قيمة‬ ‫عملتها عن التجربة المصرية وغيرها يف مدى تأثير‬ ‫تلك الخطوة على االقتصاد العالمي‪ ،‬كون الصين‬ ‫هي إحدى أ كبر المصدرين يف العالم مما أدى إىل‬ ‫تأثيرات ملحوظة يف الكثير من الدول‪.‬‬ ‫مؤخ ًرا دخلت الصين يف صراع تجاري مع الواليات‬ ‫المتحدة احتل عناوين األخبار‪ .‬األرقام تقول أن‬ ‫اليوان الصيني قد انخفضت قيمته أمام الدوالر‬ ‫األمريكي بنسبة ‪ %٩‬يف الستة أشهر األخيرة‪.‬‬ ‫تعلي ًقا على ذلك‪ ،‬قال الرئيس األمريكي ترامب‬ ‫أن الصين ً‬ ‫أيضا تقلل من قيمة عملتها عن عمد‬ ‫إلعطاء نفسها ميزة تنافسية يف التصدير أمام‬ ‫الصادرات االمريكية‪ .‬لكن البنك المركزي الصيني‬ ‫أشار يف أغسطس ‪ ٢٠١٨‬أن البنك ال نية لديه‬ ‫إلستخدام اليوان يف خالفه مع أمريكا‪.‬‬

‫مصر‬ ‫جاء تعويم الجنيه المصري كإحدى الشروط التي‬ ‫وضعها صندوق النقد الدويل مقابل القرض الذي‬ ‫طلبته مصر من الصندوق‪ ،‬والذي بلغت قيمته‬ ‫‪ ١٢‬مليار دوالر‪ ،‬وتمت الموافقة على القرض‪،‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫فعل عدة دفعات منه‪ .‬يف‬ ‫واستلمت القاهرة‬ ‫نوفمبر ‪ ،٢٠١٧‬أي بعد عام من تحرير سعر صرف‬ ‫الجنيه المصري‪ ،‬كانت بعض النتائج مبشرة‬ ‫وبعضها اآلخر مقلق‪ .‬فقد الجنيه نصف قيمته‪،‬‬ ‫مما أدى إىل تضخم وصل إىل ‪ ٪٣٣‬يف مرحلة‬ ‫ما‪ ،‬وهي بالطبع نسبة مرتفعة جدًا عاىن منها‬ ‫محدودو الدخل المعاناة األكبر‪ .‬ساهم يف التضخم‬ ‫ً‬ ‫أيضا كون مصر دولة مستوردة بشكل كبير‪ .‬وألن‬ ‫ما نستورده ندفع قيمته بالدوالر‪ ،‬أو بالعمالت‬ ‫األجنبية‪ ،‬فإن انخفاض قيمة الجنيه يرفع تكلفة‬ ‫االستيراد‪ ،‬فيتحمل المواطن يف النهاية جز ًءا من‬ ‫تلك التكلفة‪.‬‬

‫لكن من ناحية أخرى‪ ،‬حقق أول عام بعد التعويم‬ ‫أعلى معدالت نمو اقتصادي لمصر يف خالل‬ ‫السبع سنوات التي سبقت ذلك التاريخ‪ .‬حيث‬ ‫وصل نمو الناتج المحلي اإلجمايل إىل ‪ %٤.٦‬يف‬ ‫النصف األول من ‪.٢٠١٧‬‬

‫قد تستغرقنا األرقام والنسب وال مانع من‬ ‫ذلك‪ ..‬فلتستغرقنا‪ .‬فعلم االقتصاد ليس رفاهية‪،‬‬ ‫علما متعال ًيا على الحالة اليومية للناس‪،‬‬ ‫وليس ً‬ ‫بل هو وسيلة لتحليل تلك الحالة بصورة أ كثر‬ ‫رقمية وتحليلية‪ .‬ولكن ع َّلنا بعض األحيان‬ ‫ننسى أنه ‪-‬وإن كانت األرقام تعطي مؤشرات‬ ‫إيجابية‪ -‬يظل هناك جز ًءا ال يمكن ترقيمه أو‬ ‫تحويله إىل رسم بياين‪ .‬اقتصاديًا‪ ،‬حصل قرار‬ ‫تحرير سعر صرف الجنيه المصري على تأييد‬ ‫ملحوظ من اقتصاديين مصريين وغير مصريين‪.‬‬ ‫لكن يف صالح الجميع أال ُينسينا ذلك التأييد‬ ‫أن البعض تأثر بالتعويم أ كثر من غيره‪ ،‬وأن‬ ‫صوت اولئك يف الغالب ليس عال ًيا كأصوات‬ ‫االقتصاديين والمحللين على الفضائيات ويف‬ ‫قاعات الجامعات‪ .‬فلنلتفت‪ ،‬فاألكاديمية المتعالية‬ ‫ال تفيد‪ .‬االقتصاد ال ينعزل عن حكاوي الناس يف‬ ‫األوتوبيس؛ فال تعزلوه‪.‬‬

‫عدد شهر نوفمبر ‪٢٠١٨‬‬

‫صفحة ‪١٢‬‬

‫تصوير ندى محمد‬ ‫كتبه مايكل ماجد‬

‫تجارب مع التعويم‬ ‫عندما ُتعوم دولة ما عملتها‪ ،‬أو تقوم بتحرير سعر صرف العملة‪ ،‬تتوقف‬ ‫الدولة‪ُ ،‬ممثلة يف بنكها المركزي‪ ،‬عن التحكم المباشر والمستمر يف سعر‬ ‫بيع وشراء العملة‪ ،‬فتترك السعر يتغير بحرية وف ًقا للعرض والطلب عليها‪.‬‬ ‫دول عدة سارت مؤخ ًرا‪ ،‬أو تسير حال ًيا يف ذلك االتجاه‪ .‬هو يف األصل قرار‬ ‫اقتصادي‪ ،‬ولكن له جوانب سياسية واجتماعية مؤثرة إىل جانب النتائج‬ ‫االقتصادية‪ .‬التعويم سياسة اقتصادية ثابتة‪ ،‬ولكن اختلفت تجارب الدول‬ ‫مع التعويم بطرق شتى‪ ،‬مما يستدعي التحليل‪.‬‬

‫األرجنتين‬ ‫تشتهر الدولة األمريكية الجنوبية بالسياحة‪ .‬إن‬ ‫كنت قد ذهبت إىل هناك قبل نوفمبر ‪،٢٠١٥‬‬ ‫فأنت غال ًبا تعلم ما يسمى بالـ ‪ ،blue rate‬وهو‬ ‫سعر الدوالر يف السوق غير الرسمية‪ .‬فإن أتيت‬ ‫ً‬ ‫حامل للدوالرات األمريكية‪،‬‬ ‫إىل بوينوس آيريس‬ ‫فقد كنت تستطيع تحويلها إىل البيزو األرجنتيني‬ ‫بمعدل ‪ 14.5‬بيزو مقابل دوالر أمريكي واحد‬ ‫تقري ًبا‪ .‬إىل أن توىل الرئيس األرجنتيني الجديد‬ ‫موريشيو ماكري الحكم‪ ،‬وبدأ يف تنفيذ إحدى‬ ‫الوعود االقتصادية لبرنامجه االنتخايب بتحرير‬ ‫االقتصاد األرجنتيني من التدخل الكبير للحكومة‬ ‫يف التحكم يف قيمة البيزو األرجنتيني‪.‬‬ ‫ولكن عانت األرجنتين منذ ذلك الوقت من‬ ‫تناقص مستمر يف قيمة البيزو‪ ،‬حتى وصل‬ ‫إىل أقل مستوياته تاريخ ًيا‪ ،‬فكان الدوالر الواحد‬ ‫يساوي ‪ ٤١‬بيزو أرجنتيني تقري ًبا يف سبتمبر‬

‫من ‪ .٢٠١٨‬أدى ذلك إىل رفع البنك المركزي‬ ‫األرجنتيني لسعر الفائدة من ‪ %٤٥‬إىل ‪ %٦٠‬يف‬ ‫الفترة من إبريل وحتى أغسطس من عام ‪،٢٠١٨‬‬ ‫لتصبح بذلك نسبة الفائدة األعلى يف العالم‪.‬‬ ‫وتأيت خطوة رفع الفائدة كمحاولة من البنك‬ ‫المركزي لزيادة الطلب على البيزو‪ ،‬مما يرفع من‬ ‫قيمته أمام الدوالر األمريكي‪ .‬ولكن يف مقابل ذلك‪،‬‬ ‫رفع الفائدة يمثل ً‬ ‫أيضا زيادة يف تكلفة االقتراض‬ ‫المناخ‬ ‫على المستثمرين‪ ،‬مما يؤثر سل ًبا على َ‬ ‫االستثماري‪.‬‬ ‫األرجنتين اآلن يف وضع اقتصادي حرج بحق‪ .‬وافق‬ ‫صندوق النقد الدويل على زيادة التمويل المتفق‬ ‫عليه للحكومة إىل ‪ ٥٦.٣‬مليار دوالر أمريكي‪.‬‬ ‫لكل ثمنه‪ .‬تأيت تلك الزيادة مقابل مطالبة‬ ‫ولكن‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫الصندوق للحكومة األرجنتينية بالحد من إنفاقها‬ ‫وزيادة الضرائب على مواطنيها‪ .‬ويأيت على رأس‬ ‫الشروط‪ ،‬بالطبع‪ ،‬استمرار تحرير سعر صرف‬

‫صفحة ‪١١‬‬

‫وعلى الرغم من ذلك التشابه بين شيوخ األزهر‬ ‫والدعاة الشباب‪ ،‬إال أن الدعاة الشباب يملكون‬ ‫جاذبية أ كبر وشعبية أعرض‪ ،‬تظهر بكثافة على‬ ‫مواقع التواصل االجتماعي‪ .‬ترجع تلك الشعبية‬ ‫لعدة عوامل‪ ،‬أهمها "عدم الفذلكة" يف الكالم‪ ،‬فلن‬ ‫تجد من هؤالء الدعاة من يتحدث بالفصحى‪ ،‬أو‬ ‫يتباهى بمصطلحات عربية عويصة على الفهم‬ ‫كما يفعل الكثير من الشيوخ‪ .‬باإلضافة إىل أن‬ ‫مالبس الدعاة تشبه كثي ًرا المالبس التي يرتديها‬ ‫أغلب الشباب ً‬ ‫بدل من العمة والجلباب التي‬ ‫يرتديها المشايخ‪ ،‬والتي ُتشعر المشاهد بصعوبة‬ ‫االندماج مع المتحدث‪ .‬القصة المأساوية هي أحد‬ ‫شخصا إال‬ ‫أسباب نجاح الدعاة‪ ،‬فلن تجد منهم‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ً‬ ‫منحل ومتفلتًا حتى لحظة محددة (والتي‬ ‫وقد كان‬ ‫يف الغالب تكون موت قريب أو صديق) حتى‬ ‫يهديه هللا إىل الصراط المستقيم‪ .‬وبغض النظر‬ ‫عن واقعية تلك القصص من عدمها‪ ،‬فهي تؤثر‬ ‫يف الكثير من الناس الساخطين على سلوكهم‬ ‫الحايل ويريدون من يصل بهم لشاطئ اإليمان‪.‬‬ ‫وفيما يتعلق باألمور السياسية‪ ،‬فالدعاة الشباب‬ ‫حا‪ ،‬فال هم يدعمون‬ ‫ال يملكون خطابًا سياس ًيا واض ً‬ ‫الجماعات الجهادية التي تعادي المجتمع ككل‪،‬‬ ‫وال يدعمون خطاب الدولة كما يفعل الكثير من‬ ‫األزهريين الذين يثنون على مسيرة اإلنجازات‬ ‫والعمل الجاد التي يراعاها السيد الرئيس على‬ ‫حد تعبيرهم‪ .‬االمتناع عن الدخول بمعترك‬ ‫السياسة يضمن للداعية شعبيته‪ ،‬ألنه سيجذب‬ ‫شباب مؤتمرات الشباب التي تظهر فيها القيادات‬ ‫الرسمية‪ ،‬باإلضافة للشباب غير الراضين عن‬ ‫أسلوب اإلدارة يف مصر‪ ،‬ولكنهم يلخصون مشكلة‬ ‫الدولة يف مصطلح الفساد‪ ،‬وليس البنية التي‬ ‫ُيبنى عليها نظام الحكم‪ .‬حتى التغيرات التي‬ ‫حدثت بتونس والتي أباحت زواج المسلمة من‬ ‫ديانة أخرى‪ ،‬والمساواة يف الميراث بين الجنسين‬ ‫يف انتصار صريح لإلنسانية والعدالة‪ ،‬والتي جعلت‬ ‫بعض مشايخ السلفية يبكون ويصرخون بسبب‬ ‫اإلسالم الذي ضاع (أو عن سلطتهم التي ضاعت‬ ‫إذا أردنا التحديد)‪ ،‬لن تجد رد فعل مشابه من‬ ‫ً‬ ‫عمل بمبدأ‪" :‬خليك يف حالك‪،‬‬ ‫الكثير من الدعاة‬ ‫يزيد رأس مالك"‪ .‬فجمهور هؤالء الدعاة مشغولون‬ ‫بمشاكل كثيرة‪ ،‬وبعضهم ال يملك تكاليف الزواج‬ ‫من األساس‪ ،‬وما زال التساؤل عن عقاب من‬ ‫قائما وسؤال المرحلة الذي ال‬ ‫ال ترتدي الحجاب‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ينتهي‪ :‬هل الحجاب عادة أم عبادة؟ لذا‪ ،‬فالحديث‬ ‫عن الحريات الشخصية‪ ،‬والنقد العميق لتجارب‬ ‫مجتمعات مختلفة مع اإلسالم يبدو هامش ًيا‬ ‫بالنسبة لبرامج الدعاة‪ ،‬ألنه سيفتح أبوابا للفكر‬ ‫ربما تؤدي لكساد البضاعة التي يقدها الداعية‪،‬‬ ‫فمن ناحية يمكن أن تثير تساؤالت المشاهد عن‬ ‫عبثية أن يحدد شخص لجموع من الناس الصورة‬ ‫المثالية للعالقات اإلنسانية‪ ،‬أو أهمية الوعظ الذي‬ ‫يقدمه‪ .‬فمهمة الواعظ أن يوهمهم بأنه يملك‬ ‫اإلجابات لكل مشاكل الناس‪ ،‬وذلك عن طريق‬ ‫نفاق مشاعرهم الدينية والتي لم يختاروها أو‬ ‫يوما؛ لذلك تسهل على الواعظ مهمته‬ ‫يفكروا بها ً‬ ‫يف خلق سلطة وهمية على جموع من الناس‪،‬‬ ‫حتى وصل الهوس بأحدهم بأن يقدم مجموعة‬ ‫من أنواع مالبس المحجبات المعلقة على تماثيل‪،‬‬ ‫والتي يرى فيها فتنة وغواية‪ ،‬والتي يجب على‬ ‫األخت المسلمة التقية أن تتجنبها‪.‬‬

‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫أعداء اإللحاد والبوس ً‬ ‫أيضا‬ ‫اإللحاد هو الموضوع المفضل لدى كثير من‬ ‫جا من برامجهم الرمضانية‬ ‫الدعاة‪ ،‬فلن تجد برنام ً‬ ‫إال ويحتوي على حلقتين على األقل عن خطورة‬ ‫اإللحاد‪ ،‬وكيف نتعامل مع األسئلة الوجودية التي‬ ‫يمكن أن تحولنا عن دين اإلسالم‪ .‬تحقق تلك‬ ‫الحلقات نسب مشاهدة مرتفعة‪ ،‬ألنها تعطي‬ ‫اليقين للمشاهد‪ ،‬وتؤكد له صواب عقيدته أمام‬ ‫عموما‪ .‬الملفت‬ ‫من قرروا التخلي عن األديان‬ ‫ً‬ ‫يف األمر أن عدد الملحدين الذين يتحداهم هؤالء‬ ‫الدعاة لم يقتربوا من نسبة ال ‪ 15%‬من تعداد‬ ‫الشعب المصري طب ًقا لمسح أجرته جريدة‬ ‫الصباح الكويتية‪ ،‬ولكن إحساس الكثير من‬ ‫المسلمين بالضعف أمام العالم المتحضر الذي‬ ‫ال يدين بدينهم يجعلهم يريدون من يطمئنهم‬ ‫على صحة عقيدتهم حتى لو بأسلوب سطحي‬ ‫يتجاهل اآلخر ويحتقره (وهو نفس مستوى‬ ‫الخطاب الذي يتبناه الكثير من الملحدين على‬ ‫مواقع التواصل االجتماعي)‪ .‬تشترك الدولة يف‬ ‫دعم ذلك الخطاب‪ ،‬والذي يتم وصفه بالوسطية‬ ‫واالعتدال‪ ،‬ففي أحد خطابات الرئيس‪ ،‬يتحدث‬ ‫ً‬ ‫متسائل‪" :‬ماذا‬ ‫عن ضرورة تجديد الخطاب الديني‬ ‫بعد أن أنكر البعض وجود الخالق وانهارت القيم‬ ‫يف التليفزيون والسينما بدعوى حرية اإلبداع؟"؛‬ ‫وهنا يتفق الرئيس مع الدعاة يف أن اختيار توجه‬ ‫مختلف عن األغلبية وحرية االبداع سيتسبب يف‬ ‫كوارث تعصف بالوطن الذي ُي َهجر فيه األقباط‬ ‫من منازلهم بالصعيد وسيناء‪ ،‬وتفجر فيه أماكن‬ ‫العبادة‪ ،‬بدعوى أن تحويل مجموعة من األطفال‬ ‫إىل بعض أشالء هو الطريق إىل الجنة‪ ،‬باإلضافة‬ ‫إىل عدد ممن يقدمون أرواحهم من قوات الجيش‬ ‫والشرطة‪ .‬ففي النهاية‪ ،‬يهاجم دعاة البرامج من‬ ‫يعتبرونهم من أهل الضالل واالنحالل‪ ،‬ألنهم ال‬ ‫يملكون كيانًا أو حتى توج ًها فكريًا مبن ًيا على‬ ‫أسس عميقة للرد والجدال معهم‪ ،‬فتصبح‬ ‫ً‬ ‫مجوفا وخاويًا يف مواجهة الوهم‬ ‫المعادلة خطابًا‬ ‫أو الال شيء‪ .‬أما نقد ما يسببه الخطاب الديني‬ ‫الحايل بمصر‪ ،‬وما يملكه من شوفينية وكراهية‬ ‫لآلخر‪ ،‬فقد يفتح على هؤالء الدعاة طوفانًا من‬ ‫اللعنات الملقاة من شيوخ السلفية أو األزهر‬ ‫(والذين يحتقرونهم بالفعل وال يرون مبر ًرا‬ ‫لنجاحهم)‪.‬‬

‫رافقت رحلة صعود الدعاة مجموعة من‬ ‫المصطلحات كالسينما النظيفة‪ ،‬والتي ا كتشف‬ ‫بعدها المصريون فجأة أن ما قدمه فنانين بقيمة‬ ‫عادل إمام وأحمد زكي وشاريهان ينتمي للسينما‬ ‫القذرة‪ ،‬أما الفنان النظيف‪ ،‬فهو الخلوق الذي ال‬ ‫يطلق "إيفيهات" قبيحة‪ ،‬أو يقبل البطلة يف مشهد‬ ‫غرامي والعياذ بالله‪ ،‬عالوة على أن الفيلم يجب‬ ‫أن يحمل رسالة يف النهاية عن األخالق والفضيلة‬ ‫وحب الوطن‪ ،‬كفيلم "اسماعيلية رايح جاي"‪.‬‬ ‫أما بالنسبة لجودة الفيلم من الناحية الفنية‪ ،‬فال‬ ‫قيمة لها طالما الفيلم ابن ناس ومحترم‪ .‬لذلك‬ ‫ترى الكثير من الممثلين الذين يظهرون يف برامج‬ ‫الدعاة‪ ،‬أو من يفخر بصداقة أحدهم رغبة يف‬ ‫تطهير صورته أمام المجتمع للحصول على صك‬ ‫الغفران؛ وهو ما يميز المجتمعات المتقدمة عن‬ ‫مجتمع كالمجتمع المصري‪ ،‬فالمخرج العظيم‬ ‫مارتن سكورسيزي يعرض آخر أفالمه (‪،)Silence‬‬ ‫والذي يطرح تساؤالت جريئة عن اإليمان والشك‬ ‫بعد أن هوجم بعنف يف السبعينيات بسبب‬ ‫فيلمه الرائع (‪The Last Temptation of The‬‬ ‫‪ ،)Christ‬لنشاهد الكنيسة يف أوروبا تصبح أ كثر‬ ‫حا مع الفنان‪ .‬يف مصر‪ ،‬نرى من هؤالء الدعاة‬ ‫تفت ً‬ ‫من يكتب رواية تنتمي لألدب النظيف‪ ،‬ومن‬ ‫يغني أغاين بائسة عن اإليمان والحب (الحالل‬ ‫طبعا "اللي بيخلص بجواز")‪ ،‬حتى وصل األمر‬ ‫ً‬ ‫إلنتاج أفالم ومسلسالت‪ .‬من الظلم أن نصف‬ ‫األعمال التي شارك يف إنتاجها الداعية األنجح‬ ‫خصوصا إذا‬ ‫معز مسعود بأنها أعمال ال قيمة لها‪،‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫كان الحديث عن فيلم مميز كـ"اشتباك" ومخرج‬ ‫موهوب كمحمد دياب‪ ،‬ولكن تبقى المشكلة يف‬ ‫أنه لو انتشر ذلك النمط االنتاجي المحافظ من‬ ‫التوسع‪ ،‬سنجد الزيادة يف القيود التي تحيط‬ ‫بالسينما‪ ،‬والتي باألساس ال تستطيع حتى‬ ‫هذه اللحظة اختراق تابوهات السياسة والدين‬ ‫والجنس بسبب رقابة الدولة والمجتمع‪.‬‬ ‫على الرغم من كل التغيرات السياسية‬ ‫واالجتماعية خالل السبع سنوات األخيرة‪ ،‬إال أن‬ ‫شعبية الدعاة لم تتأثر كثي ًرا على الرغم من أننا‬ ‫لم نجد أي نتاج فعلي لخطابهم الوسطي‪ .‬فهم‬ ‫يف الحقيقة تعبير واضح عن وطن مجمد وسط‬ ‫يوما بعد‬ ‫شعارات الفضيلة‪ ،‬بينما يغوص بالوحل ً‬ ‫ً‬ ‫قاتل آمال من عشقوا الحياة‪.‬‬ ‫اآلخر‪،‬‬

‫عدد شهر نوفمبر ‪٢٠١٨‬‬

‫صفحة ‪١٠‬‬

‫الخطاب‬ ‫الوسطي‬ ‫الحبوب‬

‫(أعداء اإللحاد‬ ‫والبوس ً‬ ‫أيضا‪)...‬‬

‫كتبه عمر أبو حمر‬

‫مع بداية األلفية الثالثة‪ ،‬ظهر لألضواء نجوم جدد‬ ‫للمجتمع أُطلق عليهم اسم "الدعاة الشباب"‪.‬‬ ‫هؤالء الدعاة ليسوا من خريجي األزهر‪ ،‬أو أعضا ًء‬ ‫يف جماعات دينية‪ ،‬ولكنهم مجموعة من الشباب‬ ‫استطاعوا الكالم ببساطة عن األخالق والقيم‬ ‫وحكم الشرع يف العديد من القضايا‪ .‬بالطبع‪،‬‬ ‫تكون تلك القضايا هي التي تهم الشباب‪ ،‬كحكم‬ ‫االختالط بين الرجل والمرأة‪ ،‬ومواصفات الزوجة‬ ‫الصالحة‪ ،‬ورأي الدين يف سماع األغاين ومشاهدة‬ ‫األفالم‪ ،‬ويف النهاية‪ ،‬لن تجد ما يميز فتاوى‬ ‫هؤالء الدعاة عن شيوخ األزهر باستثناء بعض‬ ‫التفاصيل البسيطة‪ .‬فكال الطرفين يؤمنان بحتمية‬ ‫وجود مواصفات مثالية لإلنسان‪ ،‬وأن للدين‬ ‫أحكام ثابتة تستطيع أن تشمل جميع جوانب‬ ‫الحياة‪ ،‬وبما أنهم حراس العقيدة‪ ،‬فبالتايل لهم‬ ‫الحق يف فرض فتاواهم على حياة أي إنسان‪.‬‬

‫صفحة ‪٩‬‬

‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫كتبته والء جبة‬

‫لما‬ ‫الفأس ّ‬ ‫تقع يف الرأس‬ ‫"يــا لهوي‪...‬طــاق! ليــه كــده كفــى هللا الشــر؟!"‪" ،‬اســتهدوا‬ ‫باللــه يــا والد وابعــدوا الشــيطان‪...‬وهللا إنتــوا اتحســدتوا!"‪،‬‬ ‫دائمــا مــا يقولهــا األهــايل والمقر بــون مــن‬ ‫جميعهــا عبــارات‬ ‫ً‬ ‫األزواج الذيــن يعر بــون عــن اســتحاله العيــش مــع بعــض‪.‬‬ ‫دائما بفرحة عارمة لألهايل‬ ‫تبدأ الحكاية السعيده‬ ‫ً‬ ‫– فيما بعد العريس والعروسة – وتغيير صور‬ ‫البروفايالت على الفيسبوك‪ ،‬وتغيير الحالة‬ ‫االجتماعية‪ ،‬إىل أن نصل إىل نشر صور الفرح‪ ،‬ثم‬ ‫شهر العسل‪ ،‬ويمر شهران‪ ،‬ثم ثمانية أشهر‪ ،‬ثم‬ ‫عام‪ ،‬وغال ًبا ما تكون بداية النهاية لهذه العالقة‪،‬‬ ‫لنجد كال الطرفين يقومان بإزالة صور الزفاف‬ ‫أساسا!‬ ‫وشهر العسل‪ ،‬وإخفاء الحالة االجتماعية‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ثم االكتفاء بنشر كل منهما لصورته منفردًا‪ ،‬أو مع‬ ‫طفله إن ُوجد‪ ،‬وإذا لم يرزقوا بأطفال‪ ،‬فسنجد يف‬ ‫الغالب كل طرف سرعان ما يبدأ بنشر بوستات‬ ‫أقل ما يمكن أن توصف بأنها إسقاط على الطرف‬ ‫اآلخر‪ ،‬وذلك إذا كان االتفاق بينهما على االنفصال‬ ‫باحترام‪ ،‬أما إذا كان األمر غير ذلك‪ ،‬وكان شعار‬ ‫كل منهما هو "بركة يا جامع"‪ ،‬فسنجد "شرشحة"‬ ‫بين الطرفين على حساباتهم على الفيسبوك‪.‬‬

‫تصوير سايل الفيشاوي‬

‫مما ال شك فيه أن تجربة الطالق تعد واحدة من‬ ‫المنحنيات الفارقة يف حياة أي أسرة‪ ،‬ولكنها ً‬ ‫أيضا‬ ‫ضرورية وال غنى عنها يف كثير من األحيان ألسباب‬ ‫كثيرة‪ ،‬بعضها يتعلق بحفظ كرامة المرأة وإنهاء‬ ‫معاناتها مع رجل ُ‬ ‫خدعت فيه بعد الزواج‪ ،‬أو‬ ‫جبرت على الزواج منه يف البداية‪ ،‬وهو األمر الذي‬ ‫أ ُ‬ ‫ُيعرف بزواج القاصرات المنتشر ليس فقط يف‬ ‫مصر‪ ،‬بل يف عدد من البلدان العربية‪.‬‬

‫هناك أسباب اقتصادية مرتبطة بعدم قدرة‬ ‫الرجل على استيفاء مسئوليته االقتصادية تجاه‬ ‫أسرته بعد ا كتشاف الكلفة االقتصادية المرتفعة‬ ‫للحياة الزوجية وأعبائها‪ ،‬مما يؤدي بالبعض‬ ‫من الرجال إىل هجر أسرهم‪ ،‬أو قد يقوم البعض‬ ‫اآلخر بافتعال المشكالت‪ ،‬ومن ثم‪ ،‬ينتهي األمر‬ ‫بتحمل المرأة وحدها عبء األسرة بمفردها؛‬ ‫وحتى ال توجه لنا أصابع االتهام بالتحيز للمرأة ضد‬ ‫الرجل‪ ،‬فإن بعض من أسباب الطالق تتحملها‬ ‫المرأة‪ ،‬مثل عدم مراعاة بعض النساء للظروف‬ ‫االقتصادية الحالية‪ ،‬وتمسك البعض منهن‬ ‫بأنماط الحياة التي كن يحظين بها قبل الزواج‪،‬‬ ‫األمر الذي يؤدي لحالة من االضطراب والتصادم‬ ‫الذي يؤدي إىل طلب الطالق‪.‬‬ ‫كل تجربة لها ما لها‪ ،‬وعليها ما عليها‪ ،‬والزواج‬ ‫بشكل خاص له خصوصية وقدسية دينية‬ ‫ج ً‬ ‫لل من شأنه‬ ‫واجتماعية يجعلن من الطالق أم ًرا َ‬ ‫أن يهز كيان مجتمع بأسره‪.‬‬ ‫وتشير اإلحصاءات الصادرة عن الجهاز المركزي‬ ‫للتعبئة العامة واإلحصاء إىل تراجع حاالت الطالق‬ ‫يف عام ‪ ،2017‬والذي سجل ‪ 190‬ألف حالة‪،‬‬ ‫مقابل ‪ 192‬ألف حالة يف ‪ ،2016‬وعلى الرغم‬ ‫من هذا التراجع‪ ،‬إال ّ أن مصر مازالت تحتل مرتبة‬ ‫متقدمة عالم ًيا يف نسب الطالق‪ ،‬ولكن ما يثير‬ ‫بعض القلق والتعجب هو قوة المرأة يف الطلب‬ ‫والسعي نحو االنفصال‪ ،‬بشكل عام سوا ًء عن‬ ‫طريق الطالق أو الخلع‪.‬‬ ‫أعتقد أن االستقالل المادي للعديد من السيدات‬ ‫جعلهن يشعرن بالقوة واالستقاللية‪ ،‬وبالتايل عدم‬ ‫االضطرار إىل قبول حياة تمتلئ جنباتها بالتعاسة‪،‬‬ ‫مما يؤثر سل ًبا على األطفال‪ ،‬حتى ولو اختلف‬ ‫البعض مع هذا الطرح‪ ،‬أو أثبت الواقع غير ذلك‪،‬‬ ‫وإن لم يوجد أطفال‪ ،‬فال شك أن طريف العالقة‬ ‫بعد تجربة الطالق لن يكونا كما كانا قبلها‪.‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫قليل – مع وضع مائة خط‬ ‫تغي ّر نظرة المجتمع‬ ‫ً‬ ‫قليل – ألنه مازال هناك الكثير ممن‬ ‫تحت كلمة‬ ‫يؤيدون استمرار الزواج حتى لو كان طرفا العالقة‬ ‫(أو حتى طرف واحد) غير راغب يف استكمالها‪،‬‬ ‫واألسباب تكمن يف الخوف من النظرة السلبية‬ ‫التي ينظرها قطاع من الناس للمرأة المطلقة‪،‬‬ ‫مما قد يتسبب يف الكثير من األمراض االجتماعية‬ ‫التي تتجسد يف األطفال إن وجدوا‪ ،‬أو حتى‬ ‫يف طريف العالقة أنفسهم مما يؤثر بدوره على‬ ‫المجتمع‪.‬‬ ‫لذلك أرجو ما أرجوه من أويل األمر‪ ،‬والشباب‪،‬‬ ‫المقبلين على الزواج توخي الحذر‪،‬‬ ‫والفتيات ُ‬ ‫وبذل الجهد‪ ،‬والتعب يف دراسة الشريك اآلخر‬ ‫والظروف المحيطة بهذه العالقة‪ ،‬قبل ما الفأس‬ ‫تقع يف الرأس‪ ،‬وإعمال المثل القائل‪" :‬سكة‬ ‫السالمة‪ ،‬وال جواز الندامة"‪ .‬وأخي ًرا وليس آخ ًرا‪،‬‬ ‫دائما تفادي التجارب األليمة بتجنب‬ ‫من الحكمة‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ُمسبباتها‪.‬‬

‫عدد شهر نوفمبر ‪٢٠١٨‬‬

‫صفحة ‪٨‬‬

‫كتبته همسا يوسف‬

‫وتلك هي‬ ‫الحياة‬ ‫تحذيــر مــن الكاتبــة‪ :‬إذا قــررت قــراءة هــذه‬ ‫المقالــة‪ ،‬فيجــب أن يكــون لديــك القليــل مــن‬ ‫الصبــر وبعــض مــن اإلنســانية‪.‬‬

‫من الحجرات المماثلة‪ .‬أعلم السؤال الذي يدور‬ ‫ببالك حال ًيا‪" :‬ولكن أين يقضون حاجاتهم؟"‪ .‬يوجد‬ ‫حمام عمومي واحد لكل بناية‪ ،‬تلك التي يعيش‬ ‫داخلها حوايل ‪ ٥٠٠‬فردًا‪ ،‬أو يمكنهم قضاء حاجتهم‬ ‫بالدلو الذي بحجرتهم‪ .‬أما عن المطبخ‪ ،‬فهو يف‬ ‫أساسا‪.‬‬ ‫الحقيقة غير موجود‬ ‫ً‬ ‫تخيل معي ولو للحظة أنك ولدت لتجد نفسك يف‬ ‫هذا عالم كهذا‪ .‬البقاء فيه لألقوى‪ ،‬وال مكان فيه‬ ‫للضعفاء‪ .‬البقاء فيه لألغنى (بالطبع ال أتحدث عن‬ ‫الغنى الفاحش‪ ،‬ولكنني أعني الغنى الذي يتمكن‬ ‫من تلبية احتياجاته اليومية من قوت وماء)‪.‬‬ ‫البقاء فيه لمن له أي نوع من األعمال‪ ،‬مهما كانت‬ ‫مهينة أو متدنية‪ ،‬ال يكترث بشأن تعليم أو دراسة‪.‬‬ ‫أقصى ما يشغل باله هو كيف ينجو من يومه دون‬ ‫الشعور بالجوع!‬

‫تصوير همسا يوسف‬

‫عصافير طائرة بجميع أنحاء الجمهورية‪ ..‬إحداهما‬ ‫أخبرتني عنك‪ .‬أخبرتني أنك تستيقظ يف الصباح‬ ‫الباكر لتشرب مج "الكابتشينو" بنكهة الفانيليا‬ ‫التي تحبها وتستمتع برائحتها‪ ،‬وبتلك الرغوة‬ ‫الشهية‪ ..‬ثم ترتدي ثيابك المكوية بعناية شديدة‪،‬‬ ‫وتأخذ مفاتيح سيارتك لتذهب بها إىل الجامعة‬ ‫المرموقة التي بها جميع أصدقائك لتتلقى أفضل‬ ‫تعليم يف مصر‪.‬‬ ‫عصافير طائرة بجميع أنحاء الجمهورية أخبرتني‬ ‫عنهم‪ ..‬أطفال يف بداية حياتهم‪ ،‬يجتمعون حول‬ ‫صندوق قمامة كبير‪ .‬تعلو أصواتهم كثي ًرا‪ ،‬لكنهم‬ ‫ال يتشاجرون‪ ،‬فقط يوزعون المهام بينهم؛‬ ‫فأحدهم يتوىل الكراتين‪ ،‬أحدهم البالستيك‪ ،‬وآخر‬ ‫يتوىل المعلبات‪ .‬ال تستغرب عزيزي‪ ،‬فالعصافير‬ ‫ال تعرف الكذب‪ ،‬فقط ثق بهم‪ ،‬فهم ال يعرفون‬ ‫المبالغة ً‬ ‫أيضا‪.‬‬ ‫أطفال يف مقتبل العمر‪ ،‬غلطتهم الكبرى هي أنهم‬ ‫ولدوا يف إحدى أفقر القرى بمحافظة المنيا‪ .‬دعنا‬ ‫معا كالم تلك العصافير‪ .‬تعيش عائلة‬ ‫نتخيل ً‬ ‫كاملة مكونة من ‪ ٩‬إىل ‪ ١٥‬فردًا يف حجرة أصغر‬ ‫من الفصل الذي تتلقى فيه محاضراتك‪ .‬تلك‬ ‫الحجرة الصغيرة تقع يف بناية طويلة بها العديد‬

‫هؤالء األطفال ناقمون على مجتمعهم‪ ،‬وبلدهم‪،‬‬ ‫وقريتهم‪ ،‬وأهلهم‪ ،‬وكل من يعيش حياة آدمية‪.‬‬ ‫كيف كان سيختلف شعورك لو كنت واحدًا‬ ‫منهم؟‬ ‫هؤالء األطفال ال يحتاجون إىل شفقتك‪ ،‬ح ًقا! ربما‬ ‫يحتاجون إىل القليل من تفهمك‪ .‬تفهمك وجود‬ ‫هذه الشريحة من الناس يف المجتمع‪ .‬تفهمك‬ ‫للحقيقة‪ ،‬وأنهم ال يحتاجون للعقاب‪ ،‬أو لشاب‬ ‫راق بأن يقول لهم بأن ما يفعلونه خطأ‪ .‬هم ال‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫يحتاجون إىل التعلم بالمدارس‪ ،‬فهم لديهم خبرة‬ ‫بالحياة‪ ،‬تكفي لتعلم جامعتك بأكملها‪ ،‬ولكنهم ال‬ ‫يتعلمون‪ .‬ليس تكب ًرا منهم‪ ،‬ولكن لبعد المدارس‬ ‫عن قريتهم‪ ،‬ولمصاريف التعليم الباهظة بالنسبة‬ ‫لحالتهم االجتماعية‪ .‬ولكن‪ ،‬ربما يحتاجون إىل‬ ‫تعلم الحب وبعض األخالق التي يفتقدونها وال‬ ‫يجدونها كثي ًرا‪.‬‬ ‫ربما يحتاجون إىل تسليط بعض من الضوء عليهم‬ ‫ً‬ ‫أطفال لنتمكن من مساعدتهم ح ًقا‬ ‫وهم مازالوا‬ ‫ً‬ ‫بدل من تسليط الضوء عليهم عندما يفتعلون‬ ‫المشاكل‪ ،‬ويرتكبون الجرائم‪ ،‬مثلما حدث يف‬ ‫عام ‪ ٢٠١٧‬يف «قرية الكرم»‪ ،‬حيث قام شباب‬ ‫متعصبون بحرق بناء قيل إنه كنيسة‪ ،‬وحجتهم‬ ‫أن بناء الكنائس ممنوع‪ .‬وما حدث منذ أيام قليلة‬ ‫بحادث الباص العائد من دير األنبا صاموئيل‪،‬‬ ‫وتلك ليست المرة األوىل الستهداف باص ذاهب‬ ‫أو عائد من دير األنبا صاموئيل بالمنيا‪.‬‬

‫صفحة ‪٧‬‬

‫تصوير نيللي عشماوي‬

‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫دليل تَ ُّ‬ ‫حضرنا ور يقّ مستوانا االجتماعي بين‬ ‫َ‬ ‫قومنا؟! وكيف أصبح احتفالنا بمناسبات الغرب‬ ‫برهانًا كاف ًيا على انفتاحنا وثقافتنا؟!‬ ‫ال شك أن هذا كان نتيجة مباشرة للفراغ‬ ‫الحضاري الذي اتسع بيننا وبين الغرب‪ .‬وال غر َو‪،‬‬ ‫طوال على أي ِة‬ ‫فقد تَشكَّل هذا الفراغ عبر قرون‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫حال‪ .‬ابتدا ًء من نهايات العصر العباسي الثاين‪،‬‬ ‫وانتها ًء بالخالفة العثمانية وما تالها حيث انهار‬ ‫من معالم الهوية الثقافية والفكرية الشيء‬ ‫الكثير‪ .‬وبهذا‪ ،‬فال أحد بمقدورِه وحده ُمجابَهة‬ ‫هذا التغ ُّير الجذري يف بيئته‪ ،‬هذا فوق االحتمال‪.‬‬ ‫ولكن نظر ًة يف تاريخك تكفيك لتعرف أنه صار‬ ‫ِزاما أن تستمسك بجذورك‪ ،‬وإن أصابها ال َوهَن‪،‬‬ ‫ل ً‬ ‫ال أن تهجرها وتدَّعي االنتساب إىل َمن سبق مِ ن‬ ‫أهل الحضارات‪ .‬وانظر إىل أسالفك األوائل‪ ،‬ألم‬ ‫الع ْرب لما أخذوا تراث اإلغريق العلمي‬ ‫ت َر إىل ُ‬ ‫وهذبوه وأضافوا إليه‪ .‬أ كان هذا سرقة؟ ال‪ ،‬هذا‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫تنفض عنها تراب الغفلة‪ .‬بل‬ ‫حال الحضارات لما‬ ‫إن أئمتهم أيدوا ذلك ووافقوه‪ ،‬بغض النظر عن‬ ‫الع َقدي تحديدًا إ ِذ امتأل‬ ‫الخالف الب ِّين يف الجانب َ‬ ‫تراثهم باألساطير‪ .‬ومثل هذا ما فعله الغرب لما‬ ‫ترجموا علوم المسلمين بعد ما سموه "عصر‬ ‫الظالم"‪ .‬أرأيتهم إذا أخذوا باالستشراق معارفهم‬ ‫نقلوا ً‬ ‫أيضا االحتفال بعيد الفطر إىل أراضيهم؟!‬ ‫كل حيث أن التجارب بين‬ ‫ال حرج يف هذا على ٍ‬ ‫تبعا لما تشترك فيه فقط‪ .‬ومنا‬ ‫الحضارات‬ ‫تنتقل ً‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫من يدرس أساطير اليونان كحضارة إنسانية غنية‬ ‫ومنهم من يدرس علوم المِ صريات‪ ،‬فيعلم عن‬ ‫مِ صرِنا القديمة الشيء الكثير‪ ،‬ال هم يحتفلون‬ ‫بوفاء النيل وال نحن نؤمن بهرمية اآللهة‪.‬‬ ‫و ليس القصدُ هنا تشبي َه االحتفال بيوم الرعب‬ ‫َ‬ ‫الغاية أنه‬ ‫باإليمان بهيليوس كإل ٍه للشمس‪ ،‬ولكن‬ ‫يجب اعتبار الهوية فيما تتشارك فيه الحضارات‬ ‫رسخ‬ ‫اإلنسانية‪ .‬ليس يبقى للمرء من هويته إال ما َ‬ ‫يف قلبه‪ ،‬فاعتقده وبنى عليه‪ ،‬وإال فل ُي َ‬ ‫نظر يف حال‬ ‫أمتنا التي ما زال ينقصها الشيء الكثير وإن‬ ‫كب َمن تقدمها مِ ن األمم‪ .‬ما زلنا‬ ‫ادّعت لحاقها ب َر ِ‬ ‫ننمو يا صديقي‪ ،‬فخذ لنفسك ممن سبقك ما‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫ويعظم به انتماؤك‪ .‬فإن المرء‬ ‫يكتمل به نَماؤك‬ ‫وام جسده‪ ،‬فإنه قد يرى‬ ‫إن استعار زِيًّا ال‬ ‫تناسب َق َ‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫حسن مظهره‪،‬‬ ‫َمن حوله ِ‬ ‫باسمين‪ ،‬فيظن أن هذا ل ُ‬ ‫وليس هذا إال لِسوئه‪.‬‬

‫عدد شهر نوفمبر ‪٢٠١٨‬‬

‫صفحة ‪٦‬‬

‫كتبه إبراهيم عبدهللا‬

‫أزياء‬ ‫مستعارة‬ ‫اله ِو يّــة بمعناهــا الفلســفي هــي‪" :‬حقيقــة الشــيء مــن حيــث‬ ‫بحســب ابــن منظــور يف لســان العــرب‪ ،‬فــإن ُ‬ ‫حـ ُّد الهو يــة هــو أن كل مــا لــم‬ ‫حــل بقولــه‪َ " :‬‬ ‫فصلــه ابــن حــزم يف المِ لــل وال ِن َ‬ ‫تم ّيــزه عــن غيــره"‪ ،‬وهــذا مــا ّ‬ ‫فهـ َو هــو بعينــه‪ ،‬إذ ليــس بيــن الهو يــة والغير يــة وســيطة يعقلهــا أحــد البتــة‪ ،‬فمــا خــرج‬ ‫يكــن غيــر الشــيء ُ‬ ‫عــن أحدهمــا‪ ،‬دخــل يف اآلخــر"‪ .‬والمعنــى أن هو يــة الشــيء تتحــدد بصفــات جوهر يــة يف أصلــه ومعدنــه‪،‬‬ ‫ـات أُ َ‬ ‫خــر‪ ،‬فهو يــة‬ ‫بحيــث أنهــا ال تنفــك عنــه وأنــه ينتمــي إليهــا‪ .‬وال شــك أن هــذا بالضــرورة يقتضــي تبعـ ٍ‬ ‫الشــخص مثـ ًـا تســتدعي إيمانــه بهــا‪ ،‬واقتناعــه بمبادئهــا‪ ،‬ودفاعــه عنهــا‪ .‬وهــذا قطعً ــا ال يعنــي انحصــار‬ ‫فكــر ِه عليهــا وانحســاره عــن غيرهــا‪ ،‬أو أنــه ال ينتقــد مــا دخــل عليهــا مــن الســوء‪ ،‬أو مــا يــراه فيهــا يســتدعي‬ ‫النظــر‪ ،‬ممــا سيشــار إليــه يف الســطور التاليــة‪.‬‬

‫ً‬ ‫أشكال مختلفة باختالف‬ ‫سالف الذكر‪ ،‬فإن الهوية تأخذ‬ ‫وعلى المعنى‬ ‫ِ‬ ‫تبعا للدين واألرض والعِ رق واللغة‬ ‫صفات المرء وانتماءاته‪ ،‬فتتحدد الهوية ً‬ ‫أحيان قد يؤثر يف‬ ‫والفكر‪ .‬بل إن اختالف المستوى الثقايف واالجتماعي يف‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫نوعا من التفاضل بين أبناء‬ ‫تمسك المرء بكل من هذه المعايير‪ ،‬خال ًقا ً‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫الهوية الواحدة‪ .‬وبغض النظر عن هذا التفاضل‪ ،‬فالمعنى أن أغلب هذه‬ ‫المعايير ‪-‬وخاصة الهوية الثقافية‪ -‬يعتمد يف أصله على التجربة اإلنسانية‬ ‫ارتباطا وثي ًقا بعاداتهم‬ ‫التي م ّر بها أبناء هذه الهوية‪ .‬وال شك أن هذا يرتبط‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ً‬ ‫إضافة إىل أسلوبهم يف تلقي األحداث‬ ‫وتقاليدهم التي نشأوا عليها‪،‬‬ ‫رسخ يف‬ ‫وطريقتهم يف التفاعل معها عبر تاريخهم‪ .‬وعلى هذا‪ ،‬فالهوية تَ ُ‬ ‫المرء برسوخ تاريخه وثبوت وجوده‪.‬‬ ‫بيد أن كل هذا ال يعني انغالق اإلنسان على نفسه‪ ،‬أو تعصبه لما يعتقده‬ ‫لمجرد أنه موروث قديم‪ ،‬فما إنسانيته إال لعقالنيته وقدرته على التحليل‬ ‫واالستنباط وتمييز الطيب من الخبيث‪ .‬بأخذ هذا يف الحسبان‪ ،‬وإضاف ِة‬ ‫اشتراك التاريخ اإلنساين يف كثير من التجارب وطرائق تلقيها‪ ،‬كان ألهل‬ ‫الهوية المشتركة أن ينظروا إىل غيرهم من المجتمعات‪ .‬وأصل ذلك أن‬ ‫يجتمعوا على ما اتفقوا فيه‪ ،‬ويستفيدوا من الخبرات الحياتية والتجارب‬ ‫التي اختلفوا فيها إذ أتيحت لبعضهم دون بعض‪ .‬بهذا تصنع الحضارات‬ ‫الحديثة‪ ،‬حيث تقوم المجتمعات على أساس من الترا كمات الحياتية‬ ‫للشعوب اإلنسانية المختلفة‪ .‬ومثال هذا هو العلوم الطبيعية‪ ،‬فكما يقول‬ ‫إسحاق نيوتن "إنما تعود نظريت البعيدة والعميقة لألشياء ومدلوالتها إىل‬ ‫أين قد وقفت على مناكب العباقرة"‪ ،‬مشي ًرا إىل أنه بدأ من حيث انتهى‬ ‫متعلما من تجاربهم‪ ،‬متمي ًزا بذلك عمن سواه‪ .‬وعلى هذا‪،‬‬ ‫من سبقه‪،‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫تحليل‬ ‫فاألصل أن تنظر الشعوب إىل غاية ما وصل إليه غيرهم نظر َة‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫وتمحيص‪ ،‬ثم يؤخذ الحسن ويطرح الرديء‪ ،‬ويبدأ البناء وف ًقا لما ّ‬ ‫توفر من‬ ‫القدرات والطاقات‪ .‬وهذا هو األصل يف نمو المجتمعات وانفتاحها على‬ ‫بعضها البعض‪ .‬لم يكن األمر قط كمثل ما شاع بين بعض الناس من أن‬ ‫حا على البشر يعني فقط التحدث بلسانهم‪ ،‬أو التشبه بعاداتهم‪ ،‬أو‬ ‫انفتا ً‬ ‫نقلها بحذافيرها‪ .‬وهذا ً‬ ‫أيضا ال يعني انتقادًا لمبدأ التعارف بين الشعوب‬ ‫والقبائل الذي نصت عليه الرسائل السماوية‪ .‬لكن األمر لم يكن بهذه‬ ‫السطحية‪ ،‬وإنما يحتاج إىل دراسة وتدقيق نظر يف أوجه الشبه واالختالف‬ ‫بين الثقافات لمعرفة الطريقة المثلى ‪-‬أو األقرب‪ -‬لمالئمة المجتمع الذي‬ ‫يعيش فيه المرء‪.‬‬ ‫دوما جذور من الماضي كما تقدم ذكره‪ ،‬وعليه‪ ،‬فليس من‬ ‫فالهوية لها ً‬ ‫الصواب أن ُتؤخذ تجربة أحد الشعوب و ُتنسخ يف شعب آخر بهوي ٍة‬ ‫وتراث مختلف‪ ،‬ثم ُي ّ‬ ‫توقع أن تؤيت التجربة أ ُ كُلها‪ .‬لن يكون األمر‬ ‫مختلفة‪،‬‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫يف هذه الحال إال تقليدًا أعمى‪ ،‬وهذا على األرجح ليس إال سلوك‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫طرف ظنَّ‬ ‫يف نفسه ضع ًفا عن نظيره‪ ،‬وهذا ما آل إليه الحال بين أقوامنا لألسف‪ .‬وإال‪،‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫احتفال‬ ‫رأسا على عقب‬ ‫فهل سمعت أن ُطرق الواليات المتحدة تنقلب ً‬ ‫بيوم الموىت المكسيكي‪ ،‬أو أن الناس تعدوا احتما ًء من ثيران تنطلق يف‬ ‫جا بمهرجان سان فيرمين اإلسباين؟ لم يحدث هذا ُرغم‬ ‫شوارع روما ابتها ً‬ ‫قرب المسافات بين البلدين المذكورتين يف المثالين‪ ،‬وانفتاحهم الحقيقي‬ ‫على من حولهم من الشعوب‪ .‬فلماذا إذن صار بُعدُ لساننا عن العربية‬

‫صفحة ‪٥‬‬

‫‪AUC Times‬‬

‫كتبه عمرو عبدالعظيم‬

‫الناس على‬ ‫دين ملوكهم‬ ‫يف الطر يــق إىل الجامعــة علــى شــارع التســعين‬ ‫الكئيــب‪ ،‬أالحــظ اســتحواذ شــيئين علــى جانبــي‬ ‫الطر يــق؛ المرا كــز التجار يــة الضخمــة‪ ،‬واللوحــات‬ ‫اإلعالنيــة العمالقــة‪.‬‬ ‫دومــا وال‬ ‫هنــاك بالتحديــد شــيء مــا أالحظــه‬ ‫ً‬ ‫أفهمــه مطل ًقــا‪ :‬األشــخاص الذيــن ُتظهرهــم‬ ‫يل تلــك اإلعالنــات؛ كالممثليــن‪ ،‬والعبــي كــرة‪،‬‬ ‫مقدمــي برامــج ومغنيــن‪ .‬قــد ال يبــدو ذلــك يف‬ ‫حــد ذاتــه شــيئًا غري ًبــا‪ ،‬حتــى تــدرك أن هــذا إعــان‬ ‫ألحــد أنــواع المشــروبات الغاز يــة‪ ،‬أو شــيء مــن‬ ‫هــذا القبيــل‪.‬‬

‫‪I WANT‬‬ ‫‪YOU‬‬ ‫‪TO BUY‬‬

‫فمع كامل االحترام لحنجرة المطرب‪ ،‬أو لبراعة‬ ‫لم قد يعنيني (أو يعنيك‪ ،‬عزيزي القارئ)‬ ‫الممثل‪َ ،‬‬ ‫رأي أحد الممثلين يف طعم مشروب غازي ما؟‬ ‫فهو لم يصل للشهرة على حساب حاسة الذوق‬ ‫ً‬ ‫مثل‪.‬‬ ‫يصبح الموضوع أ كثر غرابة حين نذكر الحمالت‬ ‫فعالم نبني الرأي‬ ‫اإلعالنية لمحمد صالح و "أوبر"‪،‬‬ ‫َ‬ ‫بأن اختيارات محمد صالح يف التنقل ‪ -‬خارج‬ ‫الملعب تحديدًا ‪ -‬قد تكون أفضل من اختيارات‬ ‫من يجلس إىل جوارك بالحافلة‪ ،‬أو يقف أمامك يف‬ ‫الطابور؟ استوقفني ً‬ ‫أيضا إعالن لمجمع سكني أو‬ ‫ما شابه ذلك‪ ،‬يظهر فيه نيمار (العب برازيلي بنا ٍد‬ ‫فرنسي)‪ .‬أيعلم نيمار شيئًا أجهله أنا عن سوق‬ ‫العقارات المصري؟‬ ‫ثم يصل الموضوع إىل حد السريالية‪ ،‬فكريستيانو‬ ‫رونالدو يشارك يف إعالن أحد أنواع حديد التسليح‬ ‫المصري! أنا حتى أعجز عن محاولة الربط بين‬ ‫االثنين‪.‬‬

‫المصدر ‪Wikimedia‬‬

‫ولكن هناك شيء أ كيد‪ ،‬هم ‪ -‬أقصد المبتسمين‬ ‫على اللوحات اإلعالنية ‪ -‬وقتهم كاإلبريز أو أغلى‬ ‫ً‬ ‫قليل‪ ،‬والقائمون على تلك اللوحات اإلعالنية هم‬ ‫أشخاص كرسوا حياتهم ودراستهم الجتذاب‬ ‫الزبون وإبهاره‪ ،‬وبالتايل زيادة مبيعات الشركة‬ ‫التي تعاقدت معهم‪ .‬وكون هذا األسلوب ليس‬ ‫بالحديث‪ ،‬وكون بعض الشركات تعيد اجتراره يف‬ ‫عاما وراء عام‪ ،‬فأميل أنا الكاتب لالعتراف‬ ‫حمالتها ً‬ ‫بجهلي بالتسويق وفنونه‪ ،‬وتصديق أن هناك س ًرا‬ ‫أو سح ًرا لما يفعلونه‪.‬‬ ‫فإذن‪ ،‬اتفقنا أن المشتري العادي سيقتنع بأن‬ ‫هذا المشروب أفضل‪ ،‬ألن هذا كالم صاحب‬ ‫الصوت العذب وصاحبة الوجه الجميل‪ ،‬وسيقتنع‬ ‫الشاب بكالم محمد صالح عن خطورة المخدرات‬

‫أ كثر من كالم والده‪ .‬لماذا فعل هذا؟‬ ‫تكمن اإلجابة يف هذا القول‪" :‬الناس على دين‬ ‫ملوكهم"‪ .‬وهؤالء ملوكنا‪ ،‬قد ملكوا علينا قلوبنا‬ ‫وحياتنا‪ .‬قد ملكوا ما نطمح له ونحقد عليهم‬ ‫بسببه‪ ،‬قد تملكوا شهواتنا البسيطة يف الشهرة‬ ‫والتأثير وحب الناس والمال‪.‬‬ ‫وبنا ًء عليه‪ ،‬قد أصبحوا هم محط الحقد‪ ،‬وبالتايل‬ ‫محط النظر واإلعجاب‪ .‬أصبحت اآلراء واالقتراحات‬ ‫التي يتفضلون علينا بها (عديمة التأصيل العلمي‬ ‫والفلسفي) محل االعتبار والتفكير‪ .‬أصبح الصوت‬ ‫العذب‪ ،‬والوجه الجميل والقدم الذهبية معايير‬ ‫انضمامك لصفوف أصحاب القول المفيد والعلم‬ ‫المديد‪.‬‬ ‫يف مجتمعاتنا االستهالكية الجميلة‪ ،‬حل رموز آلة‬ ‫الترفيه محل الشيوخ على المنابر يف دولة الدين‪.‬‬ ‫علما‬ ‫أصبح الناس يتبعون قولهم‪ ،‬ال ألنهم أ كثر ً‬ ‫وال لوجود منطق لقولهم‪ ،‬إال أنهم محط الشهوة‬ ‫الدفينة يف قلوبنا‪ .‬وطالما أنهم حققوا ما نطمح‬ ‫لتحقيقه ونعجز عن الوصول إليه‪ ،‬فالبد من أنهم‬ ‫يعلمون شيئًا نجهله‪ ،‬أو ربما ال يعلمون شيئًا على‬ ‫اإلطالق‪ ،‬ولكن البد من وجود شيء ما يمنحهم‬ ‫موقعهم الهام هذا‪ ،‬ويجعلهم محط الغبطة‬ ‫واإلعجاب‪...‬لربما كانت الكوكاكوال؟‬ ‫واألمر ال يقتصر على من يملكون علينا قلوبنا‪،‬‬ ‫بل من يملكون علينا حياتنا ويملكوننا شخص ًيا‪.‬‬ ‫فزمام األمور يف يد فئة واحدة من أصحاب األمر‬ ‫والنهي دون سواهم؛ فئة من أصحاب العلم‬ ‫المديد من السياسيين والحكام الذين يعلمون‬ ‫من خبايا األمور ما ال نعلم‪ ،‬والذين يضطر السواد‬ ‫األعظم منا اإلنصات لهم‪ ،‬قلهم السمع والطاعة‪.‬‬ ‫مشروعا‬ ‫السمع والطاعة حين يقول أحدهم أن‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ما سيقفز بالمواطن والوطن قفزة عمالقة نحو‬ ‫المستقبل‪ ،‬أو أن السالم هو الحل األفضل مع‬ ‫الخطر الغاشم‪ ،‬بعد أن كان السالم انكسا ًرا‬ ‫أمام الخطر الغاشم ذاته‪ .‬وتلك ليست محاولة‬ ‫من "ملوكنا" لخداعنا‪ ،‬وإنما نحن نخدع أنفسنا‬ ‫لكي نريح أنفسنا من أعباء التفكير يف كل كبيرة‬ ‫وصغيرة‪.‬‬ ‫يف عصور سمتها التعقيد والتشعب يزيح اإلنسان‬ ‫عبء االختيار والتقصي‪ ،‬ويلقيه بكل راحة بال‬ ‫على كاهل أصنامه كما ألقى إبراهيم الفأس؛‬ ‫فلندع األمور تسير إىل مستقرها‪ ،‬وال نشغل‬ ‫بالنا المشتت المنسحق بين رحى االستهالكية‬ ‫والسياسة‪ .‬فلندع أصنامنا تتحمل عبء التصرف‪،‬‬ ‫وما علينا سوى أن نهيم بآرائهم‪ ،‬ونتشدق بالدفاع‬ ‫عن أفعالهم‪ .‬أو لنصمت‪ ،‬فالصمت مريح‪ .‬مريح‬ ‫لنا‪ ،‬مريح للملوك‪ ،‬مريح لألصنام‪.‬‬

‫عدد شهر نوفمبر ‪٢٠١٨‬‬

‫صفحة ‪٤‬‬

‫كتبته همسا يوسف‬

‫إىل أي مدى ستذهب‬ ‫بنا الإلنسانية؟‬ ‫"تجربة إعالمية فريدة"‬

‫هــل يمكــن أن يؤثــر مقتــل شــخص‬ ‫واحــد علــى عالقــات و قــرارات‬ ‫سياســية بيــن دول كبــرى يف‬ ‫العالــم؟ هــل وصلــت بنــا الالإنســانية‬ ‫إىل التفكيــر بأنفســنا فقــط‪ ،‬دون‬ ‫وضــع أي شــيء آخــر يف االعتبــار؟‬

‫المصدر‪ :‬قناة العالم‬ ‫إنها قضية جمال خاشقجي‪ ،‬الصحفي السعودي‬ ‫الذي قتل يف القنصلية السعودية بتركيا‪ .‬بعد ‪١٧‬‬ ‫يوما من اختفائه‪ ،‬السعودية تعترف بمقتله بعد‬ ‫ً‬ ‫إنكارها المتزمت يف بداية األمر‪ .‬ذهب خاشقجي‬ ‫إىل القنصلية التركية الستخالص األوراق ليتزوج‬ ‫من خطيبته خديجة جنكيز‪ .‬أبلغت السلطات‬ ‫التركية بعدها أن خاشقجي قتل يف القنصلية‬ ‫السعودية بعد تشاجره مع بعض السعوديين‬ ‫يف السفارة‪ ،‬وأنه لم يخرج من السفارة ح ًيا‪ ،‬وأن‬ ‫لديهم تسجيالت تؤكد ذلك‪ ،‬وقد أرسلوها إىل‬ ‫السعودية‪ .‬أما السعودية‪ ،‬فقد أنكرت تورطها‬ ‫باختفاء خاشقجي‪ ،‬وأنه غادر القنصلية بعد‬ ‫‪ 20‬دقيقة بالتمام والكمال‪ .‬توالت التصريحات‬ ‫يوما‪،‬‬ ‫المتضاربة بين تركيا والسعودية لمدة ‪ً 17‬‬ ‫حتى صرحت السعودية بمقتل خاشقجي يف‬ ‫القنصلية على يد بعض السعوديين‪ .‬صرحت‬ ‫أيضا بدخول ‪ً 15‬‬ ‫تركيا ً‬ ‫رجل مدربين عسكريًا بتركيا‬ ‫بنفس اليوم الذي قتل به خاشقجي‪ ،‬وغادروا يف‬ ‫نفس اليوم‪.‬‬ ‫لنلقي نظرة على كيفية استقبال الدول المختلفة‬ ‫ألحداث مقتل خاشقجي‪:‬‬ ‫السعودية‪:‬‬ ‫تحاول السعودية الخروج من ذلك الموقف بأقل‬ ‫حا يف التصريحات التي‬ ‫الخسائر‪ ،‬وبدا ذلك واض ً‬ ‫قام بها المسؤولون السعوديون‪.‬‬ ‫صرح وزير الخارجية السعودي عادل جبير‬ ‫أن اهتمام اإلعالم بقضية خاشقجي ما هو إال‬

‫"هستيريا إعالمية"‪.‬‬ ‫النائب العام السعودي قال إن المشتبه بهم يف‬ ‫قضية خاشقجي كانت لديهم نية مسبقة‪.‬‬

‫يحب أن يوقفها أحد‪ .‬أما رئيسة وزراء بريطانيا‪،‬‬ ‫فصرحت بأنها ستقوم بإلغاء تأشيرات الدخول‬ ‫ألي سعودي متورط بمقتل خاشقجي‪.‬‬

‫تركيا‪:‬‬ ‫تركيا تطالب السعودية بتسليم المتهمين ال‪18‬‬ ‫بقضية خاشقجي‪.‬‬ ‫وزير الخارجية التركي يقول إن عدم إجابة‬ ‫السعودية على أسئلة مهمة بخصوص مقتل‬ ‫خاشقجي يعيق عملية التحقيق التي تجريها‬ ‫تركيا‪.‬‬ ‫مقطعا‬ ‫أرسلت تركيا للدول المعنية يف القضية‬ ‫ً‬ ‫صوت ًيا مدته ‪ 22‬دقيقة‪ ،‬يوضح ما حدث‬ ‫لخاشقجي منذ دخوله للقنصلية وحتى خروج‬ ‫حا ً‬ ‫أيضا تورط القنصل‬ ‫أشالئه منها‪ ،‬موض ً‬ ‫السعودي بمقتل خاشقجي‪.‬‬

‫الواليات المتحدة األمريكية‪:‬‬ ‫قال الرئيس األمريكي دونالد ترامب إنه ال يعتقد‬ ‫بأن السعوديين خدعوه بشأن قضية خاشقجي‪.‬‬ ‫صرح السيناتور الجمهوري راند بول أن الجبير‬ ‫يتمتع بقدر كبير من "الوقاحة"‪.‬‬ ‫وزير الدفاع األمريكي صرح بأن مقتل خاشقجي‬ ‫جميعا‪.‬‬ ‫أمر يجب أن يقلقنا‬ ‫ً‬ ‫صرح جيم ماتييس‪ ،‬وزير الدفاع األمريكي‪"،‬إن‬ ‫مقتل جمال خاشقجي يف منشأة دبلوماسية‬ ‫جميعا"‪.‬‬ ‫يجب أن يزعجنا‬ ‫ً‬

‫فرنسا‪:‬‬ ‫صرح ماكرون أن مبيعات األسلحة ال عالقة لها‬ ‫بمقتل خاشقجي‪ ،‬ويف تصريح آخر‪ ،‬قال إنه يلوح‬ ‫بدعم أي عقوبات دولية تفرض على السعودية‬ ‫بسبب قضية خاشقجي‪.‬‬ ‫بريطانيا‪:‬‬ ‫كانت تصريحات وآراء الصحف البريطانية هي‬ ‫أن أردوغان يحاول أن يستخدم مقتل خاشقجي‬ ‫لمصلحته يف صراع الزعامة يف المنطقة مع‬ ‫السعودية‪ .‬كما يعتقدون أن أردوغان يشير أصابع‬ ‫االتهام إىل األمير محمد بن سلمان كقوة مدمرة‬

‫روسيا‪:‬‬ ‫صرحت روسيا بأنه ال يوجد سبب لعدم تصديق‬ ‫رواية السعودية بشأن مقتل خاشقجي‪.‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫قليل‪ ،‬وأنك ترغب‬ ‫أعلم أن رأسك قد بدأ يدور‬ ‫بإجابات لكل أسئلتك مثل‪ :‬لماذا؟ وكيف‬ ‫استطاعت تركيا الحصول على تسجيل صويت‬ ‫داخل القنصلية السعودية؟ أين جثة خاشقجي؟‬ ‫لماذا تتصرف الدول على هذا النحو؟ ‪..‬إلخ‬ ‫ليس لدي إجابة على أي من هذه األسئلة‪ ،‬فقط‬ ‫كل ما أعرفه هو أن هذه الدول استغلت مقتل‬ ‫شخص واحد يف تحقيق أهداف سياسية لها‪ ،‬وأن‬ ‫ذلك الشخص ح ًقا ال يهمهم‪ ،‬فقط ما يهم هو مع‬ ‫أي فريق أنت‪ ،‬السعودية أم تركيا؟‬

‫حقــوق النشــر‬

‫رئيس التحرير‬ ‫محمود الحكيم‬

‫مستشار هيئة التدريس‬ ‫رامي علي‬

‫القسم العريب‬

‫مصممي الجرافيك‬ ‫ندى هشام‬

‫جميــع الصــور والرســومات غيــر المذكــور‬ ‫مصدرهــا إمــا مســتخدمة بتصر يــح مــن‬ ‫صاحبهــا أو مرخصــة لإلســتخدام غيــر التجــاري‪.‬‬

‫مديرة العالقات العامة‬ ‫آالء محمود‬

‫تنو ي ـ ــه‬

‫مديرة تحرير قسم اللغة العربية‬ ‫كوثر الشريفي‬ ‫مساعد مديرة التحرير‬ ‫أحمد المنايلي‬ ‫المحررون‬ ‫كوثر الشريفي‬ ‫أحمد المنايلي‬ ‫إبراهيم عبدهللا‬ ‫مريم البرنس‬ ‫محمود صبري‬ ‫شيرين أبوالوفا‬

‫مديرة التصوير‬ ‫ندى محمد‬

‫مسؤول الشؤون المالية‬ ‫يوسف أبو حمر‬

‫‪ AUC Times‬مجلــة طالبيــة‪ .‬اي آراء مذكــورة‬ ‫يف المجلــة تمثــل الكاتب‪/‬الكاتبــة فقــط‪ ،‬وال‬ ‫تعكــس آراء فر يــق التحر يــر أو إدارة الجامعــة‬ ‫األمريكيــة بالقاهــرة‪.‬‬

‫‪/ auctimes‬‬

‫تجــارب مــع التعو يــم‬

‫الهــروب مــن القطــة الســوداء‬

‫تجر بــة أن نجــرب‬

‫‪١٦ ١٤ ١٢‬‬

‫كلمــة رئيــس التحر يــر‬ ‫عزيزي القارئ‪،‬‬ ‫ما هو "األنا"؟ إنه صورة مستنسخة عن الماضي‪ ،‬شبح من المستقبل‪.‬‬ ‫إنه يجمع كل ما كنته‪ ،‬وكل ما ستكونه‪ .‬وكل هذا يجتمع ويلتقي يف‬ ‫كلمة واحدة‪ ،‬أال وهي‪ :‬التجربة؛ ولكن التجارب ال حصر لها‪ ،‬فهي تهيمن‬ ‫على أ كثر مما هو "نحن"‪ .‬إن كل أركان حياتنا مشبعة بالتجارب‪ ،‬نغرق‬ ‫فيها حتى أخمص قدمينا‪ .‬أنت تصنع نفسك من حصيلة تجاربك‪،‬‬ ‫وتراقب ماذا يصنع اآلخرون من تجاربهم‪ ،‬سوا ًء أ كانت مأساوية يف‬ ‫طبيعتها‪ ،‬أم كانت مليئة باالنتشاء والفرح‪.‬إنها تختلف عن بعضها‬ ‫البعض بشكل بسيط‪.‬‬ ‫منذ ميالدك‪ ،‬تدفعك عوامل كثيرة نحو تجارب معينة فقط‪ُ ،‬تفصل‬ ‫حسب ماهية أسالفك‪ ،‬أو عرقك‪ ،‬أو مركزك االجتماعي‪ ،‬أو مقدرتك‪ ،‬أو‬ ‫وجودك المتفرد‪.‬‬ ‫ال تستطيع اختيار بيئة سياسية أو اجتماعية معينة‪ ،‬ولكنك تستطيع‬

‫االختيار فيما بعد‪ ،‬بعد أن تبلغ نصابك من النضج‪ .‬ورغم ذلك‪ ،‬يشكلك‬ ‫الفقد واألسى‪ ،‬ويشكلك الشغف وما يمليه عليك بسبب قوته التي‬ ‫ال تقهر؛ يشكلك االنتصار وطريقك إليه‪ ،‬تشكلك الصدمات‪ ،‬وطرقك‬ ‫للتعايش معها‪ ،‬تشكلك الصراعات وآثارها االجتماعية واالقتصادية‪،‬‬ ‫تشكلك المآسي‪ ،‬وكل شيء تتركه خلفك‪ ،‬تشكلك الكلمات‪،‬‬ ‫الذكريات؛ يشكلك الناس‪ ،‬تشكلك األشياء‪.‬‬ ‫نصبح بكل سالسة جز ًءا من هذه الحكايا‪ ،‬من نسيج التجارب التي ال‬ ‫جميعا يف ذاته النسيج‪ ،‬بأنفسنا وباآلخرين‪.‬‬ ‫حصر لها‪ ،‬فنلتقي‬ ‫ً‬ ‫عزيزي القارئ‪ ،‬إن هذا العدد يزودك بصور متعددة ‪ -‬من الداخل‬ ‫والخارج ‪ -‬لهذه "األنا"‪ .‬نختبر ماهية "التجربة" نظر ًيا وعمل ًيا وشخص ًيا؛‬ ‫ولهذا‪ ،‬فإننا ندعوك لتجربتنا‪ ،‬وتجربة كل هذه األفكار التي نعرضها لك‬ ‫يف هذه المساحة‪.‬‬

‫المحتو يــات‬

‫أز يــاء مســتعارة‬

‫وتلــك هــي الحيــاة‬

‫لمــا تقــع يف الــرأس‬ ‫الفــأس ّ‬

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