It can be said that it was not that way for Eastern European countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and East Germany when they fairly easily adopted democracy. These countries had West Europe as their example to emulate and spoke one of the popular languages of English, French, German or Spanish.
Walter Russell Mead in his recent article in Wall Street Journal reminds us that it took Christian theologians decades to reconcile their religious doctrines with the analyses and interpretations of Western great thinkers such as Locke, Immanuel Kant, Hume, Rousseau, Thomas Paine, Edmund Burke, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Adam Smith, and others to shape our thinking, inculcate the respect of law and assert human worth, equality and freedom. People who speak only their native language (other than the forgoing ones) will have a hard time understanding modern thinking and the precepts of real democracy. He cited the example of Burmese killing Muslims. His explanation has merit but it fails to explain the war for centuries between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland
One cursory look at the Middle-East and North Africa tells that religion reigns big, the influence of religious leaders is immense, Sunnis kill Shiites with impunity and vice versa, while both kill Christians alleging that it is an effort to sanitize the land. By the same token, people in remote lands who speak their own languages are committing similar atrocities against religions different from theirs. Extremists are intolerant of any opposing view, the rule of the jungle prevails, and they are behaving in a tribal primitive manner. All of this can be ascribed to ignorance, lack of knowledge of the great books reflecting the ideas of great thinkers and the undue influence of religious opinion makers in shaping people’s behavior.
People must be alive and able to feed their families before we can expect them to have an opinion and to behave in a civil way. Religions promise ample rewards in the afterlife. Therefore, it is important that Egypt eradicates hunger, improve education, and ensure the mastery of English before we can ask the citizens to read, accept the differing views and ponder the great books. Knowledge will never be the “Manna from Heaven” by which we can expect that the ignorant become well-informed and tolerate the opposing opinion or engage in reasoned debate. The tradition of any tribe lies in blind obedience, and that is what we should expect from the uneducated. Some of us tend to confuse graduating from college with being educated. Studying for a certain exam does not mean that one has become informed and that one’s horizon has become deep and wide. Narrow mindedness endures even if one passes an exam. There is a difference between true learning and studying for a test. Few Egyptians are true scholars and they are the ones who are qualified to take the rest of citizens to the promise land.
You can’t transform the thorns to blossoming flowers over-night. It takes time. You have to remove the thorns, which inflicts some pain, prepare the soil, plant the right seeds, nourish them with the appropriate fertilizer, attend to them and watch the flowers bloom. Egyptians and the impatient West have to understand this. This transformation will take decades and even generations to materialize. The secret is eradication of poverty and PROPER EDUCATION, without which change will prove impossible to achieve. Many of world leaders understand the problem and have the proper foundations to help various countries in the Middle-East rid themselves from extremism. We must welcome their good intentions. By the same token, Egyptians should never engage in make believe and wishful thinking, but keep their vision pure and steady on what they are out to achieve.
Lately, Egypt has taken its fate in its own hand, which shows its determination to change its affairs to the better and join modern nations. I am confident that this road, to ultimately reach the charted destiny, will be by no means easy and straight forward. It will be studied with challenges, but with perseverance and good EDUCATION, the prize will be won. From the bottom of my heart I wish my brothers and sisters in Egypt the best of luck. May all of you enjoy a bright future?
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Prof. Lotfy Basta, MD, FRCP, FRCPE, FACP, FACC, FCCP, FAHA