Maikel Nabil is an Egyptian citizen and blogger who was arrested from his home on March 28th and sentenced on April 10th by a secretive military tribunal to 3 years of imprisonment for the dubious charge of “insulting the army.” This is a grave violation of multiple human rights and a betrayal to the objectives of the Egyptian people’s revolution. This sentence must be overturned regardless of what one thinks of Nabil’s writings or of his politics. Patriotism cannot be invoked to defend injustice.
Nabil is infamous for a number of pronouncements. He is a self-declared “pro-Israel activist,” describes himself as a conscientious objector, and called for ending compulsory military service in Egypt. His blog is peppered with postings which make up in audacity for what they lack in coherence and proper language. On February 4, he uploaded a YouTube video asking his “Israeli friends” to support the Egyptian people’s demand for democracy, because “democracy, human rights, and women rights are basic Israeli values,” vowing that it is “not a revolution of the Muslim Brotherhood.” He promised that Israeli solidarity actions would end the cold peace and usher in a new era of friendship, concluding that “democracies do not fight each other.” Like other Nabil pronouncements, it contained a kernel of truth distorted by his trademark radicalization.
By unjustly imprisoning Maikel Nabil, the Egyptian army megaphoned his simplistic ranting and elevated him from a small-time provocateur to a prisoner of conscience honored by Global Voices and Democracy Now! As a result, I and many others flocked to read his postings for the first time, and his twitter follower count shot up to 1,600. In post-Mubarak Egypt, I like to think that dissent gets treated by reason, not silencing. Maikel Nabil deserves a live TV interview, not a prison cell. In an Aswani-style, exchange, I’d like to see how he’d reconcile his praise of Israel’s democratic values with its reality of systematic ethnic discrimination; his claim of pacifism with Israel’s perpetual militarism; his call for abolishing the one-year mandatory service for non-exempt Egyptian male college graduates, in which their time and dignity are wasted running errands for commanding officers, with Israel’s 2-3 year service for all high-school graduates, male and female, in which their innocence is wasted humiliating and shooting at innocent civilians. The credibility of Maikel Nabil’s grip on reality should end there and then.
As I stand in solidarity with Maikel and feel unthreatened by his incomprehensible worldview, I wish like him that more Israelis had taken a similar stand with the Egyptian revolution and denounced their government’s counter-democratic support of the Mubarak regime. Indeed, a few Israeli activists I know organized small rallies, wrote articles, and one built a website to collect solidarity images from around the world. However, Israeli civil society largely missed the train of the Tahrir phase in the Egyptian revolution. Their opportunity is not totally lost in the rebuilding phase, but it takes more than for-camera actions.
Let me be clear, the only meaningful way in which Israelis can build bridges with post-Mubarak Egypt is one based on invoking justice, not power. This excludes any involvement of the racist Israeli state establishment or its agencies. I cannot tell others what to do, but I can make a few suggestions. Cross-border initiatives may be toxic at the moment when Egypt is predictably paranoid about counter-revolutionary influences. Israeli civil society action has much better chances to flourish by working inside to restore justice and defuse the power imbalance. They may start by pressing the Israeli government to come clean and pay reparations for the murders of Egyptian POWs in the six-day war of 1967, for the subsequent pillaging of Sinai resources, for the bombing of Bahr El-Baqar primary school in 1970; and to accept renegotiation of the 1979 peace treaty which most Egyptians regard as instituting an unfair and undignified power relationship.
A better advice for Israelis is to learn from the Egyptian revolution; how Egyptians -Muslim, Christian, Secular, Feminist, Salafi, Nubian, Sinawi…- came together and proved that the power of the people is stronger than the people in power’s ability to manipulate their fears and play them against one another. All over the region, the Arab peoples are shaking off regimes which for long have benefitted from extending the status quo –whether pro-Western (Mubarak), anti-Western (Assad), unclassifiable (Gaddafi) or anything in between. Even the Palestinians under occupation are mobilizing to unseat their politically bankrupt leadership. Soon enough, Israel may become the only hyphenated democracy among its neighbors. What better time for Israelis –Ashkenazi, Sefardi, Mizrahi, Palestinian, Druze, Bedouin, Russian, Ethiopian…- to take inspiration and reject the race-mongering apparatus which rules them, then extend a blood-free hand to their neighbors in search of a just, humble, and true peace?
Let me also be honest, a just peace with Egypt is only the seed to true friendship. This seed can only bear fruit once Israel has lifted its oppression of and restituted all its non-Jewish natives: citizen, occupied, or exiled.
On Passover, I usually fast to celebrate the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt. Wouldn’t it feel right to celebrate one day the deliverance of the Israelis through Egypt? Since January 25th, millions of Egyptians have taken their fate in their hands and are on the march with it, in search of “dignity, liberty, and social justice.” Take yours, and come meet us down the road.
Mohammad Talat is an assistant professor of civil engineering at Cairo University and a UC Berkeley alum.
Maikel Nabil is out of his mind and the egyptians put him into the wrong institution.
Asking Israel, a theocratic and apartheid state, to help Egypt with establishing democracy and human right is like asking Al Capone to help you with setting up a bank account.
Egyptians, do not forget 1953, 1956 and 1967, the zionists are not your friends and never be. And finally charge them the going price for the gas you deliver to them!!!
actually capone was perfectly capable of treating those who worked for him fairly and respectfully with respect for most of the law.
Sure, pjdude, and Israel is treating its faithful followers with a lot of goodies, courtesy of us, US taxpayers.
However, do not try to cross Capone or Israel. Good old Al had a way to send you for a long vacation without a return ticket.
Theo, thank you for your comment. We do not forget, but we can forgive if this is the responsible thing to do.
I am not asking Israel to do anything to “help” Egypt. I am advising the Israelis who want peace, with sincerity, that the ideology which has shaped and dominated their country’s politics since inception is a bigger part of the problem than the crumbling, undemocratic Arab regimes; that the coat-hanger phrase “the only democracy” is soon to lose it luster; and that they better wise up and take the lead in rejecting this ideology from the inside in this moment of flux; that in looking positively on the Egyptian revolution and embracing its model as a MO they have a chance to deliver themselves, and in so doing achieve peace and even friendship with their neighbors.
And, at the risk of being too obvious, my message is to Israeli citizens, Jew, Muslim, Christian, and other. There is more in Israel than the Haridim, kipot srugot, etc (Orthodox, religious nationalists, etc.). In the end, it is an advice. The recipient can take it or leave it, and live with the consequences.
I think the phenomenon of someone rebelling against their society by (in part) trying to embrace whatever the antithesis might be – is quite common. Israel does compare favorably with Egypt in some ways. Not in others. It’s immature to contend otherwise.
Here’s hoping that the democracy community finds it easy to support freedom for this guy, regardless of his views.
I was unaware of/unconcerned by Nabil’s personal views. Needless to say I am quite unimpressed. However, the only thing that matters here is a person has been imprisoned for their thoughts. This, in any circumstance, no matter how intellectually sound, morally bankrupt, justice-oriented or utterly contemptible their arguments are, is unacceptable.
I’m very happy with this: “As I stand in solidarity with Maikel and feel unthreatened by his incomprehensible worldview” and this: “The credibility of Maikel Nabil’s grip on reality should stop there and then.” What a wonderful stance to take. I love the idea of being unafraid of opposing voices, standing in full confidence of the truth of one’s convictions, and it was wonderful to see you articulate that position so well. :)
Thank you, Maggie. I share your love of being unafraid of opposing views, …, and quick to consider silencing them. I would add a love to being prepared to review one’s convictions in light of new facts and earned wisdom.
thanks for the excellent article, i’m in agreement w/you.
“insulting the army.”
gee, i’m glad that isn’t against the law here!
In some locales in the US, one can get fined or arrested for using offensive language with a police officer.
do you mean threatening a police officer? i’ve never heard insulting a police officer was a crime in the US.
No, using offensive language, like cursing or swearing or having a bumper sticker that reads: “F*** the police”.
annie, try addressing a police officer with a few choice words and you will get a quick information course on how they are protected by law.
You will be charged with 3-4 illegal acts, go to jail for a few days or will be fined. If you are lucky you get both as a pckage deal.
Yes. A cop has lots of legal ways to skin his or her caught cat, you know, the one who just had to show disdain for the cop? The arrest may be thrown out on appeal, but don’t the cat have better ways to spend time?
Some cops are just pricks, bullies, and some people they encounter have no common sense and don’t recognize a cop just doing his job as politely as possible under the circumstances. Here’s a discussion of the narrow subject: link to answerbag.com
It sounds like Maikel Nabil looks up to Israelis as a result of his own feelings of inferiority. Perhaps he wishes to be an Israeli so as to be able to identify with the powerful (and arrogant).
Most people put aside reality and focus on that which they like when it conforms with their personal identity. That’s how ideology works. It’s part of a person’s personal identity. That is why it blinds many an otherwise smart person.
Since Nabil had/has a blog, presumeably he could find out easily about the real Israel, pro and con. Hence his stance on Israel seems most inconsistent with his other stances, at least as per the article here. Something’s not working in his brain. What does he say about the US, Israel’s bosom buddy? That might be telling in view of his view of Israel, as a way of us seeing how he sees himself.
If somebody could translate this from the Arabic, we’d have Nabil’s own explanation why he stands with Israel: link to maikelnabil.com
On Nabil’s blog page in english, he seems to say to me in a nutshell if Arab countries would be nice to Israel, Israel would elect Arab-friendly regimes.
I was able to get a small fragment of his blog page I Stand With Israel translated. Apparently he was very moved by the sight of lots of peace-loving Israelis crowded around the Knesset carrying flowers, dressed in white, etc in 1977–apparently a reaction to Sadat’s visit… Seems to say Egyptian government should warmly invite Israeli leader(s)?
I think it is more a case of rejecting one’s reality to the point of embracing its “other,” as Clencher suggests above. Maikel’s postings (the one Citizen cites below is a case in point) seem to list many facts about the “good” achievements of the Israeli society, always comparing them with the negative parallel in Egyptian and Arab societies and polities. His narrative is devoid of, indeed blind to, any Israel negative. Some people see bad in their midst and decide to take the difficult path of correcting it. Some just decide to turn “dissident” into their profession and goal, not means to a goal. For the latter, they are constantly pushed to find something to say louder and more outlandish than the next guy.