Spring calls for academics

Eugene Rogan, professor at the University of Oxford, is one of the world’s leading experts on Middle Eastern history. He wrote The Arabs in 2009, a book that comprises the whole of modern Arab history.

Even as an authority on Arab history the Arab spring came as a surprise to Rogan, but in hindsight he can see the lines of continuity leading up to the events of 2011.

– In the years after 2001, the war on terror, the growing American intervention in the region, the failing of the Arab governments to protect or provide for their people, was creating so much pressure that one felt the lid was ready to blow off, Rogan says.

The student vanguard

Being the keynote speaker at the Saladin-days at Litteraturhuset, Rogan is in Oslo to talk about the roots of the Syrian revolution and the future of the Arab spring.

Rogan meets Universitas in an impeccable mood, even on what is surely a very busy day.

Dressed in earth colours Rogan certainly gives of the familiar air of an Oxford professor, though without the absent-mindedness or droning voice one might expect from a scholar. Rather, he is self-assured and speaks with clear and precise wording.

– In most of the popular movements during the Arab spring, students were in the vanguard, Rogan says.

He mentions Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen as examples of the students taking an active role in the protests, but it is in Syria that the student have paid the full price of opposition. The bombing of the university dormitories in Aleppo along with the arrests of students goes to show just how seriously the regime takes the universities, according to Rogan.

This, he explains, might be because of the higher aspirations of an educated generation, that dares to hope for something better.

– Anyone who goes to study at the university in the Middle East, are doing so in the hope that it will be followed by a dignified job, which allows for getting married, a home and have a family. Much more so than students in Europe, because education is how students in Arab countries secure the independence of their own households.

Unable to provide an alternative

In Egypt, however, the students and educated classes were not successful in transitioning the protest movements into an effective, unified political bloc after the ousting of Mubarak’s regime.

Instead sixty to eighty different parties were formed, bickering with each other, and unable to provide a serious alternative to the well-organized Islamic organisations, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which you can read more about in sub story. The protesters from Tahrir Square were also viewed with scepticism by many in the rural areas of Egypt.

– Focusing on democracy and civil concerns, they were very far from the survival concerns of average working Egyptians, Rogan explains.

Your academic duty

Eugene Rogan is of the opinion that politicians should pay more heed to academics when making policy decisions. While in the previous decade politicians in the West would only call on academics to confirm their own biases about the Middle East, he claims that since 2011 this has changed.

When the revolutionary movements erupted in a half dozen countries in a matter of months, it was so beyond the wildest contingency plans of any Western government that they were all left completely perplexed.

– They just weren’t prepared for what was unfolding and they didn’t have a clue how to respond, says Rogan.

There was nothing they could say or do to change the course of the popular movements over which they had no control. This led to governments, in seeking to make sense of the event, reached out to scholars.

– I have never found Western governments more open to interaction with or advice from academics than they have since 2011. I’m thrilled to see the interest.

Willing support

His colleagues in France and Germany say the same thing, Rogan claims. He sees it as an entirely new openness on the part of governments to involve people whose field research has taken them into places that the government themselves did not know.

– I give my time freely to any in government, because I think it is my duty as an academic to take the research that I do and put it into the public domain in a way that will be useful for policymakers, he says.

– In that sense, maybe there is a new openness in the West to think about how to engage with the region that is going through such a monumental change. Let’s hope for the good.

A brother lost

As a former spokesperson for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Ibrahim El-Houdaiby knows more about the inner workings of the organisation than most. Also a participant in the Saladin-days, he is very willing to lend his expertise to anyone wanting to understand a movement that is perhaps not well understood in the West.

– It is quite normal in any revolution that the first party coming to power after, is the strongest former opposition to the previous regime. But it does not last, as we can learn from history, El-Houdaiby says to Universitas.

His great grandfather was one of the most influential ideologues of the movement, and the Brotherhood’s second leader after the assassination of its founder Hassan al-Banna in 1949. In recent years, however, El-Houdaiby has turned away from the organisation, because of the movements contradictory ideologies vying for power internally. He is concerned that the Brotherhood is not adressing the real issues, while focusing on keeping the group united, despite the differences.

It was very easy for the Brotherhood to be critical when you are in the opposition, El-Houdaiby thinks.

– You could call whatever transaction un-Islamic, condemn the regime and criticize its policies, but the moment you are in power you have to combine that with an element of political relevance. So if you say that an international loan is bad it is not enough, because you have to present an alternative for the economy.

El-Houdaiby thinks that in the future, the movement will have to take one of two directions. Either become more pragmatic while tackling real policy concerns, and in the process probably lose a lot of supporters. Or, maintain their identity politics, which would result in them becoming side-lined and irrelevant.

– The past decade have witnessed two contradicting phenomena taking place in the Brotherhood: The ascent of businessmen and the ruralisation of the group. This means that there are competing economic interests, and the moment you start focusing on the economy, you cannot stand united.

On a lot of the issues in the Middle East today, El-Houdaiby holds controversial views, but he thinks it is important to be outspoken.

– Politicians always have to talk about the politically correct answers. But I’m not a politician. Because they are so keen on getting votes in the next election, politicians will not confront the people with realities, but academics and people who are liberated from the need of votes should carry the responsibility of speaking the hard truths.