By following the mainstream Western media’s coverage of the Arab Spring since late 2010, one may see the uprisings as distant outsiders. Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic Slavoj Zizek, has been very outspoken on how the Western media failed to see the true spirit of these revolutions. In his essay “The Arab Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall,” Zizek takes a unique perspective not just on one season, but on a more complete “Arab Year.” Of course, Zizek himself is a Westerner and he would agree that his theories observed from a distance are nothing unless it applies to the experiences of the very people who participated in the revolution. One great source of these voices is Khaled Al Khamissi’s short story collection Taxi. Author Al Khamissi, a resident of Cairo, not only compiles a collage of the multitude of attitudes coexisting and clashing in Egypt through conversations with cab drivers but also exemplifies and solidifies the theories expounded by Zizek. The preface of Taxi, very aptly titled “Made in Egypt,” discusses the uncertainty of Egypt’s future following the downfall of Mubarak. The narrator and a taxi driver employ a metaphorical old, worn shirt to describe the current state of Egypt. In it, Al Khamissi offers three options on what to do with the vestiges of the old regime by thinking about what is done to old shirts:
First, you can burn it to get rid of it for good, and go and buy a new one; second, you can have it altered to fit you and buy some new cloth for it, and try to remove the blood stains and the stench; or third, you can give it a good wash and have it ironed [….] and tell yourself: “That’s the easiest way and there’s a chance I might lose weight again.”
The plentitude of choices mirrors just how much power and how many options the Egyptian people have in their own hands. Many in the West attempt to co-opt the revolutions as a desire to be more like them, while many still cynically dismiss the potential of the uprisings under the guise of concern. However, the true spirit of the uprisings in Egypt is rooted in Egypt’s own citizens recognizing the problems of the old regime, taking fates into their own hands, and creating a government for the people by the people.
The first stage of a revolution is a realization of the oppressive status quo. During the decades-long reign of Hosni Mubarak, discontent with the government gained momentum. The politically explosive atmosphere of the Arab Spring was the result of the Egyptian public enduring how for decades Mubarak stole from citizens, restricted freedoms, and disregarded human life Zizek discusses the pre-2011 condition of Egypt as a“permanent state of emergency imposed by the Mubarak regime” (Zizek 71). The rule of law was suspended and the entire country was in a state of political immobility. Absolutely no outlet for political dialogue existed aside from the protests that took place. This argument is supported by Al Khamissi’s shirt metaphor. He describes the shirt as “scruffy,” “old,” and “in an awful state” to mirror the ineffective and corrupt government that has plagued the country. The fact that the shirt has been “too small for you for ages” indicates how the Egyptian people have advanced at a faster rate than their government and has outgrown the old regime. Al Khamissi also alludes to the protests against this government by describing the shirt as being “spattered with blood.” These bloodstains were earned after days of fighting against the previous “owner” of the shirt, Mubarak, the “criminal on the run who’s hiding out in Sharm el-Sheikh.” From the preface of Taxi alone, a general Egyptian aversion towards Mubarak’s rule is evident. This precise sentiment is the reason why Zizek claimed that it made “perfect sense” that after the Arab Spring, many Egyptians could now “claim to feel alive for the first time in their lives” (Zizek 71). Egyptian citizens finally realized they were capable of disposing of the remnants of the old regime like a scruffy, worn shirt.
More importantly, revolutionaries in Egypt realized that they could discard the old regime by themselves. This attitude of independence indicates that they believe in the possibility of taking control of their own fates. Zizek very accurately described this awareness with his metaphor of the dish in the museum. The ancient dish with the proverb inscribed reveals an “ultimate message” of how our destinies are neither subordinate to “blind fate” nor total “freedom to do what one wants,” but a “deeper freedom to decide (“choose”) our fate” (67). Zizek connects the ancient wisdom’s relevancy to current revolutions since they are led by people who want to take fate from the hands of oppressive dictators and into their own hands. Furthermore, Egyptian protesters are not content with taking the power of Mubarak’s regime and passing it to another. This is why they are wary of the army’s attempts to “wash” and “iron” the old system into a more presentable state. The taxi driver in Al Khamissi’s preface echoes this sentiment: “Today my son told me the demonstrations will continue right across Egypt to tell the army ‘You helped us and we’re grateful, but now you have to understand we don’t accept the wash and iron process you’re trying to sell us.‘” It is only the Egyptian people who know what they want in a government and how to bring about the change.
This desire for independently achieving one’s own freedom is described by Zizek as a “radical emancipatory potential” that is historically inherent to the philosophy of the Arab world (Zizek 65). This is the potential to ask the question of “What if, instead of bemoaning our fate, we should seize the moment and change it?” Zizek argues here is that this potential is not limited to events in history books but is a force alive and at work in the Arab Spring of today. This explains why the taxi driver in Al Khamissi’s book claims that in a nation of innovative citizens and an army of “laundrymen,” “the inventors are the future” because they take control of their fate. As inventors, the citizens have a very clear and ambitious dream. Though Egyptians may be split between multiple religious, political, and social divisions, they all agree that Egypt’s future must be built exclusively for the nation, much like a “tailor-made shirt.”
This strong desire for independence and autonomy is not well recognized in the West, Zizek argues. He divides the disbelievers into two categories. First, Zizek argues against Western liberals who are cynical of the outcome of the events in the Arab world. He cities among the “shameful and dangerously opportunistic reactions” to the upheaval in Egypt a statement by Tony Blair that acknowledged the necessity of change, but urged “stable change” (Zizek 73). Zizek points out that “[s]table change” only meant a compromise with the Mubarak forces. Zizek also calls out the “hypocrisy of Western liberals” for publicly supporting the “spread of democracy” world-wide while being “deeply concerned” by people “revolting against tyrants in the name of freedom and justice” (Zizek 73). Zizek thinks our reaction should not be of concern, but of “joy,” because these protests show that “freedom has been given a chance” (Zizek 74). Zizek also sees an equally problematic “hidden struggle for the appropriation” of the current revolutions in which the Western media sees these movements as a “pro-democracy” sentiment that is linked to “desire for Western liberal democracy, a desire to become like the West” (Zizek 74). This outlook ultimately diminishes the Egyptian people’s capacity to find their own solutions without the need for foreign intervention. Zizek is disturbed by the cynicism that “popular upheavals in Arab countries always end with the triumph of militant Islamism” (Zizek 75). People are prematurely assuming that after the events take place, Mubarak will then eventually appear as the lesser evil. Above all, Zizek believes this cynicism is unwarranted and that we should “remain unconditionally faithful to the radical emancipatory core of the Egyptian uprising” (Zizek 75).
Because Egyptians aspire for something far greater, the taxi driver in Al Khamissi’s story is certain that they will not be wooed by the “white” shirt of Western nations, the “green” shirt of Islamic governments, the “red” shirt of communism, or even the “flashy” shirt of American democracy. All of these are imperfect systems that are controlled by “billionaires manipulating policies and people.” Instead, the people of Egypt “want a government that knows how to make the most of that feeling every Egyptian feels deep down.” This is a new era in which each citizen’s dreams “float in the air, waiting for someone to grab them” and at a single notice, all 90 million Egyptians are ready to support a government that would fit them all perfectly. The new shirt will “spout wings” and give each person the ability to soar to undiscovered heights. It would be as quintessentially Egyptian as the “smell of jasmine” and the eponymous cotton. It will be the “color of the Nile.”
Soon after writing these words in the preface, Al Khamissi credited in a February 2011 France 24 interview the source of the Western media’s ignorance of the true spirit of the Arab Spring to Westerners’ dependency on the “European, American press” and a “lack of reading Egyptian literature.” He also claimed his reason for making taxi drivers central to his work was because “Taxi drivers live under the line of poverty. These people in Egypt are more wise than I am. And wise people say ‘We’ll wait and see…’” By finally seeing the revolution through Egyptian eyes, it is possible to better understand the complexities of the past and gain a clear, confident view into the uncertain, but unquestionably optimistic future ahead. Once again, Zizek’s words ring true. From our distance, we can do nothing greater than remain “unconditionally faithful to the radical emancipatory core of the Egyptian uprising.”
Works Cited
Al Khamissi, Khalid. Taxi. Laverstock: Aflame, 2008. Print.
Žižek, Slavoj. "The Arab Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall." The Year of Dreaming Dangerously. London: Verso, 2012. Print.