The discussions currently taking place over the constitutional amendments proposed recently by President Hosni Mubarak reflects Egypt's cultural woes. Take for example the call for removing Article 1, which stipulates that the "Egyptian people are part of the Arab Nation", and replacing it with another underlining the country's Pharaonic, Greek, Roman, Coptic, Arab, and Islamic identity.

This call is a dilemma in and by itself. It represents confusion and absence of consensus over such important terms as nationalism, patriotism and national belongingness; terms that refer to our civilization and to our cultural identity without giving utterance to them. The norm has long been that although there is a general agreement over their significance, they need not be named.

The stipulation in Article 1 of the Constitution that the "Egyptian people are part of the Arab Nation" does by no means have a political implication. Nor does it indicate a diminishing of sovereignty by considering Egyptians a satellite people. The oneness of language however confirms a cultural fact, which is the living heritage uniting all Arab people. The Article also carries a political overtone based on the need to protect Arab national interests both individually and collectively.

The advocates of the call to remove Article 1 of the Constitution have failed to grasp the truth about Egypt's cultural identity. They could not conceptualize that it has no bearing whatsoever on the State sovereignty. Nor could they accept that it does not diminish Egypt's identity, both as a country and as a people with an individual heritage.

Sami Khashba
Al-Ahram
18/2/2007