Segment of Interview with AUC History professor Michael Reimer by IngyH
Interview with Michael Reimer (March 22nd 2011) for: The January 25th Revolution and Changes in Egyptian Society
Were you in Egypt during the protests?
Yes, I was in Egypt during the entire period of the protests.
Did you actually go to Tahrir Square?
I was in Tahrir Square a few times. Well, actually just twice before the president's resignation. And, it was February 1st or February 2nd I was there, just before the incident with the camels and the horses and such. I wasn't there on that day. And one other time and I can't remember the exact date but anyway... We did see, and I was with some other people, and we did see on the first occasion some clashes between police and demonstrators, and then the second occasion was actually a very peaceful day. It was the Tuesday before the clash with the Baltagiyya.
The history course that you're teaching right now, Isqat al Nizam, this was your idea to start teaching that?
It was actually an idea that was sparked by the provost. Because the provost here at AUC, Dr. Medhat Haroun, had circulated to all the faculty a suggestion that we set up some special, either, courses or workshops or seminars relating to the revolution as a way of contributing as a university to the dialogue about what had happened and what was going to happen in Egypt as the constitution was changed and as the discussion about changing the political and the cultural atmosphere in the country, so it was my idea originally to set up some kind of course where we could compare Egypt's revolution with other revolutions. But it could not have happened without the support of my colleagues and so it's a team taught course, and every week we have a different lecturer who is presenting on a different topic of comparison for Egypt, with Egypt's revolution.
Can you tell me what are you hoping to teach students through that course and what you are hoping they will learn.
Well I think what we want the students to learn is that there are many different trajectories that a revolution can follow. There's not just one kind of revolution as it were, there isn't a single pattern that all revolutions conform to, in other words. And one of the things that came out in our discussion on the very first day, we had a panel, and some students wanted the panel, which consisted mainly of professors, although we did have a student on the panel as well, to sort of tell them what should happen now or what had to happen thinking that there's somehow a law that all revolutions have to follow. And what we tried to convey to the students was, first of all, there is no such law that the revolution has to follow, or a pre-ordained path, and secondly what happens is determined to a large extent by what the students and other Egyptians actually want to happen, what they're willing to sacrifice in order for something to happen. So, we wanted to stress the fact that there is a certain open-endedness to any kind of revolutionary situation. And one can look around and see models of things, or revolutions that perhaps Egypt wants to follow, and other models that it wants to avoid. But in each case there are, by studying revolutions we can sort of see, well, who benefits, who doesn't benefit, what groups tend to be involved, what groups tend to be excluded or marginalized by revolutions. I would say one thing that I certainly hope our students would learn is that a determined minority often times can, you might say, take hold of a revolution and lead it in a particular path. Unless people are willing to stand up, to object, or to try and lead it into a different way, often times revolutions do actually tend to be taken over by one group that has a very clear ideology and a very clear goal in mind, whereas other people are sort of dithering and not following through. Yes that can happen with a revolution, it doesn't have to happen, there have been revolutions where that hasn't happened but it is a potential outcome of a revolution.
Interview with Michael Reimer (March 22nd 2011) for: The January 25th Revolution and Changes in Egyptian Society
Were you in Egypt during the protests?
Yes, I was in Egypt during the entire period of the protests.
Did you actually go to Tahrir Square?
I was in Tahrir Square a few times. Well, actually just twice before the president's resignation. And, it was February 1st or February 2nd I was there, just before the incident with the camels and the horses and such. I wasn't there on that day. And one other time and I can't remember the exact date but anyway... We did see, and I was with some other people, and we did see on the first occasion some clashes between police and demonstrators, and then the second occasion was actually a very peaceful day. It was the Tuesday before the clash with the Baltagiyya.
The history course that you're teaching right now, Isqat al Nizam, this was your idea to start teaching that?
It was actually an idea that was sparked by the provost. Because the provost here at AUC, Dr. Medhat Haroun, had circulated to all the faculty a suggestion that we set up some special, either, courses or workshops or seminars relating to the revolution as a way of contributing as a university to the dialogue about what had happened and what was going to happen in Egypt as the constitution was changed and as the discussion about changing the political and the cultural atmosphere in the country, so it was my idea originally to set up some kind of course where we could compare Egypt's revolution with other revolutions. But it could not have happened without the support of my colleagues and so it's a team taught course, and every week we have a different lecturer who is presenting on a different topic of comparison for Egypt, with Egypt's revolution.
Can you tell me what are you hoping to teach students through that course and what you are hoping they will learn.
Well I think what we want the students to learn is that there are many different trajectories that a revolution can follow. There's not just one kind of revolution as it were, there isn't a single pattern that all revolutions conform to, in other words. And one of the things that came out in our discussion on the very first day, we had a panel, and some students wanted the panel, which consisted mainly of professors, although we did have a student on the panel as well, to sort of tell them what should happen now or what had to happen thinking that there's somehow a law that all revolutions have to follow. And what we tried to convey to the students was, first of all, there is no such law that the revolution has to follow, or a pre-ordained path, and secondly what happens is determined to a large extent by what the students and other Egyptians actually want to happen, what they're willing to sacrifice in order for something to happen. So, we wanted to stress the fact that there is a certain open-endedness to any kind of revolutionary situation. And one can look around and see models of things, or revolutions that perhaps Egypt wants to follow, and other models that it wants to avoid. But in each case there are, by studying revolutions we can sort of see, well, who benefits, who doesn't benefit, what groups tend to be involved, what groups tend to be excluded or marginalized by revolutions. I would say one thing that I certainly hope our students would learn is that a determined minority often times can, you might say, take hold of a revolution and lead it in a particular path. Unless people are willing to stand up, to object, or to try and lead it into a different way, often times revolutions do actually tend to be taken over by one group that has a very clear ideology and a very clear goal in mind, whereas other people are sort of dithering and not following through. Yes that can happen with a revolution, it doesn't have to happen, there have been revolutions where that hasn't happened but it is a potential outcome of a revolution.
No comments:
Post a Comment