Hossam Badrawi Official Website
I’m talking about freedom
Hossam Badrawi
One of my daughters asked me: What is the story of your new cultural salon, doctor, and what is the difference between it and the various cultural salons that we hear about these days?
I said: Societal cultural activity is required in all its forms, but what we would like to do in the Association for the Dissemination of Culture and Knowledge is more than just a cultural salon closed to a group of attendees. It is a cultural dialogue broadcast on the Internet directly, with the participation of a number of audiences who can follow up and participate in writing during the broadcast and participate in audio and video when necessary. The goal is to spread knowledge and advocate the use of social media for public benefit.
Her colleague said: I attended the first salon on the Internet, and I was surprised that seventy thousand participants had followed the salon, and more than two thousand participants had liked and criticized it.
I said: The first salon was about a book by Dr. Taha Hussein “On Pre-Islamic Poetry”, and participated in the discussion with me and the moderator of dialogue, Professor Muhammad Abu Shama, Messrs.: Tharwat Kharbawi, Fatima Naoot, Fatima Al-Bawdi, Islam Behairy, Osama Al-Sheikh, Sharif Aref, Suzan Harfi, Hassan Al-Bilawi, Farid Zahran, and Muhammad Madkour And other honorable attendees, and thousands of followers enjoyed their dialogue. The next salon will be about the book d. Zaki Naguib Mahmoud “Speaking About Freedom” on Wednesday, February 1st.
The first young woman said: Why this particular topic? I understood that the discussion of Taha Hussein’s book opened the doors to using reason in exchange for persistence in the past, and that what Taha Hussein put forward about Descartes’ methodology of skepticism and impartial research bothered some sheikhs in 1926, and that this is still happening a century later. But when talking about freedom, the reader may think that you mean the relationship of the people with the government, or that you are opening a sensitive topic for discussion.
I said: Freedom, my daughter, is at the fore in the country’s constitution, and I can’t find a better topic to discuss, nine years after the January revolution, with everyone who supported and everyone who opposed, everyone who saw the best of the Egyptian people and everyone who brought out the worst in it, more than the issue of freedom.. Societies that do not learn from their experiences are static, do not advance to the future, and revolve around a fixed point that they think is good and is not. Dr. Zaki Naguib Mahmoud says in the introduction to his book that he is looking for what we lack for a free life in its fullest sense. The author tells the reader through 30 chapters of the book: “What is the concept of freedom? .. How to achieve it and reach it?”, warning against being deceived by the glamor of societies that call for Freedom is in its highest ideals, which is far from it. Rather, it exercises oppression, not in its material form, but in various other ways. The book deals with the explanation of several concepts such as “secularism, Egyptian identity, freedom of thought, Arab culture, fear of the unknown,” and raises the question: “Does Islamic law contradict democracy as a system of government?” And other issues that are still raised to this day.
The educated young man said: Are we not contradicting ourselves by referring to the books of the past while we are talking about freedom of thought while we ourselves are fighting the Salafism that wants to imprison us in a past beyond it?
I said: The one who lives his life imitating the life of others – both from the predecessor or from the successor alike – is only living a faded image of an origin that had its strength with its owner. The truth, my son, is that launching into the future requires the existence of the present and the roots of the past so that knowledge can accumulate, without which man will not differ from plants and animals. Knowing history is important, and experience does not come without knowledge. As for the closure of thought and its stopping at a specific historical moment without being in harmony with the growth of human civilization in terms of science and thought, it is an unsustainable collective stupidity.
Dr. says. Zaki Naguib Mahmoud that freedom has its negative side and its positive side. We have become accustomed to understanding of human freedom only the negative aspect, which breaks the chains, breaks the prisoner’s captivity, and removes tyranny. This is what revolutions and revolutions do, and man becomes free to go wherever he wants. As for the positive aspect, thanks to which civilizations are built and cultures are established, it is where to start, and how to proceed, and at this point comes the role of thought leaders and scholars. Freedom has limitations, otherwise it becomes chaos that increases tyranny after a short time.
His colleague said: What are the limits of freedom, and where is the difference between the freedom of the individual and the freedom of society?
I said: Your question is an entry “about freedom I am talking about”, where he says that combining the freedom of the individuals who make up a society, and their adherence to the limits of the entity that are parts of it, is the secret of the greatness of creation, from the electrolytes within the atom to the planets in its orbit and the galaxies in its composition, all within A larger formation enjoys freedom governed by laws and rules, otherwise everything collapses. The basis, then, in the entire system of the universe combined in one entity and in each of its beings, is the freedom of the parts, or less the freedom of individuals, a freedom restricted and governed by the nature of the entity, and there is no contradiction in that.
The young man said: Who makes the laws and rules?
I said: This is the anchor of the horse. If there is a law that governs the relationship of individual freedom to the group, then there are questions: Who sets it, who applies it, who monitors its good application, and who measures its effects? Did its application provide an opportunity for creativity and excellence, or did the dose of complacency increase, and the doors of freedoms were closed under the name of “protecting society”? The application of justice without selectivity is the basis of individual freedom.
His colleague said: I mean, if we asked you about your prescription as a doctor to allow the freedom of the individual and the growth of society without the tyranny of power, what would you say?
I said: The institution of justice is the first entrance, and the law enforcement institution is the entrance merging with it, with the institutions of education and the media, which build knowledge of rights and call for adherence to them, and their cultural means in this are books, art and “social media.”
Knowledge and justice, my children, are the secret of civilization and the guarantee of positive freedom.
The young man said: How difficult is that, Doctor? It is easy to agree.
I said, ending my speech: Agreement is easy, but implementation requires broad horizons and effective management. There are countries without resources and have risen, and countries that have resources to build and decline, and before us are close days for peoples with the same genes and the same problems.
It is contained in East and West Germany, South and North Korea, and the difference between them was in the administration of the country. When countries lose their opportunities one by one, I do not blame the people, but the governments.
The young man said again: Things seem uncomplicated, so why complicate them, repeat our mistakes, and expect different results?
I said: Freedom without the constraints of law is chaos, and chaos leads to collapse.. As for the absence of knowledge and claiming success where failure is a disaster, it is a disaster, and with all confidence I say to you that Egypt possesses the ingredients of civilization in its history and in the future, and we have to believe in ourselves, and that we are a great people. Experience says: There is no bad employee, but there is an incapable manager, and there are no bad people, but there is an administration that does not exploit their potential. And our entrance is in our positive freedom and creativity from this point of view.
