By Takura Zhangazha*
I watched the Egypt versus Burkina Faso African Cup of Nations
2017 (AFCON2017) semi-final game in Gabon with great anticipation. I had declared
my support for Burkina Faso and had apologized to my fellow Africans, the
Egyptian football fans for my preference for that particular match. Egypt
went on to win the match and is now in the final of Afcon2017.
Someone, via social media, decided during the course of the match
to raise the issue of why would I as an African, living in the South of the
Sahara was respecting the football prowess of Egypt.
And he raised a number of puerile
reasons for arguing the way he did. His view was that Egypt tends to
claim the best of sporting and political worlds. The first being that it
is part of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and also laying claim to
being part of the Arab League. I politely disagreed with him.
And being Zimbabwean, I remember that World Cup qualifying match
that had to be replayed in France in 1993 where Egypt played our national team which
we had passionately dubbed what we dubbed the ‘Dream Team’. We lost,
albeit in controversial circumstances, but it didn’t ever cloud my judgment that
we had lost to an African team.
Since then Egypt’s national football team has gone on to become
record holders of the African Cup of nations, in its various versions.
And they have deserved it. Their national football teams have competed
with the best of the continent and proven to be top class.
Conversations around the ‘Africanness’ of Egypt are however
thoroughly misplaced. Not only because they are ahistorical but also
because they fail to recognize the sporting prowess of fellow Africans that
have proven beyond doubt that when it comes to sport, they will compete at the
highest of levels.
But there is need to de-bunk the myth and assumption that Egypt
does not really act in solidarity with the rest of Africa or that it has specific
attitudes of superiority to the rest of the continent.
To assume Egypt is in Africa geographically and that its hearts
and mind are in the Middle East is to have selective amnesia about historical
fact. True, Egypt has always been caught
up in the Palestinian quest for independence from Israel or global claims to
territory such as with the Suez Canal. Partly
because of this, it has always been presented in the global media not as an
African state, but an Arab one. Not only
be reference to its majority religion but its proximity and influence in Middle
East politics and the struggles of the Palestinian people for freedom.
In the process the country and its people has become a victim of
what Edward Said referred to as ‘Orientalism’.
That is, wrong western cultural tendencies to regard or represent the people of the 'east' as lesser ‘others’.
The reality of the matter is that Egypt has been an integral part
and player in Africa history from the north to the south. During our liberation struggles, Egypt was
not only a host to various liberation movements and leaders (Nelson Mandela
passed through Egypt at one point for training) but it was an active supporter
of the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).
This is before we even
revert to debating further history of the historical states of Eypgt[TZ1] and Kush and their role in advancing humankinds
knowledge and technology as written by great historians such as Cheikh Anta
Diop.
Regrettably younger generations of Africans may not appreciate this
history and may fall into the trap of an 'orientalist' global media and in part
Western foreign policy narrow prisms of always distinguishing North and South of
the Sahara Africa. Not only geographically but also politically.
It is a trend that we must actively try and avoid. Even if sometimes it appears as though there
is no reciprocity of recognition via media stories or the complex geo-politics
that is the Palestinian quest for liberation.
Again this would reflect the wisdom of those
that fought colonialism who persistently worked to avoid what Nkrumah called
the ‘bifurcation’ of the continent. Not
only by former colonial powers but also by way of global media discourse. And even if it sounds repetitive, let it
still be sweet music to our ears, ‘Africa Unite!’ Not just in respect of our
shared struggle histories but more significantly our contemporary progress and
our collective future.
*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)
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