Does this notion of a crisis of civilisation have a resonance in Egypt amongst progressive forces?
Yes. But in Egypt there is also huge cultural crisis which has grown since Sadat’s regime. People are really threatened by the conflict between fundamentalist Muslim and Christian religious groups who are supported, ironically, by the local government and by the US neo-colonial power – the three unholy alliance. Even Obama himself supports so-called freedom of religions. How has the rise of fundamentalism impacted on the organisation of people into movements that can resist the neo-colonial onslaught of which you speak? People are diverted from the real battle: the economic battle, the neo-colonial battle to side battles. For example, a few days ago the whole of the country was in conflict speaking about the nicob, whether women should cover their faces according to Islam or just have the hijab cover the head and the body but the feet should be shown. Can you imagine that this absorbed the energy and the minds of everybody? It is as if people are hypnotised by religion; there is no thi
