Bassem Sabry: An appreciationThe untimely death of public intellectual Bassem Sabry is a blow to Egypt and the entire Arab worldOne
always hesitates to write a eulogy. It inevitably feels unspeakably
tawdry, because nothing one can put into words can do justice to the
person being remembered. Worse, it feels vaguely exploitative. It may
not come across that way as a reader, but writing fondly about the
departed often feels transgressive. It's the same sickly feeling one
would probably get by crashing an intimate family gathering.
Time, perhaps, ameliorates that feeling of transgression, which is
probably why all of my remembrances of those who have passed away tend
to come later than people would expect. I suppose I'm hoping that a
"decent interval" will make the experience somehow feel less obnoxious.
I waited as long as I could before putting together my thoughts on
Bassem Sabry, who passed away at the tragically young age of 31 last
month. When I heard about his death, it was immediately clear to me that
the Arab world in general, and Egypt in particular, had lost a major
asset, someone who would certainly have made an extraordinary
contribution in coming years.
Even at his young age, he had already made his mark. He was
respected internationally as an activist and thinker of the first
caliber. And he takes with him rare qualities that Egyptians and other
Arabs have in disturbingly short supply. We simply cannot afford to lose
people like him: we just don't have enough of them.
First, he was an extraordinarily good person. Decent, right down to
the core. There are a lot of people all over the world, including the
Middle East, who are fundamentally good and decent. Probably most are.
But
the unusual thing that Bassem was able to do was to be good and decent
both in his politics as he conceptualized them, and in his dealings with
those he disagreed with.
The outpouring of shock and raw emotion at his death from people on
every side of a deeply divided Egyptian society is the most powerful
testament. Radicals, liberals, Islamists, traditionalists, and others
all expressed profound sorrow. It's not that they all agreed with him;
most of them didn't. It's that he had demonstrated an unusual
willingness to treat them all with respect and consideration.
Bassem was a genuine liberal in the best sense of the term. He
actually wanted a pluralistic society in which people with serious
differences could openly and passionately disagree without being
disagreeable. In the contemporary Arab world, Egypt included, there are
very few people who are able to not only espouse that ideal but to
demonstrate in practice how it looks. Bassem did exactly that. Through
openness, patience, and a serious, practical commitment to the values of
pluralism and tolerance, he was living out the principles of a decent
society.
I regarded his work as crucial not only because I fundamentally
agreed with his values, but even more so because, in my view, there was a
powerful pedagogical element to the way he was conducting himself:
modest and respectful, but unwavering on core ideals. This, his public
engagement seemed to say, is how reasonable people ought to conduct
themselves in a society in flux and under difficult circumstances. This
is what it looks like.
What's more, Bassem was brilliant in a region and a world that
cannot spare its brilliant sons and daughters. He was initially one of a
cadre of young Egyptian public intellectuals and bloggers who became
known outside of their country in the course of the ouster of former
President Hosni Mubarak. However, Sabry, at least in my own mind,
established himself as particularly insightful when he was the first to
predict, several months in advance, that Mohammed Morsi would be the
next Egyptian president.
Bassem pieced together a straightforward puzzle, but one that had
previously eluded everybody else. Khairat el-Shater would not be allowed
to run on technicalities. The Muslim Brotherhood would nonetheless
field a Freedom and Justice Party candidate. Morsi would almost
certainly be that candidate, and would probably win. No sooner had he
sketched out the scenario than the pieces began to fall into place, and
exactly what he had anticipated happened.
But even if it hadn't, because things can always change, it was a
brilliant piece of political analysis. After that, I didn't read Bassem
occasionally: I read him religiously. And I had numerous Skype
conversations and meetings with him, which I will always treasure.
Particularly when discussing Egypt, he invariably managed to teach me
something important.
His death was a tragic and untimely loss, not just for his friends
and family, but for his country and the region. Bassem Sabry was a rare
talent and a remarkable young man. Selfishly, and somewhat
transgressively put, we simply do not have enough people of his caliber
to spare them to the cruel caprices of fortune.
Hussein Ibish, PhD
Senior Fellow
American Task Force on Palestine
http://www.americantaskforce.org/Twitter: @ibishblog
Blog:
http://www.ibishblog.com/
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