On Being
American

Last year, I bought some red, white, and
blue fabric to make myself an American flag belly dance costume. Well, to have
Eman Zaki make it for me. I never thought I would do such a thing, but I couldn’t
resist those glitter stars and stripes set against a background of stretch
lycra. Politics aside, it is a
beautiful flag. And I’m crazy like that.**  

The costume was absolutely stunning, but I
wasn’t brave enough to wear it. At least not initially. I was well aware of Egyptians’
generally unfavorable views towards the United States, and I didn’t want to
risk being offensive (or being pelted). Then one day, I decided to risk it. I
figured the worst that could happen was being booed off the stage. I was
willing to take that chance. To my surprise, nothing like that happened. In
fact, my audience started clapping and cheering the moment I entered the room.
Many of them begged to take pictures with me after my show.

I have since worn that flag costume
several times, and it always elicits the same reaction. It never fails. It has
therefore become of my more popular costumes. Clients have even requested that
I wear it at certain private functions. The last time someone asked me to wear
it was about three weeks ago, when I danced for former Egyptian Minister of
Interior Ahmed Rushdie. And when I danced on Egypt’s new 24-hour belly dance TV
channel, “El-Tit.” (You read that right.) The TV shoot was particularly funny,
because out of ten costumes I brought with me, the production staff insisted I
wear the flag one. On both occasions, however, I politely declined.

In spite of the fact that my American flag
costume is a real crowd pleaser, I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing it these
days. Especially not on Egyptian TV! Times are different now. I never thought I
would actually say this, but being American in Cairo is starting to get a
little uncomfortable. Yes, my Arabic is quite convincing, and no, I do not shove
democracy down people’s throats. But with all the political finger pointing
going on these days, I feel a bit uneasy divulging my nationality, let alone
wearing it when I dance.

This feeling is not normal for me. And it’s
not normal for Egypt. Egyptians are some of the most welcoming people in the
world, and they are expert at distinguishing between the government of a
country and its people. Egyptians are also great about discussing politics…so
much so that I would roll my eyes every time an incredulous American asked me “but
aren’t you afraid to tell people there that you’re American?” 

Unfortunately, I can no longer roll my
eyes at this question. As much as it irritates me to feed into the myopic
beliefs of some Americans, being American in Egypt just isn’t the same anymore.
I spent the past eight years traveling to and studying in bastions of
anti-Americanism such as Yemen, Syria, Cuba, and Egypt, and yet I never thought twice about hiding my
nationality. Here and now, however, I’m starting to think twice. And
thrice. 

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t exactly feel
threatened. (Yet.) And who knows? Maybe my feelings are totally unjustified. It’s
just that popular Egyptian opinion is getting a little xenophobic.  Especially towards Americans. Currently, the word
on the “Arab Street” (and in the media and universities and elsewhere) has it
that every outburst of violence in Egypt is the work of “outside forces.” Those
forces include the United States and Israel (obviously), Iran, Germany, and strangely,
Qatar. Everything from last week’s soccer massacre to the revolution itself is blamed
on foreigners who want to see Egypt torn into smithereens. Why, I don’t know,
but this is what a lot of Egyptians are claiming. 

Of course, the powers that be have a lot
to do with this. They have mastered the Middle Eastern political art of diversion,
which is basically blaming the U.S. and Israel for all of their misdeeds and
failures. Luckily for the Egyptian Army, this tactic is proving effective—Egyptians
tend to be pretty credulous, especially when it comes to politics. Start a
rumor about America and its ‘sidekick’ Israel, and Egyptians will believe
it. Skepticism isn’t a currency here.  

Egyptians would also rather believe that
someone else is responsible for the occasional eruptions of violence. This is
partially due to the world’s history of interference in Middle Eastern affairs,
and partially because the violence has shocked the Egyptian national conscience.
Egyptians are bearing witness to crimes they never thought could happen on
their soil. From last week’s soccer massacre to fighting between Muslims and
Christians and just the whole darn revolution itself, it is psychologically more
convenient to blame unseen foreign forces than for them to blame themselves. More
and more, it seems as though very few Egyptians are willing to claim responsibility
for the revolution and everything that has happened thereafter. 

The latest in a long list of catastrophes
involving foreigners this past week is the debacle of the “Cairo 19.”( http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/02/07/the_cairo_19)  These are 19 American NGO workers being held in
Egypt against their will on trumped up charges of spying for the US government.
They are also being accused of using “illegally procured funds” to foment violence
against the regime. In other words, of paying Egyptian “thugs” to commit the
soccer massacre, to gang rape women in the Jan. 25^th celebrations,
etc. Now, I am no supporter of these democracy missionaries that work for NGO’s.
For several reasons. But somehow, I find it hard to believe that the U.S. has
an interest in promoting civil unrest in Egypt. Amicable relations with Egypt have
long been a pillar of US foreign policy. Theoretically, this is what keeps
Egypt from attacking Israel, and what grants the US easy access to the Suez
Canal. That calculus has not changed. Rather, the Supreme Council of the Armed
Forces (SCAF) is deflecting the responsibility for its massive security failure
at last week’s soccer match onto nefarious US machinations in Egypt. The soccer
disaster, which resulted in the deaths of more than seventy people, dealt a
major blow to SCAF, which Egyptians were accusing of negligence and conspiracy.
Blaming the deaths on “unseen foreign forces,” then, was the army’s ‘brilliant’ way of taking itself out
of the spotlight…as though there are no bad Egyptians, only bad foreigners. It
is so obvious. Yet what kills me is how readily Egyptians believe these rumors—how
readily they are willing to believe the same people who readily mow them down when
they protest. 

None of this surprises me. Even former President
Hosni Mubarak used the US as a scapegoat whenever he wanted to divert negative
attention away from himself. But what makes this blame game a little different and
scary now is that people are taking politics into their own hands.  Unlike during Mubarak’s tenure, when politics
was the sole domain of the regime, people are now staging (sometimes violent)
protests based on their newfound political zeal. This is both good and bad. Good
that Egyptians have found the means and the will to shape the future. Bad when they
take the law into their own hands and hurt innocent people based on conspiracy
theories. 

Admittedly, it is not helping that those
“unseen foreign forces” are, in all actuality, not unseen.  People like the “Cairo 19” are not invisible US
agents of destruction. They are ordinary American expats living and working in
Egypt. They have names and faces and Egyptian friends.  And those three losers who flung Molotov cocktails
at Egyptian security forces a couple of months ago… they were American students
who came here to study Arabic. (http://articles.cnn.com/2011-11-22/africa/world_africa_egypt-americans-arrested_1_tahrir-square-molotov-cocktails-cairo?_s=PM:AFRICA) They also had
names, faces and Egyptian friends.  Somebody
needs to tell these pinheads this is not
their fight, and that they are spoiling it for the rest of us. Like the
Egyptians, they are taking politics into their own hands. And while we
appreciate their “commitment to bringing about democracy,” they are doing more
harm than good. Plus, they are blurring the distinction between the American
government and American people—a distinction that I previously mentioned
Egyptians have been good at making.    

Though I highly doubt the “Cairo 19” are
guilty of espionage and sabotage, maybe it’s time for them to think about
closing up shop. For starters, the current political climate in Egypt isn’t
exactly conducive to democracy promotion. Most Egyptians do not want democracy.
They equate it with western-style moral decadence. The army sure as heck
doesn’t want democracy.  That would curtail
its powers. So maybe we Americans should stop force feeding it to them.  Besides, it doesn’t make us look good, especially
since we’re not consistent about it. We are not, for example, imposing
democracy on Syria. As the Egyptians have been asking all along, intu malku? Meaning, “what’s it to you
(Americans) (whether or not we have democracy?).”  I think this is a question worth asking. 

Aside from Egyptian opinion vis-à-vis democracy,
Americans should be thinking about something else. Democracy + Middle East = religious
extremism. That is neither in the interest of the people nor of the United
States. It is so simple. What’s not to get? 
Or do we just have to win every battle, physical and ideological? 

If being American means believing that democracy
can be imposed anywhere and everywhere, then I’m an AmeriCAN’T. We can’t
implant democracy in parts of the world that have no history of secularism,
human rights, and term limits. And we cannot keep meddling in other countries’
internal affairs. What we can do is provide the best example of democracy in
our own country, hoping that others around the world will one day see the light.
Until then, it might be better to let nature take its course. 

**For the record, I have been wanting to
make an Egyptian flag costume for a while now. Yet many Egyptians warned me
that dancing in their flag would be taken as a sign of disrespect, however much
I see it as a gesture of adoration.