Albert Einstein, Charlie Chaplin, Arthur Miller and many other in a long list of big names in science, art and culture were prey to 1950 US Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy, whose name later became the historical origin of a term synonymous to the witch-hunting of intellectuals.
The former senator’s campaign had, for years, created a horrific atmosphere among intellectuals and artists who were mostly accused of being communist agents for Russia, in the form of aggressively questioning their patriotism and honor.
The US homeland was not the limit. McCarthy had sent a delegation to Europe to coordinate a blacklist of leftist and communist authors. He had also prompted the US State Department to deny entry to more than 400 European authors, journalists and academics.
In Egypt, McCarthyism has thrived since the stage was emptied for a lone star in the middle of a dark, empty sky. If the president speaks, his words are taken as song lyrics. If he wakes up, he finds everybody waiting on their bikes. If he gets angry, people swear and curse whoever ruined his mood.
Gradually, the alleged fifth column mushrooms and extends beyond borders; even infiltrating Egyptian prisons confining almost all of the 2011 revolutionaries. (Or those who are still alive, to be accurate!)
The new wave of Egyptian McCarthyism has hit the art sector, with the head of the state’s radio banning the broadcast of songs by Hamza Namira, seen by many as the singer of the 2011 uprising, which his excellency of course deems a conspiracy. Months earlier, we had heard that Ramy Essam, Tahrir Square’s singer who endured persecution under the former ruling military council, the Muslim Brotherhood and the present regime, is currently in semi-exile in Sweden. Cinema star Khaled Abouel Naga has dared to use his constitutional right and spoke out his assessment of the president’s performance during a seminar at the Cairo International Film Festival, only to face barrage of insults and accusations by the president’s private media battalion.
Egypt state radio chief, Abdel Rahman Rashad, had justified his ban of Namira’s songs by saying that the songs were opposed to the regime and the June 2013 “revolution,” and argued that his decision was meant to side with the state in its battle against terrorism, thus putting the Egyptian touch on McCarthyism.
Now, everyone is a supporter of terrorism until proven innocent.
Noam Chomsky once suggested that the terror industry was a mere outcome of the desire for dominance over society by distracting the public attention from pressing issues, such as poverty, pollution, crime and corruption. We have become accustomed to being used as tools to that end everyday in government and private TV channels, such as the dissemination of false information and rumors, as well as exaggerating individual incidences.
US McCarthyism failed in less than five years; and while disgrace still chases McCarthy and his cortege, Charlie Chaplin, Albert Einstein, Arthur Miller and other blacklisted personalities are still alive with their works and creations.
Such disgrace will also be the destiny of those who lambasted Abouel Naga and his likes, and survival will be for all who stood by his right to free speech and oppose the libeling, accusatory cult.
The Academy Awards festival that followed the 2003 US war in Iraq– also waged under the pretext of combating terrorism– had turned into a public trial of former US President George W. Bush by ِAmerican movie stars. Back then, Bush had no McCarthyist that would fight back for him against those whose criticisms later proved to be right.
The same applies to our case. If the president keeps listening only to the echo of his voice, all the world’s McCarthyists will never suffice to silence voices dreaming of a real homeland.
Ayman Makram is a movie director and critic.
