Where university politics and world politics meet...

The last issue of the American University in Cairo's student newspaper, The Caravan, came out last week. It was a special report on the relationship between Egypt, AUC, and the US, and it was one of the most emotionally exhausting things I've ever read. It's a little funny... I wondered, before coming here, if I would leave Egypt a vehement supporter of Palestine. I won't. I despise US policies toward Israel, but I also despise the blind support the Arab world gives Palestine. I despised this conflict before, but I despise it infinitely more now.

This issue of The Caravan drew from interviews with 100 AUC students and, in a really respectable bit of student reporting, talked through some of the contradictions that exist at AUC. The university has received a huge amount of funding from USAID. An Egyptian newspaper recently accused AUC of spying for the CIA, actually. AUC students, despite their hyperconsumption of American fashion, American education, American food (everyone eats lunch at McDonalds and gets coffee from Cinnabon on campus), American movies, and American culture in general, HATE America. They especially hate that AUC is funded by the same government that feeds money and military support to Israel. However, they feel that consuming these American products is in their best interest. I agree that it sometimes is, but it also seems to me that it's these individuals, more than any other Egyptians, who have the economic freedom to boycott American things. They just don't, cause they want to look cool.

Though Egypt's official stance is relatively pro-Israel, Egyptians and AUC students are most assuredly not. A lot of Egyptians I've met outside the university refuse to talk about politics with me. The 100 students The Caravan surveyed all denied Israel's right to exist. There are a couple of outrageous quotes from the student body president in the issue, including: "having a group supporting Israel on campus or even off campus is contradicting our beliefs as humans and our beliefs as Egyptians."

Not exactly surprising, but still strong words. I think what bothers me most is that I once considered American attitudes the biggest problem in this conflict. While they are certainly a problem, these sweeping generalizations, stereotypes, and absurd propaganda are obviously coming from both sides.

There's an assumption here that the American people are 100% aligned with the American government, and thus 100% aligned with Israel. It's frustrating to all of us here, particularly since the vast majority of the exchange students are supporters of Palestine. I'm personally just frustrated that there can't be any kind of sane discussion on the subject. I understand that people in this part of the world can't become emotionally detached from the conflict, but it still seems absurd to refuse to discuss the issue or listen to alternative viewpoints.

Here's what I mean. We've broached the subject in only one of my courses, and it was nearly war in the classroom. Two American students attempted to defend Israel, largely in the interest of playing devil's advocate, and were positively crushed by the other thirty students in the class. There is only one side to the argument here, just like there is only one side to it in the American media and government. It's infuriating to read The Caravan and hear AUC students calls Americans closed-minded, prejudiced, and uneducated, when we can't have a constructive debate on the subject in a classroom at the best university in Egypt. AUC offers only a couple of courses on Israel because no one wants to take them. Meanwhile, several hundred American students, majoring in Middle Eastern Studies and Arabic, are walking their hallways and struggling to get to know their classmates better. Yet we are the sole source of the problem, in their eyes.

Yes, I'm actually being defensive as an American, maybe for the first time in my life. I know we students here at the exception, and that many Americans really ARE ignorant and discriminatory, and that George W. Bush was one of the most hateful and blinded leaders the world has ever seen, but it still hurts and angers me to hear what these Egyptian students think of us.

Views of the Iraq War also haven't surprised me, but have still managed to shake me up a little. "George Bush ruined American's relationship with the Middle East" is something I've been trained to say as a Democrat, but I don't think I knew what it really meant until this semester. This war destroyed every shred of trust the Arab world had in the US. Why wouldn't it? Our invasion was immoral, myopic, and illegal in every possible sense. How could these actions NOT be perceived as an attack on Islamic culture itself, and a deliberate threat aimed at the greater Islamic world? By the time he left office, my hatred for George Bush had mingled with pity and faded to a dull ache, but it's now back and infinitely stronger than it was before. He and his administration were the elected representatives of the American people, and they've plunged our relationship with the Arab world into the Dark Ages.

My friends like to tease me about my insatiable optimism and make up their own ridiculous "Optimistic Rachel" statements. I have no optimism when it comes to this, truthfully. I'm doing the best I can. I'm here studying, making friends, and trying to show people what American people are really like. I'm dedicating my life to promoting cross-cultural communication, equality, and peace, but even in classrooms at AUC, so much of what I see is hatred.

So I'll try to lighten the mood next time. I know it's a sensitive topic, and I hope nobody is too offended (and I hope no AUC students read this... ever). I just needed to get it all written down. I'm in my last week of class now and am very pleased about it. The weather snapped into summer on Saturday, and it's now 100-105 degrees every afternoon. DC should be nice after this...