Abdel Aziz Gamal Eddin : "The revolution is the steady pace of the history of Egypt"

The investigator in the field of Egyptian heritage Abdel Aziz Gamal Eddin said that the revolution is the steady pace in the history of Egypt. According to Gamal Eddin, revolutionary culture is rooted in the Egyptian, who always tries to improve his social status, confront injustice or fight against the occupier. "The Egyptians never stop rebelling against injustice and oppression", he says.

And Gamal Eddin added that Egyptians are very aware when they rebel. They know when it is to stop. "When they see that the confrontation will lead to the destruction of the country, they stop. They do not accept the collapse of the state", he says. "At the same time, history shows us that when they feel the force does not help them to achieve what they want, they start looking for an alternative way to continue their revolt, such as civil disobedience".

Gamal Eddin said that the Egyptians resist in many forms. "It can be violent, as it can be in the form of art or literature", he says. "The graffiti artists are inspired now by etched designs on the Pharaonic temples, to express themselves regarding what is happening in the country. This proves the continuity of Egyptian culture and unity throughout history".

According to Gamal Eddin, the Egyptians are like the Nile, which overflows in some time before being calm again. And when it faces an obstacle, it turns around to continue its path. "For example, the Egyptians never stop asking a genuine constitution for the country since the revolution of 1919 until the revolution of 25 January 2011", he said.

And Gamal Eddin added that the revolution of 25 January 2011 has helped to publish his book "The revolt of the Egyptians to the era of Maqrizi. "I wrote this book long time ago, but no publisher wanted it, and after the revolution, they remembered the book and contacted me to publish it", he says.

The author states that the book is not an account of the revolutions that took place in Egypt since the time of the Ptolemies until Maqrizi. "I tried to describe minutely, administrative and economic situation in the country availed during this period so that the reader can understand the reasons for each revolution. The book therefore addresses the history of Egypt as a whole during this period, including the conflicts in the royal courts", he says.

Gamal Eddin said that the book starts from the Ptolemaic period, although there are revolutions at the time of the Pharaohs, because, according to him, the revolutions against the Pharaohs were not major eruptions. "They were only protests. In addition, there is no documentation for these events", he says.

The author noted, during its production of the book, that the northern region of the Delta has always been the place where the Egyptian revolutions trigger. "Usually, this is the region that bears witness of the fiercest fighting during the revolution", he says.

The author notes that he was interested in his work, by the differences between the Egyptian language and the Arabic language as a form of cultural resistance adopted by the Egyptians until today. He explains that the Egyptians have exported their culture and religion to the three monotheistic religions. "They also wrote their language in Arabic", he adds.

According to Gamal Eddin, it is not true that the cinema was the reason for the spread of the Egyptian language in the Arab region in the 60s, as some claim. "The cinema was a contributing factor. But the Egyptians have spread their language much earlier than that. They always influenced the region since the foundation of the ancient Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Even the Greeks were influenced by the Egyptian language to the point that their great poet Cavafy wrote in demotic Greek, touched by the ancient Egyptian language.

And Gamal Eddin adds that al-Azhar also played a major role in the deployment of the Egyptian language. "The institution receives thousands of students from around the world who come to Egypt and live with the Egyptians".

According to Gamal Eddin, saying that the Egyptians speak Arabic is false. For him this one os among the looting of the Egyptian culture. "This is a big mistake. Egyptians speak Egyptian language which has absorbed Arabic vocabulary. besides, Egyptians have changed the pronunciation of these words".

The author adds that the Egyptian language is full of French, English, Italian, Spanish, Persian and Turkish words merged with other Arabic and Pharaohs words.

  About what he says in the book on the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs, which he considered an invasion, and the egyptian resistance to the Arabs, which may provoke the Islamists who are leading Egyptian political life since the revolution of January 25, 2011, Gamal Eddin mocks their opinion."It was not me who said that, it is Maqrizi, a Muslim historian who said it centuries ago. If they want to judge someone, so this person will be Maqrizi.", he adds. "If they create a problem with this, it would be a proof that they had not read anything wrote by former scholars".

And Gamal Eddin said that the problem of Islamists in Egypt is their inability to separate the fact that the person may be Egyptian and Muslim.