Another comment about the “Arab Street” stereotype

by David Safier

Yesterday I posted about the uplifting sight of peaceful protest in Egypt giving the lie to the stereotype that the Middle East only knows how to react violently and that there is an Al Qaeda-crazed "Arab Street." I also marveled at the image of some protesters celebrating while others cleaned up the square in a more-than-symbolic indication of their desire to clean up the mess made by a repressive authoritarian government.

In a column in today's NY Times, Roger Cohen said virtually the same thing in almost the same words.

In the Middle East you expect the worst. But having watched Egypt’s extraordinary civic achievement in building the coalition that ousted Mubarak, having watched Tahrir Square become cooperation central, and having watched the professionalism of the Egyptian army, I’m convinced the country has what it takes to build a decent, representative society — one that gives the lie to all the stereotypes associated with that dismissive shorthand “The Arab Street.”

In fact, post-Tahrir, let’s retire that phrase.

Speaking of streets, I watched them get cleaned the morning after the revolution. All the sweeping, dusting and scrubbing tempted me to suggest that there was no need to get carried away and try to turn the glorious metropolis of dust, Cairo, into Zurich. But Marwa Kamal put me right.

Kamal, 26, looked proud in her purple hijab. She was next to a sign saying, “Sorry for disturbance, we build Egypt.” I asked why she swept. “All the dirt’s in the past,” she said. “We want to clear out the old and start clean.”

Stereotypes die hard, because they generally contain a kernel of truth. But when they become "the truth," a lazy way of describing a large group of people, they create misinformation and bigotry. It's time to look at the Middle East in a more complex and honest way.