Could I have really missed the Rugby World Cup? I watched the matches, but almost ten years later I realize that I might as well have slept through it!
Invictus is a movie that came out in 2009. Sure I had heard of it, but it wasn’t a movie I ever thought I’d be fighting sleep to watch. Invictus appealed to me on two levels- one as someone who lived in South Africa at the time of the Rugby World Cup, but whose key takeaway was the Rugby World Cup cap I bought from Adidas at the time, and have since lost. The political significance that this event bore for South Africa & its 42 million population was something I only took note of when I watched this movie recently. Every passing minute of the movie left me feeling more & more dwarfed.. just reflecting on it leaves me feeling 2 feet tall. Invictus also appealed to me as an Egyptian whose country struggles with polarization. Three years into what has been a grueling revolution, Egyptians seem to look for excuses to stay polarized.. be it over political views or over the police’s recent closure of one of the largest supermarket chains.
Invictus is a story of how Nelson Mandela used Rugby to unite a nation whose polarization was deeply entrenched in its history. It tells the story of how Mandela relentlessly learned about Rugby & united with Springboks team Captain Francois Piennar to rally South Africans behind a common goal- that of winning the Rugby World Cup. Watching the movie, I remembered being told the story before, but for some reason it never registered. If I were to guess the reason, I would say that the naive side of me (and yes, it does exist) didn’t want to believe that such deep rooted divisions can exist. Combine that with the pragmatic side of me which probably thought assuming these tensions did exist, that a two week tournament wasn’t going to be the solution!!
Watching the movie also brought back memories of the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, which saw Egyptians rally behind their team to see it through to unexpected victories, and eventually to winning the title. Egypt went on to win the 2008, and 2010 titles as well but nothing beat the Euphoria of the 2006 event held in Cairo. Rich, poor, Coptic, Muslim, Black, and White Egyptians all converged into one voice- that of a united population cheering their team on towards a momentous victory. Fast forward a few years, and Egyptians united once again on January 25th, 2011 before breaking up again after the post revolution euphoria. Fast forward again to June 30th, 2013, and Egyptians united yet again to dispose of MB rule.
The 2011 revolution was a leaderless revolution. It needed a Nelson Mandela to hold things together in the aftermath of such a huge event. Unfortunately though, people like Nelson Mandela don’t come around too often, and Egypt has to make do with what resources (human and other) it has been handed. So.. what have we been handed? We have experience, and we’re slowly learning from past mistakes.. we have people willing to put their careers on the line in an attempt to put this country on the right track…and no, I don’t mean El Sisi.. because it will take more than a President to fix this mess…but above all, we have a population that has a proven ability to unite when the going gets tough.
I will end my trip down memory lane with a comment on El Sisi’s 5 am bike ride of last weekend. Naturally, the FB and twitter folks stayed true to their divisions- those who hailed the move, and those who criticized it. I too am learning from my mistakes.. and am trying to put two and two together.. The Springboks started rallying grassroots support when they went to Shanty towns and played rugby in the streets with black South African kids. It was only then that black South Africans took interest in a game that had long been reserved for White South Africans. It was only then that black South Africans stopped the habit of cheering against their national team- a team that for many years represented white supremacy during decades of apartheid. Could El Sisi’s bike ride be his attempt at rallying public support? Will he make a habit of it? Will it work in uniting a population that still looks for excuses to bicker? In case this is his plan..and in case it does work, this post is my attempt at looking beyond my naiveté and not missing it the way I missed the political significance of the Springboks winning the 2005 Rugby World Cup.
Noise! by Nose 