Egyptian international students speak at panel discussion

Egyptian international students at Portland State had a reason to celebrate this weekend.

President Hosni Mubarak stepped down on Friday after facing two and a half weeks of anti-government protests. To celebrate this historic occasion, four students from the American University of Cairo studying abroad at PSU participated in a panel discussion about what the change in regime means to them.

Kanaan Kanaan, the Middle East student adviser in the Office of International Affairs, moderated the discussion, which was held at the Multicultural Center. Roughly 50 students, staff and community members attended.

“True freedom in the Middle East, in Egypt, started today,” Kanaan said at the event. 

The four student panelists were Egypt natives Fady Nessim, Magdy Hassaballa and Lance Attallah, as well as Palestine native Yacoub Al-Atrash. 

“Egypt has sent a clear message around the world that people have power,” Hassaballa said.

During the panel, Kanaan asked the students several questions, including what obstacles Egypt will face in the future.

“It will be a challenge to make a peaceful transition,” Nessim said.

Hassaballa said that future success of Egypt relies on clean and renewable energy.

“As we all know, Egypt has a lot of sun,” Hassaballa said, which drew laughs from the audience. “The future lies in this sun to produce…efficient energy that we can rely on in building our infrastructure and building our country.”

Attallah added that there are educational and social inequalities in Egypt, and these disparities, particularly the former, are what the new government must improve upon.

“But we have to realize that change doesn’t come overnight,” he said.

In order for Egypt to achieve democracy, Kanaan said that other nations around the world should not interfere. Expanding on this idea, he asked the panelists how they see the United States’ relationship with Egypt evolving.

The general consensus among the students was that the U.S. should not interfere, but that Americans should give advice to Egypt on how to establish a strong democracy.

“When I say leave [Egypt] alone, I mean just don’t meddle with their policies,” Kanaan said.

There are currently eight students from the American University of Cairo studying abroad at PSU. ?