Anwar Sadat on international affairs

Anwar Sadat was the president of Egypt from 1970 until his assassination by Muslim extremists in 1981. In the year before his death, he had a wide-ranging conversation with Frank Gibney, then the vice-chairman of the Britannica Board of Editors. The result was this article, published under Sadat’s name in the Britannica Book of the Year (1981). In it Sadat comments (often combatively) on the state of international affairs, provides an account of the Yom Kippur War, and makes suggestions about what he thinks must be done in order to improve economic conditions and sustain world peace. In a sidebar in the same Book of the Year, which summarized the events of 1980, Gibney describes Sadat vividly, as a man “gifted with an innate sense of theatre” for whom “almost every conversation is a performance.”

The Global Views of President Sadat

Since the time I was very young, my great interest was in politics. Even as a boy in secondary school in Cairo and on vacation at home, in my own village of Mit Abul-Kum, in the heart of the Nile Delta, I started reading newspapers and books on current affairs and recording what I read. In fact, my hobby was politics. At that time Mussolini was in Italy. I saw his pictures and read about how he would change his facial expressions when he made public addresses, variously taking a pose of strength, or aggression, so that people might look at him and read power and strength in his very features. I was fascinated by this. I stood before the mirror at home and tried to imitate this commanding expression, but for me the results were very disappointing. All that happened was that the muscles of my face got very tired. It hurt.

Later on, I was reading Machiavelli. I suppose everyone who has any interest in politics has read him and what he says about the art of political maneuvering. It is a classic source of teaching for diplomats and statesmen. Of course, I was fascinated by parts of this book. But when I thought of putting his teaching into practice, I felt that I would only be cheating myself. I felt awkward inside, just the way my face had hurt when I tried to project the soul of the “new Roman Empire” by imitating Mussolini’s gestures.

Politics is only one aspect of life. It is just like everything else we do. For the politician, as with the lawyer, the doctor, or the farmer, there are certain ethics which must be upheld, ethics which impose limits on any efforts to make a success or to have influence in this life. To have any real influence one must be true to his inner self—at work, at home, at school, or in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. When I reach peace with myself, I find that I am strongest. But at those moments when I have not found this inner peace, I am very weak. At those times I try to avoid doing anything until this sense of inner peace returns.

I first felt that inner peace in my village of Mit Abul-Kum, where I still have my living roots, deep in the soil of that Nile community. But I really found this peace in Cell 54, a bare damp room in Cairo Central Prison, where I spent 18 months for revolutionary activity. I was in solitary, where I could not read or write or listen to the radio. Suffering builds up a human being and gives him self-knowledge. It made me know God and his love. Thus I learned in Cell 54 to value that inner success which helps a man to be true to himself.

Democracy is not merely laws and provisions; it is a mode of daily life. Democracy is essentially a matter of ethics, and in a democracy we must stand ready for a daily test of ethics. When we call now for measures to ensure ethical democratic practice, this is not a cunning device to impose ties and restrictions or a relinquishing of democracy. Rather our call comes from a profound and sincere belief that a free society bears the responsibility of protecting itself. I will fight for democracy and ethics whatever position I hold, so that on the day ordained by God I can give an account of my performance with an easy conscience, at peace with myself.