Chapter 46 Go forward bravely, brothers and sisters in Egypt

When I was very young, Egypt was a very strange and vague name to me. I once saw Egypt in a painting on a cigar box: several pointed pyramids near and far, a giant statue with a human face and a beast body, a sparse row of coconut trees, an Egyptian man wrapped in a turban and a robe. A man, leading a string of camels, marched slowly on the desert. Later, I saw Egypt in a novel translated by Lin.It was "The Autopsy of the Pyramid of Egypt".I can't remember the content clearly, but when I think about it now, the gloomy ancient cave, the smell of mold, the rotten pages, and the bleak and flickering candlelight illuminate the 3,000-year-old corpse wrapped in gold leaves in my mind!

Later, I saw another big statue; a giant lying on its side, symbolizing the Nile River, leaning on the back of the statue of a beast with a human face, and standing at the feet of its body, there were many naked and laughing children standing and crawling, which symbolized the Nile River. The people of Egypt and her neighboring countries, under the irrigation and nourishment of the Nile River, lived a happy and abundant life. In my mind, I vaguely feel that Egypt is an ancient, highly cultured and blessed country, just like China. Until later—it was twenty years ago—a younger brother of mine, who was learning to sail, wandered around with British merchant ships and returned home once a year.He talked to me about the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and about the Suez Canal.It was a canal for the imperial colonialists in exchange for the lives and blood and sweat of the Egyptian people!Every time the ship docked, the sun was red like fire, and many Egyptian porters came to the pier, with whip marks and sweat stains on their naked backs, their heads bowed, their bodies bent, and they carried huge sacks or wooden boxes. , walking up and down the diving board lazily.Standing and watching on the railing of the ship, the colonialist with bare chest and shorts, showing the fluffy yellow hair on his forearm, smiled arrogantly, and threw a cigarette butt to the water... He said: "I am a person who supervises the unloading, But I can't show any sympathy for these dock workers, because I am also a yellow-skinned child, and I am also a target of bullying and oppression..." He stopped suddenly, bit his lower lip, and turned his head away. He doesn't want to tell his caring sister about the oppression and bullying he suffered overseas!

My heart is clear!Not only is Egypt, like China, an ancient, highly cultured, and uniquely endowed country, it is also, like China, a country that has been bullied and oppressed by the imperialists.When the colonialists painted China, didn't they also paint a winding and towering Great Wall with a string of camels walking along the wall?In the books describing China, don't they also describe the extravagant and incompetent Empress Dowager Cixi and the "boxers" who dared to resist them?Isn't it the Yangtze River and the Yellow River that are thousands of miles long and nourish our hundreds of millions of people?

The oppressed people of Egypt are our own brothers, and we have a common enemy with them - imperial colonialists! When I read in the newspaper that President Nasser of Egypt announced that the Suez Canal Company would be nationalized, and I was excited, I received a letter from my seafarer brother, who said: "Sister! The Suez Canal Company has been nationalized." , this is a big deal! I'm so happy for the Egyptian people who stood up." However, we all expected that the road to national independence would not be smooth, and the imperialists who were "fainted by profit and wisdom" never let go of an opportunity to dig their own graves. This has become an iron rule!

Sure enough, the British and French imperialists, after the people all over the world sympathized with Egypt and had exhausted all means for a hundred days, couldn't help but draw their swords at the sword, and stretched out their demonic hands of aggression nakedly! Our heroic 23 million Egyptian brothers and sisters have raised their heads and chests with impassioned enthusiasm, braved the enemy's artillery fire, and walked to the forefront of defending the motherland and defending peace justly! Brave Egyptian brothers and sisters, go forward bravely!Do you hear the roar of the Chinese people behind you?Is it the roar of the people of Asia and Africa?The roar of the people of the world?Although the British and French colonialists have superior artillery fire, they cannot overwhelm the will and determination to defend peace of hundreds of millions of people in the world who are fighting for a just cause!

Since the day when the British and French imperialists and their lackeys Israel invaded you, the land of China has been full of angry voices condemning the aggressors. Our sympathy and support go beyond the mountains and seas to the people of Egypt, In institutions, factories, schools, families...every group of people, everyone is discussing and thinking about how to contribute their greatest strength in their own positions to support the holy struggle of the Egyptian brothers and sisters.We are the ones who suffered a lot from the claws of British and French imperialism. For ourselves, for you, and to defend the eternal peace of the world, we are especially determined to fight side by side with you to the end!

I have been on the radio all day, listening to news of your heroic struggle, and now I close this essay with the song "Defend Suez, Defend Peace."Go forward bravely, brothers and sisters in Egypt, now is not the era when imperialism was rampant a hundred years ago!The oppressed nations of the world have stood up one after another, and the final victory belongs to us.The imperialists must work hard to dig their own graves, let us surround them and sing their dirges resounding through the sky!1956, November, May, Beijing. (This article was originally published in Issue 21 of "Literary News" on November 15, 196.)