No other leader has left an indelible mark on the Egyptian psyche than Gamal Abd-Al-
Nasser. Like the Islamic Brotherhood that attracts the poor and disenfranchised through religion.
Today's Nasserists embodied by the National Progressive Union Party tries to represent and unite
the poor through the gospel of socialism. A few Egyptian intellectuals argue that Nasser's goals
for the 1952 Revolution was not fully realized. Under Nasser Egypt's lower classes began to
secure government posts and enter the civil service, it appeared that Egyptians now had a
share in economic prosperity, but the reality was cruel and under Sadat these dreams of a job and
free services for all could not be sustained. Muhammed Hasanein Heikal, the former editor of Al-
Ahram Newspaper and confidant of Nasser, writes extensively of the Nasser years. Young
Egyptians view the late President as an important figure in not only Egyptian politics but in Arab
affairs. Still Egyptians cannot come to grips with the failed socialist experiment and three years of
Sadat's death, a series of articles appeared in Al-Ahram denouncing Nasser. The most famous of
which was Ahmed Bahaeddine's three letters addressed to an identified "you". Here is an excerpt
of the You Letters, which was a direct criticism of Nasser:
"You are the cause of all our problems . Why didn't you do safe things and accept Egypt's lot as
a small weak country?"
"Why did you wake up the tens of millions who had been perfectly satisfied with old cheese,
onions, the death of their infants, and toil from dawn to dusk?"
Another element of Egyptian politics that is even more leftist is the Marxist party, the Arab
Socialist Union and their newspaper Al-Taliah or Vanguard. In January 1975, the Vanguard
started a series of food riots and corruption that exploded into demonstrations that galvanized
every anti-Sadat political party and group. Demonstrators chanted "Oh hero of the Crossing,
where is our breakfast," (rhyme sounds better in Arabic). Another crisis emerged when Sadat
ordered the Defense Minister Al-Gamasy to quell these demonstrations, an order he refused to
carry out, citing a pledge by the political leadership after the 1973 War that the army would not be
used against the civilian population. This crisis between the armed forces and the president was
averted, when Sadat agreed to Gamasy's terms cancel the subsidy cutbacks to which then the
army would respond to the communists. The last chapter in Part One deals with the influence of
the Islamic Brotherhood and how it finds itself by the side of the regime and at other times
opposing the presidency. Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimeen has been in existence since the late twenties
and has been hand in hand in the establishment of modern Egypt, it has had a love-hate
relationship with Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak. What attracts many poor Egyptians to the
Brotherhood is not only the message of religion, but also their ability to provide social services and
welfare in Egypt's most neglected districts. The question is can Egypt's diversity handle the single
version of Islam as dictated by the Islamic Brotherhood. With less than a quarter of Egypt being
Christian and a diverse Islamic population a version of Islam cannot survive in Egypt without
oppression. Still, the Islamic Brotherhood is interwoven in Egypt's political future and cannot be
dismissed.
Part Two deals exclusively with a 35-page treatise on the philosophy of Third World politics
and Egypt's unique place in Africa and the Mid-East. Raymond Baker's work is a must for Mid-
East FAOs as it deals honestly with Egypt's internal politics. Being the largest population base in
the Arab world and a leader in Arab and African Affairs this volume will dissect the pressures and
influences in Egypt's political structure. Highly recommended reading.
2001, Foreign Area Officer Association
Springfield, Virginia
Maintained by LTC Steve
Gotowicki.
http://www.faoa.org
