Nearly 60 years later, Egyptians are divided on the revolution

Fifty-seven years ago Wednesday, Egyptians woke up to news on the radio announcing a revolution that had toppled the country’s monarchy overnight. The 1952 coup was led by a group of military officers — known as the Free Officers — with Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat in their ranks.Today, more than a half century later, Egyptians remain divided on what the 1952 revolution meant. One group, pro-Revolution and pro-Nasser, believes the revolution marked a new beginning for Egypt that was finally free from the British colonialists and the King’s autocracy — in other words, an Egypt finally governed by Egyptians.

Meanwhile, anti-revolution and anti-Nasser Egyptians are nostalgic for what they recall as an era of democracy, prosperity and liberalism. They refer to the revolution as a conspiracy to overthrow a good, progressive monarch.

Both groups are adamant about their views and raise their children to adopt same beliefs. For years, the pro-Nasser Egyptians were louder in expressing their support of the revolution, speaking of patriotism, nationalism and social equality. However, as a majority of Egyptians nowadays find themselves struggling to make ends meet, anti-Nasserists have managed to rally some support. In their eyes, the result of the revolution was to make rich Egyptians poor and poor Egyptians poorer. Until almost three years ago, anti-Nasserists were not able to express their views openly for fear of being regarded as ruthless aristocrats who oppressed poor Egyptians. But amid escalating poverty rates and public dismay over lack of democracy under Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, anti-Nasserists finally are speaking out.

In 2006, Alaa Al-Aswany — a prominent Egyptian author and outspoken critic of the Egyptian government — wrote his best selling novel “The Yacoubian Building,” which was adapted into a motion picture. The film depicts stories of corruption, fundamentalism, prostitution and homosexuality in modern Egypt. The blockbuster film reminisces about pre-revolution Cairo, once known as the Paris of the Middle East.

In 2007, an Egyptian soap opera called “King Farouk” aired on satellite television and depicted Egypt’s last king as a democratic, noble ruler, highly concerned for the well-being of his country. Preceding the series, Farouk’s daughter was interviewed on MBC satellite TV, speaking for the first time ever of her father’s love for Egypt and his last days in exile. The series and the interview fueled controversy among Egypt’s Nasserists.

A year later, another series was aired, this time portraying former Nasser as Egypt’s honorable reformist.

Despite Egyptians’ opposing views of the revolution’s objectives, there seems to be one thing they agree on: The revolution failed to promote democracy Since July 23, 1952, the Egyptian military has never really left the executive offices because all leaders have come out of the military and remain horrified by opposition.

The question remains: What will happen to Egypt after Mubarak, 81, who has held office for nearly 28 years? He has given no indication that he plans to retire, and his allies have suggested that he is likely to serve another five-year term when his current one expires in 2011. However, it is widely believed that the president is grooming his son Gamal, 46, as his heir to the presidency. But critics say the younger Mubarak lacks a popular touch and that most Egyptians would not welcome this inheritance of power.

 

Emergency meet in Cairo to tackle swine flu

Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah will lead the Saudi delegation at an emergency meeting of the Arab health ministers in Cairo on Wednesday, the Ministry of Health announced here on Monday.The meeting will discuss the procedures and precautionary measures to be taken to combat swine flu and reduce its spread during Haj and Umrah this year.

The other members of the Saudi delegation include Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Khalid Al-Mirghalani, Ziad Al-Memesh, assistant deputy minister of health, and Thaha Melbari, director general of international affairs at the Ministry of Health.

The emergency meeting has been organized by the Cairo-based Regional Office of the World Health Organization for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO).

Al-Mirghalani told Arab News that 22 countries in the Arab world would discuss issues related to swine flu and its spread in the region.

He said that the Saudi team would present the 15 recommendations concluded at the recent workshop held in Jeddah at which swine flu experts from the World Health Organization and the Atlanta-based Center for Disease Control (CDC) exchanged opinions concerning the virus.

The recommendations of the workshop are not to send pregnant women pilgrims, children under five and elderly people who are suffering from chronic diseases for Umrah or Haj.

It was recommended that all pilgrims should take the stipulated vaccines at least two weeks prior to their departure for the holy cities.

The workshop also decided to inform the countries that send pilgrims to organize health education programs for their pilgrims in order to create awareness among them.

In a related development, the Ministry of Health announced yesterday that it would no longer send daily reports on the incidence of swine flu in the Kingdom. Since May 29, a total of 294 cases have been reported in the Kingdom and the ministry reiterated that it would keep the public informed.

Egypt reports first H1N1 death

Egypt has reported its first death from Swine Flu, with the country’s health ministry reporting that a 28-year-old woman returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia has died as a result of the H1N1 influenza virus.According to The Daily News Egypt, there have been 120 cases of the virus in Egypt.

Ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman Shahin said the woman, Samah El Sayed Salim, died on Sunday due to complications from the virus, after having returned to Egypt three days ago from Saudi Arabia.

Shahin said that the woman had suffered heart and blood problem, which could have complicated the condition with the flu virus.

The death comes as Egypt continues to discuss whether or not to cancel the Haj - the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca required of all able Muslims. The death will likely push the debate.

The number of Swine Flu cases in the Arab countries has been growing, with Saudi Arabia recording the highest number of cases.

Four more cases of A/H1N1 flu

Egypt reported four more cases of influenza A/H1N1 on Thursday, bringing the total number of the flu in the populous country to 112, according to the Ministry of Health, Xinhua reported.
The first two cases were British women, 20 and 54 years old respectively, who came to Egypt from Britain, Health Ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman Shahine said in a statement.

Two Egyptian sisters, six and nine years old, who just came back to Egypt with their family from Saudi Arabia, have also contracted the novel flu, said the spokesman.

Shahine said the health condition of the new cases is stable after proper treatment, adding that about 93 of the country’s total 112 cases have recovered.

On June 2, Egypt reported its first A/H1N1 flu case, a 12-year- old Egyptian-American girl coming from the United States via the Netherlands.

Egypt, the most populous Arab country hit hard by the fatal bird flu in 2006, decided in late April to cull all pigs in the country to stem the highly infectious flu A/H1N1.

So far, the novel flu virus has caused 94,512 infections in some 136 countries and regions, with 429 deaths, according to latest figures released by the World Health Organization, which on June 11 formally announced the first pandemic in the 21st century.

Nine foreigners among those killed in road accident

Egyptian medical and security officials said at least nine Europeans and three Egyptians were killed in a bus crash near the Red Sea port town of Safaga some six hours South-east of Cairo on Thursday.This is the most recent accident along the Red Sea coast, where crashes have been frequent due to bad driving habits.

Another 10 tourists were reportedly injured after the bus they were riding in slammed into an oncoming truck on a road near Safaga.

According to initial reports, the nine tourists who died were from Serbia.

The crash again highlights the high number of deaths in road accidents in Egypt.

According to the Ministry of Transportation, some 6,000 people are killed annually in road accidents in Egypt. Non-governmental observers, however, said the number is far higher.

Poor road conditions, high speed and non-usage of seat belts are blamed for most of the deaths.

Cairo attempted last year to establish a stricter legal code to combat the rising accidents, but non-implementation of the code has not helped matters.

Earlier this year, scores of cars piled up on Cairo’s Ring Road, leaving dozens killed in what has become a symbol of the growing problem in the country.

Egypt police arrested trying to smuggle in family

Two Egyptian police have been charged with taking money from a Gazan family with the false promise of allowing them into Egypt from the isolated enclave, a security source told AFP on Tuesday.The two policemen offered via a middleman to let the Palestinian family into Egypt via the Rafah border crossing, Gaza’s only one to bypass Israel, in exchange for 5,000 dollars, the official said.

The family handed the money over but when they reached Rafah, which has been almost continuously closed since the Islamist Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, the promised documents allowing them in were not there.

The family told the Egyptian authorities, leading to the arrest of the two policemen, who now face trial in a military tribunal for corruption.

 

Ancient fortress city unearthed

Egyptian archaeologists digging near the Suez Canal have discovered the remains of what is believed to be the largest fortress in the eastern Delta, Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni announced.Located at the site of Tell Dafna, between El-Manzala Lake and the Suez Canal, the remains reveal the foundation of a military town about 9 miles (15 kilometers) northeast of the city of western Qantara.

“The fortress covers an area of about 380 by 625 meters (1,247 by 2,051 feet), while the enclosure wall is about 13 meters (43 feet) in width,” Mohamed Abdel Maqsoud, head of the Central Department of Lower Egyptian Antiquities and the director of the mission, said in a statement.

The discovery shouldn’t come as a surprise; Tell Dafna was long known to be a strategic outpost against Egypt’s enemies. King Ramses II of the 19th Dynasty (1279-1212 B.C.) chose the site to erect a fortress. King Psammetichus I, the first ruler of the 26th Dynasty (664-625 B.C.), later established a garrison of foreign mercenaries to defend the eastern borders of Egypt from invaders.

Dating to the 7th century B.C., the foundations unearthed by the archaeologists most likely belonged to Psammetichus I’s fortified garrison town.

One of the forts on the “Ways of Horus,” an ancient military and trade route that connected Egypt with the East, Daphnae is mentioned by the Greek historian Herodotus (484-425 B.C.), who described it as Psammetichus I’s guard post “against the Arabians and Assyrians.”

First excavated in 1886 by the English Egyptologist Flinders Petrie, who recognized it as Psammetichus I’s camp for Greek mercenaries, the desert site has since been flattened by wind erosion, which left the archaeological remains originally unearthed by Petrie barely visible.

“The new fieldwork at the site by Egypt’s Supreme Council for Antiquities is most valuable at this time, particularly in that it is rescuing one of the sites of the Delta endangered by development and environmental factors, ” Jeffrey Spencer, deputy keeper at the British Museum’s department of ancient Egypt and Sudan, told Discovery News.

The author of several books on ancient Egypt, Spencer has been directing a British Museum research project at the site, which focuses on a reinterpretation of Petrie’s excavation and the discoveries he made, which are now on display in various museums, including the British Museum.

“We are looking into the connections between Egyptian and archaic Greek remains,” Spencer said.

The recent excavation work has added plenty of material for further research.

The Egyptian mission unearthed a huge number of pottery vessels, as well as local and imported pottery lids. The group also uncovered a white plate inscribed with Demotic text, some red and black decorated amphora, a group of stones used for grinding seeds, an amulet and parts of alabaster kohl pots. These finds reflect the large-scale trade activity among ancient Egypt, the Near East and Greece.

Moreover, many bronze arrowheads emerged from the desert sand, reinforcing the idea that the site served a military purpose.

Maksoud’s team also discovered a group of drainage networks for rain water, made of pottery tunnels that ended with a group of pottery vessels buried vertically in the sand to a depth of about 10 feet (3 meters).

 

Gaza convoy stopped in Egypt

A convoy of humanitarian aid from the US, including 47 vehicles, tons of medical supplies, and 120 caravan participants, has been stopped by Egyptian authorities at the Suez Canal. The aid convoy is the second one organized by British Parliament Member George Galloway - the first successfully brought aid via a truck convoy from the United Kingdom earlier this year.On Sunday, Egyptian authorities stopped the caravan at the Suez Canal, separating mainland Egypt from the Sinai Peninsula - where the caravan must travel in order to enter Gaza through the closed and blockaded Rafah border crossing. The members of the caravan were forced to sleep overnight in their buses, and told that they did not have the proper documentation authorized by Egyptian authorities - despite the fact that the caravan had sent copious documentation as requested by several Egyptian officials prior to their arrival in Egypt.

On Monday, the caravan members were met by British MP George Galloway, who organized the aid campaign, and US former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who was deported from Israel last Wednesday while attempting to bring several tons of aid to Gaza by boat.

New York City Councilmember Charles Barron, who led the group at the Suez Canal, says, “Whether these new requirements are genuine or not, we will get around these obstacles. We are going to Gaza.”

George Galloway was interviewed on Al Jazeera television Monday night and emphasized the convoy’s determination to bring medical aid to Gaza. In an interview prior to the broadcast, he said, “If the Egyptian authorities want us to jump through yet another hoop, we will, even though their ambassadors in Washington, DC, London, and Tripoli, Libya were already supplied with this information, at their request. The U.S. embassy in Cairo was informed about the mission as was the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

“So now we expect that there should be no further reasons for the delayed transportation of this urgently needed relief to the people of Gaza. We have hundreds of thousands of dollars of medicine, which are time-sensitive and perishable and which need to reach the children of Gaza.”

Another group of Viva Palestina delegates is in Alexandria to take possession of 47 vehicles that will be used to drive the group’s humanitarian and medical relief supplies through the Rafah border crossing. A third Viva Palestina element is continuing to gather additional aid in Cairo.

The movement says they plan to cross into Gaza on Wednesday, but asked supporters to call the Egyptian and US authorities to urge the passage of the humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.

Egypt workers fight for pay, not against the state

Striking Egyptian workers are unlikely to escalate demands for better conditions into a political challenge to the government, but stoppages will make state assets less attractive to investors.Worker frustration with rising prices and shortages of subsidised bread flared into two days of clashes with security forces in this pot-holed city north of Cairo in April last year.

The tough security response and the government’s offer to hike some wages highlighted official concerns about an escalation of discontent in a country where a fifth of the 77 million people live on less than $1 a day.

More than a year later strikes continue unabated, but political opposition groups seeking to capitalise on worker grievances have failed to broaden action into a wider protest against the rule of Hosni Mubarak, president since 1981.

“Not a single political party has the power, even the Muslim Brotherhood … (to) stop or push the strike wave forward,” labour activist Hossam el-Hamalawy said.

He said the Brotherhood, Egypt’s biggest opposition group, had limited organised support among workers and political activists using the internet had failed to rally workers.

“Workers aren’t just going to wake up and go on the internet and read that some Facebook activist called for a general strike and obey that, it doesn’t work that way,” Hamalawy said.

Mostly leftist and liberal activists agitated for a general strike in solidarity with Mahalla el-Kubra workers. Most workers ignored the calls and the Brotherhood did not take part.

LABOUR UNREST

“Each (political group) is trying to influence people for their ideology,” said Gehad Taman, a labour organiser at a textile mill in Mahalla el-Kubra, adding that efforts by political activists had mainly undermined worker claims.

Years of authoritarian rule have weakened opposition groups and, analysts say, added to apathy among many Egyptians.

But labour unrest has become common. Even professional groups like doctors, pharmacists and lawyers have stopped work or threatened strikes over pay. See factbox [ID:nL3507847]

Factory workers have been at the forefront as a cabinet of reform-minded ministers, appointed in 2004, revived a programme of sell offs, stoking worries about job security and pensions.

The action has often been organised outside official trade federations which many workers see as allied to the ruling National Democratic Party, which dominates Egyptian politics.

No big state firms have been sold since a bid to offload Banque du Caire failed to receive high enough bids in June last year. But once the world economic climate improves any new sales may find investors more wary as long as strikes continue.

“Labour unrest feeds into a certain amount of caution in foreign investors,” said EFG-Hermes economist Simon Kitchen.

“The unrest is a symptom of over-staffing and poor management and that is what perhaps would deter the foreign investor,” he added.

Egypt has sought to draw investment based on its location between Europe and Asia, and by offering lower labour costs.

“Our labour code allows these strikes to happen,” Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin said, but added demands were modest.

 

SLIDING DEMAND

Speaking to reporters this month, he said strikes mostly hit state or recently privatised companies and blamed a surge in commodity prices, which has now eased, for the 2008 unrest.

Inflation peaked at 23.6 percent in August last year, but has tumbled to around 10 percent amid a world downturn.

Firms are trying to convince workers that, amid sliding demand for exports, now is not the time for industrial action.

“Strikes are not acceptable under the current circumstances,” Khaled Mahfouz, a spokesman for Mahalla el-Kubra’s Misr Spinning and Weaving, told Reuters. “Our sales have suffered in this crisis as we deal with world exports.”

The average annual salary for workers at Misr Spinning and Weaving, the largest textile manufacturer in Africa and the Middle East, was 15,000 Egyptian pounds ($2,682) in 2007-08, versus 8,500 pounds in 2002-03, Mahfouz said.

The call for worker restraint was echoed by the president in a speech to mark this year’s May Day labour holiday.

“If employers accept some losses or a fall in profits, then labourers have to cooperate with them in these difficult times in a manner that preserves their establishments and preserves the opportunities for honest work they offer,” Mubarak said.

But he also urged business leaders to avoid ostentatious displays of wealth, a nod to concerns often cited by Egypt’s struggling workers and the poor that economic reform may have generated growth but the benefits have not trickled down. (Editing by Dominic Evans) ($1 = 5.5911 Egyptian pounds

Egypt holds 26 over suspected Qaeda plot on Suez

Egyptian security forces have arrested 26 suspected Al-Qaeda loyalists on charges of plotting attacks on foreign ships passing through the Suez Canal, the interior ministry said on Thursday.The suspects, 25 Egyptians and a Palestinian, were in contact with the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic Army of Palestine, the ministry said in a statement.

It alleged that they had prepared remote controlled detonators and explosives fabricated from armaments left over in the Sinai desert from Egypt’s wars with Israel.

The cell was awaiting instructions from abroad from an Al-Qaeda operative, the statement said.

It also charged that the cell carried out a deadly armed robbery of a Coptic Christian-owned jewellery shop in Cairo in May 2008 in which the owner and four workers were killed. The gun used in the attack had also been found.

Five suspects “gave detailed confessions on carrying out (the attack)… to fund their activities,” it said.

In May, the interior ministry said it had arrested seven members of another alleged Al-Qaeda-affiliated cell over a bombing in Cairo’s Khan el-Khalili bazaar that killed a teenage French tourist.

The suspects included an alleged French ringleader of Albanian origin, a dual British and Egyptian national and a Belgian man of Tunisian descent.

Dozens of students from Russian Muslim republics were deported after the bombing.

Egypt expelled 20 French men earlier this month after they were arrested on suspicion of having had contact with the cell that carried out the Khan el-Khalili bombing.

That cell called itself the Army of Islam of Palestine, according to the interior ministry, and was led by two Egyptians living abroad, one of them reportedly in the Gaza Strip.

In April, the Egyptian public prosecutor said that 49 people had been charged with forming a Hezbollah cell suspected of planning attacks on tourist resorts and ships passing through the Suez Canal.

Twenty-five of these were under arrest and the others remained at large.

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese Shiite militant group, said one of those arrested was a Hezbollah agent but insisted he had been involved in weapons smuggling to Gaza rather than plotting attacks inside Egypt itself.

Egypt was hit by a spate of bombings in Sinai tourist resorts between 2004 and 2006, which killed dozens of foreign tourists and Egyptians.

The government responded with a severe crackdown against Bedouin living in the Sinai, with thousands arrested. Human rights groups said at the time police arrested suspects without warrants and tortured some of them in detention.

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