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On the anniversary of the Mandate: What is left of Nasser’s country besides Amer?Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is keen to keep the memory of Gamal Abdel Nasser alive, having tried more than once to portray himself as the successor of the military leader who led the coup against the monarchy to achieve social justice. Last year, he chose the anniversary of July 23 to issue to his fans what he called “a mandate and order to fight potential violence and terrorism”. This year, he did not forget to mention this mission in his speech on the same anniversary, and went out of his way to link January 25, 2011 and June 30, 2013 to the anniversary of July 23, 1952, treating these three events as consecutive anniversaries, stations on the same line. But the jargon of the populist discourse, rhetorically weak and full of linguistic errors, does not find evidence of political action and practice, on the contrary, Sisi surpassed Sadat and Mubarak in record time.As Rabab Mahdi, a Cairo political science professor and prominent leftist activist, has written, Sisi cannot be the new Gamal Abdel Nasser. In addition to objective reasons such as the inability to replicate the local, regional and global political and economic environment, Mahdi also supports her view with subjective reasons such as age differences, aspirations, education and economic trends. But I would add to what I have written that the most suitable figure for Sisi in the Command Council of the July Revolution is Abdel Hakim Amer.Abdel Hakim Amer received the rank of Field Marshal without having fought in any field battles, prompting a unique comment from a foreign visitor who described him as a “political marshal,” meaning a political non-military marshal who should have received the rank for military purposes. Thus, Sisi made the jump from the rank of Major General to Field Marshal in less than two years, with deposed President Mohamed Morsi promoting him to Lieutenant General, and then again from interim President Adly Mansour in October 1973, becoming the first person to receive the rank of Field Marshal without having fought in a battle since the October War.Abdul Fattah Amir and the ArmyAbdul Hakim Amer exhausted the army and neglected its training and efficiency. Muhammad Abd al-Ghani al-Jamsi, in his important memoirs on the October War, confirms that before Gamal Abd al-Nasser decided in early June 1967 to close the Straits of Tiran, the entrance to the Gulf, which led to an escalation against Israel, Aqaba was Israel’s only access to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, Abdul Hakim Amer asked him about the army’s readiness, and Amir replied that the army was at its peak. A terrible defeat occurred, which led to a major and profound defeat in the entire Arab region, and Amir left our world in a different way, with the silent people saying what they had been silent about for ten years since the war. The three-way aggression (Suez War of 1956), many shortcomings were exposed.On the surface, Sisi’s army seems more conservative and morally disciplined than Amir’s, since now there is no talk of following the old methods of conquest and control through sex scandals and so on. But the depth of the crisis is the same, as the army is focused on managing its economic interests, rather than training soldiers and improving their efficiency and combat readiness. While it is acceptable and reasonable for the army to have production and manufacturing lines, as well as engineering and construction departments engaged in civilian activities to achieve understandable training and economic goals, the army’s vulgarity, the names of its weapons, and the management of improper consumption and service activities warn that the army leaders, led by Sisi, are unwilling to admit the extent of this defect. Things have developed to the point where advertisements for the sale of Eid cakes are posted in the “House of Weapons and Ammunition” on one of the most important main streets in Cairo, and shops selling products of the Second Field Army at the door. Go to the city of Ismailia, where the shelves are filled with cooking oils, sauces and soaps, in front of an officer with the rank of major, sitting in the shop to supervise the sales. Surrealism reaches its peak with the spread of army-affiliated events and wedding halls, and with the opening of a “hairdresser’s shop” for women affiliated with the Egyptian Armed Forces…Sisi inherited the military and its consumer and service economic activities from his predecessor, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. Tantawi was the longest-serving Egyptian in the history of the country’s defense minister. During the Tantawi era, senior retired military officers said that the transformation of military doctrine under his leadership was limited to the following text: “The mission of the military is to protect the legitimacy of the constitution.” With the increase of the police and national security investigation roles, the military basically stopped having direct contact with civilians, except through those economic activities that were not as destructive as privatization and neoliberal policies. However, the mission of the military in the Sisi era is changing to fight terrorism and maintain domestic security, and his violent repressive policies have led to the export of “Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis” operations from North Sinai to the entire peninsula, and then to the canal and delta lines, and even to the center of the capital and in front of the security bureau. “Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis” shifted from targeting Israeli interests and forces to conflicts with the Egyptian regular army, and then no longer cared about its operations against the army and police near the civilian population, and a new group called “” appeared in Giza. So far, the actions of the “Egyptian soldiers” have been limited to police, and the attack took place at a border post near the Farafra oasis in Western Sahara, killing 23 soldiers and officers.Sisi’s army was and is involved in widespread violations and crimes against civilians in the Sinai Peninsula, and it is clear from my field documentation of many of these incidents that the leadership’s aim in dealing with deficiencies is not to improve the efficiency of the soldiers and improve their training, but to protect them from accountability and punishment. We can imagine a conscript who, during the first phase of his compulsory military service, rents ping-pong and pool tables at an army recreation center or serves in a hotel or tourist village, and then – for whatever reason – he is suddenly transferred to the battlefield without adequate time for training or arming. Thus, the question arises: what is the point of spending compulsory military service in a job that brings a large and stable income to officers without pay, which is akin to forced and free labor, and without these young people, whose future is threatened, to get a certificate of military service, to get qualified training, so that they will not become infidel soldiers of the tyrant whenever they see a jihadist!War on the Poor and False Manna in PalestineThe military’s exhaustion and declining efficiency could have disastrous consequences, and this is not the only crisis. The military is infiltrating civilian life and occupying administrative and advisory positions in an unprecedented way. Military-owned enterprises are directly awarded projects without bidding or competition and supported by the state budget while being tax-free, which is what is often meant by the military being “above the state”. The reality is that the Egyptian military sees itself as a higher and more sophisticated class than all civilians. Indeed, experienced people in the military community say they consider the word “civilian” an insult and an affront.Despite various criticisms of the Nasser period, including the perceived superiority over non-military personnel, Nasser’s policies were aimed at broadening the base of popular support through a series of agricultural reforms and launching major projects for social and health security employment. As for the Arabist tendencies of Abdel Nasser, who personally participated in the 1948 war, he guaranteed full equality of Palestinian refugees with Egyptian citizens, sometimes even increasing positive discrimination against them in terms of student aid and training Palestinian students in Sinai to shoot and fight without any Egyptians.Sisi began his coup by calling for his so-called delegation on the anniversary of July 23, and he courted the family of Gamal Abdel Nasser until he had their unequivocal support for his candidacy. He entered into a contest with his electoral analyst Hamdeen Sabbahi over who should succeed Abdel Nasser, until director Khaled Youssef abandoned his companions and supported Sisi. When the inauguration came, the Abdel Nasser family found seats in the back row, and the Sadat family occupied the front row. As for his economic neoliberal orientation, he succeeded where neither Sadat nor Mubarak had succeeded, daring to partially eliminate subsidies for household fuel, bread, electricity and gas. As for his position on the Palestinian issue, he started with the topic of Mubarak and went on to say that Egypt had provided a hundred thousand martyrs for the Palestinian cause, just as the Bakar school, the Abu Zabar factory, the city of Suez, and the entire Sinai Peninsula between Galilee and Hebron, or between Ramla and the god Ram. Regardless of his claim that “East Jerusalem” is the capital of Palestine, it is extremely absurd to imagine that he dares to hold the Palestinians responsible for Egypt’s economy, which has collapsed for sixty years! This he made clear on the first anniversary of his presidency and the sixty-second anniversary of what he called the “glorious July Revolution”. What glory did he inherit? What glory did he lose?!Share this topic:relatedNavigate between topics
On the anniversary of the Mandate: What is left of Nasser’s country besides Amer?
Designed by Aden Al-Shahal Al-Rikabi – Al-Safir Al-Arabi
Ismail Al-Iskandarani This article was originally published in Al-Safir Al-Arabi newspaper on July 30, 2014
Electronic version at the link:
http://arabi.assafir.com/article.asp?aid=2063&refsite=arabi&reftype=home&refzone=slider
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is keen to keep the memory of Gamal Abdel Nasser alive, having tried more than once to portray himself as the successor of the military leader who led the coup against the monarchy to achieve social justice. Last year, he chose the anniversary of July 23 to issue to his fans what he called “a mandate and order to fight potential violence and terrorism”. This year, he did not forget to mention this mission in his speech on the same anniversary, and went out of his way to link January 25, 2011 and June 30, 2013 to the anniversary of July 23, 1952, treating these three events as consecutive anniversaries, stations on the same line. But the jargon of the populist discourse, rhetorically weak and full of linguistic errors, does not find evidence of political action and practice, on the contrary, Sisi surpassed Sadat and Mubarak in record time.
.
As Rabab Mahdi, a Cairo political science professor and prominent leftist activist, has written, Sisi cannot be the new Gamal Abdel Nasser. In addition to objective reasons such as the inability to replicate the local, regional and global political and economic environment, Mahdi also supports her view with subjective reasons such as age differences, aspirations, education and economic trends. But I would add to what I have written that the most suitable figure for Sisi in the Command Council of the July Revolution is Abdel Hakim Amer.
.
Abdel Hakim Amer received the rank of Field Marshal without having fought in any field battles, prompting a unique comment from a foreign visitor who described him as a “political marshal,” meaning a political non-military marshal who should have received the rank for military purposes. Thus, Sisi made the jump from the rank of Major General to Field Marshal in less than two years, with deposed President Mohamed Morsi promoting him to Lieutenant General, and then again from interim President Adly Mansour in October 1973, becoming the first person to receive the rank of Field Marshal without having fought in a battle since the October War.
.
Abdul Fattah Amir and the Army
Abdul Hakim Amer exhausted the army and neglected its training and efficiency. Muhammad Abd al-Ghani al-Jamsi, in his important memoirs on the October War, confirms that before Gamal Abd al-Nasser decided in early June 1967 to close the Straits of Tiran, the entrance to the Gulf, which led to an escalation against Israel, Aqaba was Israel’s only access to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, Abdul Hakim Amer asked him about the army’s readiness, and Amir replied that the army was at its peak. A terrible defeat occurred, which led to a major and profound defeat in the entire Arab region, and Amir left our world in a different way, with the silent people saying what they had been silent about for ten years since the war. The three-way aggression (Suez War of 1956), many shortcomings were exposed.
.
On the surface, Sisi’s army seems more conservative and morally disciplined than Amir’s, since now there is no talk of following the old methods of conquest and control through sex scandals and so on. But the depth of the crisis is the same, as the army is focused on managing its economic interests, rather than training soldiers and improving their efficiency and combat readiness. While it is acceptable and reasonable for the army to have production and manufacturing lines, as well as engineering and construction departments engaged in civilian activities to achieve understandable training and economic goals, the army’s vulgarity, the names of its weapons, and the management of improper consumption and service activities warn that the army leaders, led by Sisi, are unwilling to admit the extent of this defect. Things have developed to the point where advertisements for the sale of Eid cakes are posted in the “House of Weapons and Ammunition” on one of the most important main streets in Cairo, and shops selling products of the Second Field Army at the door. Go to the city of Ismailia, where the shelves are filled with cooking oils, sauces and soaps, in front of an officer with the rank of major, sitting in the shop to supervise the sales. Surrealism reaches its peak with the spread of army-affiliated events and wedding halls, and with the opening of a “hairdresser’s shop” for women affiliated with the Egyptian Armed Forces…
.
Sisi inherited the military and its consumer and service economic activities from his predecessor, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. Tantawi was the longest-serving Egyptian in the history of the country’s defense minister. During the Tantawi era, senior retired military officers said that the transformation of military doctrine under his leadership was limited to the following text: “The mission of the military is to protect the legitimacy of the constitution.” With the increase of the police and national security investigation roles, the military basically stopped having direct contact with civilians, except through those economic activities that were not as destructive as privatization and neoliberal policies. However, the mission of the military in the Sisi era is changing to fight terrorism and maintain domestic security, and his violent repressive policies have led to the export of “Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis” operations from North Sinai to the entire peninsula, and then to the canal and delta lines, and even to the center of the capital and in front of the security bureau. “Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis” shifted from targeting Israeli interests and forces to conflicts with the Egyptian regular army, and then no longer cared about its operations against the army and police near the civilian population, and a new group called “” appeared in Giza. So far, the actions of the “Egyptian soldiers” have been limited to police, and the attack took place at a border post near the Farafra oasis in Western Sahara, killing 23 soldiers and officers.
.
Sisi’s army was and is involved in widespread violations and crimes against civilians in the Sinai Peninsula, and it is clear from my field documentation of many of these incidents that the leadership’s aim in dealing with deficiencies is not to improve the efficiency of the soldiers and improve their training, but to protect them from accountability and punishment. We can imagine a conscript who, during the first phase of his compulsory military service, rents ping-pong and pool tables at an army recreation center or serves in a hotel or tourist village, and then – for whatever reason – he is suddenly transferred to the battlefield without adequate time for training or arming. Thus, the question arises: what is the point of spending compulsory military service in a job that brings a large and stable income to officers without pay, which is akin to forced and free labor, and without these young people, whose future is threatened, to get a certificate of military service, to get qualified training, so that they will not become infidel soldiers of the tyrant whenever they see a jihadist!
.
War on the Poor and False Manna in Palestine
The military’s exhaustion and declining efficiency could have disastrous consequences, and this is not the only crisis. The military is infiltrating civilian life and occupying administrative and advisory positions in an unprecedented way. Military-owned enterprises are directly awarded projects without bidding or competition and supported by the state budget while being tax-free, which is what is often meant by the military being “above the state”. The reality is that the Egyptian military sees itself as a higher and more sophisticated class than all civilians. Indeed, experienced people in the military community say they consider the word “civilian” an insult and an affront.
.
Despite various criticisms of the Nasser period, including the perceived superiority over non-military personnel, Nasser’s policies were aimed at broadening the base of popular support through a series of agricultural reforms and launching major projects for social and health security employment. As for the Arabist tendencies of Abdel Nasser, who personally participated in the 1948 war, he guaranteed full equality of Palestinian refugees with Egyptian citizens, sometimes even increasing positive discrimination against them in terms of student aid and training Palestinian students in Sinai to shoot and fight without any Egyptians.
.
Sisi began his coup by calling for his so-called delegation on the anniversary of July 23, and he courted the family of Gamal Abdel Nasser until he had their unequivocal support for his candidacy. He entered into a contest with his electoral analyst Hamdeen Sabbahi over who should succeed Abdel Nasser, until director Khaled Youssef abandoned his companions and supported Sisi. When the inauguration came, the Abdel Nasser family found seats in the back row, and the Sadat family occupied the front row. As for his economic neoliberal orientation, he succeeded where neither Sadat nor Mubarak had succeeded, daring to partially eliminate subsidies for household fuel, bread, electricity and gas. As for his position on the Palestinian issue, he started with the topic of Mubarak and went on to say that Egypt had provided a hundred thousand martyrs for the Palestinian cause, just as the Bakar school, the Abu Zabar factory, the city of Suez, and the entire Sinai Peninsula between Galilee and Hebron, or between Ramla and the god Ram. Regardless of his claim that “East Jerusalem” is the capital of Palestine, it is extremely absurd to imagine that he dares to hold the Palestinians responsible for Egypt’s economy, which has collapsed for sixty years! This he made clear on the first anniversary of his presidency and the sixty-second anniversary of what he called the “glorious July Revolution”. What glory did he inherit? What glory did he lose?!
This entry was posted on Friday, August 1, 2014 at 9:53 am and is filed under Social Issues, Egypt’s ruling regime, Political situation in EgyptYou can RSS 2.0 Feed. You can Leave a Replyor Tracing From your own website.
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