Egyptian nationalism

The revolution flag of Egypt from 1919. It bears a crescent and cross to demonstrate that both Muslims and Christians supported the Egyptian nationalist movement against British occupation.

Egyptian nationalism (Arabic: القومية المصرية‎, IPA: [el kɑwˈmejːɑ l.mɑsˤˈɾejːɑ]) is an ideology that rose to prominence in Egypt before the British occupation to Egypt.

[edit] History

Col. Ahmad ‘Urâbî

It is first used to refer to the native officers’ movement, led by Col. Ahmad ‘Urâbî, against Egyptian government policies that favored officers of Turkish, Circassian (Muslims from the Caucasus region), or other foreign extraction. In 1881–1882, Egyptians formed several societies, usually lumped together as the “National Party,” ^[1] that demanded constitutional rule, fought the Anglo-French Dual Control, and resisted Britain’s invasion of Egypt to protect the Suez Canal and the rights of European creditors. The invasion triumphed, ‘Urâbî was arrested and exiled, and the party was disbanded.

Mustafâ Kâmil Pasha

In the early years of Britain’s military occupation, there was little overt resistance, because Egypt’s viceroy, Khedive Tawfîq (r. 1879–1892), suppressed it. Nationalism revived after the succession of his son, ‘Abbâs Hilmî II (r.1892–1914). Various European and Near Eastern palace functionaries urged the young khedive to resist Britain’s consul general in Cairo, Sir Evelyn Baring (Lord Cromer), who was Egypt’s de facto ruler. Although Cromer’s access to military reinforcements from Britain intimidated the khedive’s backers, there arose in his place an informal opposition movement that also called itself the “National Party.” Its leader was Mustafâ Kâmil, a French-trained lawyer who initially served as a liaison between ‘Abbâs and potential European and Ottoman backers. As he became better known, Kâmil founded a daily newspaper, al-Liwâ (“The Banner”), a boys’ school, and a political party open to all Egyptians seeking to end the British occupation. The revived National Party appealed to students, young professionals, and seekers of government jobs who felt their access was blocked by the influx of British subjects serving in Egyptian ministries. Most Egyptians were enraged by the 1906 Dinshawây Incident, in which several peasants were hanged, flogged, or jailed for assaulting British officers who entered the Nile Delta village of Dinshawây to shoot pigeons, which Egyptians keep as barnyard fowl, and opened fire on the villagers, wounding five, and set fire to the grain of an Egyptian peasant called Abd-el-Nebi and injured his wife. The Nationalists also wanted Khedive ‘Abbâs to grant them a constitution with an elected parliament to whom his ministers would be responsible, reducing the power of British advisers in the Egyptian government. Soon after Kâmil became president of the National Party, he died in 1908 at age thirty-three.^[2] The large-scale demonstrations of grief at his funeral testified to his support from the Egyptian people.

Muhammad Farîd

Soon after Kâmil’s death, the Nationalists elected their party’s vice president, Muhammad Farîd, as its new leader. Although less charismatic than his predecessor, Farîd was high-principled, financially independent, and determined to continue the independence struggle. In addition to organizing party branches throughout Egypt, he also set up workers’ night schools and consumer cooperatives and lent support to the growing trade union movement. He continued to court European support but also strengthened ties with the Ottoman government and hired Shaykh ‘Abd al-’Azîz Jâwîsh, an Islamist writer, to edit al-Liwâ. Jâwîsh soon antagonized both the Copts and the British and, although popular with many Muslim students, moved the National Party toward extremism. When a Nationalist murdered Egypt’s prime minister, Butros Ghâlî, in 1910, the Egyptian government (abetted by its British advisers) curbed the Nationalists. Within two years, both Farîd and Jawîsh, having served prison terms, sought refuge in Istanbul. The National Party, with many of its newspapers banned, went into eclipse.

Concurrent with the Nationalists were two other self-styled Egyptian “parties”: Hizb al-Umma (“Party of the People”) and Hizb al-Islâh al-Dustûrî (“Constitutional Reform Party”). The Umma Party, composed of landowners and intellectuals, advocated a gradual winning of independence, to be achieved by cooperation with Britain in educating the Egyptian people and showing them the rights and duties of citizenship. It upheld Egyptian interests and denounced pan-Islam, shunning both Khedive ‘Abbâs and the Ottoman Empire. The Islâh Party, however, upheld the khedive’s rights and advocated Islamic unity. Neither was as popular as the National Party.

When World War I began, Britain severed Egypt’s ties with the Ottoman Empire (which in November 1914 joined the war on the side of the Central Powers), deposed ‘Abbâs, declared a British protectorate over Egypt, and barred all nationalist activity for the duration of the war. Although Egypt’s cabinet ministers, legislative leaders, and people did not want these changes, Britain’s military presence, augmented to protect the Suez Canal after an Ottoman-German attack in 1915, squelched all opposition. Wartime conditions led to price inflation, restrictions on the acreage allotted to growing cotton, martial law and tight controls on civil liberties, conscription of Egyptians for the campaign to take Palestine and Syria from the Ottomans, and requisition of draft animals and foodstuffs from the peasants.

Saad Zaghlûl

During the war Egyptians hoped that the British would withdraw their troops as soon as it ended, or that they could persuade Britain’s allies to back their cause. The idea of sending representatives to the postwar talks may have come from Sultan Fuâd (r. 1917–1936). The proposed delegation’s charter members were Saad Zaghlûl, ‘Alî Sha’râwî, ‘Abd al-’ Azîz Fahmî, Ahmad Lutfî al-Sayyid, ‘Abd al-Latîf al-Makabbâtî, Muhammad ‘Alî ‘Allûba, Hamad al-Bâsil, and Sînût Hannâ, most of whom had belonged to the Umma Party. They opened their campaign with a visit by Zaghlûl, Fahmî, and Sha’râwî to Britain’s high commissioner, Sir Reginald Wingate, in November 1918, two days after the Armistice, stating their desire to go to London to negotiate with the Foreign Office for an end to the British Protectorate. A similar request was made the same day by Premier Husayn Rushdî and ‘Adlî Yakan. The British Foreign Office replied that it was too busy preparing for the Paris Peace Conference to meet even an official Egyptian deputation, let alone Zaghlûl, who was convening Egyptian legislators, demanding complete independence, and proposing to head a delegation to the Peace Conference. When Britain challenged the credentials of Zaghlûl and his friends to represent Egypt, his followers set up a committee to gather contributions and circulate petitions, authorizing their wafd (delegation) to speak for the Egyptian people. Wingate banned political meetings, and the Interior Ministry seized some of the petitions, but Rushdî and ‘Adlî resigned from the cabinet when the Foreign Office refused to see even them. Zaghlûl and his backers sent memoranda to the conference, the US President Woodrow Wilson, the representatives of the Western powers in Egypt, and foreign residents.

Egyptian women demonstrated along with men in the 1919 Revolution precipitated by the British-ordered exile of nationalist leader Saad Zaghlûl

Although the Wafd’s main aim was to achieve Egypt’s complete independence by peaceful means, Britain’s failure to gauge the Wafd’s popularity led to repressive measures in March, including the internment of Zaghlûl and three of his associates, sparking the nationwide 1919 Revolution, in which all classes and religions joined in opposing the British; even women took part in demonstrations. London appointed General Allenby to replace Wingate as high commissioner and authorized him to take any measures necessary to restore order. Allenby suppressed the violence but also declared Zaghlûl free to go to Paris. The other Wafdists drew up a covenant, chose Zaghlûl as president of the Wafd, and bound themselves not to negotiate in its name with persons of political standing without his permission. Formally organized like a European political party, the Wafd delegated many powers to its leader. Once Zaghlûl was free to go to the Peace Conference, the other seventeen members of the Egyptian delegation met before their departure to form a central committee to gather funds and information on Egypt’s situation. It became the nerve center of Egyptian resistance to British rule. When Britain dispatched the Milner Mission to Egypt, the Central Committee set up a boycott and demonstrations against it.

The Wafd’s hopes of addressing the conference were dashed when the US government formally recognized the British Protectorate. Unable to make its case directly, the Wafd’s members issued manifestos and met other delegates, seeking supporters for independence. In 1920 Lord Milner and Zaghlûl held informal talks on the Egyptian question without reaching an agreement. New disturbances erupted in 1921, and the British again exiled Zaghlûl. Some of the men who had left the Wafd formed the Constitutional Liberal Party (similar to the Umma Party) and drafted Egypt’s 1923 Constitution. Once it took effect, the Wafd reconstituted itself as a party to run candidates in the first parliamentary elections, but many Wafdists continued to see themselves as standard-bearers of Egyptian nationalism rather than as a partisan movement.

[edit] See also

• Denshawai Incident
• Pharaonism

[edit] References

1. ^ "National Party (Egypt)". Encyclopedia Britannica (EB). http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/405209/National-Party. 
2. ^ "Mustafa Kamil". Answers.Com. http://www.answers.com/topic/mustafa-kamil. 

[edit] Bibliography

• The Intellectual Origins of Egyptian Nationalism by Jamal Mohammed Ahmed (Publisher: Oxford University Press 1960)
• Cole, J.R.I. Colonialism and Revolution in the Middle East: Social and Cultural Origins of Egypt’s ‘Urabi Movement. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993.
• Gershoni, I., and J.P.Jankowski. Egypt, Islam, and the Arabs: The Search for Egyptian Nationhood, 1900–1930. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
• Goldschmidt, A. “The Egyptian Nationalist Party, 1892–1919.” In Political and Social Change in Modern Egypt, edited by P.M.Holt. London: Oxford University Press, 1968.
• Landau, J.M. Parliaments and Parties in Egypt. Tel Aviv: Israel Oriental Society, 1953.
• Schölch, A. Egypt for the Egyptians! The Socio-Political Crisis in Egypt, 1878–1882. London: Ithaca Press, 1981.
• Zayid, M.Y. Egypt’s Struggle for Independence. Beirut: Khayat’s, 1965.
• Deeb, Marius. Party Politics in Egypt: The Wafd and Its Rivals, 1919 - 1939. London: Ithaca Press for the Middle East Centre; Oxford: St. Antony's College, 1979.
• Fahmy, Ziad. Ordinary Egyptians: Creating the Modern Nation through Popular Culture. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011.ISBN 0804772126
• Gershoni, Israel, and Jankowski, James P. Egypt, Islam, and the Arabs: The Search for Egyptian Nationhood, 1900 - 1930. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
• Goldschmidt, Arthur. "The Egyptian Nationalist Party, 1892 - 1919." In Political and Social Change in Modern Egypt: Historical Studies from the Ottoman Conquest to the United Arab Republic, edited by P. M. Holt. London: Oxford University Press, 1968.
• Schoch, Alexander. Egypt for the Egyptians! The Socio-Political Crisis in Egypt, 1878 - 1882. London: Ithaca Press for the Middle East Centre; Oxford: St. Antony's College, 1981.
• Goldschmidt, Arthur. "The Egyptian Nationalist Party, 1892 - 1919." In Political and Social Change in Modern Egypt: Historical Studies from the Ottoman Conquest to the United Arab Republic, edited by P. M. Holt. London: Oxford University Press, 1968.
• Sayyid-Marsot, Afaf Lutfi. Egypt and Cromer: A Study inAnglo - Egyptian Relations. London: Murray, 1968.
• Haeri, Niloofar. Sacred language, Ordinary People: Dilemmas of Culture and Politics in Egypt. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2003, pp. 47, 136
• Encyclopeadea Britannica, Macropeadia, Encyclopeadea Britannica, Inc USA 1978
• Egypt as a Woman - Nationalism, Gender, and Politics by Beth Baron ISBN 9780520238572.
• Blunt, Wilfrid Scawen. Atrocities of Justice under British Rule inEgypt. London: Unwin, 1907.
• Marlowe, John. Cromer in Egypt. London: Elek; and New York: Praeger, 1970.
• Sayyid-Marsot, Afaf Lutfi. Egypt and Cromer: A Study in Anglo - Egyptian Relations. London: Murray; New York: Praeger, 1968.

[edit] External links

• James Sanua and Egyptian nationalism
• Fathering Egyptian nationalism - Saad Zaghlul, described as a man of the people, had a vision for a free Egypt.
• History and parallel history - Al-Ahram
• Egypt: Nationalism, World War I and the Wafd, 1882–1922
• National Party (Egypt) - Answers.Com