A new weekly series about Egypt 

The author of this series "Egyptian Frescoes" André Dirlik was born in Egypt and spend the first twenty years of his life in Cairo, then moved to Beirut where he studied at the American University. He later completed his studies at Mc Gill University, in Montreal. 

André's long career as professor exclusively at the "Collège Militaire Royal de Saint-Jean" was only interrupted when that institution closed it's doors in 1995. 

Egyptian Frescoes part (1 of 19) issued with the permission of the author. 

Egyptian Frescoes (1): Tu Quoque Cicero...

Early in November 2011, I met for diner with long time friends, Alieddin Hilal and Yahiya el-Gamal, at the Automobile Club, on Kasr el-Nil Street, in Cairo. Egypt’s Arab Spring was barely nine months old. After the forced resignation of President Husni Mubarak, ‘Ali, a class mate of mine from his Canada days, resigned his post as Secretary for Media Affairs in the ruling National Democratic Party. ‘Ali had previously been appointed Minister of Youth and Sports. He held a PhD from Mc Gill University in Montreal in Political Science. Upon his graduation, he returned to Egypt where he taught at Cairo University. He later founded the Centre for International Affairs before he went into politics.

Facade of the Automobile club in Cairo

Yahiya just resigned his short-lived post as Vice-President when Marshal Tantawi appointed yet a new government to replace Mubarak’s own. A constitutional jurist of repute, he would now assist candidate Muhammad al-Baradei in his bid for the presidency at the head of his National Coalition for Change. Yahia had served as Minister of Administrative Affairs in the Cabinet of Gamal ‘abd al-Nasir. He was a seasoned politician. ‘Ali, although much younger, was experienced as well. The question raised at the dinner table was whether or not the Muslim Brotherhood did pose a serious challenge for the political future of Egypt. That evening, everyone seemed to agree that this fringe party would attract 20% of the vote, at most.

As one prepares to move onto a new year, results of the post Mubarak elections are coming in. It is now agreed that the MB will reap a majority of seats in parliament and form a government. Also, the newly elected house will be called upon to draft a constitution that should, most probably, set the course for a new ideological direction for Egyptians to follow. Time will tell whether Egypt’s new constitution will radically depart from the traditions which resulted from the reforms brought about, in 1820, by Muhammad ‘Ali Basha (1769-1849) when innovations in education and government institutions, which were inspired essentially from France, initiated the transformation of that country’s economy and society. We owe it to Henry Dodwell to still refer to Muhammad ‘Ali as the Founder of Modern Egypt.

The process which began in order to provide the Pasha with a modern powerful army permeated the entire country. In terms of constitutional precedent some, today, will argue that a MB government will thwart this process once and for all. Those who fear for past values and principles remind us of Cicero (106BC-43BC) who, in his Letters to Atticus deplored the end of the Republic, the death of Natural Law and Liberty and the disappearance of the Innate Rights for the People. I, for one, believe that the seeds of Modernity are deeply engrained in Egyptian soil. The negative opinion some Egyptians carry for the MB which is related to their past impressions of what once used to be a secret organisation that carried assassinations against its political enemies, will fade away. As to the notion that the past was better than the present and the future, it shall prove questionable as this notion remains class related: to the Egyptians who enjoyed past privileges, the Egypt they were raised in was certainly one of harmony for them. The 1952 Military Coup which toppled the Ancient Regime put an end to such privileges and harmony. The following essays will delve into that very subject and assist me in putting order in the thoughts I nurture on the subject.

Muhammed Ali

It shall be reminded that Egyptian Society had been changing ever since the Convention of London of 1840 recognized to Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha and his descendants their hereditary right to rule over Egypt. The Pasha’s heirs became known as Khedives (from the Turkish Hidiv, viceroy) from 1867 till 1914. An Egyptian Monarchy was then established, again which belonged to Muhammad ‘Ali’s dynasty. In his time, in 1843 at the Treaty of Balta Liman, the Pasha’s dream to erect a strong and independent state along the Nile faded away when the British who had supported the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II against his rebellious vassal from Egypt, tore down all import barriers which the state had built to protect and promote its infant economy. The imposition of liberal trade practices by the British forced Egypt to abandon much of its agricultural and industrial development. Barely one year after the signature of this treaty, the Egyptian debt reached 80 million francs, a considerable amount for the time.

And yet, the memory I harbour from my parents and grandparents is that Egypt had reached a sophisticated degree of Westernization. Both my grandparents immigrated to Egypt, one from the Caucasus Mountains, between the Black and the Caspian Seas and the other from Beirut. They sought opportunities to acquire wealth and reaped it due to the political, social and economic mood which the Khediviate, and latter, the Monarchy provided. A grandchild of Muhammad ‘Ali, the Khedive Isma’il, had committed himself to make Egypt part of Europe. He embarked upon grand construction projects. Building modern Cairo with the help of French and Italian architects, erecting an opera house, investing into the sugar cane industry, extending the railroad and the telegraph to the south of the country and, last but not least, becoming the major shareholder of the Société du Canal de Suez makes him the important builder he is today remembered for. Isma’il was benefiting from the actions of his grandfather, Muhammad ‘Ali, who confiscated the lands of the Mamlukes, a military caste which he toppled when he assumed power after 1811: the ruling family of Egypt became the major land owner in the country. 

The Citadel

The native political allies of the House of Muhammad ‘Ali also received land. And so it was that a landed class was created that would exploit the peasantry, the Fellahin, for its own benefits. This landed aristocracy partook in a form of development in Egypt, submitted to the benefits of Westernization, grew cotton, the cash crop which would make Egypt rich during the American Civil War, and educated its children often in French and English schools.

One will have to wait until the 1952 Military Coup to witness the end of Monarchy in Egypt. The banner of the House of Muhammad ‘Ali, the Crescent and the Three Stars on a green background, will be replaced by Egypt’s Free Officers’ who will fly the Red-White-and-Black emblem of Revolution. The first major legislation to be introduced by the young officers under the presidency of Muhammad Naguib and the leadership of Gamal ‘abd al-Nasir, in the late summer of 1952, will be the Land Reform Law. All important landowners will see their properties expropriated. Their lands will be distributed to the peasantry. A new era will, as a result, have begun in Egypt whose implications are felt till this very day. One is instantly, once again, reminded of Cicero, witness to the crossing by Julius Caesar and his Legionnaires from Gaul of the Rubicon and to the rise of the dictatorship of the Imperium: the Egyptian Monarchy had contributed to institutions and to values which our grandfathers and fathers valued, enjoyed and benefited from. To them, a state of stability and social harmony had been achieved which made Egypt distinguish itself from all its other Arab neighbours. People flocked to Cairo to partake in its wonders. 

Colonel Nasser & General Naguib 1952

After 1952, however, the beneficiaries of Westernization witnessed the collapse of the world they had grown accustomed to. Ever since l952, our fathers and ourselves have tended to deplore what we see as a regression in values, a setback to progress, a sure invitation to backward changes in the Egyptian political scenery; the recent most election results show that the trend has not been abated. The result of the latest count at the polls may, indeed, confirm that bygone are the good old days when the West could influence the East and where Muslim and Christian, Egyptian and Levantine could live and prosper together.

Here is, however, not the end of the story but the beginning of a new page to be written for that unending tale of new settings to replace the old. For instance, the MB had its roots in Egypt’s not too distant past. The British had landed in Alexandria and defeated the feeble Egyptian Army. Egypt would be occupied and the Nationalist Movement would be born. Islam would also become Egypt’s shield against the Christian occupier. In history, everything relates to the past and while history cannot predict the future, it certainly explains the present. 

Fresco One has ended. Please bear with me for the next one.