Political revolutions and uprisings
p. 36-37
Texte intégral
| 1881-1882 | 1919 | 23 July 1952 | 25 January 2011 |
| The Orabi revolt | Revolution led by Saad Zaghloul | Free Officers’ coup d’état | First day of demonstrations against President Mubarak |
1Contemporary Egyptian history is punctuated by numerous moments of dissent, but choosing which of these can be classified as revolutionary will give rise to diverging interpretations. Revolution is understood to be a sudden event that breaks with what has gone before, the occurrence of which reflects the aspirations of a significant part of society for radical change. Until 1952 any uprisings were linked to the struggle for independence and were embodied by emblematic personalities (Ahmed Orabi, Saad Zaghloul, and Gamal Abdel Nasser), all others being completely overlooked. In 2011, there was no charismatic leader, or foreign presence to be combatted, just popular rage against the authoritarian regime of Hosni Mubarak.
1881 and 1919: nationalist revolts
2The Orabi rebellion of 1881 occurred in reaction to growing British and French interference in local affairs. From 1876 the khedive’s* difficulties in honouring his financial commitments had pushed Paris and London to gradually impose their control on the finances and administration of Egypt. Ahmed Orabi, a colonel in the Egyptian army, had set himself against Khedive Tewfiq by creating the National Party (hizb al-watani) in 1879, and took the lead in a movement that endeavoured to protect Egypt from European interventionism. The Orabi revolt ended in the landing of British troops under General Wolseley at Suez in August 1882 and the de facto control of the country by Great Britain.
3At the end of the First World War the question of independence became all the more pressing with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and President Woodrow Wilson of the United States promoting a people’s right to self-determination. Saad Zaghloul, former parliamentarian and leader of the Wafd (the delegation he took to Versailles), fronted a vast movement in favour of independence, which he demanded of the British High Commissioner, Sir Reginald Wingate. Zaghloul’s forced exile by the British in 1919 provoked a popular backlash of demonstrations, riots and bombings. The revolution of 1919 forced London to rethink its initial refusal and, after a number of twists and turns, to sign in 1922 a declaration officially recognising Egyptian independence, albeit somewhat incomplete.
2.1 Ahmed Orabi

© Bibliotheca Alexandrina
2.2 Saad Zaghloul

© Bibliotheca Alexandrina
The Free Officers’ revolution
4The defeat of the Arab armies by Israel in 1948 was felt as a national humiliation and gave rise to the creation of the Free Officers movement by young officers who hoped to liberate Egypt from British occupation and oust the corrupt political and military elite. Overseen by a committee of 11 officers, whose recognised leader was Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Free Officers placed General Mohamed Naguib at their head and took power during the night of 22 to 23 July 1952. They enjoyed wide popular support within a context of hostility to British presence, acute social inequalities, and declining legitimacy of the monarchy. On 26 July King Farouk abdicated and went into exile. A republic was proclaimed on 18 June 1953. The revolution of 23 July marked the most important rupture in Egypt’s contemporary history. It led to independence thanks to the signing of a treaty with the United Kingdom in 1954 and the nationalisation of the Suez Canal. The change of regime saw the fall of a monarchical society based upon landownership and the installation of a republic purporting to be less inegalitarian. It established an authoritarian system, the fundamentals of which survived Nasser, unlike the State socialism he espoused.
2.3 Demonstrations in Cairo, 28 January 2011

The revolutionary period of 2011-2013
5The uprising of 2011 was an expression of the Egyptians’ weariness of a repressive and corrupt system that had not held its promises of social redistribution. On 25 January the activist groups behind the calls to demonstrate were overtaken by the extent of the response throughout the entire country. On 11 February, after 18 days of demonstrations in Tahrir Square and elsewhere, the abdication of the president began a period of transition under the supervision of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). The toppling of Mubarak led to a previously unseen political opening up and the organisation of the country’s first free elections. The legislative (2011) and then the presidential elections (2012) were won by the Muslim Brotherhood. For the first time since 1952, a civilian, Mohamed Morsi, assumed the leadership of the republic.
6The Islamists’ electoral success should not mask the diversity of the political field and the constant realignments that characterised the transition. The process quickly became a power struggle between different actors – revolutionaries, the military, Muslim Brothers, Salafis, liberals, socialists, supporters of the old regime, judges etc. – who did not hesitate to occupy the streets or the courts when the polling booth was not enough to advance their agenda.
7Ultimately, the intransigence of the different protagonists and the widespread hostility to Morsi, who was incapable of re-establishing political and economic stability, led to an impasse. On 30 June 2013 a widespread popular movement responding to the call by Tamarrod* and supported by certain State actors led the army to intervene and depose the president on 3 July.
8As the period of unrest came to an end, authority reset. For the opposition, and especially the Muslim Brotherhood, this meant repression once more. In the upper echelons of the State, the balance was reversed: the army was strengthened to the detriment of political, law and order, and economic actors (NDP, Ministry of the Interior, and the business community) which Sadat, and then Mubarak had set against it.
2.4 Results of the presidential election of 2012

Auteur
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Baudouin Long
Baudouin Long, political scientist, associate researcher at the CEDEJ
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