As we commemorate the 43rd anniversary of Gamal Abdel-Nasser's death we should seize the opportunity to take a fresh look at the circumstances that gave rise to this Egyptian and Arab leader who shouldered the burdens of the causes of his nation, the national liberation struggle and the Third World. This seems all the more in view of current circumstances that cause us to look back with longing to that leader and the glories of Egypt and the other Arabs of that era. Egypt had lived for 23 centuries under a long chain of foreign occupations by the time Nasser began to pursue his dream of national independence. The foreign occupiers plundered the country and inflicted misery on its people. Yet, within short periods of times, these foreign rulers would abandon their roots, become part of Egypt and begin to design their dreams for the country on the basis of its intrinsic value and historical stature, rather than on the value of their native homelands. A case in point is the founder of modern Egypt, the Albanian born Mohamed Ali Pasha. Nasser was the first native Egyptian to rule his country after that historical labyrinth. Through Egypt's famed historical legacy he forged the group of Non-Aligned Nations together with Nehru and Tito and he became the foremost regional leader and an international figure to be reckoned with. Under his rule, Egypt regained control of the Suez Canal following a legendary battle that mustered the huge and long-untapped reserves of Egyptian patriotism. With this, combined with the solidarity and support from nationalist and anti-colonialist forces elsewhere in the Arab region and the Third World, he repelled the Tripartite Aggression against Egypt and, in the process, consigned two colonial empires to the dustbin of history. President Nasser initiated an agrarian reform programme that redistributed a million acres of land among previously dispossessed farmers and an industrial development programme that increased the manufacturing sector five-fold during his period of rule. In addition, he instituted free healthcare and universal education, both of which services were delivered at quite respectable standards for those times. The government had committed itself to hiring graduates of the educational system, creating a huge incentive for education and generating a mechanism for social mobility. But this was only one facet of the Nasserist socio-economic model that sought to explore new areas of social justice that steered Egypt toward greater equitability and popular participation. In 1952, the government introduced a minimum wage law that gave the individual wage-earner a minimum purchasing power equivalent to that of LE2,000 today. In addition to the wage system, it reformed the taxation, subsidies and remittances systems, creating a comprehensive institutionalised framework for social justice. In supporting the national independence movements in the Arab region, Africa and elsewhere in the Third World, Nasser greatly enhanced Egypt's moral stature and influence, which was exercised on the principle of mutual support as opposed to domination and control. In constructing the High Dam, he ensured that Egypt would no longer be prey to the whims of the Nile. Due to this great feat, Egypt now could control the flow of this great river and avert the destruction caused by excessive flooding or the massive death caused by draught, which occurred every century or two and which could claim the lives of up to two-thirds of the populace. In the first seven years of the 1980s, Egypt was spared of precisely such a spectre due to the High Dam. This great waterworks project enabled Egypt to dispel centuries of darkness from the Egyptian countryside by means of the electricity generating station at the dam that, at one point, furnished Egypt with 54 per cent of its electricity needs. It also furnished sufficient irrigation water to reclaim two million acres of land and to convert 670,000 acres of land that had been dependent on a single annual flooding season to permanent irrigation systems that made it possible to cultivate three crops a year. An autocratic government system lacking in real democratic processes and plurality was the chief sin of that great and unique leader. However, it should be borne in mind that this shortcoming was linked to a global situation that led Third World leaders to prioritise national independence and a high degree of social democracy over political democracy. We should simultaneously bear in mind that the US, which attacked Nasser for this flaw, was the world's foremost supporter of civil or military fascist regimes as well the main sponsor of the most repressive and reactionary regimes in the Arab region, prime among which was Saudi Arabia which often conspired with Washington against Egypt and Nasser. In 1967, US-Zionist intrigue to destroy Egypt as the pioneering model of a strong and independent Arab nation, combined with the factors of a sagging military leadership and the underestimation of the Zionist danger, culminated in a stunning military defeat. Nevertheless, the Egyptian reaction was not to buckle or to surrender control of the game to the international power hostile to Egypt (the US). Rather, its response was to rebuild its Armed Forces, military infrastructure and arsenal in accordance with the highest standards of efficacy and modernity, and to transform the country into a powerhouse of energy and knowledge aimed at recovering its usurped territory and its national dignity. We lost Nasser — that mountain of national pride and dignity — before he could inaugurate the High Dam that he initiated and before he could reap the fruits of the reconstruction of the army that would eventually win the battle of the liberation of occupied Sinai. The man died without personal assets in the banks. He was a model of integrity of mythical proportions when it came to safeguarding public moneys. However, his real asset resided in the love that he instilled in the hearts of the Egyptian people, the Arab people and many other patriotically spirited people elsewhere in the world. When Nasser died — and even up to the end of the October War three years later — Egypt's non-military debt stood at $2.7 billion, which at the time was equivalent to LE1.1 billion. This was in spite of the mega projects that would change the face of Egypt. As for the military debt, it was minimal and would be eventually written off by the Soviet Union. The final farewell to Nasser was as huge and awe-inspiring as this extraordinary man had been himself. There was a funeral in every home, and not just in Egypt, but everywhere in the Arab region and elsewhere in the world where people yearned for national independence. Nasser had given all these people hope and a model to emulate, and his spirit lives on in the hearts and consciences of people everywhere moved by the cause of human dignity.
The writer is an expert at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.
