Obituary: Mohamed Sid-Ahmed (1928 - 2006) SCENE ONE: Cairo 1942. Our French teacher, René Granier, initiated both Mohamed Sid-Ahmed and myself, among others, in Marxist philosophy. Egypt was then witnessing a revolutionary tide that was bringing with it a new generation of progressive patriotic youth. At the heart of this movement was the establishment of the Dar al-abhath al-'elmiyah, the "House of Scientific Research," a radical organisation to which many of these young revolutionaries rallied. I was one of the resident staff of the Cairo headquarters of the "House" when one winter day in 1945 Mohamed came knocking on the door and I received him with a broad smile. Our study with Granier was coming to fruition, and a political journey had begun. Mohamed soon became one of the brightest stars of the International Committee of the House and a dedicated member of a movement that was striving to put the nation on the road to cultural renaissance with the assistance of young revolutionaries struggling for national liberation and people's democracy. These aims were formulated in a small book entitled Ahdafna al-wataniya (Our National Aims) co-authored by Shohdi Attiya al-Shafie and Abdel-Ma'boud al-Gebeli, the two founding members of the House. The book was the formative influence behind the Egyptian movement of 21 February 1946 and its historic Workers and Students National Committee. This date is a day celebrated annually the world over as the International Day of Students, but not in its own country, where its memory is being deliberately obliterated. SCENE TWO: 10 July 1946. A wave of brutal oppression began on this day at the hands of Egypt's then prime minister Ismail Sidqi Pasha (husband of Mohamed's paternal aunt). All progressive patriotic associations, newspapers and publishing houses were closed down by order of the government, and some 1,060 young revolutionaries, along with a number of senior intellectuals, such as Salama Moussa and Mohamed Mandour, were thrown into jail. The onslaught on the new movement was now in full swing, and episodes in the master plan to abort the liberation revolution in Egypt began to unfold. In 1947 the United Nations adopted a resolution stipulating the partition of Palestine and war started in that afflicted country. Martial law was declared in Egypt from 1947 until the end of 1949, and revolutionaries were confined to the Tur concentration camp on the Sinai Peninsula. The master plan reached its climax with the burning of Cairo on 26 January 1952. On 23 July 1952 the Free Officers seized power in Egypt, and they were supported by progressive and patriotic forces in the society who nevertheless insisted that civil liberties and democracy be initiated in Egypt. This was a call that endangered the interests of many, and, in opposition to the rising strength of the patriotic front, voices of the beneficiaries of the status quo began to incite the new regime against the left, alleging that its call for democracy was only a manifestation of the "crisis of the intellectuals". However, this incitement began to bear fruit, and a new wave of arrests of vanguard politicians and intellectuals began. First, it was at the Abu Za'bal prison, among other jails, that people were consigned between 1954 and 1956. And later, from January 1959 to mid 1964, thousands were thrown into concentration camps, eventually ending up in the notorious Wahat camp in the Western Desert, in order to abort the formation of a new patriotic front that was then emerging in new publishing houses and the evening paper Al-Misaa. Brutal torture was employed at the Wahat camp, leading to the death of many. Having been arrested myself in the onslaught of the late 1940s, I succeeded in escaping the inferno of the late 1950s and ended in enforced exile in France while Mohamed was swallowed up by the fire. Our roads thus temporarily diverged. SCENE 3: 1964 onward. A third stage then began, when, following the atomisation of the progressive movement, some outlets were permitted beginning with the establishment of the Taliaa monthly review issued by Al-Ahram and later the founding of the left-wing Tagamu' Party following the victory of the 1973 October War. In this new stage Mohamed immersed himself in the study of the intricacies of international politics, always with a keen eye on the interactions between the multiple variables in the international arena and those affecting Egypt's national security and independence. His political analysis, published as articles in numerous publications all over the world, was remarkable for its intellectual depth and search for scientific rigour, while maintaining at the same time a broad-minded vision in the attempt to understand world changes, especially after the disintegration of the old Western bipolar world system in 1991. Indeed, the end of this world system and the emergence of another, characterised by brutal US-Zionist hegemony and the impact of this on our region, was always at the centre of Mohamed's political and intellectual preoccupations as his numerous columns in Al-Ahram and 1975 book After the Guns Fall Silent testify. His work also bears testimony to a life dedicated to the cause of liberation and progress for his country, a struggle which continued unabated from his early youth despite oppression and torture. Indeed, this son of a pasha should, in better times, have occupied a well- deserved place as a brilliant statesman in charge of shaping the future of his country. However, this was never possible because of the insistence of the powers that be on obliterating the 1940s generation of young revolutionaries for having dared to dream of progress and national renaissance. Mohamed Sid- Ahmed remained faithful to that dream of our youth: that the people of Egypt are the inheritors of its wealth and not the opportunists who never tire of reiterating that "I am the end and the end is me." He continued the struggle with the only weapon allowed him, his pen, and for more than half a century, and in the face of all the odds, he raised high the banner of moral, patriotic and civilised integrity. For this he now meets his creator satisfied that he has reserved for himself a permanent place in the memory of the people of Egypt. Mohamed Sid-Ahmed, son of Wahida Youssry and Abbas Pasha Sid-Ahmed; leading Egyptian intellectual, political activist, writer and journalist with Al-Ahram since 1965: born Cairo, 29 November 1928; graduate of Cairo University's School of Law in 1954 and the same university's School of Engineering in 1955; member of Egyptian communist organisations (1945- 1964); arrested in 1949 for a short period and in January 1959 and sentenced to 10 years but released in 1964 following a general amnesty; upon release worked at Al-Akhbar newspaper for a short period and moved to Al-Ahram in 1965 where he edited the daily's opinion section until 1974; author of 4 books, including After the Guns Fall Silent (1975), a prophetic take on the future of the Arab- Israeli conflict, and contributor to numerous publications in the Arab world, Europe and the US; survived by his wife Maissa Talaat (married in 1965), his two sons Tarek and Amr and his step-daughter Nayra Ijjeh; died Cairo 18 February 2006 and buried the following day in the family cemetery in Cairo. By Anouar Abdel-Malek
