By Naguib Mahfouz Looking through the lattice window of our home in Gammaliya, I saw the quiet square with the willow trees fill up with thousands of people, milling and shouting. It was 1919 and I was only seven, with no idea what the hullabaloo was about. But I heard the grown-ups talk of a revolt in the offing. The crowds were calling for the British to leave the country. Years later, I lived through the 1952 Revolution, but was by then a grown man, with my own political views. I agreed and disagreed with the revolution, and could see in what way it differed from the 1919 revolt. The 1919 revolt demanded independence; the 1952 Revolution achieved it and moved on to build a modern state. Saad Zaghlul, the leader of the 1919 revolt, came from the rural elite. Gamal Abdel-Nasser came from the city. The 1952 Revolution rid the country of the political and social corruption it suffered under King Farouk. But, very much like the monarchy, it failed to abide by the constitution. Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
