Egypt is no stranger to popular uprisings,as Osama Kamal discovered at a recent seminar Historians attending a recent seminar in Cairo gave spellbinding accounts of revolts that have taken place throughout Egypt's past. Their gathering, held under the title, "The Egyptian Identity: between submission and revolution", was organised by the Higher Council for Culture. During the event, held two weeks ago, scholars presented papers on social unrest in the Late Kingdom; turbulence during the Greco-Roman era; the Coptic revolts against Abbasid rule; resistance to the Ayyubid sultans; the upheavals of the 19th century in Egypt and the 1919 uprising. Because of their river-based culture, which calls for a high-level of centralisation, Egyptians may well be willing to endure injustices longer than other nations. However they are not submissive by nature, and when their patience runs out their reaction can be swift and fierce. In recent memory, Egypt staged two major revolts. The July 1952 revolution ousted the monarchy and launched what may be described as the First Republic, that of Gamal Abdel-Nasser. The Second Republic began with Anwar El-Sadat in 1970 and ended with the ousting of Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The Third Republic has only just been launched, and its history is yet to unfold. Two scholars, Gamal Shaqra and Sayyed Fleifal, paid tribute to the late leader, Nasser, noting his keen interest in the welfare of the underclass. It was a legacy that the men of the Second Republic, Sadat and Mubarak, made no attempt to maintain. In his paper "Egyptians and Passive Protest", Shaqra, who teaches modern history at Ain Shams University, discussed Nasser's policies based on the archived letters of Manshiet El-Bakri, which are kept in the Abdin Palace. The archives contain letters sent to Nasser by ordinary members of the public in which they criticised aspects of his policy or made a variety of complaints. Nasser, Shaqra noted, was the only president who actually read his mail. Sadat was not interested in any letters from the public, and Mubarak had his aides summarise the letters he received in a report not exceeding two pages. Nasser used to receive hundreds of letters a day. In one five-month stretch the number of letters in the archives is 88,304. The archivists sorted out the mail into several categories, one of which was "very critical". This category, in which the president showed particular interest, was dubbed "black mail". Shaqra cited examples of "black mail" at the conference. In one letter the sender criticised the Yemen war of 1962. Another accused the Arab Socialist Union, the only political organisation allowed at the time, of being weak and unhelpful. Another suggested that members of the president's family were enriching themselves at the expense of the people, mentioning by name the president's brother, Leithi Abdel-Nasser, founder of a private school in Alexandria. Another letter accused Nasser's father of accepting a gift from a Saudi prince. All these letters were sent anonymously, or signed only with the initials of the sender. The president acted on them immediately, especially when his family was involved. He had his family send back any gifts they received, which in one case did indeed involve his father and an item of clothing. Nasser died with a personal debt of 10,000 Egyptian pounds, worth a good deal more in those days than its face value today. A champion of the poor, he borrowed money to buy furniture for his two daughters, Mona and Hoda, and was a model of clean-handedness. This was a far cry from both Sadat and Mubarak, who showed little sympathy for the poor while allowing their top aides to enrich themselves in dubious deals. Sayyed Fleifel, who teaches modern history at Cairo University, said the Second Republic ended with Mubarak's resignation on 11 February 2011. This was, coincidentally, the date on which the shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, stepped down in 1978 and the Red Sea ferry boat sank in 1998. It was also a day after the death of General Saadeddin El-Shazli, a hero of the 1973 war, on 10 February. Accordinng to Fleifel, the First Republic of 1952 to 1979 gave the Egyptians everything the revolution had promised except for one thing: democracy. The Second Republic of 1970 to 2011 began with a coup against the July 1952 Revolution, one in which Sadat deposed Nasser's top aides, the so-called "centres of power". Fleifel argues that Nasser's aides were not even remotely as corrupt as Mubarak's. Following the 1973 war, Sadat began implementing a policy of economic liberalisation which diminished the State's involvement in agricultural and industrial production. To give Egypt a semblance of democracy, Sadat in 1976 established political "platforms" which later on transmuted into ineffectual minor parties. Sadat eventually backed down on democracy. On 5 September 1981 he ordered the arrest of most members of the opposition. A month later he was assassinated. The Second Republic spanning the presidencies of Sadat and Mubarak relied on constitutional legitimacy rather than social justice. Yet Sadat gravely undermined that legitimacy when he allowed the presidency to last for more than two terms. While, as it turned out, this move did not benefit him, it allowed his successor to stay in power for almost 30 years. Lacking both Nasser's charisma and Sadat's dynamism, Mubarak came to power bearing the popular nickname of " La vache qui rit" ("the Laughing Cow)", a mocking reference to his resemblance to the logo on a certain brand of French cheese. The cheese company is said to have banked on the joke by releasing another line of products to which it gave the tongue-in-cheek name, "President". Fleifel breaks Mubarak's rule into three phases. In the first phase, 1981 to 1987, Mubarak maintains the public sector and brings the Arab League back to Cairo. In the second phase, 1987 to 1995, Mubarak, allying himself with the Americans and Israelis, sends the army to take part in the liberation of Kuwait, breaks ranks with the Arab consensus and distances himself from Africa. Some of the current problems with the Nile Basin countries date from this period. In the third phase, 1995 to 2011, Mubarak promotes a corrupt capitalist class, allows his cronies to seize many public sector assets, gives the police service a free reign and generally rules by means of widespread repression. At the same time he initiates plans paving the way for his son, Gamal Mubarak, to succeed him in the presidency. He authorises the sale of natural gas to Israel and orders his government to sign a special trade deal known as QIZ, the Qualified Industrial Zone with Israel. As labour protests become more frequent, Mubarak holds parliamentary elections that are exceptionally fraudulent. A few months afterwards protestors take to the streets in unprecedented numbers, overpower the police and end his regime, launching the Third Republic. The story of this era is about to be written.
