Alia Mossallam 200810290
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The London School of Economics and Political Science Hikāyāt Sha‛b – Stories of Peoplehood Nasserism, Popular Politics and Songs in Egypt 1956-1973 Alia Mossallam 200810290 A thesis submitted to the Department of Government of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, November 2012 1 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 99,397 words (excluding abstract, table of contents, acknowledgments, bibliography and appendices). Statement of use of third party for editorial help I confirm that parts of my thesis were copy edited for conventions of language, spelling and grammar by Naira Antoun. 2 Abstract This study explores the popular politics behind the main milestones that shape Nasserist Egypt. The decade leading up to the 1952 revolution was one characterized with a heightened state of popular mobilisation, much of which the Free Officers’ movement capitalized upon. Thus, in focusing on three of the Revolution’s main milestones; the resistance to the tripartite aggression on Port Said (1956), the building of the Aswan High Dam (1960- 1971), and the popular warfare against Israel in Suez (1967-1973), I shed light on the popular struggles behind the events. I argue that to the members of resistance of Port Said and Suez, and the builders of the High Dam, the revolution became a struggle of their own. Ideas of socialism and Arab nationalism were re-articulated and appropriated so that they became features of their identities and everyday lives. Through looking at songs, idioms and stories of the experiences of those periods, I explore how people experimented with a new identity under Nasser and how much they were willing to sacrifice for it. These songs and idioms, I treat as an ‘intimate language’. A common language reflecting a shared experience that often only the community who produces the language can understand. I argue that songs capture in moments of political imagination what official historical narratives may not. Furthermore, I argue that these songs reveal silences imposed by state narratives, as well as those silences that are self- imposed through the many incidents people would rather forget. The study contributes to an understanding of the politics of hegemony, and how an ideology can acquire the status of ‘common sense’ through being negotiated, (re)- articulated, and contributed to, rather than enforced on a people suppressed. It also contributes to our understanding of popular politics, and the importance of exploring the experiences and intentions of people behind historical and political milestones; understanding politics beyond the person of politicians and the boundaries of the nation state. 3 Note on Transliteration I have used a simplified version of the International Journal of Middle East Studies’ system of transliteration of Arabic words. Diacritical marks are given only to the Arabic letters ʽayn (ʽ) and hamza (ʼ) and the stressed alif (ā) and yeh (ī). The Arabic letter jim has been rendered as J, when used as such (by Upper Egyptians in particular) except when the Egyptian pronunciation G (gim) is more common in the area where the word or name is used. In that regard I have also spelt song lyrics as they have been pronounced (thus often using ‘il’ rather than ‘al’), as most are colloquial phrases. All Arabic names are transliterated following the IJMES system, except in cases where a more commonly accepted version exists (Mohammed) or when the person named has provided a transliteration (Atteyat). 4 Table of Contents Chapter 1. Re-imagining 1952 14 1.1 Introduction 14 1.2 Review of the Literature 17 1.3 Approach and Methodology 34 1.4 Research Structure 46 Chapter 2. Hikāyat Sha‛b – A Nasserist Narrative? 49 2.1 Introduction. 49 2.2 The Philosophy of the Revolution 51 2.3 From Speech to Song: Weaving the Revolutionary Imaginary 63 2.4 Conclusion 83 Chapter 3. “The simsimiyya gives voice to those whom history forgets.” Beyond the Suez Crisis. Remembering the Battle of Port Said, 1956 88 3.1 Introduction 88 3.2 Seven Nights and a Morning – The Battle for Port Said 93 3.3 Heroic Constructs 101 3.4 ’Ibn al-Balad al-Haqiqi – The True Port Saidi? Who tells the History of Port Said? 117 3.5 A Continued History of Resistance 122 3.6 Conclusion 126 Chapter 4. “We are the ones who made this dam ‘High’!” A Builders’ History of the Aswan High Dam. 130 4.1 Introduction: An Inappropriate Time for Songs 130 4.2 Constructions of the High Dam 135 4.3 The Glory of the Dam 140 5 4.4 A Critical Consciousness 158 4.5 Conclusion 169 Chapter 5. ‘Nuba Niri’ – What it Means to be Nubian. Identity, Sacrifice and Dam Building through Nubian Lyrics 173 5.1 Introduction 173 5.2 The Nubian Story of the High Dam - Dissecting a Unified Narrative 177 5.3 A Nubian History, Sung 184 5.4 A Generation shamed 201 5.5 Conclusion 204 Chapter 6. Suez, the Six-Year War (1967-1974): A History of their Own. 206 6.1 Introduction 206 6.2 The Six-Year War 211 6.3 Singing the Alternative 221 6.4 Singing in the Midst of Battle 222 6.5 Beyond the Battle. Re-presenting Suez. 236 6.6 Conclusion 245 Chapter 7. Whose Imagined Community? 249 7.1 Introduction 249 7.2 Constructs of a Peoplehood 251 7.3 Politics of a Peoplehood 259 7.4 Nasser as Articulated in the Popular Imaginary 267 7.5 Conclusion 273 Chapter 8. In Conclusion 277 8.1 Introduction 277 8.2 The Politics of Hegemony 279 6 8.3 On Popular Memory 281 8.4 Songs in History, and its Present 285 8.5 Endurance of a Revolutionary Legacy 289 Bibliography 293 Appendices 310 Appendix 1: Maps 310 Appendix 2: Biographies 312 Appendix 3: Songs 331 Appendix 4: Speeches by Gamal ‛Abdel Nasser 337 7 Table of Figures Figure 3-1: Port Said Flier: “What Cairo’s broadcasting has failed to mention” ............ 98 Figure 3-2: Port Said flier 2: “Once Happy, you are now left in barrenness” ................. 99 Figure 3-3: Port Said flier 3: “The united front for popular resistance” ....................... 100 Figure 3-4: Performance by Al-Tanbura in Casino Al Nigma (cafe) Port Said April 2011 .......................................................................................................... 111 Figure 5-1: In ‘class’ with ‛am Izbi. ............................................................................... 179 Figure 5-2: Leaving Shallal in 1964. .............................................................................. 181 Figure 6-1: Sayyid Kaburya's Resistance ID (Red passport) ........................................... 215 Figure 6-2: Wilad al-‛ard singing during the War of Attrition ........................................ 223 Figure 7-1: Graffiti in downtown Cairo during a period of confrontation with SCAF 2011. ......................................................................................................... 274 8 Acknowledgements I would like to start by acknowledging how much this thesis owes to my ‘interviewees’. I am grateful to the generosity with which people have not only shared their memories, but often drawn deep into the well of their experiences, the painful and joyous. I have been taught lessons in history, politics, humility and life that have made this PhD far more enriching than an academic degree could ever be. Though it is difficult to mention everyone here, I am particularly indebted to Hajj ‛Izz al- Din, Hajja Rawhiyya and Zizi, my host family in Nubia, who gave my research new turns and deeper dimensions and ‛Am ’Izbi who taught me about the Nubian dialects and continued to follow up on my research until his sudden death in 2012. In Aswan Ahmad al-Nubi and his family took it upon themselves to help me find contacts in workers’ compounds, and find resources relating to the Dam where information was scarce. The Hisham Mubarak Law centre was my link to technology in Aswan where I was provided generous access to their offices as well as a place to contextualize and map out my research. This Human Rights centre has had a significant impact on my life (beyond the PhD) but this is not the place where I can give them their due. In Port Said, I would like to thank Madame Gizelle who has lent me her personal and ancestral history as a metaphor for Port Said’s; Zaynab Kafrawi who promoted our interviews to her daily visits to the sea, where she remembered best and Diaa’ al-Qady, who despite our differences on my methodology, took it upon himself to introduce me to his Port Said. In Suez, Sayyid Kaburya and Captain Ghazali gave their time to endless interviews, and dug deep into memories of 1967 that transcended the pain of defeat, revealing the personal struggles behind every political feat. Yusuf Fakhuri, Diaa’ Al-Qadi, Madame Gizelle, Zakariyya Ibrahim, Walid Hussain, Mohammed Sanusi and Ahmad Shawkat’s family have provided access to their archives, pictures, diaries, personal research and recorded interviews, which were valuable both in their generosity and given the lack of formal archives. Secondly I would like to thank my supervisor John Chalcraft, for making this PhD experience one that has been constantly enriching and challenging so that I have missed 9 that phase where I wished for it to end. I have always left his office eager to spend days in the library, regardless of the verdicts on my drafts.