Egypt 2011: Cairo Chamber of Commerce

NAMUN 2021 Integrated Crisis Committee Egypt 2011: Cairo Chamber of Commerce Background Guide Welcome Dear delegates, Welcome to the Cairo Chamber of Commerce at NAMUN 2021! The North American Model United Nations conference is a large, annual event hosted by the University of Toronto. While we regrettably cannot host an in-person conference this year, we are working hard to ensure as fulfilling an experience as possible come February. The Integrated Crisis Committee this year will be on the topic of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. This uprising is still fresh in the minds of many as an early and impactful event during the Arab Spring. It marked the most potent and well-organized effort to shift away from the status quo of the decades-old regime of Hosni Mubarak. The event is an important case study in modern revolutions and can be studied for the roles played by ideology, nationalism, pan-Arabism, liberalism, corporatism, and the military. With regards to the Cairo Chamber of Commerce specifically, it was an organization founded almost a century before the starting date of the committee with the purpose of protecting commercial interests in the country. Delegates will be given characters who represent various businesses and industries; they will have to navigate through an era of political turmoil while securing their personal objectives. As this committee’s chair, I look forward to meeting you all both prior to and on the day of the conference. I am a third-year student at the University of Toronto working towards a Finance and Economics Specialist. I have been involved in crisis committees for over two years and MUN as a whole for over five years. I hope you find your experience with NAMUN this year to be as positive as I have. Good luck and I hope to see you all in February! Raza Akbari Chair of the Cairo Chamber of Commerce 1 Introduction At the start of this committee, delegates will find themselves in early 2011, shortly after the resignation of long-time president Hosni Mubarak. The end of his reign, brought about by ever-increasing pressure from activists and political opponents, marked the end of a thirty-year-long chapter in Egyptian history during which civil liberties were curtailed in the name of national security. However, bringing an end to a lengthy rule undoubtedly has consequences for national stability. A political vacuum now exists and it is entirely unclear who will fill it. On one hand, power could fall into the grasp of the wrong people, preventing the change that a majority of Egyptians desire. On the other hand, uncertainty comes with its own price; if the direction of the country is not determined promptly and assertively, confidence will be lost in national institutions and the economy, perhaps leading to even more turmoil in the near future. This committee’s role is to carefully manage commercial interests in a precarious situation and to try to restore confidence in the Egyptian economy. The national economy has not yet managed to fully recover from the financial crisis of 2008 and if political uncertainty continues, the impacts could be much more harmful and long-lasting than anticipated initially. Foreign investors pulled out much of their human and financial capital in January, leaving the fate of countless financial ventures unclear. Despite this, the characters in this committee will still be able to peddle considerable influence and have access to a large pool of resources because the most well-known figures in key industries are still relatively very wealthy and powerful. 2 Definitions Cairo Chamber of Commerce (CoC): A public organization that directly represents about 60% of commercial actors in the nation and protects their interests on the government level. Hosni Mubarak: President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011, Mubarak assumed the office after the assassination of Anwar Sadat. He immediately implemented a state of emergency that lasted until 2013 and led to alleged violations of human rights. Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA): Formed in 1997, GAFTA is a large group of Arab and North African nations in mutual cooperation for commercial purposes. Arab League: An organization of many Arab and North African countries created in 1945 with the objective of diplomatic coordination. Gross Domestic Product (GDP): A metric that calculates the total value of all goods and services produced within the borders of a given country, GDP is a commonly-used measure of general economic performance. Abou Abdel Monaam: Baker Abou Abdel Monaam engaged in self-immolation outside the Egyptian parliament building on January 17th 2011. This is popularly seen as the spark for the events that followed. Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF): The only labour union that was allowed to exist in Egypt during Mubarak’s reign was the ETUF. It was notorious for its consistent support of Mubarak’s government. During the protests in January and February, armed ETUF members defended government forces from protesters. Kingdom of Egypt: The predecessor of the modern-day republic, the Kingdom of Egypt was set up by the United Kingdom to serve as a successor state to the Khedivate of Egypt after the defeat of the Ottomans in World War I. Distrust of British influence brought about its end in 1953. 3 Historical Background For much of its history, the Egyptian nation has been controlled by foreign powers. This was most recently the case when the Sultanate of Egypt was formed as a protectorate of the UK after the Ottoman Empire dissolved in the wake of World War I.1 In 1922, the UK established the Kingdom of Egypt under the Muhammad Ali dynasty and granted nominal Egyptian independence.2 It also established Sudan as a joint condominium of Britain and Egypt but the practical reality was that the UK exerted far more influence.3 Furthermore, Britain still had explicit control over Egypt’s foreign relations, military, and communications.4 Alarmed by the second Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1936, King Farouk signed the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty which resulted in the removal of much of the British military presence nationwide (except for in the Suez Canal).5D espite this, the UK still maintained its influence through diplomats and political advisors.6 Defeat in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, continued British influence, and rampant corruption led to the Revolution of 1952 led by the Free Officers Movement.7 This was a group of nationalist military leaders strongly opposed to the rule of King Farouk.8 As the revolution gained more momentum, the movement also began pursuing a comprehensive nationalist, anti-imperialist, republican agenda. The Free Officers Movement forced King Farouk to abdicate in favour of his son (Fuad II).9 Shortly afterwards, the Revolutionary Command Council was formed as a successor organization to the Free Officers Movement.10 The RCC immediately began engaging in power-securing measures. A new constitution was adopted by February of 1953 in which Egypt was declared to be a secular republic.11 1 Roberts, The Cambridge History of Africa, 745-746 2 Roberts, The Cambridge History of Africa, 747 3 Roberts, The Cambridge History of Africa, 747 4 Roberts, The Cambridge History of Africa, 747 5 Roberts, The Cambridge History of Africa, 750 6 Roberts, The Cambridge History of Africa, 750-752 7 Noshokaty, The 1952 revolution 8 Noshokaty, The 1952 revolution 9 Noshokaty, The 1952 revolution 10 Al-Ahram Weekly 11 Abou El-Fadl, Revolutionary Egypt, 50-51 4 The first two presidents of the Republic of Egypt were very much in line with the principles of the revolution. They limited religious and external influence in politics and adopted a hard-line stance against Israel.12 Economically, they established the ideology of “Nasserism” which involved aspects of Arab socialism.13 This ideology was opposed to both Western capitalism and communism but still supported a generally left-wing set of policies such as nationalization of key industries and considerable limitations on private sector investment.14 The next president, Anwar Sadat, took a different approach; he notably sued for peace with Israel through the Camp David Accords in exchange for the return of the Sinai Peninsula. He also departed from Nasserism and instead instituted “Infitah”, which was the name given to his more open-door economic policies that encouraged investment and a freer private sector to combat the perceived inefficiencies caused by the bureaucracies of government.15 For many Egyptians, however, this was seen as the abandonment of the lower and middle classes to the benefit of a newly emergent aristocracy.16 Thus, Sadat was a very divisive figure who was criticized by both Islamists and leftists for his foreign, domestic, and economic policies. This led to his assassination during a military parade in 1981.17 At this point, Hosni Mubarak - Sadat’s Vice President - assumed the office of the presidency. One of his first acts was to declare a national state of emergency in response to the assassination of Sadat.18 This essentially abandoned all constitutional rights and led to a significant extension of police powers, the trial of civilians by military courts, and cases of indefinite sentencing.19 Political rights were also eroded as anti-government demonstrations were met with violent backlash and all but one of the elections Mubarak ran in were mere referendums asking for approval of his presidency.20 The stated justification 12 Rougier and Lacroix, Egypt’s

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