Class, Martyrdom and Cairo's Revolutionary Ultras
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FOCUS 33 Introduction The Egyptian Ultras are well-organized Troublesome Thugs or groups of young football supporters, first Respectable Rebels? established in 2007. These fans played an important role in protests and street fights Class, Martyrdom and Cairo’s at the time of the 25th January 2011 Revo- lution. Almost exactly one year later, on 1 Revolutionary Ultras February 2012, 72 members of Egypt’s largest Ultras group, Ultras Ahlawy, were killed after a match at a stadium in Port Said. Particularly after this massacre, the Ultras gained a reputation as some of the revolutionary struggle’s most archetypical rebels. The young football fans seemed to embody a combination of ordered mascu- linity and untamed bravery that the post- revolutionary nation required. In addition, their history of fighting the security state well before 2011 stood out as an epitome of the rebellious Egyptian youth’s quest Carl Rommel for political rights and freedom. This ethnographic essay homes in on the This ethnographic article explores the ing protests. As the article shows, the fan development of the Ultras fans’ status and politics of Egypt’s Ultras football sup- groups were hesitant to join the demon- repute during the month of protests and porters. The Ultras have frequently been strations, which at the time were heavily violent clashes that raged in Downtown heralded as some of the Egyptian Revo- associated with “thuggery” (balṭaga). Cairo in November and December 2011. lution’s most prominent rebels, in partic- Only after the death of one of its mem- This was a period when classed and gen- ular, after the Port Said stadium massacre bers did the Ultras whole-heartedly take dered debates about “thuggery” (balṭaga)1 in February 2012, when 72 Ultras mem- on their rebellious subjectivity. dominated public debates in ways that bers were killed. However, this essay severely discredited those who were pro- focuses on an earlier phase of violent Keywords: Football; Masculinity; Class; testing. Through a close examination of clashes in central Cairo when the Ultras Martyrdom; Egypt; Revolutionary Politics the ways in which the leadership of Cairo’s were highly ambivalent about the ongo- Ultras groups reacted and acted during Middle East – Topics & Arguments #06–2016 FOCUS 34 this short but eventful period, this essay of fandom that appealed to broad layers games on television. This oppositional illustrates how and why the death of one of Egyptian youth. The supporter groups ethos often found expression in catch- Ultras member became a turning point for hence grew rapidly; already in 2009, UA phrases such as “against the media” and the fan groups’ aspirations and politics. In and UWK occasionally managed to mobi- “against modern football,” sententiously conclusion, it attempts a more general lize more than ten thousand young men summarizing the groups’ loathing for the suggestion regarding the interlocking and teenagers in their respective curvas— commodified, globalized and mediatized politics of martyrdom, class and notions of the curved sections behind the two goals— spectacle into which football has turned in respectability. at Cairo Stadium. Staging spectacular recent decades (170-84; Kuhn). The ethnography presented in the essay shows, involving songs, dance, powerful The Egyptian Ultras’ rebellious principles weaves together a variety of different fire crackers (shamarīkh) and grand, cho- and attitudes were not only a key reason types of data: media sources, secondary reographed “entrance scenes” (dakhlāt, behind their appeal among the Egyptian literature, interviews and participant sing. dakhla),3 the Ultras dominated Egyp- youth. The same oppositional attitude also observation. It is part of a larger anthropo- tian fan culture numerically, visually and provided them with many enemies, both logical research project on Egyptian foot- audibly in the last years before 2011 (Sherif within the security state and in the football ball, for which I conducted 20 months of Hassan, Personal conversation). media establishment. Already in 2008, the fieldwork in Cairo between 2011 and 2013. The popularity of the Egyptian Ultras is police started to monitor and regulate the While the name of one of my interlocutors typically related to their dedication and groups’ activities, equipments and mes- that appears in the text has been changed strict, non-negotiable principles: cheer for sages in the curvas, and as the Ultras to ensure anonymity, I have chosen to 90 minutes no matter the result on the refused to compromise, violent confronta- keep the real names of journalists and pitch; stand up throughout the entire tions ensued between the fans and the individuals who are mentioned in the match; travel to all games, home as well as security forces on several occasions (Sherif media sources that I use. away (Bashir 78-81). By observing these Hassan, Personal conversation). Criticism rules, the Ultras came to self-identify as of the new supporters was also a regular The Egyptian Ultras Movement, 2007-2011 distinct from more conventional support- and increasing feature in the sports press, The Egyptian Ultras movement began to ers. For instance, the Ultras made a point where the Ultras were accused of violence, take form in 2007. The two largest and of supporting their teams irrespective of fanaticism, drug addiction, hatred and most influential groups were from the out- wins and losses, and their club loyalties insults (Thabet 39-40). The reasons behind set Ultras Ahlawy (UA) and Ultras White were understood to transcend the wor- the groups’ rapid growth were also ques- Knights (UWK), supporting the two domi- ship of individual players. Furthermore, tioned, as prominent journalists insinu- nant Cairo clubs, al-Ahly and al-Zamalek, the Ultras’ insistence on always watching ated that the Ultras must be supported by respectively.2 Inspired by similar fan matches live at the stadium set them apart some “political organization hiding behind groups in Europe and elsewhere in North from the great majority of Egyptians who the curtains” (45-46). In sum, Egypt’s Ultras Africa, the Ultras represented a new type for various reasons opted to watch the supporters were regularly portrayed as a Middle East – Topics & Arguments #06–2016 FOCUS 35 serious problem to be dealt with by a part of a dominant narrative of the revolu- Cabinet building in November and broad coalition of older individuals and tion as an anti-authoritarian quest for December 2011. During this month of established institutions in the last years “freedom,” run by the “revolutionary bloody unrest, I noted how distinctions prior to January 2011. youth” (shabāb al-thawra). In the years were frequently drawn between good This more or less unified criticism of the that followed, many journalists, activists “revolutionary youth” (shabāb al-thawra) Ultras fans’ intentions, activities and poli- and academics would note how the fan and those “thugs” (balṭagiyya), who pre- tics drastically fragmented after the out- groups’ particular history had “prepared” sumably attempted to destabilize the break of the Egyptian Revolution. Con- them for street fights and fostered a disci- nation and derail what had so far been trarily, the Ultras were now increasingly pline and organization well suited for the achieved. Friends of mine, who previously portrayed as a vanguard of the revolution- revolutionary moment (Elgohari; Hamzeh had been largely positive towards Tahrir ary struggle. It is important to note the and Sykes; Mosbah). Square, popular power and demonstra- reluctance with which the supporter tions, began to ask troubling questions groups became enmeshed in the acceler- The Balṭagiyya on Muhammad Mahmoud about the usefulness of the protests and ating national-political developments. Street about the protesters’ origins and identi- True to their explicitly non-political profile By the end of summer 2011, this narrative ties: who were these people who kept on and principles, none of Cairo’s Ultras of the Ultras’ importance in the 25th Janu- defying the Ministry of Interior’s tear gas groups actively encouraged their mem- ary Revolution was well established and bullets? Where did they come from, bers to join the protests on Tahrir Square. among journalists and activists inside and what did they really want? Were they However, many joined in “as individuals,” Egypt and abroad (Bilal; Elkayal; Lindsey). really revolutionaries, fighting in the and as a result, the football supporters’ However, as winter was approaching, the nation’s interests? Or were they simply characteristic songs, flags and fireworks status of any “revolutionary”—the Ultras balṭagiyya, who had come to destroy and were very much present throughout the very much included—was increasingly fac- break down? eighteen days of protests (Hassan). ing problematic questions. One term that To understand how and why the problem Because of their experience of efficient perhaps more than any other encapsu- of balṭaga affected the Egypt Ultras move- on-the-ground organization and street lated the mood in Cairo this first revolu- ment at this historical moment, a contex- fights, the groups played an important tionary autumn was balṭaga (approx. tualization of the concept’s origins, uses role as protectors of the sit-in on the “thuggery”), and its derivative balṭagiyya and abuses is necessary. As the Egyptian square, in particular on 28 January, the so- (“thugs”, sing. balṭagī). This highly conten- novelist Youssef Ziedan details in an arti- called Day of Rage (Dorsey;