The Material Politics of Revolution and Counter-Revolution: Labor Organization, Autonomy and Democratization in Egypt (2011-2016) Mostafa Hefny Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2018 ©2018 Mostafa Hefny All rights reserved ABSTRACT The Material Politics of Revolution and Counter-Revolution: Labor Organization, Autonomy and Democratization in Egypt (2011-2016) Mostafa Hefny This is a study of democratization in Egypt through the lens of labor organization in the period following the fall of Hosni Mubarak. As a vehicle for collective action that is perpendicular to the Islamist-secular divide, labor organization produced cross-cutting cleavages that transcended intractable identity-based divisions. The suspension of prior constraints on political mobilization opened up spaces for the construction of autonomous working class organizations. An important subset of democratization theory has emphasized the role of working class organizations and political conflict over resource allocation in the institutionalization of democratic orders. The double-negative of the non-emergence of an autonomous organization of the working class and the failure of democratic transition in Egypt steers this study away from a macro-level assessment of the impact of labor autonomy on democratization towards an expository account of the forms of political action undertaken in the pursuit of political autonomy. Taking the assembly of political actors as projects, I examine how various groups sought to mobilize available resources in those projects. In consecutive chapters I consider the impact of available tools, and gravitational constraints of economic legacies, institutional vestiges, the media environment and the legal apparatus on the failures and success of these efforts. What remains of these projects should impact future efforts to construct autonomous political actors, which in this study are defined as political subjects capable of a destructive withdrawal from alliances, the credible threat of which institutionalizes the vulnerability of a governing regime. Table of Contents List of Tables and Figures………………………………………………………………....…...iii Acronyms…………………………………...………………………………………………….....v Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………...vi Chapter 1: The Constitution of the Political Actor………………………………………..…..2 Chapter 2: The Stage of Politics…………………………………………………………….....39 ●Against Huntingtonianism…………………………………………..40 ●Ethnographic Fragments…………………………………………….55 ●There is no Anthropological Solution……………………………….65 Chapter 3: Taking Things Seriously…………………………………………………………..71 ●The Political Economy of the Hollow State…………………………72 ●Taking Things Seriously…………………………………………….106 ●The Gravity of the Situation…………………………………………128 Chapter 4: The Means of Political Production – The Media……………………………….134 ●Politics Between the Fundamental and the Virtual…………………136 ●Mediated Encounters………………………………………………..178 ●What Does a Forum Do?....................................................................190 Chapter 5: The Means of Political Production – The Law…………………………………197 ●Abstracting the Concrete……………………………………………198 ●Political Action and Promises Deferred…………………………….216 ●Vestiges …………………………………………………………….227 i Chapter 6: Materials for Democracy………………………………………………………..232 ●Self-Government in the Impossible State…………………………….233 ●Counterfactual Democracy…………………………………………...244 Bibliography.………………………………………………………………………………….251 ii List of Tables Table 1: Labor Protests by Year in Egypt………………………………………………………..30 Table 2: Responses to Call for Civil Disobedience in 2012……………………………………183 List of Figures Figure 1: Annual Report on Protests in Egypt……………………………………………………26 Figure 2: Distribution of Labor Protests 2007-2008……………………………………………..31 Figure 3: Structure of the Egyptian Trade Union Federation…………………………………….32 Figure 4: The Structure of Political Autonomy…………………………………………………..35 Figure 5: Leaflet Circulated Before July 2011 Demonstration…………………………………..58 Figure 6: Men Carrying Banner During July 2011 Demonstration………………………………60 Figure 7: Cairo Graffiti Depicting Young Man Killed by Police………………………………..71 Figure 8: Protest Sign Against Ministry of Interior at Demonstration…………………………..79 Figure 9: Cairo Graffiti Against Ministry of Interior……………………………………………80 Figure 10: Graphical Mockup of Madinaty…………………………………………………….101 Figure 11: Advertising Copy for Palm Hills…………………………………………………….102 Figure 12: Advertising Copy for New Giza……………………………………………………..103 Figure 13: Brick Firing Kilns in al-Saf…………………………………………………………106 Figure 14: The Production Line in a Brick Factory……………………………………………..117 Figure 1: Official statement by the EDLC in response to the events of August 14, 2013……..127 Figure 2: The Burning of al-Saf police station on August 14, 2013…………………………...128 Figure 17: The New Headquarters of the Brickworkers’ Union in 2014……………………….130 Figure 18: Man holds up a Copy of Al-Ahram Newspaper on February 12, 2011…………….135 Figure 19: Cartoon Circulating Online in July, 2013…………………………………………..148 iii Figure 20: Facebook Post by American University in Cairo Professor………………………...151 Figure 21: Facebook Post by American University in Cairo Professor………………………..153 Figure 22: Tweet by Prominent Egyptian Novelist on the Morning of the Rab’aa Massacre….154 Figure 23: The Symbol of Rab’aa Massacre…………………………………………………..156 Figure 24: Cartoon Depicting Speech by Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi………………………………..164 Figure 25: Television After the Coup…………………………………………………………..171 Figure 26: Material Circulating Calling for Civil Disobedience in 2012………………………181 Figure 27: Al-Ahram’s Response to Call for Civil Disobedience in 2012……………………..184 Figure 28: Al-Hurriya wa-al-Adala Response to Call for Civil Disobedience in 2012………...186 Figure 29: Al-Hurriya wa-al-Adala Cartoon on the Egyptian Judiciary……………………….197 Figure 30: Demonstration by Egyptian Judges in 2006………………………………………..202 Figure 31: Ministry of Interior Reaction to Judges’ Demonstration in 2006…………………..204 Figure 32: Workers in Alexandria Register Union at Ministry of Labor and Manpower……...221 Figure 33: Permanent Conference for Alexandrian Workers Event in 2014…………………...226 Figure 34: Khaled Ali Runs for President in 2012……………………………………………..229 iv Acronyms AMCHAM American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt COSPE Cooperation for the Development of Emerging Countries EBA Egyptian Businessman Association ECESR Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights EDLC Egyptian Democratic Labor Federation EFITU Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions EGP Egyptian pound EIPR Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights ERSAP Economic Reform and Structural Adjustment Program ESDP Egyptian Social Democratic Party ETUF Egyptian Trade Union Federation FEI Federation of Egyptian Industries ILO International Labor Organization KAPO Al-Nasr Company for Clothing and Textiles NDP National Democratic Party PCAW Permanent Conference of Alexandria Workers SCAF Supreme Council of the Armed Forces v Acknowledgements In the course of completing the process of writing a dissertation, a candidate incurs many debts. First, come the advisors, formal and informal, who for many years, take on a responsibility of guidance. In my case I have been lucky to have had the kind, generous and judicious advice of Jack Snyder, Timothy Mitchell, Tarek Masoud and Alfred Stepan. The late Professor Stepan was particularly helpful not only in logistical and academic matters, but just as importantly, as a friend and an inspiration. I recall vividly my first interaction with him at my incoming cohorts’ orientation at the department of Political Science in April of 2008: he asked a question to which I gave an argumentative answer. Jokingly, but with mock fury, he asked if there were any other PhD programs to which I had been accepted. When I replied that I had not, he bellowed: “Good, so you will be here next year and we can argue some more.” Over the next nine years, he made good on the promise to argue, always speaking to me as if I were on an equal footing. As disorienting as this was, it was also inspiring, because more than anyone else I have met in academia, Professor Stepan managed to maintain a passion for politics, and passion for justice, that was never tempered by a much-heralded fifty-year academic career. He inspired me to write the dissertation through the power of example; by demonstrating that academic precision and passion need not be at odds in our work as political scientists. My many years as a graduate student will be marked by the friendships I have formed there. The friends, most of whom were fellow students, will be lifelong companions within academia and outside of it. Amongst them are Claire Provost, Hiroaki Abe, Kuei-min Chang, Elham Sayedsiamdost, Jonathan Cleveland, Yasser el-Shimy, Michael Golan, Timothy Kaldas, Kristian Boyson, Adam Coogle, Kamal Soliemani, Dina Bishara, Olivia Mosely, Greg Halabi and Matthew Baker. vi In Egypt, I incurred debts more proximately related to the research and writing of this dissertation. My longtime friend and journalist Mohamed Gad aided and abetted the intent to follow the efforts to build autonomous labor organizations in the wake of the Egyptian revolution of 2011. Gad was instrumental in utilizing the relationships he had built as an exceptional journalist in order to introduce me to many figures within the world of labor organizing. Together we chronicled and discussed the momentous developments in recent Egyptian