82 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
82 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
The **Egyptian Uprising of 1968** was an uprising of workers and
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students in Egypt in 1968 for calls for political, military and
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educational reform.
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## Background
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In Egypt, in the early 1950s, a [military
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coup](Egyptian_Revolution_\(1952\) "wikilink") had displaced the British
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puppet king and led to the establishment of a regime under [Gamal Abdel
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Nasser](Gamal_Abdel_Nasser "wikilink"), which, while ‘speaking for the
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people’ (the peasants and workers) was hostile not only to the feudal
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landowners but also to any political opposition or any attempt to create
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independent trade unions to represent the working class directly.
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Egypt’s defeat by Israel in June 1967 led to a political as well as a
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military crisis and Nasser’s resignation as president. He returned after
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massive popular demonstrations in his support. But his credentials were
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damaged.
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## Events
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### Febuary
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In February 1968, students and workers launched protests calling for
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political reforms. The first move was made by steel workers in Helwan
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(to the south of Cairo) protesting the military court’s lenient ruling
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in the case of the military aviation officers accused of negligence
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during the June war. They were joined on 21 February – which is Egyptian
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Student Day – by up to 100,000 students from major universities in Cairo
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and Alexandria. The Cairo uprising alone resulted in the death of two
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workers and the wounding of 77 citizens, as well as 146 police officers.
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Some 635 people were also arrested, and some vehicles and buildings were
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destroyed in the capital. The protest obliged Nasser to give a major
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speech in response, which, in the light of the June 1967 defeat, was
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exceptionally conciliatory. Seen by some as the most significant public
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challenge to is regime since workers’ protests in March 1954, this
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popular movement forced Nasser to issue a manifesto promising the
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restoration of civil liberties, greater parliamentary independence from
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the executive, major structural changes, and a campaign to rid the
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government of corrupt elements. A public referendum approved the
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proposed measures in May 1968, and elections were held for the Supreme
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Executive Committee. Hailed at the time as signaling an important shift
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from political repression to liberalization, the manifesto and the
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promised measures would largely remain unfulfilled.
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Further student unrest broke out in November 1968 following the
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announcement of a new education law. The uprising began with protests by
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high school students in the city of Mansoura. They were joined by
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university students and others, including peasants, and the next day,
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demonstrations resulted in clashes with the security forces which led to
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the death of three students and a farmer as well as the wounding of 32
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protesters, nine police officers and 14 soldiers. News of the events in
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Mansoura reached Alexandria University, where leaders of the student
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movement from the engineering faculty launched massive protests and
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clashed with police forces, in which some 53 policemen and 30 students
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were injured.
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The head of the Faculty of Engineering Student Union, Atef Al-Shater,
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and three of his colleagues were arrested. The governor of Alexandria
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tried to convince the students not to escalate the situation, but they
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held him inside the faculty and did not allow him to leave until
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Al-Shater and his colleagues were released. The national assembly
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discussed the problem of the new law the day after the governor of
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Alexandria was detained. On 25 November there was a strike by workers in
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Alexandria as well as large-scale demonstrations which ended in clashes
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with the police, resulting in 16 deaths.
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Fifty public buses were smashed, along with 270 tram windshields, 116
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traffic lights, 29 stalls, 11 shop windows and a number of other public
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transport and private vehicles and lampposts. A sit-in staged by the
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Faculty of Engineering ended without achieving any significant results
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because of the lack of food during the days of Ramadan and power outages
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suffered by the protestors, as well as the withdrawal of the union
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leader from the sit-in and the governor’s threat to evacuate the
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building by force. Those who were arrested during the sit-in were
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transferred to the courts for trial, but ultimately, no trials were
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held. After three months of being detained, the students were released
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but their leaders were sent for military service.
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## References
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[Africa’s 1968: Protests and Uprisings Across the
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Continent](http://roape.net/2018/05/31/africas-1968-protests-and-uprisings-across-the-continent/) |