A nostalgic trip to Nasser’s Egypt

The Irtiqa Institute was host to an informative and timely movie, “Nasser’s Republic: the making of modern Egypt”, on Saturday evening, timely in that it is a reminder of the pulls and pushes of international affairs, big power machinations and a historical narrative of things of the past that shape the present.

The movie was screened under the joint auspices of the Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences, the Documentary Association of Pakistan and the Eqbal Ahmed Fan page on Facebook. Produced by an East European émigré now resident in the US, Machel Goldman, it is a profound commentary of the meteoric rise to power and fame of former Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser, from a young army officer to the head of a nation that played such a key role in the affairs of the Middle East. There are shots of King Farouk whom Nasser overthrew to set up a republic.

Nasser’s achievements are highlighted from the building on the Aswan High Dam to the large-scale industrialisation. Most of all, there is a clear emphasis on his nationalisation of the Suez Canal and ousting the British from the area, followed by a euphoric diplomatic victory when the British military campaign against him after the Suez nationalisation was blunted, thanks to the active intervention of Nikita Kruschev of the erstwhile USSR.

All his moves are explained by journalists and historians in detail, as also by his daughter Hoda Nasser. According to them, he refused to be led into the US-USSR Cold War trap and was of the firm view that all this talk about the USSR being anti-people, anti-egalitarian, and a danger to the world, was just humbug.

He maintained a very good balance in Egypt’s ties with both blocs, as a result of which, the USSR gave a blank cheque for the country’s development. There are memorable shots of President Eisenhower, Nikita Kruschev, Sir Anthony Eden, US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, India’s Nehru, and other world leaders of that time.

According to all the commentators, while Nasser paid due attention to industrial development, education and the eradication of feudalism, he did not take the issue of democracy seriously. According to them, Nasser and his associates thought that democracy, while an ideal system otherwise, could not be an answer to Egypt’s problems because of the highly varying opinions on social issues which were inflammable. As such, lots of dissidents were sent to jail by him. The movie deals in particular with his clamping on the Muslim brotherhood, him being an ardent secularist.

The producer of the film, Michal Goldberg, who answered viewers’ questions via video link after the screening, said that Nasser’s step-motherly treatment to democracy was the cause of his troubles.

The movie, towards its closing stages, shows the Israeli blitzkrieg over the Arab countries, including Egypt, on the 6th of June, 1967 during the six-day war. Nasser accepts responsibility and resigns but is forced into rescinding his decision on great public demand.

Unfortunately, after that, the movie has nothing to say about the present-day Egypt, an Egypt where the Government of Sisi brazenly steamrollers the verdict of the people and clings on to power, an Egypt which is now a firm toady of the Western bloc.

However, it is a valuable production for students of history.