It Could Happen Here - Anarchism in Egypt Part 2 Ft. Andrew

Episode Date: August 29, 2023

Andrew and Mia conclude the saga of early Egyptian anarchism by discussing the cooption of one of their projects and how local elites mounted campaigns against themSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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That's iHeart.com slash podcast awards. Welcome to Kidopony. I'm Andrew of the YouTube channel Andruism. And I'm here with... Mia, who didn't miss the cutest the cutest hey i'm learning today i just wanted to shed light on just some of the interesting history of the anarchist movement in egypt this is part two uh first part really we just went into the historical context and progression and how the anarchist community emerged in Egypt, fueled by this growing Mediterranean

network of migration, labor mobility, and communication. Of course, it started with the Italian community, known for their anarchism in that time, but it soon gained the support of other groups sharing a radical vision of social emancipation. I learned all this from the book Anarchism and Syndicalism in the Colonial and Post-Colonial World, particularly the section written by Anthony Gorman on Egyptian history. In the years leading up to

World War I, anarcho-syndicalism represented by the International Union played a leading role in organizing and developing a militant labor movement. Advocating for international solidarity among workers, they adapted well to Egypt's diverse society, embracing ethnic and religious pluralism and internationalism while opposing capitalism. Anarchists, along with socialists and liberals, contributed to the advancement of secular thought and Egyptian intellectual life, leaving a significant impact on their society. However, the anarchist movement faced challenges due to the state's coercion through surveillance,

prosecution and deportation. The authorities portrayed them as dissolute political adventurers pushing an alien ideology. Despite their achievements in formulating an anti-capitalist discourse and advocating for social emancipation, other forces like the Egyptian Communist Party and the Egyptian National Movement would take on some of their ideas with a louder and more prominent voice. Today I just want to give more details on the movement and what exactly they were doing in their heyday. Clearly, the anarchist movement in Egypt was not confined to the local. It was all about connecting with anarchists from different countries, making international friendships,

and fighting for their shared ideals. The anarchists in Egypt got involved with the conference in Vervez and conferences in London and Italy, and hung out with anarchists from Istanbul, Greece, Tunisia, and more. Egypt became the spot for anarchists in the Eastern Mediterranean, and they'd make connections all the way to the United States and South America. It's kind of interestingly playing a similar role to early 1900s Japan in terms of the anarchist movement, where, yeah, it's, you know, you get these sort of like regional hubs that develop and people sort of like move through and around them, which I think is really interesting. Yeah, yeah. Agreed. Agreed. And Egypt being a hub, you know, a lot of big name anarchists who are visiting. Oh, you know, big name.

I'm talking people like Emile Clare, Cipriani elise recluse eric oma otesta luigi caliani and pietro gori and of course with these agitators in the mix the authorities got a little new verse but the real life flooded the movement with not these influential figures, they were the publications that this community was producing and reading and distributing. The anarchists in Egypt didn't just read from newsletters all around the world, though that was a part of it, but they also contributed their own articles about what was happening in Egypt. They were connected, informed, and motivated by the international community they had built. They had a bunch of publications dedicated to workers' issues, offering insights,

debates, and discussions on common difficulties on matters of labour organisation and strategy. Facilitated by an increasingly developed international transport system, particularly steamship services, the International Anarchist Press served as a vital channel for dissemination and diffusion of the movement's ideas. It was the anarchist library before the anarchist library. In terms of how they went about organizing and propagating in Egypt, the anarchists there recognized the unique challenges of the local situation that they have to deal with. For the European anarchists there recognized the unique challenges of the local situation that they have to deal with for the european anarchists promoting their message of emancipation um and

combating the exploitation ignorance and injustice caused by capitalism the state and religious authority would be no easy task in a region where for one they're already being seen as part of the ongoing attempts of political domination by western powers and also in a region with very deep historical religious divisions you know such as the crusades and the british and french colonization it's really one of the major projects i suppose the european anarchists needed to communicate to the local population was that their ire did not lay with Europeans as a whole, it lay primarily with the European ruling class. And so when it came to critiquing societal issues, anarchists strongly attacked the evils of capitalism, and course, that had the best reception among the Egyptian workers. Of course, this isn't to say that the European workers in Egypt were completely in common with the Egyptian workers.

Despite the fact that the ire of the Egyptian workers should really lie primarily with the ruling class that was responsible for the imperialization of their country and the exploitation of their people. The presence of the European workers did also contribute to the exploitation because those European workers were paid so much better than native-born workers were able to experience certain privileges that native-born workers did not have access to. Interestingly, although anarchists typically advocate for emancipation from all religious

authorities, Islam wasn't specifically targeted in their literature, and there was probably a pragmatic consideration for whether anti-religious rhetoric would fly, considering they could just be deported because of course that was a crime they still took on a hostile attitude towards the egyptian state though condemning its coercive actions surveillance culture and abuse of power but they didn't confront it head on the program of action was far more focused on the goal of social transformation through the use of propaganda education and workers' associations. Because of the mixed conditions in Egypt,

the ideal of people of different races, religions, nationalities united in solidarity had some real potency to it, so the internationalist mission was a very central component in their messaging at public conferences and at labour meetings. But it really was more so about the the speaking the propaganda of the word rather than the propaganda of the deed in fact interestingly for that time the anarchists in egypt didn't really engage in much propaganda of the deed at all propaganda of the deed being you know political violence and assassination attempts attempts. Welcome.

I'm Danny Threl. Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter Nocturnum, Tales from the Shadows, presented by iHeart and Sonora, an anthology of modernday horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America. From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters to bone-chilling brushes with supernatural creatures. I know you. Take a trip and experience the horrors that have haunted Latin America since the beginning of time. Listen to Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows as part of My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating.

I don't feel emotions correctly. I am talking to a felon right now, and I cannot decide if I like him or not. Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take real phone calls from anonymous strangers all over the world as a fake gecko therapist and try to dig into their brains and learn a little bit about their lives. I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's pretty interesting if you give it a shot. Matter of fact, here's a few more examples of the kinds of calls we get on this show. I live with my boyfriend and I found his piss jar in our apartment. I collect my roommate's toenails and fingernails. I have very overbearing parents. Even at the age of 29,

they won't let me move out of their house. So if you want an excuse to get out of your own head and see what's going on in someone else's head, search for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the one with the green guy on it. Hey, I'm Jack Peace Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series, Black Lit, the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. I'm Jack Peace Thomas, and I'm inviting you to join me and a vibrant community of literary enthusiasts dedicated to protecting and celebrating our stories. and I'm inviting you to join me in a vibrant community of literary enthusiasts

dedicated to protecting and celebrating our stories. Black Lit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audiobooks while commuting or running errands, for those who find themselves seeking solace, wisdom, and refuge between the chapters. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that

shape our culture. Together, we'll dissect classics and contemporary works while uncovering the stories of the brilliant writers behind them. Blacklit is here to amplify the voices of Black writers and to bring their words to life. Listen to Blacklit on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. For those who know, you know, a bit about the anarchists of that time, propaganda of the deed was what they were known for. They had some big name assassinations in the bics um for example franz fudinan i believe was assassinated by an anarchist wait no hold on fred fernand is the guy who was killed by gavirio princep the guy who started world war one right um i've seen some sources call him a

nationalist some sources call him uh an anarchist i don't think he was an anarchist yeah he was exposed to socialist anarchist and communist writings when he was younger um through school and through his roommate danilo illich but he was more so associating with nationalists um particularly when he got around to assassinating Franz Ferdinand. Nazis and fascists did call him an anarchist and a socialist,

but it seems as though although he was inspired by nationalists and anarchists, he was more so on the nationalist side of the equation. Yeah, I mean, they did kill a few Habsburgs, which always a good thing to have less Habsburgs in the nationalist side of the equation. Yeah, I mean, they did kill a few Habsburgs, which always a good thing to have less Habsburgs in the world.

You can make a chart over time, and one axis is good and the other axis is Habsburgs, and you can see that they're inversely correlated. Yeah, yeah. Habsburgs are something else. But yeah, the anarchists in Egypt, not too much into the political violence and assassinations.

They were focused really on promoting the ideas through spoken and written communication, you know, like public meetings, demonstrations, and the press. And the press was really the crucial axis of their efforts in disseminating the ideas and sustaining their identity. Their local publications like La Tribuna Libera, Le Perrault, Lux, and others which serve to spread anarchist thought and discuss ideas and issues of social emancipation. The weekly paper Le Perrault mostly promoted anarcho-syndicalism and then the paper

il domini came up and decided to adopt a more tridently libertarian tone um and then you have uh rise again or risorgete which is another people another weekly that promoted a very strong anti-clerical line um and then there was the people who ergatis which was or the worker and that was an organ organ for the emancipation of women and the worker and it provided primarily for a greek language readership um honestly a lot of these keepers will tailor towards specific languages so that greek had um italian and you also had french um like leon and la idea but despite its polyglot character the anarchist press in egypt doesn't seem to have included an arabic language newspaper which is kind of weird when you're surrounded by arabic speaking people however anarchism had

regularly featured in the mainstream arabic newspapers since the 1980s usually however in reports in the activities of the movement abroad not locally in egypt at the same time there were also journals like al-mukhtartaf and al-hilal which carried articles discussing the origins and development of anarchist thought and practice it seems as though in 1897 there was also a figure who engaged with socialized ideas but that particular publication seems to have been closed down quite quickly by the authorities particularly for featuring the work of Salama Moussa and Shibli Shumayil who were two Egyptian writers who were clearly influenced by anarchist ideas something that just occurred to me is that what it could be influencing this is that the

italians and the greeks and the french and all these different people who are writing about these anarchist ideas in egypt it's possible they had a bit more leeway when it came to the local authorities that locals themselves would not have their foreign status may have provided them with slight immunity in comparison and this is just me spitballing but it's possible that arabophone writers and speakers would be taken on significantly more risk if they were to agitate in the same ways that these you know migrant workers were advocating and then there's also the component and that's speculation but there is the proven component of financial difficulties and limited literacy rates among the egyptian population that made it difficult to distribute um arabic language material related to anarchism

because a lot of the workers in Egypt who spoke Arabic were not literate what did help though because the anarchists were about that life they would go to cafes and read their newspapers out loud to reach their target audience.

The first podcasters. Exactly, exactly. The first podcasters, for real. As the anarchist movement in Egypt was really commemorating important political events, celebrating the principles through posters, leaflets, and flyers, celebrating the anniversary of events

like the Paris Commune and May Day. It's really spread that message of international solidarity among the workers. Anarchists in Egypt were also very fond of showing solidarity to their international figures. Like Francesco Ferrer, who was a very influential Spanish anarchist thinker, who did a lot of work in the field of anarchist education.

He created Ferrer schools, which influenced figures like Emma Goldman to create their own modern schools in the US and elsewhere. And he was arrested and then executed, which led to a lot of protest, locally and internationally making him something of a martyr for the anarchist cause welcome I'm Danny Thrill won't you join me at the fire and dare enter Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows

presented by iHeart and Sonora and dare enter. Nocturnum, Tales from the Shadows, presented by iHeart and Sonora. An anthology of modern-day horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America. From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters to bone-chilling brushes with supernatural creatures. Take a trip and experience the horrors that have haunted Latin America since the beginning of time. Listen to nocturnal tales from the shadows. As part of my Cultura podcast network.

Available on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts. Or wherever you get your podcasts. I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating. I don't feel emotions correctly. I am talking to a felon right now. And I cannot decide if I like him or not. Those were some callers from my call

in podcast Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take real phone calls from anonymous strangers all over the world as a fake gecko therapist and try to dig into their brains and learn a little bit about their lives. I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's pretty interesting if you give it a shot. Matter of fact, here's a few more examples of the kinds of calls we get on this show. I live with my boyfriend and I found his piss jar in our apartment. I collect my roommate's toenails and fingernails. I have very overbearing parents. Even at the age of 29, they won't let me move out of their house. So if you want an excuse to get out of your own head and see what's going on in someone else's head, search for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

It's the one with the green guy on it. Hey, I'm Jack Peace Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series, Black Lit, the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. I'm Jack Peace Thomas, and I'm inviting you to join me and a vibrant community of literary enthusiasts dedicated to protecting and celebrating our stories. Black Lit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audiobooks while commuting or running errands, for those who find themselves seeking solace, wisdom, and refuge between the chapters. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. Together, we'll dissect classics and contemporary works while uncovering the stories of the brilliant writers behind them. Black Lit is here to amplify the voices of Black

writers and to bring their words to life. Listen to Blacklit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And so the outrage expressed at the execution of Ferreira was not simply just a protest against the attorney, but also recognition of his status as an advocate for secular education, which is an important vehicle for, you know, social emancipation. Before Francisco Ferreira was executed, though, anarchists in Egypt were already working on educational programs. In fact, they launched their most ambitious project, the Free Popular University or Universita Populare Libera or UPL in Alexandria in 1901. The UPL aimed to provide free evening education to the popular classes and received great support across Alexandrian society. and received great support across Alexandrian society. Courses included the works of Tolstoy and Bakunin, the arts, and pragmatic topics like worker negotiation strategies.

However, Dupel's radical nature also brought criticism, with the Italian authorities initiating legal proceedings against the Dupel lecturer for some remarks he made about the assassination of the Italian King Umberto I. I of course leave you to speculate what those comments and remarks may have been, but despite some initial public support, it's critics accused UPL of being based on depraved principles. Now, I mentioned this school before in the episode I did on Islam and anarchism. And like I said in that episode, Arabic speakers were quickly marginalized from the education and the UPL gradually became more aimed toward and controlled by upper-class interests. In fact, within a year, reliably bourgeois elements had wrested control of the UPL from its anarchist founders

and proceeded to transform it into a vocational college that, among other things, taught shorthand, accountancy, and languages. So despite its very brief existence as a revolutionary project, the UPL marked an important moment for anarchism in Egypt and inspired other movements seeking educational reform. The UPL's impact and vision influenced Egyptian nationalists, who established the Higher Schools Club in 1905, which also emphasized educational means for political purposes. Anarchism in Egypt had a significant impact on the development of the labor movement. As a new working class emerged towards the end of the 19th century, anarcho-syndicalism emerged as a powerful force, advocating for

formal collective organization as the instrument of social revolution. Of course, Egypt's labor movement wasn't entirely new, as guilds had been part of the traditional Ottoman order, regulating trade and providing mutual aid. But the modernization efforts of Muhammad Ali, no relation, and Egypt's integration into the international capitalist system changed that landscape, affecting the role of guilds and shaping the working class. Foreign workers, like I mentioned before, came into Egypt alongside native Egyptian labor.

But despite the differences between them, evidence does show a strong cooperation and collaboration between the groups. The native Egyptian working class was affected by a variety of factors but there was a model of collaboration that was in motion between European and Egyptian workers. The cigarette rollers union for example was initially a Greek body in cairo but later became more inclusive as their successful strike in 1809 to 1900 marked a milestone in egyptian industrial militancy however their subsequent strikes fixed however subsequent subsequent

strikes faced brutal confrontations with the police, leading to divisions among the workers. By the end of the first decade of the century, the anarcho-syndicalist international union had emerged as a significant force based on universalist principles and international solidarity. The optimism for the future of a socialist centre in Cairo was a reflection of the broader movement within the working class, led by anarchists and syndicalists. Anarchism first appeared in Egypt among Italian political refugees and workers during the 1860s. Nurtured by a developing international network of labour, transport and communications, it expanded beyond Italian circles to attract members from across Egypt's diverse communities. Through heterogeneous, through the discourse of radical social emancipation and propaganda and public action, declaring the universality of humankind and decrying the evils of capitalism, state power, and religious dogma, the anarchist movement would come into force in Egypt's history. In the years after 1900,

anarchist syndicalism played a central role in the development of the labor movement, articulating the rights of workers in struggle against capital and promoting internationalist activism. Yet while they rejected nationalism as an organizing principle, anarchists did at times make common cause with the nationalists against imperialism and arguably had a reverberating influence on the strategies and tactics of the nationalist movement. That's all I have for today on this brief moment in Egyptian anarchist history, but I hope it illuminated a very interesting chapter and context and sphere. Yeah, and I think there's another kind of important broader lesson from this that is i think mostly forgotten which is that

you know from from this period of i don't know roughly the late 1800s through about 1917 like in most parts of the world except for basically like western europe or not even western europe like apart from basically like the germany's if you're talking about socialism there's like anywhere in the world there's a very very good chance the thing you're actually talking about is anarchism and you know there's been a sort of systemic attempt by both liberal and sort of later communist like historians to sort of like wipe the historical record clean and make it look like everything was always sort of later communist like historians to sort of like wipe the historical record clean and make it look like everything was always sort of like the sort of on rush of marxism but like that just

wasn't true and there were very powerful uh anarchist movements on every continent and they did a lot they did a lot of really interesting things. And yeah. Yeah, that really needs to be respected and recognized. And it hasn't so far. So hopefully this, and if folks check out the book, they can get some more insights on some of the other actions that were taking place in that time.

Again, the book is Anarchism and Syndicalism in the Colonial and Post-Colonial World. It really illuminates a lot of that lost history. Thanks for joining me and Mia on this episode of It Could Happen Here. Again, you can follow me, Andrew, on the YouTube channel Andrewism and support on patreon.com slash stdrew. Take care, y'all. It Could Happen Here is a production of Cool zone media for more podcasts from cool zone media visit

our website coolzonemedia.com or check us out on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts you can find sources for it could happen here updated monthly at coolzonemedia.com sources thanks for listening. Inspired by the most terrifying legends and lore of Latin America. Listen to Nocturno on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Curious about queer sexuality, cruising, and expanding your horizons? Hit play on the sex-positive and deeply entertaining podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Join hosts Gabe Gonzalez and Chris Patterson Rosso as they explore queer sex, cruising, relationships, and culture in the new iHeart podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Sniffy's Cruising Confessions will broaden minds

and help you pursue your true goals. You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions, sponsored by Gilead, now on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday. The 2025 iHeart Podcast Awards are coming. app or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday. Hey, you've been doing all that talking. It's time to get rewarded for it. Submit your podcast today at iHeart.com slash podcast awards. That's iHeart.com slash podcast awards.