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Nasserists, Wafds clash at 1919 revolution celebration

Written by Egypt News Tuesday, 24 March 2009 Secretary General of the Wafd Party , Munir Fakhry Abdelnour and a number of party members walked out of the seminar “90 years since the 1919 revolution and its relations with the July Revolution ” which was held at the Prince Taz Palace yesterday

This followed a quarrel between him and Dr. Essam El-Desouki, a professor of history at Helwan University and senior member of the Nasserite Party, and Dr. Gamal Shakra, Professor of History and Director of the Middle East Research Center.
The two professors had attacked the 1919 revolution .

"The clauses of the 1923 Constitution were drawn up after the 1919 Revolution , but they were the same as in the 1964 Constitution, although with different words.
The 1923 Constitution, though, was at the service of large landowners chosen by the king, while the post-1952 constitutions aimed to serve middle-income people, yet Nasser could not reach out to them", said el-Desouki
El Desouki refused the claim that the 1923 Constitution gave more freedom than the ones after 1952.
He added that the 1923 Constitution did not achieve its objectives, as it did not contribute to freedom.
He said there were 12 articles recognizing political freedom, freedom of belief, and freedom of meetings, but all these articles ended with expressions such as «within the limits of the law, conventions or traditions». He then added that the Constitution banned the confiscation of newspapers in one article while allowing it in another if their principles were destructive.
He said this emphasized the relativity of the concept of liberty for the authors of the Constitution.

He accused the leaders of the Wafd Party to stand against workers' and peasants' interests after the 1919 Revolution .
"When Maher called on a text protecting workers and allowing trade unions in the 1923 Constitution, Aziz Fahmy Pasha replied to him saying there were no workers in Egypt” he said.

For his part, Munir Fakhry Abdelnour accused Dr. el-Essam of personifying the debate and said "the 1919 Revolution was the revolution of the people, while the one in July 1952 was carried out by 400 officers with no Copts among them."
He also said to El-Desouki “If you believe the 1919 Revolution wasn't true, the July Revolution wasn't legitimate. You've clearly come here to settle some accounts. If you are a supporter of the July Revolution , you're biased and this is unacceptable”

He continued “we're here to celebrate the 1919 Revolution and its achievements, which started with Saad Zaghloul . Indeed, his first decisions were to abolish forced labor and this is certainly more important than the establishment of trade unions”
He also pointed out that the Wafd's projects, such as the introduction of clean water to villages, have played an important role in Egypt's history.

He stressed that Egypt's foreign policy until 1960 was introduced by Foreign Minister Mohamed Salah Eddin, a Wafdist.
Abdelnour declined to rule on a revolution of 90 years ago through today's laws, pointing out that all the principles proclaimed by the revolution are still valid.

For his part, Dr. Gamal Shakra, Professor of History and Chairman of the Middle East Research Center, said there was a rivalry between the two revolutions.
"They were both marked by both achievements and shortcomings" he said, pointing out that the 1919 Revolution did not achieve its objectives, which is why the 1952 Revolution broke out.
Commenting on Abdel Nour's intervention, he said “the 1952 Revolution was actually not carried out by 400 officers, but only 98. Some of them were Communists, others belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood while others to the Wafd”
They represented the middle class and this made them popular. As for the absence of Copts, this was not a defect, as it was due to the laws regulating the military service at the time.



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Egyptian Wafd Party
Egyptian Revolution of 1919
Egyptian Revolution of 1952
Saad Zaghlul Egypt departed president Gamal Abdel-Nasser



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