Researching our way to a brighter Arab future

Egypt is the most populated Arab country and holds a high youth population. Its strategic, geopolitical location encompassing the Suez Canal naval chokepoint, alongside its role as host to valuable artefacts inherited from Ancient Egyptian civilisation, have made the country attractive as a target of foreign intervention and historic colonialism.

Egypt is situated in Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea between Libya and the Gaza Strip, as well as the Red Sea north of Sudan. Egypt’s land also includes the Asian Sinai Peninsula, thus making it the only geographically contiguous African landmass to span two continents. Its longest river and the world’s longest river, the Nile, stretches over 4,000 miles and ends at the Mediterranean Sea. Through the nutrient-rich soil created by the Nile, Egypt’s agricultural production is rife in spite of only three percent of the country being arable.

In 2020, Egypt exported 4.8 million tonnes of agriculture, making both its agricultural and its tourist industries a source of employment for the country’s youth population. Historically, most of Egypt’s population has always been densely concentrated along the banks of the Nile and on the river’s delta, though Cairo is also very densely populated.

Overall, corruption and political uncertainty plague the country, and Egypt hosts a high unemployment rate of over 10% (as of 2020), making the unemployment rate relatively high for a MENA nation. We are unsure of the extent to which these unemployment figures consider unregistered refugees and IDPs who are excluded from the labour market.

Egypt has gone through numerous political identities. The British colonised Egypt in the 19^th and 20^th centuries, and much of the country’s wealth was transferred to the British Empire, including Ancient Egyptian artefacts which now attract substantial tourist revenues at the British Museum in London.

Following World War I (WWI), the Ottoman Empire took advantage of a power vacuum in the region and established a post-war monarchy that ended in 1953, resulting in the ascension of a republic led by military strongman Mohamed Naguib. After his participation in the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, Naguib continued to climb Egypt’s military ranks in spite of the country’s defeat at the hands of Israelis. Naguib, alongside future Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, participated in the anti-imperialist Egyptian Revolution of 1952 that placed Naguib as the first President of Egypt following the fall of King Fuad II (King of Egypt and Sudan).

Thus, revolution continues to play a role in Egyptian history and integrates with a wider Arab revolutionary spirit. In the same decade (the 1950s), Sudan gained independence from Egypt and Britain, whereas Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia gained independence from France. Morocco, emerging as North Africa’s only post-independence monarchy, developed a sense of national exceptionalist identity that can be contrasted to the pan-Arab identity that the Egyptian Republic continued to follow.

Like Tunisia’s post-independence President Habib Bourguiba, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser was a prominent secularist who swiftly cracked down on young political Muslims by imprisoning notorious Muslim Brotherhood members; these members were swiftly subjected to extrajudicial torture.

Prominent Muslim Brotherhood members included Sayyid Qutb, author of the infamous Milestones book which justifies the Machiavellian misuse of democracy by aspiring Islamists, as well as Hassan al-Banna, founder of the brotherhood and grandfather of controversial Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan.

More recent notable Muslim Brotherhood members include former-President Mohamed Morsi, who allegedly died of torture and detention under the command of current Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Another young Islamist movement that faced the wrath of Abdel Nasser’s crackdown was Hizb ut-Tahrir. This organisation was distinct from the Muslim Brotherhood in its pan-Islamist vision which also directly contradicted Nasser’s pan-Arab philosophy (also known as Nasserism). Former members of this organisation include Maajid Nawaz and Ed Husain who, after imprisonment as young students in Egypt, have since reformed, having become founders of the controversial and recently closed Quilliam organisation in the UK.

We believe that Abdel Nasser’s crackdown on Islamist organisations only pushed Islamist youth ideology further into clandestine channels and is likely partly responsible for the resurgence of the Muslim Brotherhood following the fall of President Hosni Mubarak during the Arab Spring.

We also believe that Abdel Nasser orchestrated two moves that intentionally or unintentionally forged Arab youth identity and pan-Arab identity for generations to come. The first was his nationalising of the Suez Canal, blocking international actors from trading freely between Europe and Asia through Egyptian waters. This resulted in an international crisis, a resurgence of Arab pride and the devaluing of British currency resulting from conflict in Egypt, a US oil embargo and subsequently reduced British exports.

Many historians believe that the Suez Canal crisis marked the end of British dominance in the global system, and we share this perspective. Recent events relating to a vessel blocking the canal in Spring 2021 only underline how pivotal the naval choke point is for international trade and domestic employment in Egypt.

The second substantial move enacted by Abdel Nasser was the formation of a new pan-Arab state called the United Arab Republic which encompassed modern-day Egypt, Syria, the Golan Heights and the Gaza Strip. Eventually, there was a Cold War-era military coup in Syria which led to the demise of Abdel Nasser’s pan-Arab vision and created the rise of a new socialist republic in Syria.

The rise and fall of the United Arab Republic are some of many examples of Egypt’s pivotal role in the formation of evolving Arab political systems and identities across time.

The vast majority of Egyptian youths speak the Egyptian dialect of Arabic and are Sunni Muslims; over 15% of Egyptians are Coptic Christian, otherwise known as Egyptian Orthodox. Some areas of Egypt house Jews, Protestant Christians and Shi’a Muslims, but these populations are small in numbers and their populations have reduced even further in recent years. There is also a small Baha’i population residing in Egypt as well as a small atheist community, but we understand that they do not enjoy adequate representation within Egyptian institutions as their views risk infringing upon local blasphemy laws that could subject “heretic” Egyptian youths to punishment by law.

Regarding the Egyptian dialect of Arabic, this had gained rapid popularity across the MENA region with the emergence of regional satellites that provided a platform for notable Egyptian singers, authors and the highly successful Egyptian cinema industry. As such, most Arab youths across the MENA region are familiar with Egyptian popular culture, local celebrities and the Egyptian dialect, making Egypt a pivotal and influential nation in the formation of popular Arab thought.

Pivotal singers from Egypt include Umm Kulthum, an early symbol of Arab feminism who broke through the patriarchal ranks of Arabic classical music, and famous actors include Adel Imam, many of whose films have touched upon political issues subsequently exposing the actor to regular arrest under various Egyptian presidents. This battle between progressive ideas in popular culture on the one hand and Egypt’s ruling class on the other can be witnessed even today as President el-Sisi has banned, for instance, the popular Maharagan genre of music that is making waves across the Arab world.