Nasser vs Sadat (Part 1)

To truly know the reasons behind someone’s admiration or disapproval you must address those who witnessed that person’s presence. The only people that can really tell us whether Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar El Sadat were both equally essential figures during their reigns are the generations that actually lived through them.

There is no doubt that they both did wonders for Egypt and her people. And as it seems, there is only one main reason that Sadat is not highly approved of in Egypt and in the Arab world in general, this reason being the peace treaty he signed during his stay in power. But as some see this as a downside, others see it as a sign of bravery. But then when it comes to criticizing Gamal’s faults, they seem to be non-existent.

My aim is to evaluate their lives and priorities and let each decide on their own if one is more deserving of our appreciation than the other.

To begin we start with the first president, Gamal Abdel Nasser; born in Bakus, Alexandria, 1918. His father was a simple government worker from Beni Hur, a village near Asyut. His family came from a tribe that was well known to have a great sense of personal loyalty and a strong belief in the “Arab Notion of Glory”, with evidence that his brother was named “Ezz El Arab” (Glory of the Arabs).

Nasser’s political career began at the very young age of 15; his first experience was taking part in an anti-British demonstration, which at the same time was targeting the Royal Family. But at the time of his involvement he was unaware as to the reasons behind the demonstration; he became involved simply because he saw in front of him clashes between the people and the police.

“I crossed the field Manshia in Alexandria, and there were clashes between the demonstration of some of the pupils and between forces from the police, I did not hesitate to report my position… joined immediately to the demonstrators, without knowing anything about the reason…and I felt I do not need to question; I have seen members of the public in a clash with authority, and took my position without hesitation…”

Ever since then Nasser became constantly involved in demonstrations and missions to expel the British from Egypt, as well as to try to gain sole ownership of the Suez Canal.

His interest in this matter presented him with the decision to apply to the Egyptian Military Academy in 1937, but because he did not have a wasta, an influential person to promote him, he was turned down.

Determined to get this wasta, he managed after many attempts to secure a meeting with the secretary-of-state, Ibrahim Kheiry Pasha. Pasha became impressed by Nasser’s mentality and determination and therefore sponsored him during his second attempt. There Nasser concentrated on his military career and became an army officer. It was at this academy where Nasser met Anwar El Sadat, and from there began their long-political association.

In 1939, after his training, Nasser volunteered to serve in Sudan days before the outbreak of World War II. During the war, Nasser and Sadat established contacts with agents of the “Axis Powers”, specifically Italians; together they plotted to stage a coup to expel the British forces out of Egypt. The plan was never put in action, but Nasser gained confidence and continued to plot for this revolution.

Soon after with the help of his closest associate, Anwar El Sadat, Nasser began to form an organization consisting of young military officers with strong devotion towards their country. But it was put on hold as he could not gain enough members to meet his needs.

In 1942, when the British Ambassador in Egypt forced King Farouq to remove Ali Maher as prime minister, because he was suspected to be sympathizing with the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan), and instead assign Mustafa El Nahhas, pro-British, Nasser became furious, claiming that this was against the country’s interest and considered it an obvious obstruction of the country’s National Affairs. He then vowed to spend all his efforts using his influence to persuade officers in the army that this type of interference was unacceptable, and that the British had to be forced out of Egypt sooner than later.

At this time Nasser was employed as an instructor in the Egyptian Army College; this came to his advantage, since it gave him access to many young officers that might have the same views as his.

In 1949 Nasser’s organization was official and was given the name the “Free Officers Movement”. He then spent the next two years recruiting more officers and plotting his coup. Finally, July 23rd 1952, members of the “Free Officers Movement” took control of all governmental buildings, media organizations, and army headquarters. Their aim was to overthrow the King and declare Egypt as a Republic, and they did just that.

Nasser, a lieutenant-colonel, did not believe that a low-ranking officer like himself, would be accepted by the Egyptian people and so he selected Naguib, a general, to be his "boss" and lead the coup, and later appointed him as president and returned Ali Maher as Prime Minister. As time went on, Naguib was found to be an autocrat, requiring nothing less than complete obedience. This caused resentment in the organization and weakened his relationship with Nasser and other members; soon after Naguib was forced to step down.

Nasser was then declared by the organization as President. But the citizens of Egypt saw Naguib’s removal as illegal and unacceptable; as a result they staged demonstrations to bring him back. The council at first refused, but later they had to re-instate him before matters intensified.

On October 26, 1954 while speaking at a rally in Alexandria, an assassination was attempted at Nasser’s life, but fortunately he survived and continued on with his speech. Nasser accused Naguib being behind the attempt and used this to his advantage; he again removed Naguib from power and gave himself the title of President.

Nasser’s first mission as president was to force a ban on the formation of any new parties, wanting Egypt to be a single-party democracy. His main objective from having a single-party state was to set Egyptian independence, modernize Egypt, and end foreign influence.

Another drastic change came about when he gave the Minister of Interior the power to arrest anyone charged with counter-revolution activity, although he did guarantee free speech and free press under the new charter. On June 24, 1954 he held a rally to survey the people of Egypt on whether they approved or disapproved the new constitution, it was approved, unanimously.

Nasser was set to see Egypt a country that would equally give and take from and to citizens. For example land ownership, before the revolution less than 6% of Egypt’s population owned 65% of Egyptian land. To change this he re-distributed land to the poor and began putting into affect bans against ownership of land that exceeded 200 acres, with exceptions to those who had children. He also formed a limit to rental rates, and held a minimum of three years for a contracted lease.

Nasser also began to the building of the Aswan dam; this dam was to protect the crops from the Nile flooding which ruined thousands of acres of harvest each year. He also began negotiations with the British to force them to remove all their troops from Egypt.

Later on during the Israeli attacks on the Egyptian-held Gaza Strip, Nasser realized that Egypt was not ready for confrontation if need be, he needed to start purchasing modern weapons. When he realized that none of western countries were eager to supply him with what he needed, he turned to the Soviet Union.

[ Part 2]