This commentary was published in al-Hayat on 20/12/2010
What is happening inside the Nasserist Party in Egypt conveys the status of the parties suffering from illnesses, not only due to the flaws affecting the partisan system or the practices of the ruling National Party against them, but because the viruses of contradiction started growing inside of them with the birth of the partisan system. Consequently, the symptoms of the illness are apparent at times and dormant at others, but still reveal the causes behind the disease.
When the late Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat engaged in a clash with the Nasserists, he refused to describe them as being "Nasserists" or the carriers of the ideas and principles of Gamal Abdul Nasser. He thus continued to call them "those who wear Abdul Nasser's shirt". This expression of his was quoted by writers and politicians who continued to show the same hostility toward Abdul Nasser and Nasserism. At the time, the Nasserists did not have a party, and they themselves considered they represented a faction of the Egyptian people. In the 1970s, "clubs" of Nasserist thinking spread inside the universities, and their members mostly worked underground while subjected - along with the leftist factions - to security pursuits. This was especially due to the fact that Al-Sadat's policies increased their disgruntlement toward him, while he felt - based on the writings of several historians - that the Nasserists believed he was unfit to succeed to their leader Abdul Nasser. And when Al-Sadat used the Islamic movement to face the activities of the Nasserists and the leftists, he granted wider margins of maneuver to the Islamists while tightening his grip over "those wearing Abdul Nasser's shirt". The Nasserists remained determined to stand in Al-Sadat's face although they were busy responding to the accusations made by the Muslim Brotherhood in particular and the Islamists in general to Abdul Nasser, as well as to their attempts to disfigure the Nasserist stage.
Moreover, Al-Sadat did not allow the Nasserists to establish a party, unlike the leftists who formed the Tagammu Party after the partisan system was instated. For more than ten years, the Nasserists thus "struggled" in the courthouses until their party was proclaimed in April 1992. Nonetheless, the accreditation of the party revealed the presence of other Nasserist offshoots which refused to join it for reasons which are either personal or related to objective circumstances. For years, the Nasserists continued to "wear" their leaders' ideas which were referred to by Al-Sadat as being "the shirt." However, their positions diverged over many issues and problems witnessed in Egypt, while their relationship with the consecutive governments and the ruling party and its symbols continued to fluctuate based on the position of each wing inside the "Nasserist shirt."
The Nasserist Party thus continued to step over the thorns of its internal conflicts, while its president Diaa Eldin Daoud - who enjoyed a prominent history and status - was able to prevent its dismantlement and confront the pressures of the government and its ruling party, the objections or "mockery" of the Nasserists who were not members of the party and the attempts of Nasserists belonging to other branches to found parallel parties.
Now, the party is facing conflicts which may be the most violent since its establishment, and instead of being perceived by the people as the victim of what happened in the last parliamentary elections, it is believed to be paying the price for its old mistakes that have nothing to do with its ideas, principles or even the way it managed the relationship with the authority, and are rather linked to the wish to seize the seat of "the leader." And since the majority of the Egyptian parties are linked to historic leaders, the absence, illness or aging of the leader will be the most prominent factor in the implosion of the party. This happened with other parties in the past and is now happening inside the Nasserist Party. Consequently, the Egyptian opposition parties are sparing the ruling party all efforts, and announcing without any detour that they are the weakest and that their "health condition" does not allow them to compete or even try to compete. And just like when weak football teams cannot compete, their only hope is to remain in the spotlight, i.e. to remain in the context of the major official tournaments without any ambition to win the cup. This is the current status of the Egyptian parties that are playing in the areas which would have them without ever exceeding them, to the point where their mere presence in the spotlight is being considered an accomplishment. As for the actual contest, it was left to the ruling party which is competing with itself, not because it wants to, but because the others are unable to compete.
The program of the Nasserist Party featured the following expression: "Because we are one Arab community from the Gulf to the Ocean and because our reality, our problems and our capabilities are the same, we must resolve these same problems with unified capabilities and unified planning… This can only happen in light of Arab unity, under one ruling regime, for one Arab nation." The party is talking about Arab unity while its members are tearing Abdul Nasser's shirt apart!
What is happening inside the Nasserist Party in Egypt conveys the status of the parties suffering from illnesses, not only due to the flaws affecting the partisan system or the practices of the ruling National Party against them, but because the viruses of contradiction started growing inside of them with the birth of the partisan system. Consequently, the symptoms of the illness are apparent at times and dormant at others, but still reveal the causes behind the disease.
When the late Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat engaged in a clash with the Nasserists, he refused to describe them as being "Nasserists" or the carriers of the ideas and principles of Gamal Abdul Nasser. He thus continued to call them "those who wear Abdul Nasser's shirt". This expression of his was quoted by writers and politicians who continued to show the same hostility toward Abdul Nasser and Nasserism. At the time, the Nasserists did not have a party, and they themselves considered they represented a faction of the Egyptian people. In the 1970s, "clubs" of Nasserist thinking spread inside the universities, and their members mostly worked underground while subjected - along with the leftist factions - to security pursuits. This was especially due to the fact that Al-Sadat's policies increased their disgruntlement toward him, while he felt - based on the writings of several historians - that the Nasserists believed he was unfit to succeed to their leader Abdul Nasser. And when Al-Sadat used the Islamic movement to face the activities of the Nasserists and the leftists, he granted wider margins of maneuver to the Islamists while tightening his grip over "those wearing Abdul Nasser's shirt". The Nasserists remained determined to stand in Al-Sadat's face although they were busy responding to the accusations made by the Muslim Brotherhood in particular and the Islamists in general to Abdul Nasser, as well as to their attempts to disfigure the Nasserist stage.
Moreover, Al-Sadat did not allow the Nasserists to establish a party, unlike the leftists who formed the Tagammu Party after the partisan system was instated. For more than ten years, the Nasserists thus "struggled" in the courthouses until their party was proclaimed in April 1992. Nonetheless, the accreditation of the party revealed the presence of other Nasserist offshoots which refused to join it for reasons which are either personal or related to objective circumstances. For years, the Nasserists continued to "wear" their leaders' ideas which were referred to by Al-Sadat as being "the shirt." However, their positions diverged over many issues and problems witnessed in Egypt, while their relationship with the consecutive governments and the ruling party and its symbols continued to fluctuate based on the position of each wing inside the "Nasserist shirt."
The Nasserist Party thus continued to step over the thorns of its internal conflicts, while its president Diaa Eldin Daoud - who enjoyed a prominent history and status - was able to prevent its dismantlement and confront the pressures of the government and its ruling party, the objections or "mockery" of the Nasserists who were not members of the party and the attempts of Nasserists belonging to other branches to found parallel parties.
Now, the party is facing conflicts which may be the most violent since its establishment, and instead of being perceived by the people as the victim of what happened in the last parliamentary elections, it is believed to be paying the price for its old mistakes that have nothing to do with its ideas, principles or even the way it managed the relationship with the authority, and are rather linked to the wish to seize the seat of "the leader." And since the majority of the Egyptian parties are linked to historic leaders, the absence, illness or aging of the leader will be the most prominent factor in the implosion of the party. This happened with other parties in the past and is now happening inside the Nasserist Party. Consequently, the Egyptian opposition parties are sparing the ruling party all efforts, and announcing without any detour that they are the weakest and that their "health condition" does not allow them to compete or even try to compete. And just like when weak football teams cannot compete, their only hope is to remain in the spotlight, i.e. to remain in the context of the major official tournaments without any ambition to win the cup. This is the current status of the Egyptian parties that are playing in the areas which would have them without ever exceeding them, to the point where their mere presence in the spotlight is being considered an accomplishment. As for the actual contest, it was left to the ruling party which is competing with itself, not because it wants to, but because the others are unable to compete.
The program of the Nasserist Party featured the following expression: "Because we are one Arab community from the Gulf to the Ocean and because our reality, our problems and our capabilities are the same, we must resolve these same problems with unified capabilities and unified planning… This can only happen in light of Arab unity, under one ruling regime, for one Arab nation." The party is talking about Arab unity while its members are tearing Abdul Nasser's shirt apart!
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