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Title: What? Anarchists in Egypt! Author: Costantino Paonessa Date: March 2016 Language: en Topics: Egypt, history, anarchist movement Source: Retrieved on 12th September 2021 from https://libcom.org/history/what-anarchists-egypt Notes: Published in A Rivista Anarchica (Milan) Year 46, No 405, March 2016. Translated by: Paul Sharkey.
Over the past century and a half of the Italian language anarchist
movement, its militants and groups migrated to all five continents. From
the mid-19th to the start of the 20th century, it had a significant
presence in Cairo and in Alexandria in Egypt.
Around the middle of the 19^(th) century, the flow of immigrant male and
female European workers into the countries of the Maghreb and the
Ottoman Empire assisted the spread of internationalism and
anti-authoritarian socialism, alongside other political persuasions. Yet
for a variety of reasons traceable to topics like “the decolonization of
anarchism” or Orientalism, as well as the hegemony exercised by certain
schools of historiography, their history has been of small concern to
historians and activists and has all but slipped into oblivion,[1] as
witness the case of Egypt, of which more below.
Whilst the presence of European colonies on Egyptian soil dates back to
the Middle Ages, it was only after Muhammad Ali came to power that the
flood of migrants from Europe (and further afield) became impressive.
Egypt’s rulers launched an intense process to modernize some of the
institutions and agencies in Egyptian society; in fact, that process,
opened the doors to the immigration of European technicians and a
European workforce. Furthermore, up until the end of the 19^(th) century
at any rate, the viceroy of Egypt readily granted hospitality to
European political exiles who, elsewhere, were in danger of imprisonment
or deportation. At the same time, the system of ‘concession’ (the right
of foreigners to be answerable to the laws of their own country and
judged by consular judges) was often used by the states in Europe to
keep individuals categorised as “seriously dangerous” well away from
their homelands. Against this backdrop, the early 1860s witnessed the
formation of carbonari, republican and Mazzinian groups among the
migrant workforce and political exiles, mainly in Alexandria – the key
city and port for communications in the Mediterranean – and then in
Cairo. By around ten years later, those groups were being invaded by
internationalism with the arrival of survivors of the Paris Commune and
it is around this time that one Ugo Icilio Parrini (d. 1906) aka
“L’Orso” (The Bear) crops up; as early as 1870 Cairo police had him
classified as an internationalist. His name will be linked to thirty
years of anarchist revolutionary activism. Parrini himself, by the
1880s, became the driving force behind unification of the
Italian-language anarchist groups that had a presence in every major
Egyptian city and which had a number of chapters, including a women’s
chapter. Egypt therefore joined the worldwide internationalist web,
trading activists, ideas and publications.
In 1878 a number of internationalists fleeing the repression in the wake
of the Benevento revolt arrived in Alexandria: these included the young
Errico Malatesta who was reunited there with his brother, Aniello.
Errico Malatesta remained in Alexandria for only a short time but
returned to Egypt in 1882 when anarchists tried, unsuccessfully, to
support Ahmad Orubi’s nationalist unrest; the crackdown on that unrest
was followed by the British occupation of Egypt.
Ideological and personal rifts, police repression and, above all, the
constant to-ing and fro-ing of militants led over the following decade
to a paralysis in the movement, albeit that it never petered out
entirely. By the end of the century, anarchists were reorganizing and
playing a leading role in introducing radical ideas and practices to the
main cities of Egypt. Ugo Icilio Parrini and Luigi Losi in Cairo and
Pietro Vasai, Francesco Cini and Roberto d’Angio in Alexandria, as well
as dozens of other militants, gave a considerable boost to revolutionary
activism, which was of some concern to the Italian, British and Egyptian
authorities.
During the German Kaiser’s visit to Istanbul and Jerusalem, an agent of
the Italian consulate in Alexandria had bombs made that were smuggled
into Parrini’s business-cum-political club, to be discovered quickly
thereafter by the police. That provided the pretext for the arrest of
thirty militants, including Parrini and Vasai; in the end, they were all
acquitted on all charges, but only after they had spent a year in
Muharram Bay prison. On their release and with the aid of dozens of
activists arrived from abroad – including many returning from the
Greco-Turkish war of 1897 – the anarchists embarked upon impressive
propaganda, political activity and agitational work among the working
class. There was a new dynamism in this. In 1900, Luigi Galleani arrived
in Alexandria. Promptly arrested while in his hospital bed, he was freed
after a month under an amnesty. It seems that it was he that drafted the
charter of the Free University of Alexandria which was launched, mainly
due to anarchists’ efforts, in 1901. The university which was supposed
to be characterized by “fraternity and mutual tolerance” was open to
all, regardless of nationality, language, religion or gender.
At the same time, the activities of anarchists were focused upon
planning new form of organization, struggle and working class struggle
virtually unprecedented in the Egypt of that time; new associations and
‘resistance leagues’ orchestrated strikes, marches and rallies.
Anarchist propaganda was stepped up through the launching of study
circles and the publication of pamphlets, flyers and newspapers. May
Day, the anniversary of the Paris Commune and 20^(th) September were
consistently used as opportunities to organize meetings and
get-togethers of anarchists.
In Alexandria the writer Enrico Pea’s Barracca Rossa was launched. This
was a magazine that was also a rallying point for male and female
anarchists and it later became famous for attracting the likes of
Giuseppe Ungaretti and the young Leda Rafanelli.
However, the movement was afflicted with disunity and very virulent
internal differences. The launch in Alexandria of the
syndicalist-inclined Tribuna Libera newspaper, the creation of Pietro
Vasai and Joseph Rosenthal, widened the gulf with Parrini’s
individuialistic anti-organiser current and the Cairo comrades. The
latter, in fact, refused to collect funds for Tribuna Libera and instead
opted to raise money for the Era Nuova newspaper that Raffaele Valente
had launched in Naples. Later, when the decision was made in Alexandria
to launch a paper called L’Operaio, the Cairo group replied with Il
domani. Periodico libertario. The differences spilled over from the
ideological into occasional personal attacks. Even an “academic” round
of lectures by Pietro Gori at the Free University of Alexandria in 1904
failed to alter that. The disputes and internal bickering were obstacles
to political and propaganda activity.
To complicate matter further, in 1906 Parrini (“the great sower” as
Enrico Pea described him) died unexpectedly; Parrini had been living in
poverty for quite some time. With him perished what was undoubtedly the
inspiration behind Italian-speaking anarchism in Egypt.
Not until 1908 was there a resurgence in anarchist activism. In January
that year Vasai arrived in Cairo as the representative of the Alexandria
Resistance League, meaning to raise money for striking workers. In
November 1908, Vasai called a meeting in Cairo’s Civil Cemetery, at
which approval was given for the publication of a brand new anarchist
propaganda paper, L’Idea, which published its first edition in March
1909. By that point, Vasai had moved to the Egyptian capital. It was no
coincidence that the Italian consul reported to the Interior Ministry in
Rome a “degree of resurgence in the socialist and anarchist camp.”
The spring of 1909 saw the launch of an Atheist Circle in Cairo, the
members of which (its charter reads) “mean to study, develop and spread
all of the truths demonstrated by science and contradicting religious
and deist principles”. At the same time, a Free-Thinkers Circle was
launched in Alexandria: among its founders was another well known
anarchist, Umberto Bambini.
On 4 July 1909, in Cairo’s Eden theatre, socialists and anarchists
launched the International Federation for Resistance Among Workers. Its
aim, as stated in the manifesto drafted also in Greek and Arabic was
“the emancipation of the workers and the immediate betterment of their
conditions”. The organization, the manifesto stated “will stand outside
of any political, national or religious camp.” Shortly after that, on 25
July 1909, the Cairo and Alexandria anarchists, meeting in a bottle
plant, decided to call a meeting “to lay the foundations for a final
agreement within the anarchist movement in Egypt”. That meeting was held
on 1 August 1909 at the Alexandria Atheist Circle. After years of
division, a sort of an agreed programme had been arrived at. Three hours
of proceedings led to the drafting of the final document, entitled Why
We Are Anarchists – What We Want. The text afforded “reasonable freedom
of action to both organized anarchists and those others who mean to
engage in individualist propaganda”. At the same time, it afforded “the
possibility for anarchists to join labour organisations.”
Albeit short-lived, the unity thrashed out also made an impact through
“practical propaganda”. When Francisco Ferrer was arrested, a Pro-Ferrer
Committee was set up in Alexandria; it included anarchists, socialists
from the ‘Pisacane’ branch, members of the Atheist Circle and of the
Free-Thinkers’ Circle. When the Spanish anarchist was subsequently sent
to the firing squad, a special edition of Pro-Ferrer was issued,
numerous public demonstrations were mounted and a stone erected in the
civil cemetery.
Anarchists also resumed organizing and getting involved in labour
struggles. The leagues bounced back, especially those formed by the
printworkers and cigarette-makers. There was a fresh emphasis on marking
anniversaries as a way of boosting propaganda. Public events were
organized to mark May Day in 1909 and 1910. In Alexandria, in 1910, a
procession making the anniversary of Ferrer’s execution defied a ban
imposed by the police and a strong police deployment managed only to
have it alter its route.
But within a year, the movement began to decline again. To quote Vasai’s
words “the dissension and internal warfare, a blight that especially
infects Italy’s anarchist camp” were to blame.
1913 saw publication of one last newspaper, the very appearance of which
generated a lot of consensus: L’Unione was anarcho-syndicalist and
anti-militarist in persuasion. By that point the activism of anarchist
militants was being directed into the workers’ movement and the
promotion of unity “the first step towards freedom and well-being” and
into the foundation of a single workers’ organisation.
Most likely because of the war, the paper was shut down in 1914. Vasai
was hauled before the courts again along with the anarchist Macri, for
“defending regicide”, on which charge he was acquitted before he quit
Egypt, suffering from TB, on 7 July 1916. With his departure it can be
argued that the history of the Italian-language anarchist movement in
Egypt had reached an end. There were many reasons for this.
The war led to a tightening-up of British surveillance and put paid to
the concessionary arrangement. The rise of Egyptian nationalism (which
had always been inimical to radicalism, especially class-based
radicalism), the launch of the Socialist Party (the creation of Joseph
Rosenthal) or, after the Russian Revolution, of a Communist Party, as
well as fascism’s accession to power in Italy, delivered the coup de
grace to the anarchist movement. In the 1920s anarchists progressively
withdrew from political activity, many of them returning to their
homelands; a few were expelled, like the syndicalist Giuseppe Pizzuto.
Others, whilst not abjuring their ideals, retreated into private life.
[1] See I K Makdisi’s interesting book The Eastern Mediterranean and the
Making of Global Radicalism, 1860–1914 (University of California Press,
2010)