1956: The World in Revolt by Hall Simon

Author:Hall, Simon
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571312344
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2016-01-05T05:00:00+00:00

‘Alexandria at the end of July’, wrote the Egyptian journalist Mohamed Heikal, ‘is a holiday city, and with its long palm-lined beaches, its brilliantly lit cafés and shops, a place of beauty and excitement.’ On the evening of Thursday 26 July – four years to the day since King Farouk’s expulsion – the atmosphere in the country’s second city was ‘electric’ as President Nasser stood before a crowd of 250,000 in Liberation Square.25 During a speech that lasted for the best part of three hours, and which was beamed across the Middle East and North Africa by Cairo’s ‘Voice of the Arabs’ radio station, Nasser explained that the Egyptian people had been ‘striving, struggling and fighting’ to throw off imperialism and foreign exploitation. After recounting the recent controversy over the High Dam, Nasser turned his attention to the Suez Canal. Although it had been ‘dug … with our skulls, bones and blood’, Egypt, Nasser claimed, received just $3 million a year while the Suez Canal Company – which operated as a ‘state within a state’ – pocketed some $100 million (the actual figure was $35 million). But now all that would end. Nasser announced that earlier that day he had signed a decree nationalising the Suez Canal Company, whose revenues would be used to finance the High Dam. ‘The people of Egypt alone’, declared Nasser, ‘shall be sovereign in Egypt. We shall march forward united and in solidarity …’26 Even as he spoke, Egyptian soldiers were occupying the company’s offices and installations along the canal.27 The ovation, which lasted for ten minutes, was deafening, and when Nasser attempted to exit the square, the crowds – singing, dancing and chanting ‘Long live Nasser, Lord and Saviour of the Arabs!’ – repeatedly blocked his way.28

Nasser’s audacious gambit stunned even members of his own government. It united the country, and Egyptians of all political leanings and social classes poured onto the streets in jubilation. Even his opponents expressed admiration.29 The following morning, Nasser arrived back in Cairo in triumph. The British Embassy noted that his train from Alexandria had ‘stopped at all stations en route, where he is reported to have addressed tumultuous crowds’.30 In the capital, a crowd of a hundred thousand showered the president with flowers and roared their approval. Standing outside his office, a defiant Nasser proclaimed, ‘Egypt is exercising her sovereignty in full, and will not allow any State or any gang to diminish [it].’ Boasting that the ‘Egyptian people are today one hand, one heart, one hope and one aim’, he declared that ‘the Suez Canal Company has become our property … and we shall defend this with our blood’.31

Nasser’s actions were wildly popular across the Arab world. Congratulatory telegrams were despatched from the region’s capitals, glowing newspaper editorials appeared, imams preached approving sermons and spontaneous public demonstrations of support broke out.32 Jordan’s King Hussein offered his country’s ‘wholehearted congratulations and compliments to her sister State’ and declared that ‘the shadow of exploitation is fading from the Arab

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