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Diaries of a Surveilled Citizen after a Failed Revolution in Egypt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2021

Zeinab Abul-Magd
Zeinab Abul-Magd*
Affiliation:
History Department, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, USA
*
zabulmag@oberlin.edu
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Extract

Under a pseudonym in December 2011, I published an article titled “al-Jaysh wa-l-Iqtisad fi Barr Misr” (The Army and the Economy in Egypt) in Jadaliyya. I wrote it after months of participating in numerous protests in Cairo against the government of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), which took power upon President Hosni Mubarak's abdication in February 2011, and of searching fervidly for the political sources that had allowed the military to prevail over civilian forces. In addition to the tanks and fighter jets, I found some of these sources hidden in a gigantic business empire that the military had clandestinely developed for years. In early 2012 the editor of an online edition of a widely read Egyptian newspaper, a revolutionary female journalist who would later be arrested and detained, invited me to write a series of articles on this business empire, this time using my real name. The first work in decades to be published on this taboo topic, this became the foundation for my later book-length study. As a scholar, this was my humble contribution to an ongoing revolution.

Type
Review Essay
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , February 2021 , pp. 145 - 154
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

1 Mohamed al-Khalsan, “al-Jaysh wa-l-Iqtisad fi Barr Misr,” Jadaliyya, 21 December 2011.

2 Nora Younis was detained in 2020 for editing an independent news website.

3 Abul-Magd, Zeinab, Militarizing the Nation: The Army, Business, and Revolution in Egypt (New York: Columbia University Press, 2017)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 Wala’ Mursi, “Nushata’ Yutliqun Hamla li-Muqata‘at Muntajat al-Quwwat al-Musallaha . . . wa-Khubara’ Iqtisadiyyun Yuhadhdhirun Minha,” al-Ahram, 5 February 2012; Rime Naguib, “Boycott Them: Activists Raise Awareness about Military's Economic Empire,” Egypt Independent, 12 February 2012.

5 Basma al-Mahdi, “Kharita Iliktruniyya li-Hukm al-‘Askar Tarsud 438 ‘Askari Sabiq Yatawallun Manasib Madaniyya,” al-Masry al-Youm, 2 August 2012; Facebook page of the NoMilCivilPositions campaign, accessed 22 December 2012, https://www.facebook.com/nomocp.

6 Facebook page of the ‘Askar Kadhibun campaign, accessed 1 May 2013, https://www.facebook.com/3askar.Kazeboon.

7 Zeinab Ab al-Magd, “al-‘Askar fi Maslahat al-Miyah wa-l-Sarf al-Sihhi,” al-Masry al-Youm, 26 March 2012 (English translation: “Time for a Civilian Handover,” Egypt Independent, 1 April 2012).

8 Foucault, Michel, Security, Territory, and Population, trans. Burchell, Graham (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), 489Google Scholar. See also Foucault, Michel, Society Must Be Defended, trans. Macey, David (New York: Picador, 2003), 15–16Google Scholar.

9 ‘Adli Ibrahim, “al-Jami‘at Tahta Hirasat Falcon,” al-Bawwaba News, 9 October 2014, https://www.albawabhnews.com/831436.

10 Ahmad al-Bardini, “Falcon al-Wahida al-Hasila ‘ala Rukhsat al-Bunduqiyya wa-Ra'isuha Wakil Sabiq li-l-Mukhabarat al-Harbiyya,” al-Shorouk, 15 October 2014. Also see the firm's Facebook page, accessed 30 January 2021, https://www.facebook.com/FalconGroupInternational.

11 “Hal Yatahawwal al-Tawattur bayna al-Hukuma al-Misriyya wa-Tullab al-Jami‘at ila Sira‘ Maftuh,” France 24, 17 October 2014, https://www.france24.com/ar/20141017-%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B1-%D8%B7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%B5%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AA.

12 For example, Stephen Mayhew, “STC Partners with Falcon to Increase Security in Egypt,” Biometric Update, 13 December, 2016, https://www.biometricupdate.com/201612/stc-partners-with-falcon-to-increase-security-in-egypt.

13 Muhammad Salah, “al-Kahraba’ Tata‘aqad ma‘a Falcon Group li-Qira'at al-‘Addad,” al-Shuruq, 22 August 2017; Hanan al-Sawi, “al-Sura ma Btikdibsh . . . Hall Yunhi Barnamig ‘Shu‘a‘’ Mashakil Fawatir al-Kahraba’?” Akhbar al-Yawm, 23 October 2020.

14 Muhamamd Zayn, “Hiwar Ra'is ‘Ma‘lumat al-Intaj al-Harbi’ Yakshif Aliyyat Hadhf Ghayr al-Mustahiqqin min al-Tamwin,” Akhbar al-Yawm, 12 September 2019.

15 Rahma Ramadan, “Iftitah Masna‘ Intaj al-‘Addadat al-Dhakiyya,” al-Yawm al-Sabi‘, 31 October 2018.

16 Nirmin ‘Afifi, “al-Sisi: ‘Aql al-Dawla li-Manzumat al-Raqmana Mu'amman wa-Madfun ‘ala ‘Umq 14 Mitr,” El-Watan News, 31 July 2019.

17 “Ra'is al-Hay'a l-Handasiyya: Tanfidh 14 Alf wa 762 Mashru‘ bi-Taklifa Maliyya 2.2 Tirilyun Junayh,” al-Borsaa News, 29 August 2020.

18 See the website of the Ministry of Defense, accessed 30 December 2020, https://www.mod.gov.eg/ModWebSite/NProjectsAr.aspx?id=3.

19 Muhammad Mahmud Fayid, “Kamil al-Wazir . . . Tahadiyyat wa-Injazat,” Akhbar al-Yawm, 10 March 2019.

20 Sayyid al-Khalafawi, “Muhafiz al-Qahira: al-‘Asima Khaliya min al-‘Ashwa'iyya Nihayat 2020,” al-Yawm al-Sabi‘, 7 July 2020.

21 For a full list of the country's governors from the 1980s to 2015, see Abul-Magd, Militarizing the Nation, ch. 4.

22 That is Simaf company, owned by the Arab Organization for Industrialization (a military-owned conglomerate of seventeen factories and companies). See website, accessed 30 December 2020, https://www.aoi.org.eg/en/semaf.

23 Muhammad Mustafa, “Hal Yanjah Kamil al-Wazir fi Tajdid al-Sikka al-Hadid 30 Yuniyu 2020?” al-Borsaa News, 27 November 2019.

24 Nivin Yusuf, “Hal Bat al-Intaj al-Dirami fi Misr Taht Saytarat al-Dawla,” BBC Arabic, 6 May 2019, https://www.bbc.com/arabic/middleeast-48178108; Sara Ramadan, “Li-Man al-Ghalaba . . . Intaj al-Drama Bayna Ajhizat al-Mukhabart wa-l-Qita‘ al-Khass,” Mu'sassat Huriyyat al-Fikr wa-l-Ta‘bir (AFTE), Cairo, 23 December 2020, https://afteegypt.org/publications_org/2020/09/23/20020-afteegypt.html.

25 Khalid Ibrahim, “Sura Nadira li-l-Shahid Ahmad Mansi Tajma‘uhu bi-Abtal Firaqt “SEAL Team,” al-Youm al-Sabi‘, 28 April 2020.

26 See, for example, from El-Watan News, accessed 30 January 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZnH2rTu5_g; and, from Sada Elbalad, accessed 30 January 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqehD4hdt8Q.

27 For propaganda videos, see Facebook page of the Ministry of Defense, accessed 30 December 2020, https://www.facebook.com/EgyArmySpox; and YouTube channel, accessed 30 December 2020, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5AvwPA0ewLnAcNvCF8ZEhg.