We are now in an era of discovery where our history lessons have been proven false, and our true history is the reverse of what we have been taught. Determined researchers around the world are setting the record straight for all humanity. Lies are rooted out and fabrications debunked. Much of what I learned in Egyptian schools of my youth is now discredited under examination of true facts.
For instance, the official narrative of the King Farouk monarchy in 1952 (and today) is that the king allowed a corrupted government, tainted political parties, unfilled promises, manipulation by foreign entities, a poor military, speech censorship and suppression of free expression – all rectified by the Nasser-led “free officers” in their takeover. Naïve Egyptians were convinced of this “reality” and welcomed Nasser’s military coup.
For the past seventy years this history was taught, repeated, and forced through schools and media so that the military reign beginning with Nasser, rooted in the Muslim Brotherhood, was and is viewed as necessary and best for the country. The distorted view of the kingdom necessitated a “solution,” something to bring about ““freedom, democracy and liberty from Imperial protection.” The dilemma presented by the lie, accepted through brainwashing, was solved by the “free officers,” and the trajectory they began at that moment is what still plays out in the news today.
The “solution”
In the dawn hours of a July day seventy years ago a radio broadcast disrupted Egyptians with an announcement that the end of the kingdom had taken place and a new republic filled with promise would replace it. Egypt in that moment had been jolted into its descent from an educated, civil dynasty with a strong economic base of “white gold” (Egyptian cotton) exportation and a robust gold reserve. Headed by a benign King Farouk and his ancestors before him, tolerant of free speech and expression, the government model was parliamentary and representative with real elections. Importantly, both Christians and Muslims were united as “Egyptians” and protested together when needed against the government.
Such a day strongly marked the transforming of Egypt from a sophisticated European-style state known in human history by its amazing Pharoahs to the ignorance of Nasser’s “Umma” (Arab nation) which would begin the denigration of ancient culture by an overlay of Islamic teachings and practices. First, the French and English languages would be discouraged and finally overshadowed by the new official one of Arabic.
Nasser’s military “free officers” took control with false promises and censorship, sucking in most of the people as they submitted to Nasser’s charisma. Everything would change in the entire arena of life: economic, political, cultural, social, moral, scientific, and religious.
In due time, Egypt’s flag became three equal stripes of black, white, and red – a propagandizing story in and of itself. The black represents the “dark era” of the kingdom, the white indicates a bright future, and the red stands for the blood of sacrifice from a bloodless coup. This replaced the existing flag of a green background containing a white crescent moon with three white stars inside it, possibly signifying the Muslim and Christian unity, although the history has been hidden.
Economic: Prior to Nasser’s military coup, Egypt had the largest gold reserves in the world and was able to satisfy financial advances requested by countries, such as the United States, England, Saudi Arabia, and Emirates, which were all recipients of financial aid advances and subsidies from Egypt.
While today Egyptians illegally migrate to European countries seeking a better life, back then, Europeans would come to Egypt to work, and many of them would come through illegal immigration.
Political: Prior to 1952, Egyptians had a representative parliamentary body with multiple political parties, fair and free elections, and a respectable constitution that all Egyptians could live by. All that was abolished. The new regime created one government party, and free elections were replaced with fake referendums. The constitution was expunged and not replaced until decades later as an Islamic centric document.
Nasser’s dream in creating the Arab Nation (umma) began by separating Egypt from Sudan, which had been one country under one Egyptian king. Later (1958), Nasser united Egypt with Syria, thousands of miles away, and branded Egypt with a name change to United Arab Republic. Once Syrians understood that Nasser was a dictator, the agreement collapsed, and Syria detached. Nasser spent huge amounts of money exporting revolutions and uprisings to other Arab countries such as Algeria, Libya, Yemen and Iraq.
Nasser gave speeches swaying Egyptians to his causes so that they overlooked his war losses in Yemen and Algeria where he wasted away the country’s wealth, creating enemies in other nations without any good reasons.
Soon after, Nasser nationalized private companies and created corporate domains run by his military officials. Now there would be multiple “kings,” i.e., high-ranking coup members dominating industry factories, touristry, service agencies and banks with little or no respect for the law.
Cultural: Prior to 1952, thousands of researchers and intellectuals from around the world came to Egypt for archeological discoveries and studies. Ancient Egypt civilizations entail thousands of years of recorded history. Nasser shunned non-Muslims and discouraged foreign researchers. He disallowed world talents to come to Egypt by prohibiting entrance visas and blocking certain archeological sites from visitors.
Social: In his speeches, Nasser spoke of poverty and lack of opportunity for the poor to attend military academies and universities due to “high costs” during the kingdom. However, three successive Egyptian presidents were raised by humble means during the kingdom era – Nagib (a postal worker’s son), Nasser (a court bailiff’s son), and Sadat (a low-rank military son), which defies Nasser’s mendacity. Nasser fabricated this to justify changes in education that would expand learning to everyone, so he said; however, schools became overcrowded, and the level of education declined.
When Nasser nationalized capital belonging to the wealthy for the “benefit of the government,” it went into the pockets of the military — members of the coup and their comrades — and work was difficult to find for civilians. Nasser set a ceiling for private-ownership companies controlling the development of private enterprise and caused much personal capital to be smuggled out.
Moral: Prior to the coup, harmony existed between all religions, and sectarian strife was unknown. A gradual change was implemented with the arrival of the Muslim Brotherhood “free officers.” Ultimately, Egyptian women were pressured into Islamic submission through harassment and kidnappings when previously women wore the latest European fashion and had no practical knowledge of the hijab or niqab.
Scientific: In the beginning of the 1960s, Nasser expanded Al-Azhar Mosque into a university which included a science faculty among others open only to Muslims. As a religious institution it was an independent moral body described as a major Islamic, scientific body based on preserving and studying Islamic heritage and submitting science to Islam. From that moment on, Al-Azhar became a place for preservation and not research. This led to increased discrimination and persecution of Christian Copts followed by kidnappings of Coptic girls and women.
Religious: Egypt was a mixture of religions, beliefs, and nationalities prior to the1952 coup. Muslims, Christians, Jews, Baha’is, Armenians, Atheists, and others were considered Egyptians with no difference between them except for levels of competency. In fact, Christian and Bahia names were prevalent, and Egypt had no extremism or imposition of the Islamic hijab (woman’s veil covering) until the beginning of the seventies.
Muslim Brotherhood grew in power.
The imposition of the veil (hijab) came with the arrival of Sadat (“a Muslim president for a Muslim country”) who brought the Brotherhood to prominence. After the coup, officials were chosen for religious ideology instead of competency. Elected and selected positions of government were largely for the ignorant and hypocritical.
The British
In 1882, England began its occupation of Egypt. Using its policy of divide and control, the occupiers created the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928, which used violence against Christian churches. The “free officers” were part of that organization. Immediately prior to the 1952 coup, Nasser visited the British embassy in Cairo as well as the American embassy (for support, approval, blessings?)
The slogans launched at the coup’s onset were nothing more than deceptions. The same false promises are seen today under the current “military” presidency. Al-Sisi’s speeches are nothing more than copies of Nasser’s unrealized commitments to the people.
Dr. Ashraf Ramelah is the founder and president of Voice of the Copts, a human rights nonprofit organization 501 (c) (3). The organization has offices in Italy and the United States.
Dr. Ramelah is dedicated to the Coptic cause and believes that his life’s mission is to speak up for the oppressed Copts who cannot speak up for themselves.
Dr. Ramelah is well known to the Egyptian government due to his advocacy for the Egyptian Copts as well as for Voice of the Copts’ lawsuit against them on behalf of Muslim convert to Christianity Mr. Hegazy and his family in 2009-2010. Ashraf Ramelah also appears as an entry in the Coptic History Encyclopedia (http://www.coptichistory.org/new_page_5260.htm).
Dr. Ramelah, himself a Copt, was born in Cairo, Egypt. At the age of 17, he travelled to Italy to study architecture. He graduated with a doctorate in architecture from La Sapienza – Universita’ Degli Studi di Roma,Italy. His special study is restoration of old monuments and history of architecture.
His career as an architect took him to work and live in Italy, Saudi Arabia, Gabon and the USA. His personal interests are Egyptology and Coptic history in the period after the Arab invasion of Egypt in 651 AD.
Voice of the Copts is dedicated to bringing fair, correct and balanced information to the entire world regarding Copts and Christians in countries with an Arab-Muslim majority.
