1 Cultures of Neutrality – Nasserism and its Discontents

The 1996 film Nasser 56 is a nostalgic look backward to a time when Egypt held a place of stature in the developing world, when Egyptians were proud of their country, confident in their leaders, and looking toward a better future. The film chronicles the lead up to the decision to nationalize the Suez Canal Company in July 1956, the operation to secure control over the waterway and – in somewhat brisker narrative – the breakdown of international diplomacy that predated the Anglo-French-Israeli ‘tripartite aggression ’ of the following October. (JG 2000) The star of the film is the Rayyis himself, played by the late film star Ahmad Zaki. Nasser 56 ends with a defiant speech from the pulpit of al-Azhar, the thousand year-old center of Islamic theological training. As bombs rain on Cairo, Gamal Abd al-Nasser tells his people in a message broadcast over state radio that their country remains defiant. Egypt will never surrender. Throughout the film, Nasser has been an admirable, even enviable character, a humble yet gigantic presence, everything and anything one might seek in a ruler. He is modest in personal taste, incorruptible, approachable to the common man or woman, patient an