Dora Friedman
Grant
V Spring Research Paper
Gamal Abdel Nasser: The Voice of the Arabs, The Champion of Egypt In 1952 Gamal Abdel Nasser staged a coup d’etat and abolished the Monarchy of King Farouk in Egypt. He came into power with a challenge: Egypt did not yet have full independence from Britain. In order to rally the people behind him and achieve his goal, Nasser unified Egyptians through Pan Arabism, a type of Arab Nationalism. In addition, Nasser spread his ideologies through propaganda and his radio show. Over time, Gamal Abdel Nasser became the face of Pan-Arabism, and it was eventually referred to as Nasserism. The goal of Pan-Arabism was that the Arab countries should merge into one united state. After Nasser became the face of …show more content…
For instance, in one of his speeches, Nasser stated that “The call for Arab Nationalism is not a new call....The call of Arab nationalism rang throughout the centuries and showed its strength whenever the Arab countries were independent or whenever they felt the threat of danger.” Nasser uses nostalgia of the past victories of the Arab world to rally Egyptian citizens around him. He says that the Arab world, under threat of danger from a foreign nation, looked to Pan-Arabism and formed a strong, united army. He describes how “Arab Nationalism is the Arab’s path to sovereignty and freedom.” Therefore, serving as a united front would strengthen the national and truly show Egypt’s independence. In addition, Pan-Arab ideology suggested that all of the Arab world’s problems were due to colonialism. Pan-Arabism also stated that Israel (“Zionist Entity”) was the spearhead of this Western colonialism (Isseroff). Furthermore, when he discovered that Britain and the United States had tried to recruit Iraq (an Arab State) into the Baghdad Pact, an infuriated Nasser launched a major propaganda event to prevent Arab States from ever aligning themselves with the West. As seen from past leaders such as Adolf Hitler, uniting the people against a common enemy is a powerful tool. Primarily, it instills a sense of ultra-nationalism within the people. Secondarily, uniting people over a common enemy generally leads the people to a common goal: abolishing said enemy. By selling Israel as a threat, Nasser managed to unite the Egyptians and other Arab states (such as Syria) together to eliminate Israel. Despite all of Nasser’s efforts, Egypt still had a major problem: it had few resources, thus it had a restricted potential. Egypt’s best hope to surpass these limitations is to be the political heart of the Arab world. So, this became Nasser’s main goal
Grant
V Spring Research Paper
Gamal Abdel Nasser: The Voice of the Arabs, The Champion of Egypt In 1952 Gamal Abdel Nasser staged a coup d’etat and abolished the Monarchy of King Farouk in Egypt. He came into power with a challenge: Egypt did not yet have full independence from Britain. In order to rally the people behind him and achieve his goal, Nasser unified Egyptians through Pan Arabism, a type of Arab Nationalism. In addition, Nasser spread his ideologies through propaganda and his radio show. Over time, Gamal Abdel Nasser became the face of Pan-Arabism, and it was eventually referred to as Nasserism. The goal of Pan-Arabism was that the Arab countries should merge into one united state. After Nasser became the face of …show more content…
For instance, in one of his speeches, Nasser stated that “The call for Arab Nationalism is not a new call....The call of Arab nationalism rang throughout the centuries and showed its strength whenever the Arab countries were independent or whenever they felt the threat of danger.” Nasser uses nostalgia of the past victories of the Arab world to rally Egyptian citizens around him. He says that the Arab world, under threat of danger from a foreign nation, looked to Pan-Arabism and formed a strong, united army. He describes how “Arab Nationalism is the Arab’s path to sovereignty and freedom.” Therefore, serving as a united front would strengthen the national and truly show Egypt’s independence. In addition, Pan-Arab ideology suggested that all of the Arab world’s problems were due to colonialism. Pan-Arabism also stated that Israel (“Zionist Entity”) was the spearhead of this Western colonialism (Isseroff). Furthermore, when he discovered that Britain and the United States had tried to recruit Iraq (an Arab State) into the Baghdad Pact, an infuriated Nasser launched a major propaganda event to prevent Arab States from ever aligning themselves with the West. As seen from past leaders such as Adolf Hitler, uniting the people against a common enemy is a powerful tool. Primarily, it instills a sense of ultra-nationalism within the people. Secondarily, uniting people over a common enemy generally leads the people to a common goal: abolishing said enemy. By selling Israel as a threat, Nasser managed to unite the Egyptians and other Arab states (such as Syria) together to eliminate Israel. Despite all of Nasser’s efforts, Egypt still had a major problem: it had few resources, thus it had a restricted potential. Egypt’s best hope to surpass these limitations is to be the political heart of the Arab world. So, this became Nasser’s main goal