marxismNL

On 18 June, Manar Ellethy and Rahma Esther Bavelaar will organise a book talk around Hossam el-Hamalawy’s Counterrevolution in Egypt, with El-Hamalawy himself and Alaa Abd el-Fattah.

Booktalk with Hossam El-Hamalawy and Alaa Abd el-Fattah: Counterrevolution in Egypt

The agents of coercion in Egypt – its military, police, and intelligence services – have been locked in a perennial struggle for power since their inception. Each institution has vied for dominance, shaping and reshaping the country’s political landscape. Yet, the seismic upheaval of the 2011 revolution forced these factions to put aside their differences and forge an alliance in the face of an existential threat: the revolutionary aspirations of the Egyptian people.

Counterrevolution in Egypt is a rare and comprehensive examination of the structures, hierarchies, and methods of the military, police, and intelligence agencies. Drawing on meticulous research, it reveals the strategies deployed to suppress the revolutionary wave, from propaganda and surveillance to mass arrests, torture, and extrajudicial killings. El-Hamalawy traces the power dynamics within these institutions to show how their uneasy unity was both a response to the revolution and a determinant of its eventual fate.

The conversation will address all of these issues to explore the legacies and futures of revolution and revolutionary visions in Egypt and beyond. How do we contemplate these legacies and futures between the cruelty of defeat and the urgency of solidarity? What do we mean when we say, ‘the road to Jerusalem runs through Cairo’ or that ‘the road to Cairo runs through Gaza’? Why is the question of Palestinian liberation central to the question of Egyptian liberation? Why is, in words of Alaa Abd El Fattah, “Palestine always on our minds”, and as Fred Moten reminds us, “here, there and everywhere”? 

About Hossam el-Hamalawy and Alaa Abd el-Fattah

Hossam el-Hamalawy is a journalist, scholar, and socialist from Cairo, who was among the organizers of the 2011 uprising. He has been involved in the labour movement and the fight against police brutality in Egypt. He holds a PhD in political science from Freie Universität Berlin and is the recipient of the 2011 Anna Politkovskaya Courage in Journalism Award. He publishes a weekly newsletter on Egyptian politics at 3arabawy.substack.com and is the author of Counterrevolution in Egypt.

Alaa Abd el-Fattah is an activist, writer, and political theorist. He was the most high-profile political prisoner in Egypt, if not the Arab world, rising to international prominence during the revolution of 2011. Alaa is a fiercely independent thinker and an activist whose ideas represent a global generation which has only known struggle against a failing system. He is a public intellectual with the rare courage to offer personal, painful honesty. Alaa’s voice came to symbolize much of what was fresh, inspiring and revolutionary about the uprisings that have defined the last decade. He was imprisoned for over 12 years and was finally released on September 22nd, 2025.

The conversation will be facilitated by Tarek Ghanem and moderated by Manar Ellethy.