Remembering the 1977 Bread Riots in Suez: Fragments and Ghosts of Resistance

Abstract

AbstractMost of the existing literature on the 1977 Bread Riots focuses on the protests as an episode in larger national and international political and economic waves of change, either as the end of an era of political mobilization in Egypt, or the beginning of an era of anti-neoliberal struggles in the region and wider world. Moreover, most of the literature focuses on Cairo. Seeking to diverge from the trend even further, this article focuses on the memory of the 1977 uprising in the city of Suez, which it explores through the perspectives of leftist activists and others. It aims to understand how the people of Suez who witnessed and participated in the 1977 protests remember and interpret the event today, asking what memory of the uprising means politically on a local level. By exploring the memory of the 1977 protests in Suez, this article traces their effects on the lives of the selected interlocutors, and also on their political actions and interpretations. It follows three memory fragments of the 1977 protests in Suez from three different vantage points: the position of people who were members of political organizations before the protests; the traces of protests in Suez's streets; and the position of those who witnessed the protests from home.