Counterrevolution in Egypt

AN IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATION INTO THE STRUCTURE AND METHODS OF EGYPT’S SECURITY SERVICES IN THEIR WAR ON DISSENT

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.

Hossam el-Hamalawy – a journalist and leading activist with personal experience at the sharp end of Egyptian repression – delves deep into the inner workings of the security apparatus. 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.INTRODUCTION
Moving Forward
Notes on Writing Style

CHAPTER 1: A Fragmented Apparatus
Coup-Proofing
Mubarak’s Anxieties
Militarized Policing
Road to War
Dirty War
Habib al-Adly
Forever Wars
- 1. Social Control and Police Militarization in the Neoliberal Age
- 2. Enforcing Raison d'Être
The General Intelligence Service
- External Operations
- Domestic Operations
- Business Empire
Compartmentalization

CHAPTER 2: Revolution
The Myth of Army Grievances
Military-Economic Complex?
- Geopolitical Alliance?
- Political Constraints?
- Social Context?
Ruling But Not Governing
Military Intelligence
Structure
- Ever-Expanding Military Camp
- Counterbalancing
Compartmentalization
Road to Revolt
- From the Regional to the Local
- Strike Wave and the Police
Uprising
- Police Day
- The Friday of Rage
- Army Deployment

CHAPTER 3: Counterrevolution
Shaky Alliances I
- Power Greed?
- Islamist Radicals?
- Vacillation?
Shaky Alliances II
- Legal and Constitutional Challenges?
- Sinai Insurgency?
- Geopolitical Blunders?
Boots on the Streets
Streamlining the Police
- SCAF and the MOI
- Morsi and the MOI
Suleiman’s Men
Egyptian Brumaire
- Police
- Military
- General Intelligence Service
Rivers of Blood

CHAPTER 4: The State Über Alles
A Unitary Apparatus
State Violence and Regime-Making
Praetorian Direct Rule
- The Generals
- Regulations
- Military Capitalism
- Military Ideology
Counterinsurgency
- Troubled Past
- Pre-January 2011
- Post-July 2013
Streamlining the General Intelligence Service
- Tuhami
- Fawzi
- Kamel and the Sisis
- Rashad
Return of the Police
- Homeland Security
- Killing Fields
- Prison System

CHAPTER 5: A Perfect Military Camp
State Bureaucracy
Courts
Diplomatic Service
Media Industry
Entertainment
Sports
Cultural Spaces
Schools and Universities
- Militarization
- Falcon Group
Religion and Morals
- Ministry of Awqaf
- Al-Azhar
- Religious Minorities
- Gender
Panopticon 2.0
- Post-Apocalyptic Cyberpunk Fortress Cities
- Policing the Cyberspace

EPILOGUE

Appendix I
Appendix II
Appendix III
Appendix IV
Appendix V
Appendix VI
Appendix VII
Appendix VIII"Anyone wanting to understand the despiriting end of the Arab uprising in Egypt can do no better than this magisterial, harrowing, richly researched book. Drawing on mountains of Arabic language sources, a sophisticated understanding of Arab revolutionary politics, and his own experience as an activist and dissident in Egypt, Hamalawy has produced an instant classic."
—Laleh Khalili, author of Time in the Shadows: Confinement in CounterinsurgenciesHossam el-Hamalawy is a journalist and socialist from Cairo, who was among the organizers of the 2011 uprising. He has been involved in the labor movement, and the fight against police brutality in Egypt. He currently lives in Germany, where he received his PhD in Political Science.