Third: the national struggle against the British Occupation

Mustafa Kamil

• Egypt passed under British military occupation in 1882 after the defeat of the Urabi revolution.
• The young leader Mustafa Kamil took up the national cause at the end of the nineteenth century, using the weapon of the word and of the press.
• He founded the newspaper al-Liwa in 1900, travelled the capitals of Europe — especially France — to expose the crimes of the occupation.
• He exploited the horrific Denshaway incident of 1906 to bring about the removal of Lord Cromer, the first and most powerful British Agent in Egypt.

Mohamed Farid

• Mohamed Farid then led the National Party under extremely harsh conditions, widening the circle of struggle by founding workers' unions and people's night schools to teach the poor free of charge.
• He succeeded in forcing the government to refuse the renewal of the Suez Canal concession for another forty years, thanks to the popular campaign he led and to the assassination of Boutros Ghali.