Hossam el-Hamalawy, "Counterrevolution in Egypt: Sisi's New Republic (Verso Books, 2026)
About this episode
Hossam el-Hamalawy discusses his book on the counterrevolution in Egypt and the role of military and police in suppressing dissent.
Counterrevolution in Egypt: Sisi's New Republic ( Verso Books, 2026) 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. Hossam el-Hamalawy is a journalist and socialist from Cairo, who was among the organisers 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 Journalism Award. He publishes a weekly newsletter on Egyptian politics at 3arabawy.substack.com. Alec Fiorini is a PhD student at Queen Mary University London's Centre for Labour, Sustainability and Global Production (CLaSP) researching the political economy of nitrogen fertilizer supply…
People in this episode
Host: Marshall Poe
Guest: Hossam el-Hamalawy
Topics covered
- Egyptian politics
- counterrevolution
- military and police
- surveillance
- human rights
- political science
Keywords
- counterrevolution
- Egypt
- Sisi
- military
- police
- intelligence agencies
- human rights
- political science
- 2011 uprising
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Verso Books
Places: Egypt
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