Celebrating This Immortal Day in History: The Dawn of Arab Liberation

Translated by Rozana Sameh
Reviewed by Nada Tamer

O Citizens:

In these immortal days in the history of the Arabs, we thank God with all our hearts that the era of foreign domination has come to an end, never to return. The era of colonialism, domination, and foreign interference has ended, thanks to the determination of the Arab people in the United Arab Republic.

Today, as we celebrate the establishment of the United Arab Republic, each of us feels that this new republic represents our will, the will of every one of you, whether in the north in Syria or in the south in Egypt. It is not the will of a colonizer, nor of an occupier, nor of an outsider, nor of those who seek to place us within spheres of influence; it is the will of the true Arab people.

Today, my brothers, every one of us, and every person in the Arab world and the Arab nation, has the right to feel actual pride. Because in the past, in 1917, they divided the Arab world; they divided it with pencil on maps into states and small entities so that they would fall within spheres of influence. They imposed their terms upon us and agreed with the Jews in 1917 to give them Palestine. Today, we are the ones who decide, no foreigner decides, no outsider decides.

Today, my brothers… today, my brothers… our will alone, the will of us, the Arab people, is the one that holds sovereignty, the one that holds power, the one that decides; it is the one that decided the establishment of the United Arab Republic.

Today, my brothers, as we celebrate this immortal day in history, the dawn of Arab liberation, the dawn of casting off foreign domination, we look back at the past and at the foreign attempts to control us, and at what they used to say: that there was a “vacuum” they wanted to fill in this region, and that this region had to be brought within spheres of influence.

Today, as we celebrate, each of us feels deep within that his will has triumphed, that his convictions have triumphed, that his goals have triumphed, that Arab nationalism, which was once a dream for every one of us, the Arab nationalism we proclaimed in speeches, the Arab nationalism celebrated in poetry for long years...decades. Today, as we celebrate, we feel that this Arab nationalism has begun to be realized and to take concrete form.

Today, as we witness the birth of the United Arab Republic, which sprang from your will and your conscience, we feel that this is the beginning.

This, brothers, is the beginning of liberation and the beginning of casting off foreign domination and colonialism. It is the end of weakness and the beginning of strength. It is the end of complacency and the end of those agents who worked with foreigners to sell their countries, and the beginning of the rule of the free, the rule of the people, the patriotic people, the genuine people.

Today, my brothers, as I speak these words, I speak of the Arab nation as a nation in its own right: each person within it feels for the other, supports the other, stands in solidarity with the other. Every person, in any homeland and in any of the Arab countries that were created after the First World War, feels that his country encompasses all Arab lands.

Today, my brothers, as we celebrate the birth of this republic, we ask God to grant us success. We ask God to strengthen us with His power. We ask God to guide us with determination and faith, and to strengthen us so that we may achieve the dreams we have long called for, so that we may establish true freedom in this region of the world, that there be no place for spheres of influence, that we fill the “vacuum” they speak of ourselves, and that we may be a source of support for all Arabs in every country and every homeland.

Today, my brothers, as we celebrate the birth of the United Arab Republic, which sprang from our will, sprang from our conscience, and was the result of our determination, we turn to the future believing that we are at the beginning of the path: the path of freedom, the path of work, the path of unity, and the path of solidarity. May God grant you success.

May the peace and mercy of God be upon you.

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Speech by President Gamal Abdel Nasser from the Presidential Palace, delivered to the Egyptian and Syrian masses and delegations who came to congratulate him on his election as President, on February 23, 1958.