Victory Day

Dr. Ali El-Hefnawy
December 23 marks Victory Day, a day we no longer celebrate. It is the day of the valiant city of Port Said, which stood resilient against a tripartite aggression by England, France, and Israel 66 years ago. It is a day that symbolizes Egypt’s political victory over 19th-century colonialism, the restoration of Egypt’s sovereignty over its lands and the Suez Canal. This day is etched into the consciousness of generations of Egyptians who stood firm against an oppressive occupier that sought to seize the canal, which was dug by the sheer toil of an entire nation.
December 23 was deliberately removed from our national holidays, as they sought to erase it from the nation’s memory due to its significance as a victory for popular resistance. Yet, it remains deeply rooted in the collective consciousness and the national identity, despite attempts to downplay its importance.
Today, the same entities—namely, the World Bank, new economic colonialism, and its agents—are attempting to attack one of our greatest national achievements: the Suez Canal. They aim to reclaim control through ambiguous investment funds and dubious, ill-considered laws with flexible interpretations.
Do these usurpers imagine that Ferdinand de Lesseps, Benjamin Disraeli, and Rothschild have risen from their graves to set their traps once again? Do they think that the generation of 1956 is gone and that the people of Egypt have become submissive and devoid of national values? Or perhaps they imagine that Eugene Black, the World Bank President in 1956, is still alive, granting and withholding as instructed by colonial powers, exploiting our economic conditions to subjugate us. But…
The people of this nation, the descendants of December 23, 1956, will stand firm, as will the Egyptian state with its national institutions, against this threat and nonsense. They will not allow this conspiracy to seize the Suez Canal to succeed. The patriotism of the state’s leadership and every Egyptian will form a solid barrier against any attempt to infringe on the canal.
And we shall once again celebrate our victory on December 23, reaffirming our independence and sovereignty over the Suez Canal without contestation.