Amin Iskander (, ; born 1952) is an Egyptian politician, writer and activist.Amin Iskandar
''

Jadaliyya ''Jadaliyya'' ("dialectic") is an independent ezine founded in 2010 by the Arab Studies Institute (ASI) to cover the Arab World and the broader Middle East. It publishes articles in Arabic, French, English and Turkish, and is run primarily on a ...

''. 2011-11-18. He is the co-founder, along with

Hamdeen Sabahi Hamdeen Sabahi ( ar, حمدين صباحى, Ḥamdīn Ṣabāḥī, ; born 5 July 1954) is an Egyptian politician, journalist and poet. He is currently the leader of the Egyptian Popular Current and a co-leader of the National Salvation Front. ...

, of the Dignity Party (''Al-Karama'') and is currently a member of the People's Assembly. He is considered a veteran Nasserist and a long-time advocate of pan-Arab unity. He has authored several books specializing in Egyptian and Arab politics. He is a resident of

Shobra Shoubra ( ar, شبرا, ; Coptic: '; also written Shubra or Shobra) is one of the largest districts of Cairo, Egypt and it is administratively divided into three areas: Shubra, Road El Farag, and Elsahel. Etymology Although Shoubra has been i ...

and a

Coptic Christian Copts ( cop, ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ; ar, الْقِبْط ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt and Sudan since antiquity. Most ethnic Copts are ...

. He died in November 2022.

Political career

Early activism

Iskander began his career in activism as a staunch

Nasserist Nasserism ( ) is an Arab nationalist and Arab socialist political ideology based on the thinking of Gamal Abdel Nasser, one of the two principal leaders of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and Egypt's second President. Spanning the domestic a ...

. Throughout the 1970s, during the presidency of

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...

, he was part of the anti-Sadat student movement and won in two student union elections. He also participated in the

anti-austerity protests The anti-austerity movement refers to the mobilisation of street protests and grassroots campaigns that has happened across various countries, especially in Europe, since the onset of the worldwide Great Recession. Anti- austerity actions are ...

of 1977 which resulted in his arrest. He was arrested two more times, during the 1980 parliamentary elections and in 1983 for suspicions of being part of an clandestine Nasserist organization. He was severely tortured during his latter stint in prison. When the

Arab Democratic Nasserist Party The Arab Democratic Nasserist Party ( ar, الحزب العربي الديمقراطي الناصري, al-Hizb al-'Arabi al-Dimuqrati al-Nasseri) is a Nasserist political party in Egypt, styling itself as the ideological successor of the old Arab ...

(ADNP) was legalized in 1992 Iskander joined the party, which was founded by

Diaa al-Din Dawoud Diaa al-Din Dawoud (name also spelled ''Diya el-Din Dawud'' or ''Diaaeddin Dawoud''; 26 March 1926 – 6 April 2011)

, but later left the party in 1998 along with other members of the "new guard" after disagreements with the party's leaders. Along with former ADNP cadre

, Iskander co-founded the Dignity Party (''Al-Karama''). He continued his activism, being instrumental in the establishment of the Egyptian-

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

solidarity movement in 2000 after the start of the

Second Intifada The Second Intifada ( ar, الانتفاضة الثانية, ; he, האינתיפאדה השנייה, ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada ( ar, انتفاضة الأقصى, label=none, '), was a major Palestinian uprising against Israel. ...

(Palestinian uprising) against the

Israeli occupation Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. While the term is currently applied to the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, it has also been used to refer to a ...

. He also helped organize protests against the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

and the ensuing

occupation Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

. These protests, together with wide disapproval of

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...

's policies in Egypt, eventually culminated with the founding of

Kefaya Kefaya ( arz, كفاية ''kefāya'', , "enough") is the unofficial moniker of the Egyptian Movement for Change ( ar, الحركة المصرية من أجل التغيير ''el-Haraka el-Masreyya men agl el-Taghyeer''), a grassroots coalition ...

, a grassroots opposition movement. Iskander was one of the principal leaders of the movement and became a vocal opponent of the planned, succession of

Gamal Mubarak Gamal Al Din Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak ( ar, جمال الدين محمد حسنى سيد مبارك, ; born 27 December 1963) is the younger of the two sons of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and former First Lady Suzanne Mubarak. ...

, Hosni's son, to the presidency which Iskander criticized as "presidential inheritance."

Egyptian revolution and aftermath

Iskander joined the youth-led protests of the

2011 Egyptian revolution The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...

on its first day, 25 January and was arrested by security forces while protesting in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

's Shobra district on the first day. He continued protesting after his release on 27 January. He became the Dignity Party's secretary-general in 2011. Iskander strongly condemned the killing of mostly

Coptic Christians Copts ( cop, ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ; ar, الْقِبْط ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt and Sudan since antiquity. Most ethnic Copts are ...

protesters during the

Maspero demonstrations The Maspero Massacre initially started as demonstrations in October 2011 by a group dominated by Egyptian Copts in reaction to the demolition of a church in Upper Egypt claimed to be built without the appropriate license. The peaceful protesters ...

on 9 October. During the 2011-2012 Egyptian parliamentary election, Iskander represented the Dignity Party and was part of the Democratic Alliance. He won a seat in Cairo's First District (Al-Sahel).Results of Egypt’s People’s Assembly Election
. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Works

*''The Search for the Egyptian Personality'' (1968, Al-Jumhuriyya

*''Saddam Husayn: Struggler, Thinker and Human Being'' (1980, Hachett

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iskander, Amin 1952 births Egyptian dissidents Egyptian people of Coptic descent Coptic politicians Egyptian Arab nationalists Democracy activists from Cairo Egyptian revolutionaries Members of the House of Representatives (Egypt) Living people People of the Egyptian revolution of 2011 Politicians from Cairo Nasserists