Ahmed Fouad Negm

Ahmed Fouad Negm (22 May 1929 – 3 December 2013) was an Egyptian poet who wrote in Egyptian spoken Arabic. He was most known for his patriotic and revolutionary Egyptian Arabic poetry and work with Egyptian composer Sheikh Imam. Negm is often refered to as “poet of the people”,^[1][2] and he's been seen as "a bit of a folk hero in Egypt" or "el-Fagommi".^[3]

Negm was born in Sharqia, Egypt on 22 May 1929.

In 2007, Negm was named by the United Nations Poverty Action as Ambassador of the poor, chosen to advocate for the world's poor. He won the 2013 Prince Claus Award for ‘Unwavering Integrity’.^[4][5][6]

On 3 December 2013, Negm died at the age of 84 in Cairo, Egypt from a long-illness.^[1][7]

Born into a poor family in a village in the Nile Delta called Kfoor Negm, he was one of 17 brothers. His only education is based on memorising the Koran in the religious Kutaab schools managed by Al-Azhar. During his youth, he mostly worked as a domestic servant, agricultural worker and shepherd.^[8]

He got married to several women. His first marriage was with Fatima Mansour, with whom he had a child, Afaf. Second marriage was with Izzah Balbaa, and later Safinaz Kazem, having another kid with the latest one. After that, he married Sonia Mikiew, and lastly to Omaymah Abd Al-Wahab.^[8]

Ahmed Fouad Negm was a political prisoner on and off for almost 18 years. In 1959, he was imprisoned for thirty-three months, accused of embezzlement, and released in May 1962. After meeting novelist Abd Al-Hakeem Qasem and discovering his potential as a poet, a prison officer encouraged him and helped him type his poems and send them to a poetry contest held by the Ministry of Culture, winning the first prize.^[9] The Ministry published the collection “Pictures from Life and Prison” in 1962, and the writer Suhair El-Alamawi introduced it to the public by writing the introduction to it.^[8]

In 1964, he started working at the Asian-African Solidarity Organisation in Cairo until he was arrested in 1969 on a political charge. During the mandate of President Gamal Abdul Nasser, he ordered Fouad Negm imprisonment along Sheikh Imam, due to their song “Al-Hamdo Lilah”; they were sentenced to life in prison. He was released three years later after the death of Nasser.^[9]

In 1977, on the mandate of President Anwar Al-Sadat, he was arrested again and sentenced to a year in prison by the military court, charged with reciting a poem called “An Important Statement, which mocked Al-Sadat and his policies. ^[9][10] More specifically, Negm was charged with invading the faculty of Engineering at Ayn Al Shams University in Cairo, to interrupt classes and cause riots.^[10]

In 2010, he joined the Al-Wafad Party, resigning a few months later. He also participated in the Free Egyptians Party

Negm became well-known for his political poems, which were often bold and full of criticism against the ruling government. He often spoke out against and expressed his political disagreement with Egyptian presidents, including Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat, and Hosni Mubarak, for which he was sent to prison several times.^[11]He also often expressed his views about major events in Egypt’s history, like the 1967 war defeat, the 1977 bread riots, and the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, also showing the widespread anger and humiliation of the common people following these events.^[12][13]

Most of his poems were written as part of his collaboration with Sheikh Imam, which got turned into song format.^[2] Many of these songs became popular among students, workers, and protesters,^[13] especially in the 1970s and during the 2011 Arab Spring, when people used his words to demand freedom and justice from the oppressive regimes. Poems like "Who Are They? and "The Ha-ha Cow" often had a key role in many social protests, after 1967.^[12][14] His poems were especially suitable for demonstrations, as many of his poems circulated primarily in oral form, usually in the context of live poetry readings and musical performances.^[14]

Negm’s poetry had an especially important role in the 2011 uprising against Mubarak’s regime,^[13] as parts of the songs versions of his poems were often chanted during the demonstrations. ^[2][11][15] Some of the most repeated lines were “The Brave man is brave/ The coward a coward/ Come down with the brave / Down to the square” and “Who are they and who are we? / They are the princes and the Sultans / they are the ones with wealth and power and / we are the impoverished and deprived…”,^[11] which became the symbols of Egyptian opposition and the resistance of the masses.^[2]

Despite his harsh tone against the social imbalances existing in Egypt, his poetry was always written with his love of his country in mind.^[2] Inspired by many of his experiences in life, including being poor, working various small jobs, and spending time in prison due to his political views, he wrote his poetry with the aim to turn light on the social imbalances and hardships present in the Egyptian society.^[15] He used humour, sarcasm, and popular sayings in his poems,^{[2][15][11][16] [13]} through which his work gave a voice to people from parts of society that often felt ignored or mistreated by those in power.^[13]

Some of his most well-known poems:

• “My country, My beloved”
• “Baladi wa habibati"
• “The Consolation of Poetry”
• “Who are they and who are we?”
• The State’s Groom”
• “Jīvārā māt”
• “El Mesahraty”

• Rawafed: documentary interview Ahmed Fouad Negm "part one" Alarabiya.net Archived 2011-02-11 at the Wayback Machine
• Rawafed: documentary interview Ahmed Fouad Negm "part two" Alarabiya.net Archived 2011-02-15 at the Wayback Machine