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Gamal Abdel Nasser — Speech to the Officers' Club, Cairo, 25 April 1959 (UAR period): pan-Arab unity ("The independence of all Arab countries is a closely knit entity") and POSITIVE NEUTRALITY / non-alignment ("we shall not… accept the role of a satellite"; "non-alignment to either East or West"). [Third doc — distinct PAN-ARABISM + NON-ALIGNMENT axes, vs the existing Suez/anti-imperialism and Arab-socialism docs.]

English EG flag Egypt 1959-04-25 Tier 2 — primary or translation 170 words

Politician: Gamal Abdel Nasser

Original source: https://www.encyclopedia.com/politics/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/speech-officers-club

Content

verbatim · English
[…] we have resolved to follow an independent policy and to maintain the independence of our country. We made that known when we declared that our policy is based on positive neutrality and nonalignment, for this means that we shall not submit to power politics, and shall not, under any circumstances, accept the role of a satellite or allow our fate to be decided in a foreign country or our policy to be planned in a foreign capital.

[…] the banner of Arab nationalism and Arab solidarity was raised in Cairo and we felt that we could not really feel free or enjoy our independence until each and every Arab country became independent. The independence of all Arab countries is a closely knit entity and we consider that there is a serious threat to our independence if any Arab country remains under foreign domination.

We are determined, rulers and people, to pursue a policy aiming at complete independence, non-alignment to either East or West and non-subjection to any foreign nation.

English translation

translation
[THIRD DOCUMENT for Gamal Abdel Nasser, covering DISTINCT axes from his existing two (Suez / anti-imperialism, and the National Charter / Arab-socialism): here PAN-ARAB UNITY (Arab nationalism, Arab solidarity, the Egypt–Syria union / United Arab Republic) and POSITIVE NEUTRALITY / NON-ALIGNMENT (refusing both Cold-War blocs). Source: excerpts of his Speech to the Officers' Club, Cairo, 25 April 1959, reprinted in "The Arab States and the Arab League: A Documentary Record" (1962) and reproduced by Gale/encyclopedia.com; tier-2; English translation of the Arabic original; all three passages confirmed verbatim against the fetched page after correcting an inline-link spacing artifact in the extraction; each passage is an EXCERPT from the longer speech, marked […] where it begins mid-flow. The same speech also contains his anti-imperialism, anti-Zionism and (UAR-era) anti-communism; those are deliberately NOT excerpted here — this document is scoped to the pan-Arabism and non-alignment axes that his existing documents do not cover.] The foundational declared positions of Gamal Abdel Nasser — President of Egypt / the United Arab Republic — on two axes. (1) PAN-ARAB UNITY: Arab nationalism and Arab solidarity as a single political project — "we could not really feel free or enjoy our independence until each and every Arab country became independent," and "The independence of all Arab countries is a closely knit entity" — the doctrine underpinning the 1958 Egypt–Syria union (the UAR). (2) POSITIVE NEUTRALITY / NON-ALIGNMENT: an "independent policy… based on positive neutrality and nonalignment," refusing to "accept the role of a satellite or allow our fate to be decided in a foreign country," and a settled commitment to "complete independence, non-alignment to either East or West and non-subjection to any foreign nation." [Axes: pan-Arabism / Arab-unity (Arab nationalism and solidarity; the indivisibility of Arab independence; the UAR union), foreign-policy alignment (positive neutrality; non-alignment between the US-led and Soviet blocs; sovereignty against great-power spheres of influence; anti-satellite/anti-client posture), nationalism / anti-colonialism (national independence as the supreme aim). NOTE: a declared-doctrine document — Nasser's stated political positions as delivered, not an assessment of the UAR's record.]

How to cite this document

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In-text (Nasser, 1959)
APA 7
Nasser, G. A.. (1959). Gamal Abdel Nasser — Speech to the Officers' Club, Cairo, 25 April 1959 (UAR period): pan-Arab unity ("The independence of all Arab countries is a closely knit entity") and POSITIVE NEUTRALITY / non-alignment ("we shall not… accept the role of a satellite"; "non-alignment to either East or West"). [Third doc — distinct PAN-ARABISM + NON-ALIGNMENT axes, vs the existing Suez/anti-imperialism and Arab-socialism docs.]. encyclopedia.com. Retrieved July 28, 2026, from https://www.encyclopedia.com/politics/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/speech-officers-club
Chicago (author-date)
Nasser, Gamal Abdel. 1959. "Gamal Abdel Nasser — Speech to the Officers' Club, Cairo, 25 April 1959 (UAR period): pan-Arab unity ("The independence of all Arab countries is a closely knit entity") and POSITIVE NEUTRALITY / non-alignment ("we shall not… accept the role of a satellite"; "non-alignment to either East or West"). [Third doc — distinct PAN-ARABISM + NON-ALIGNMENT axes, vs the existing Suez/anti-imperialism and Arab-socialism docs.]." encyclopedia.com. Accessed July 28, 2026. https://www.encyclopedia.com/politics/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/speech-officers-club.
BibTeX
@misc{doc-document-82de3b2b-e458-4bf2-bc02-57e532c6997d,
  author       = {Nasser, Gamal Abdel},
  title        = {Gamal Abdel Nasser — Speech to the Officers' Club, Cairo, 25 April 1959 (UAR period): pan-Arab unity ("The independence of all Arab countries is a closely knit entity") and POSITIVE NEUTRALITY / non-alignment ("we shall not… accept the role of a satellite"; "non-alignment to either East or West"). [Third doc — distinct PAN-ARABISM + NON-ALIGNMENT axes, vs the existing Suez/anti-imperialism and Arab-socialism docs.]},
  year         = {1959},
  date         = {1959-04-25},
  howpublished = {Online; hosted at encyclopedia.com},
  url          = {https://www.encyclopedia.com/politics/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/speech-officers-club},
  urldate      = {2026-07-28},
  note         = {Retrieved via Tayyar at https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/documents/82de3b2b-e458-4bf2-bc02-57e532c6997d},
}

Retrieved via Tayyar: https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/documents/82de3b2b-e458-4bf2-bc02-57e532c6997d on July 28, 2026. Tayyar is a research host for primary sources, not the author of this document.