It’s the Economy

The second and most important factor explaining the country’s instability is directly connected to the concerted campaign of repression.

“Social, economic and democratic reforms have been pushed aside in the last three years and none of the goals of the revolution have been achieved” exiled protest leader Ahmed Salah told me in an interview.

He is not alone in pointing to unresolved social and economic problems.

Whether it’s in the era of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces government immediately after the fall of Mubarak, or during the Muslim Brotherhood presidency of Muhammed Morsi or today, “there has beena war on workers’ rights” and “the overall situation for workers is now worse than before the revolution,” said veteran independent union advocate Kamal Abbas, general coordinator of the prestigious Center for Trade Union and Workers Services.

And there is plenty of evidence that the voices of Salah and Abbas are echoed all across the land.

The May 1, 2014 Cairo Post reported the labor movement witnessed an unprecedented escalation in protests and strikes across different economic sectors during the first quarter of 2013 with workers in January 2014 carrying out “55 protests in 21 different governorates [states]. February witnessed an unprecedented 1,044 protests in 27 governorates and 321 strikes occurred in March in 23 governorates.”

The economic situation remains desperate for most Egyptians and is probably the weakest link confounding the military’s strategy of stabilizing the country through mass repression.

For example, a paltry minimum wage recently enacted raised monthly salaries to $172 from $102. But it only applies to some government employees and not to any private sector workers at all. This wholly inadequate gesture has infuriated millions and actually became the focus of some demonstrations.

While repression makes it difficult for protests to occur in public spaces, we can discern from the number of worker protests that it is very difficult for the police to surveil the thousands of worksites where seething anger often boils over.

The weakness of these individual workplace actions, however, is that they are neither coordinated with other worksites nor linked to the social and democratic demands of the rest of the population.

If these challenges to broaden support are not met, workers risk exhausting themselves, becoming politically isolated and, as a result, more vulnerable to further police violence.

Uniting worker economic struggles with the overall fight for democracy and social justice can be done. After all, workers conducted the largest general strike in Egyptian history in response to police attacks on protestors during the fight against Mubarak.

In numerous interviews with me in the hours after Mubarak’s fall when I first arrived in Cairo, young democracy activists would report with big smiling faces how after the Jan. 25, 2011 revolt began “workers waited a few days until the end of the month when they were paid before swarming into Tahrir” and shutting down workplaces across the country.

This same anecdote was happily repeated to me more than once by proud and gleeful young activists in the afterglow of victory. It was openly acknowledged that the participation of workers with youth and democracy activists was a turning point in the revolution for “bread, freedom and social justice.”

Egyptian youth remember well this turning point. Now it is time for worker leaders to remember it as well.

Carl Finamore is Machinist Lodge 1781 delegate to the San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO. Arriving in Cairo only a few hours after Hosni Mubarak was overthrown, he has seen close up during his three visits the bravery of the Egyptian people. He can be reached

atعنوان البريد الإلكتروني هذا محمي من روبوتات السبام. يجب عليك تفعيل الجافاسكربت لرؤيته." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: #cf1028;">عنوان البريد الإلكتروني هذا محمي من روبوتات السبام. يجب عليك تفعيل الجافاسكربت لرؤيته.

Link:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/05/12/why-a-new-president-will-not-stabilize-egypt/