Political instability and unclear policies rock Egypt’s bourse By Kristen McTighe In the aftermath of the 2013 military coup that toppled Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s former Islamist president, more than 1,000 anti-government protesters were killed, thousands more jailed and hundreds sentenced to death. A government crackdown on dissent sparked international condemnation. Militant attacks became routine and at least 600 security personnel were killed as the army and government struggled to restore security. The country’s economy, ravaged by years of unrest, was slow to improve, providing little economic relief for most of the country’s 90m citizens. Yet, paradoxically, its bourse began to…
Kristen McTighe
Egypt: three constitutions in four years Crackdown on dissent makes a mockery of Egypt’s progressive constitution For nearly two years, Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abou Zeid (pictured)—known professionally as Shawkan—has been stuck in a dark, three-metre by four-metre cell with 12 other men in Cairo’s Tora prison, according to his older brother Mohammed. Security forces arrested the 27-year-old Shawkan—a contributor to publications such as Time magazine and Germany’s Die Zeit newspaper— while he was photographing the bloody dispersal of a protest camp in Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya Square on August 14th 2013. He has never been formally charged with any crime. As…
Egypt: disgruntled, restless and marginalised The post-revolution governments have done little to appease youth For Egyptian youth who took to the streets in 2011, Alaa Abd El Fattah was an icon of the revolution. Police arrested the blogger and activist, then just 23 years old, for protesting under former autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Since then three governing authorities have risen to power and Mr Abd El Fattah has been imprisoned by each. When police under the newly installed military-backed regime threw him in jail again last November, accusing him of organising an unsanctioned political protest, it was a sign for the…
Egypt: striking out Successive governments fail to address workers’ woes as labour protests swell By Kristen McTighe Labour Day in Egypt passed this year with little fanfare. Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square seemed empty without the usual crowd of workers demanding greater rights and chanting for social justice. Maybe this was a result of a cabinet decision in April not to give state workers the day off because the May 1st holiday fell on a weekend. In the past, if a celebration fell on a weekend, the following workday was a vacation. Most probably the festivities were dampened by the November…
Egypt: parties v individuals Electoral law reserving the bulk of parliamentary seats for independent candidates will protect executive power Hossam Eldin Ali sits in his office in Maadi, an upscale neighbourhood on the outskirts of Cairo. He complains of the obstacles he faces in creating his new liberal opposition party, the Liberal Youth Party. To register, he says, he needs thousands of signatures of supporters from across the country, each certified by the authorities—a feat that will cost about $100,000, he estimates. To run his campaign he must get police permission because a new law bans protests without prior approval.…
Egypt’s sprawling slums The country’s new rulers need to change their perception of informal urban neighbourhoods Izbit Khayrallah’s main commercial street is dusty and rutted. A pool of water partially covers the dirt and gravel road. About650,000 inhabitants live in this crowded neighbourhood perched on a rocky plateau on the southern outskirts of Cairo, according to Khayr wa Baraka (“peace and plenty” in Arabic), a local non-profit development group. Yet the neighbourhood, mostly brick and grey cement buildings, has no functioning sewerage system, no hospital and just one school. Four decades ago migrant workers from Upper Egypt first settled here…
