A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Egypt's Workers and the Revolution

Here's a useful article on how Egypt's laborers are feeling frustrated and left behind as the elites concentrate on political reform rather than such issues as minimum wage. I think the young intelligentsia and elites should recall that strikes across the country and especially in Mahalla helped start the protest movement, and that the workers were part of the demonstrations from the beginning. Yet they've seen few changes.

1 comment:

David Mack said...

The article you link to is an overdue recognition that all the focus on the political concerns of youth, liberal leaders and MB leaders marginalizes what are likely to be the most salient issues a year from now: higher unemployment and higher commodity prices. Whatever government results from the elections will face a firestorm from the far more numerous miserable poor who care little about face book and twitter access. Democracy could get a very bad name, and demagogues with simplistic answers will exploit that in ways that will not be pretty.