Table Of ContentEgypt
Egypt
the Moment of Change
Edited by
Rabab El-Mahdi & Philip Marfleet
Zed Books
london new york
Egypt: The Moment of Change was first published in 2009 by
Zed Books Ltd, 7 Cynthia Street, London n1 9jf, uk and
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Editorial Copyright © Rabab El-Mahdi and philip Marfleet 2009
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Index by philip Marfleet
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Contents
glossary vii
preface and acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
Rabab El-Mahdi & Philip Marfleet
1 State and society 14
Philip Marfleet
2 Economic policy: from state control to decay
and corruption 34
Ahmad El-Sayed El-Naggar
3 the land and the people 51
Ray Bush
4 Workers’ struggles under ‘socialism’ and neoliberalism 68
Joel Beinin
5 the democracy movement: cycles of protest 87
Rabab El-Mahdi
6 Islamism(s) old and new 103
Sameh Naguib
7 torture: a state policy 120
Aida Seif El-Dawla
8 Mubarak in the international arena 136
Anne Alexander
Conclusion: What’s next? 151
Rabab El-Mahdi & Philip Marfleet
Notes 156
References 164
Contributors 180
Index 182
glossary
Terms and names in Arabic
awqaf religious endowments (sing. waqf)
aysh bread; aysh baladi (made with wholewheat flour); asysh shami
(made with white flour)
feddan measurement of land area: 0.42 hectare, or 1.038 acres
fellah peasant, farmer (pl. fellahin)
fuul fava beans
gallabeyya loose-fitting male/female garment
halat al-tawari’ state of emergency
hijab headscarf for women
iftar meal that breaks Ramadan fast after sunset
infitah opening; al-infitah al-iqtisadi – economic opening
intifada uprising, upheaval
jihad striving, exertion, fight, war
manabir pulpits (sing. minbar)
niqab cloth covering the face
al-nizam the system
pasha senior rank in the Ottoman political system; used in Egypt
until 1952
sharia laws of Islam
shura consultation; also the name of the upper house of the Egyptian
parliament
viii Egypt
State agencies, political parties and movements
Amn al-Markazi Central Security Force – CSF
Gama’at Islamiyya Islamic groups (variously called gama’a Islamiya,
al-Jamaat al-Islamiya, al-gama’a al-Islamiyya)
al-Harakat al-Tag’eer Movements for Change
al-Hay’aat al-Tahrir Liberation Agency
Hamla Sha’biya min Agl al-Tag’eer popular Campaign for Change
al-Hizb al-Watani al-Dimuqrati National Democratic party (NDp)
al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin Muslim Brotherhood
al-Ittihad al-Ishtiraqi Socialist Union
al-Ittihad al-Qawmi National Union
Jihaz Amn al-Dawla State Security Service
Jihaz al-Amn al-Qawmi National Security Service
Kifaya Enough! Slogan of the Egyptian Movement for Change and
name by which it is usually known
Majlis al-Shaab people’s Assembly (lower house of parliament)
Majlis al-Shura Shura Council (upper house of parliament)
Mabaheth Amn al-Dawla general Directorate of State Security
Investigations
al-Mukhabarat al-Aama general Intelligence and Security Service
al-Mukhabarat al-Harbeya Military Intelligence Service
Nadi al-Quda Judges’ Club
al-Tagammu’ National progressive Unionist party
Wafd ‘Delegation’ party
Abbreviations and acronyms
ANHRI Arabic Network for Human Rights Information
ASU Arab Socialist Union
EAAt Egyptian Association Against torture
EOHR Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights
ERSAp Economic Reform and Structural Adjustment programme
EtUF al-Ittihad al-‘Amm li-Niqabat ‘Ummal Misr, Egyptian trade
Union Federation (also known as EFtU)
IFI international financial institution
LCHR Land Center for Human Rights
NDp National Democratic party
NEpAD New partnership for Africa’s Development
UNHCR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees
preface and acknowledgements
this book examines economy, politics and society at a key moment
in modern Egyptian history. But its point of departure is not the
economy or political system as such; rather, it is the active engage-
ment of Egyptians attempting urgently to bring change in their own
lives and as part of projects for wider social transformation.
In the 1970s Egypt became a laboratory for economic changes later
imposed worldwide as part of the neoliberal agenda for development.
the outcome has been striking, providing important long-term evi-
dence of how ‘marketisation’ affects society at large. While a minority
of Egyptians have accumulated unprecedented wealth, the mass of
people experience greater poverty and insecurity; at the same time
they are victims of a suffocating autocracy. Like many states of the
global South, Egypt is ruled by a regime committed both to the ‘free’
market and to the denial of political reform. It is in this context that
scores of millions of Egyptians struggle to meet basic needs and to
secure fundamental rights.
there is a dearth of information and analysis on Egypt for the
general reader. this book attempts to tackle the deficit; at the same
time it seeks to bring together materials of interest to academics, re-
searchers, students and others concerned directly with Egypt and the
Middle East, and with issues of change in the global South. It draws
