هو صندوق النقد الدولي بيعمل ايه في مصر؟

ايه هو صندوق النقد الدولي؟


حكومة أحمد نظيف و سياسات صندوق النقد الدولي


إيه علاقة سياسات صندوق النقد الدولي بثورة 25 يناير؟


ايه هدف صندوق النقد من تقديم القروض لمصر بعد ثورة ٢٥؟


هل يوجد بدائل لقرض صندوق النقد الدولي؟

pity the nation دولة تثير الشفقة

p.s. watch it full screen in hd

"The food crisis is the greatest demonstration of the historical failure of the capitalist model”
-Hugo Chavez

Since the late 70s the Egyptian government has started the country on a course to economic liberalization. This entails the rolling back of the government's responsibilities across all public sectors, the lowering of import tariffs and an increased drive for exports. One of the sectors hardest hit by these policies is Egyptian agriculture. Due to liberalization of land laws that the government implemented in 1999, land rent prices have gone through the roof as they are now determined by the "market" rather than fixed agreements between landowners and small farmers working the land. Prior to the introduction of this new law, the state played a role in protecting small farmers from landlessness. For generations families inhabiting and working small land plots had a certain right to the land they worked. Up until 1999, if landowners wanted to move farmers from their land and use the land otherwise, they had to pay the families half the land's value. When the Egyptian authorities implemented this new land law nearly one million farmers became landless and largely left their farming practices completely. Furthermore, government subsidies with the aim of supporting agricultural production by small farmers has nearly disappeared forcing small farmers to compete with an increasing number of agri-businesses in Egypt. The government is keen on increasing exports to their northern trade partners to gain profits in foreign currency. This has meant that the government sells arable desert land to entrepreneurs at extremely low prices, while going so far as to provide subsidies per exported ton on certain produce. These policies are jeopardizing the very existence of small farmers in Egypt while tying Egyptian food prices to international markets and decreasing the possibility for Egypt to maintain food self-sufficiency. 

In "Pity The Nation" we will meet traditional farmer, Hagg Desouki, in the village of Ghnama in Egypt's nile delta. We will hear from Hagg Desouki why he has changed the types of crops he once planted and how his farming practices have changed due to the Egyptian government's change in agricultural policies. We will follow Hagg Desouki as he picks his crop of green peppers and transports them to the local vegetable market for sale on local Egyptian markets. Certain vegetables are disappearing from these markets while prices according to government statistics have increased 45% in the past year. In contrast we will visit Dina Farms one of Egypt's foremost agri-businesses located on Egypt's intensely watered Western Sahara. At Dina Farms we will see the technology-intense and labor sparse ten thousand acre farm, which is a central player in the Egyptian authorities new agenda for export driven food industry. At Dina Farms Executive Tamer Hassan will explain the logic behind the farm's drive to export and its aim in industrializing farming. The water acquifers currently watering this agri-business will soon run out. A World Bank project intends to re-route water from the nile to the dry desert lands. Meanwhile, in the delta water for Egypt's small farmers is already insufficient. Guiding us through these drastic changes in Egypt's agricultural landscape will be Dr Habib Ayeb, an expert on sociological effects of changing agricultural policies in the region.   

If the Egyptian authorities' agricultural policies continue on their current course, food prices will continue to skyrocket, making life increasingly difficult for millions of Egypt's poor. Meanwhile, the likes of Hagg Desouki will eventually disappear from their land like hundreds of thousands of farmers already have in Egypt. An uprising in the industrial town of Mahalla al-Kobra in the summer of 2008 and the most recent uprising in Egypt are direct consequences of the food policies we encounter in "Pity The Nation."

the military and the people

forgive me for my silence.

I posted an article that ended like this 15 February:

"But as the Supreme Military Council seeks to re-impose "stability" by, for example, banning labour strikes, Egyptians must be alert to the alarm bells that are ringing. The military, which has played its hand with great care throughout the protests - winning the trust and respect of many of the demonstrators - receives an annual $1.3bn in aid from the US, the same country that has been pushing the implementation of the economic model that has been so damaging to Egyptians.

The demonstrators must not now be fooled into believing that overthrowing the face of a corrupt and repressive regime is sufficient. They must prevent the military from propping up an economic order that only benefits the few and can be maintained only through iron-fisted rule."

my position has not changed one bit since, this eye witness account of a military attack on demonstrators in tarhri square Friday night comfirms:



follow my links on the ongoing Egyptian intifada here

There is a strange silence in the air today...

it has finally sunk in that the egyptian military are not on the side of the people. egyptians are up against a military apparatus that is maintaining the status quo "system," by doing so we are confronting a global neo-liberal regime whereby the egyptian government would follow the instructions of the powerful: protect Israel, obey IMF and World Bank economic policies, maintain the egyptian working class as a sweat shop to allow for the comfort of our richer neighbors here and elsewhere.

This battle is far from over.

Laila El-Haddad: the Impact of Egypt's Uprising on Palestinians

The effects of Privatization أثر الخصخصة

view the rest of the set

read more of the story by Yassin Gaber

Mahalla workers strike for higher minimum wages and independent union

10 days later: Mubarak's Downfall رحيل مبارك

via @benthanaa

Egypt: some links

Though a couple weeks old, one of the best articles i have read on Egypt is by Nomi Prins: The Egyptian Uprising Is a Direct Response to Ruthless Global Capitalism

She writes,

"Citizens protesting in the streets from Greece to England, and more demonstrably, from Tunisia to Egypt, may be revolting for national reasons and against individual governments, but they share a common bond. They are revolting against a world that lines the pockets of rich deal-makers while sticking the tab to ordinary people. That bond is global."

Also worth reading are two articles focusing on the role of the military:

Nathan Brown's The Struggle to Define the Egyptian Revolution | The Middle East Channel

and Egypt’s army looks beyond Mubarak by Yezid Sayegh written before Mubarak's downfall but with good insight

Adam Hanieh, Egypt's Uprising

always worth reading: Adam Hanieh on Egypt's Uprising

neoliberalism has produced rapid growth rates but, simultaneously, it has led to worsening living standards for the majority of the population and the increased concentration of wealth in the hands of a tiny minority (literally just a handful of families).
...
The highest ranks of Egypt's military should properly be considered as part of the capitalist class with significant economic interests that overlap with the state and private sector. Precisely because of the military's central role in sustaining U.S. power regionally, and its own stake in the reproduction of Egyptian capitalism, any belief that the Egyptian military is 'part of the people' or 'neutral and above politics' is a very dangerous illusion"