By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
"CAIRO, Oct 9 (IPS) - Public disaffection with the government appears to have reached an all-time high.
"There's no denying that popular anger towards the government is rising across the board," Nabil Abdel-Fattah, assistant director at the semi-official Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies told IPS. "The political friction has become palpable."
A rockslide last month that killed scores of people in a Cairo shantytown became another provocation for rising anger. It was a disaster for which many held the state indirectly responsible.
More than 100 people were killed when a rockslide in eastern Cairo Sep. 6 flattened dozens of makeshift homes in the densely populated shantytown Dweiqa. The government bore no direct blame for the disaster, but the incident threw a spotlight on the state's long-standing inability to cope with the proliferation of "informal" -- and often structurally unsound -- housing in and around the sprawling capital......
According to Hamadeen Sabahi, founder of the leftist Karama opposition party, there are currently ten million Egyptians -- to whom the government doesn't provide any services -- living in shantytowns like Duweiqa. If the problem isn't solved, he said, "it will eventually lead to a spontaneous, popular explosion." .......
In early August, senior NDP member and business magnate Mamdouh Ismail was acquitted of manslaughter for the death of more that a thousand people in 2006, when a ferry he owned sank in the Red Sea. The verdict was greeted with public outrage, particularly among relatives of the victims who saw the decision as proof that Egypt's corporate and governmental elite stand outside the law.........
"CAIRO, Oct 9 (IPS) - Public disaffection with the government appears to have reached an all-time high.
"There's no denying that popular anger towards the government is rising across the board," Nabil Abdel-Fattah, assistant director at the semi-official Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies told IPS. "The political friction has become palpable."
A rockslide last month that killed scores of people in a Cairo shantytown became another provocation for rising anger. It was a disaster for which many held the state indirectly responsible.
More than 100 people were killed when a rockslide in eastern Cairo Sep. 6 flattened dozens of makeshift homes in the densely populated shantytown Dweiqa. The government bore no direct blame for the disaster, but the incident threw a spotlight on the state's long-standing inability to cope with the proliferation of "informal" -- and often structurally unsound -- housing in and around the sprawling capital......
According to Hamadeen Sabahi, founder of the leftist Karama opposition party, there are currently ten million Egyptians -- to whom the government doesn't provide any services -- living in shantytowns like Duweiqa. If the problem isn't solved, he said, "it will eventually lead to a spontaneous, popular explosion." .......
In early August, senior NDP member and business magnate Mamdouh Ismail was acquitted of manslaughter for the death of more that a thousand people in 2006, when a ferry he owned sank in the Red Sea. The verdict was greeted with public outrage, particularly among relatives of the victims who saw the decision as proof that Egypt's corporate and governmental elite stand outside the law.........
"These incidents have re-ignited the long-simmering issue of coupling business interests with authority, and how this practice inevitably leads to the spread of government corruption," said Abd al-Fattah.
All the while, the government's failure to protect the public from rapidly increasing inflation -- which continues to soar month-on-month -- has also fed frustration. Rising food costs were felt with particular acuteness in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when Muslim families traditionally break daylong fasts with generous meals.
According to some estimates, as many as 40 percent of Egypt's 80 million people already live around or under the poverty line, meaning they survive on a dollar a day or less.......
All the while, the government's failure to protect the public from rapidly increasing inflation -- which continues to soar month-on-month -- has also fed frustration. Rising food costs were felt with particular acuteness in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when Muslim families traditionally break daylong fasts with generous meals.
According to some estimates, as many as 40 percent of Egypt's 80 million people already live around or under the poverty line, meaning they survive on a dollar a day or less.......
Sabahi went on, however, to say that many Egyptians were also fed up with a political opposition seemingly incapable of challenging the status quo. Although Egypt's parliament is dominated by the NDP, roughly a fifth of the seats in the assembly are held by independent and opposition MPs.
"People may have lost all faith in the government, but they have hardly granted it to the opposition either," said Sabahi. "The government has failed across the board, but the opposition, too, has failed to rally public discontent and bring about political change." ........
"People are angry, yes," said Abd al-Fattah. "And, notably, both in the independent press and in everyday conversation, people no longer seem to be afraid of expressing this anger." "
"People may have lost all faith in the government, but they have hardly granted it to the opposition either," said Sabahi. "The government has failed across the board, but the opposition, too, has failed to rally public discontent and bring about political change." ........
"People are angry, yes," said Abd al-Fattah. "And, notably, both in the independent press and in everyday conversation, people no longer seem to be afraid of expressing this anger." "
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