The night is long

[polly7]

By Vijay Prashad
Source: Frontline
February 20, 2015

LARGE, CORRUGATED IRON FENCES BLOCK the road to Tahrir Square in Cairo. The fences are painted with the Egyptian flag. There are, of course, ways to get into the square, but these are few. On the eve of the fourth anniversary of the January 25 Revolution, the mood in Egypt was mixed. Many wanted to take to the streets, if not to protest against the current government then at least to celebrate their feat of four years ago. It required an act of supreme bravery to scale the fences. Nearby, black-clad security forces stood ready, their guns quick to fire.

El-Sisi claims that protests are not banned, only those that harm the economy. He has tried to cover himself with the flag—a patriotic military leader who is the bulwark against terrorism and stands for economic stability. This hearkens back to the days of Gamal Abdel Nasser, but with less credibility. There are no great ambitions for Arab nationalism, no great plans for the region, no ability to lift the hopes of the Egyptian people. Money from Saudi Arabia and the United States curtails the horizon. International pressure for real change in Egypt is not likely. What change will come must come from within.

Amongst the Workers

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission travelled to Cairo in November 2014 to report on the progress of the El-Sisi government. It gave the new regime full marks for its economic reforms: “The authorities have already begun to take the action needed to achieve their objectives. They have begun bold subsidy and tax reforms.”

The government cut back on subsidies across the board, including in the cotton sector. Low global prices for commodities such as cotton and the removal of the subsidy will ring the death knell for this sector. Twenty years ago, Egyptian cotton growers produced 400,000 tonnes of cotton lint. When they allowed cotton prices to be dictated by the world market, the farmers gave up growing cotton. Last year, the farmers produced only 127,000 tonnes. With the end to the, that number is likely to decline. Cotton, the fourth pyramid of Egypt, is likely to go to ruin as a result of IMF advice.

Full article: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/the-night-is-long/

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. If cotton is the fourth pyramid, maybe it's time to build a new pyramid.

Supply and demand is always going to rule market economics, and if there simply isn't the demand (at prices that will sustain them), suppliers are going to go out of business. There's a certain 'holding back the sea' aspect to simply having constant subsidies forever for a given industry. If you want to keep a vital industry viable, then sure, you might make sure it sticks around domestically, so that you can't be suddenly crippled by an absence of imports. But is cotton vital domestically? Couldn't those farmers be eased into other crops for which domestic demand exists, or subsidized into filling some other greated need for society, rather than simply kept doing the same thing over and over as the need dwindles?

[KoKo]

2. Recommend!

[midnight]

3. I don't have an understanding on this economic move by the IMF, but it sounds counterproductive.