Economic injustice in Egypt will continue unless Sisi learns an important lesson

Since the Egyptian businessman Mohamed Ali called on people to protest in the streets on 20 September, all of the official media mouthpieces have tried to direct their attention elsewhere, to things that are untrue. They have claimed that the economic situation in Egypt is at its best since the July 1952 coup and that Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi is the man of giant projects and development that benefit all of Egypt.

This is nothing more than another link in the chain of misinformation of which the ordinary citizens have grown aware and are tired. Egypt is not only full of economic injustice against the people now, but it will also be the case in the future unless and until an important lesson is learnt.

The policy of trying to make the economic situation look much better than it is has failed in the harsh light of reality. This reality includes the unprecedented growth of debt, despite the obsolescence of public debt data from official sources; getting involved in projects whose economic and social costs far exceed their benefits, including the redirection of the Suez Canal towards the new capital; and handing over the keys of the economy to the army. To this must be added the suffering of the people from high prices, unemployment, repression and oppression, to the point that they are threatened in their own homes, unable to treat their bodies when they are ill and lack their daily sustenance. This is due to the abominable elitism and class divisions in Egyptian society. Everything is given to senior military officers, and then to their servants, including the police, judiciary and media.

It is foolish to glorify the increase in debts, the waste of assets, the building of palaces and prisons, the demolition of places of worship and people’s homes, the rise in unemployment and poverty rates, and the violation of sanctities and dignity, and then talk about sustainable development. This development is actually untenable because, economically, one cannot generate development from the womb of debt and should not build a new capital when its existence is not a priority over building factories and farms. Before all of this, the government should be building free, educated and conscious citizens.

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The protests of 20 September are ongoing, and include a demonstration by a new group of suffering people taking to the streets and chanting for the fall of Sisi, without being moved on by anyone. This is a reaction to the economic injustice that they face. It also indicates that the barrier of fear has been torn down and warns of an inevitable explosion of anger in the face of this regime, which thinks that the logic of brute force protects it, not the logic of serving the interests of the people given that the ruler is supposedly employed by the people. He is not their absolute master, and nor is his entourage.

Sisi and his clique have not learned from history and from the ends of the Pharaohs, who were stronger than him and more brutal. His demolition of mosques and their destruction to erase Egypt’s Muslim identity, as well as the demolition of people’s homes, mimics the Pharaohs. Economic injustice is driving the nation down when it is in dire need of the state to provide citizens with shelter, instead of leaving them out in the open and weeping over the ruins of their demolished homes.

In his book Muqaddimah written more than 600 years ago, Ibn Khaldun warned governments against economic injustice, as it leads to the ruin of urbanisation and the end of states. There is no basis for development with economic injustice through which the state plunders the money of the people and demolishes their homes.

Ibn Khaldun mentioned what Al-Masudi said about the Persians and their religious scholars during the rule of Bahram V and how he expressed his condemnation for the King’s injustice and his negligence of the effect this had on the state. The King heard the sounds of owls and asked the scholar if he understood what they said, and the scholar took this opportunity and said that the male owl wants to marry the female and that she asked for 20 villages ruined by Bahram. He accepted her request and said to her that if the King’s rule lasts, he could give her 1,000 villages.

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So the King was alerted to his negligence and took the scholar aside and asked him his purpose, and he said: Dear King, a king is only glorified by law, obeying God, and acting according to His commands and avoiding what He forbids. Kings enforce the law, there is no glory for kings except from the people, the people gain strength from money, and money needs development, and development can be achieved through justice. Justice is the balance set amongst the people, established by God and He made kings the enforcers.

The moral of the story is that a lack in development due to oppression and injustice is an inevitable reality and its woes affect the country. We should not view injustice as only taking money or property from its owner without compensation or reasons, which is what we typically see. Injustice is more comprehensive than this.

Anyone who has taken the property of someone, angered them in their work, demanded something of them without due right, or imposed on them what is not imposed by law has acted unjustly. Collecting money without right is injustice; those who diminish injustice are unjust; those denying the rights of humans are unjust; seizure of property is unjust; and all of this affects the state and results in the destruction of development, as it defeats the hopes of the people. Economic injustice in Egypt will continue unless and until Sisi learns this important lesson.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Arabi21 on 23 September 2020

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.