Explain how the working class benefited from the resistance to inequality in Egypt

The working class in Egypt have been in major struggles for decades to resist the inequality of the ruling class and the government. However various changes continued to happen in the government and every new president introduces new laws which in turn affected the working class positively and negatively. Determination and frustration lead to the revolution of 2011. And so this essay is going to examine how the working class of Egypt have benefited from fighting against inequality.

The Egyptian working class was being exploited by the monarchy and the British colonialists which made them more powerful and wealthier. During this time, 1952, Egypt witnessed an increase in the working class struggles as there was a lack of progress in fighting poverty, disease and illiteracy this resulted in the defeat of the monarchy and the declaration of republicanism. This was a very important time in the Egyptian history; it was and still is considered to be a new page in their history. Egypt liberation helped the working class enormously as the defeat of monarchy and colonialism leads to the abolishment of old hierarchical customs and diminutive words in their conversations, thus their culture shifted to become less hierarchical and gave the working class to participate in society.

In April of 1954 Nasser officially became the prime minister after the removing of president Naguib from power. He was one of Egypt most recognized president for his social polices uniting all Arab together (Pan Arab nationalism) from Muslims to Coptics, women to men, urban to rural. Unity empowered the working class, and so it gave them more rights and freedom in their public life. Under the Nasserism era, public facilities and local industries became part of the public sector and the reason behind this was that Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal and used its profit to bring social equality and economy growth. In turn this benefited the working class significantly as they had a greater chance of employment, education and use of public transport to travel to work. Their standards of living were evolving to better.

Upon Nasser’s unexpected death in 1970, only three years after the catastrophic defeat of Egypt in the Six Day War with Israel, Anwar Sadat becomes Egypt’s new leader setting new policies and favouring to make profit rather the social welfare. He increased the GDP and banned bread subsides leading to bread riots. Sadat was known for his policy of ‘Infitah” (open doors) to the global markets allowing foreign countries to exploit the working class thus, this was an era where working class and poor people didn’t benefit from the regulations made by President Sadat.

When Mubarak came into power after the assassination of Sadat in 1981, he made many changes using authority to maintain stability and this is maybe because he knew that his changes increased inequality in Egypt. He increased GDP which in turn increased the exploitation of the working class but he used emergency laws to avoid workers from forming their own unions by punishing them. During his presidency, the inequality between the poor and the rich increased and the bourgeoisie continued to take advantage of the working class.

However there were still some strikes made by the working class all uniting together with the Palestinians on occasion days particularly after the Israel siege on Gaza in 2008, they began to help Gaza by sending them food and medicine. Using social power they placed pressure on the government.

In May 2011, determination of people ‘erupted’ in the Tahrir square, at least 4.5 million Egyptians protested during three massive weeks. (Time Magazine, 2011) Women, men, Muslims, Coptics, they all united together once again sharing one goal that is to stop the government supporting Mubarak. Inequality brought by Mubarak provoked everyone in Egypt to come together resisting inequality; they inspired country around the world as well as America whose workers declared that they need a Tahrir Square. Unity again brought change to Egypt; people around the world were supporting the working class and also demanding for changes to assist them.