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Abstract
Accounts of the Arab Spring often focus on the role of youth coalitions, the use of social media, and the tactics of the Tahrir Square occupation. This authoritative and original book argues that collective action by organised workers played a fundamental role in the Egyptian revolution, which erupted after years of strikes and social protests.
Drawing on the authors' decade-long experience of reporting on and researching the Egyptian labour movement, the book provides the first in-depth account of the emergence of independent trade unions and workers' militancy during Mubarak's last years in power, and and their destabilising impact on the post-revolutionary regimes.
'Here at last is a book on Egypt that acknowledges and traces the pivotal role of the workers in the sequence of events that led to the gigantic uprising of January-February 2011, and the subsequent unfolding of the revolutionary process. In a field dominated by studies focusing exclusively on political movements and state apparatus, this is a most welcome and important contribution'
Professor Gilbert Achcar, SOAS, University of London, and author of The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising
'One of the best accounts on the Egyptian revolution, its underlying causes and its aftermath. The book is an accessible and in-depth read for both specialists and non-specialists alike, not only deciphering the workings of one of the most important political events in recent years, but also providing a comprehensive analysis of structural changes in modern Egypt.'
Rabab El Mahdi, The American University in Cairo
'In this engaging and immensely readable text, Alexander and Bassiouny confirm their position as two of the most astute observers of Egypt's labour movements. Firmly grounded in recent debates around neoliberalism, capitalism and the Egyptian state - and drawing upon a wealth of fascinating first-hand accounts - this book provides many critical insights into Egyptian workers and their ongoing struggles. It deserves to be very widely read.'
Adam Hanieh, SOAS, University of London
'This is an intriguing and detailed account of why the role of the working class needs to be put centre stage in understanding the toppling of Hosni Mubarak. The authors provide insight and analytical rigour in documenting and accounting for the growth and dynamism of independent trade unions in "revolutionary" Egypt. A must read for those who want to know how and why the working class is essential to understanding political and economic crisis in Egypt.'
Professor Ray Bush, University of Leeds
Anne Alexander is a research fellow at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge. She has published widely on Middle Eastern politics, social movements and digital media, and is the author of a biography of Gamal Abdel-Nasser (2005).
Mostafa Bassiouny has more than a decade's experience as a reporter and editor in the Egyptian and regional press. He was industrial correspondent for Al-Dustour newspaper between 2005 and 2010, reporting on the mass strikes by textile workers in Mahalla al-Kubra in 2006 and 2007, and the uprising which rocked the town in 2008. He reported on the overthrow of Ben Ali in Tunisia in January 2011 before returning to Egypt to participate in the uprising against Mubarak. Between 2011 and 2014 he was Head of News for liberal daily Al-Tahrir and is currently Egypt correspondent for the Lebanese daily Al-Safir.
Table of Contents
Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
---|---|---|---|
Front Cover | Front cover | ||
About the Authors | ii | ||
Title Page | iii | ||
Copyright | iv | ||
Contents | v | ||
Tables and Figures | vii | ||
Acknowledgements | ix | ||
Acronyms and Abbreviations | xii | ||
Introduction: From the Republic of Tahrir to the Republic of Fear? Theorising Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Egypt 2011–14 | 1 | ||
States and capitals in the Middle East:some observations | 2 | ||
Political and social revolutions: preliminary notes | 9 | ||
Analysing Islamism | 15 | ||
Reformism and the workers’ movement | 23 | ||
Towards ‘permanent revolution’? | 29 | ||
Chapter 1: From Nasserism to Neoliberalism: A New Amalgam of State and Private Capital | 35 | ||
The rise of Nasserism | 37 | ||
Infitah and the long crisis of the Nasserist state | 45 | ||
Structural adjustment: the state withdraws from the Nasserist social contract | 48 | ||
The reduction of public-sector employment | 51 | ||
A new amalgam of state and private capital | 53 | ||
Chapter 2: The Changing Structure of the Egyptian Working Class in the Neoliberal ERA | 58 | ||
‘Where are the workers?’ | 59 | ||
Table 2.1 Waged employees and non-waged labour in the total labour force, 1980–2007 | 62 | ||
Figure 2.1 Total employment by status in employment | 63 | ||
Restructuring the Egyptian working class: global trends | 65 | ||
Table 2.2 The growing private sector, 1980–2004 | 66 | ||
Table 2.3 Economic sectors: value added | 67 | ||
Table 2.4 Non-agricultural paid employment as a proportion of total employment, 1980–2007 | 68 | ||
Table 2.5 Economically active population relative to total population | 69 | ||
Table 2.6 Women as a proportion of the total employed workforce, selected sectors | 70 | ||
Table 2.7 Women’s weekly wages in the lowest-paying sectors, 2007 | 70 | ||
Manufacturing: decline, renewal, relocation | 71 | ||
Table 2.8 Employment in manufacturing and value added, 1983–2007 | 73 | ||
Decomposition of the Nasserist model of manufacturing | 73 | ||
Spatial restructuring: the growth of the new industrial cities | 76 | ||
Transport and communications | 78 | ||
Table 2.9 Increase in goods exports and imports, 1980–2010 | 82 | ||
Table 2.10 Suez Canal: brief yearly statistics, 2000–2013 | 82 | ||
Table 2.11 Egypt: number of inbound tourism arrivals and receipts | 83 | ||
Table 2.12 State-employed transport and communications workers | 84 | ||
The expansion and proletarianisation of the white-collar public sector: the example of education workers | 86 | ||
Table 2.13 Economic sectors employing the largest proportion of employees | 87 | ||
Figure 2.2 Weekly wages in selected economic sectors, 1999–2007 | 88 | ||
Figure 2.3 Weekly wages in selected economic sectors, 1985–2007 | 89 | ||
Precarious workers, informal economy? | 91 | ||
Conclusion: unevenness and combination | 94 | ||
Chapter 3: Strikes, Protests and the Development of a Revolutionary Crisis | 97 | ||
The Misr Spinning strike of December 2006: a turning point | 101 | ||
A new culture of protest | 103 | ||
The transformation of workers’ collective action | 106 | ||
Table 3.1 Episodes and forms of workers’ collective action, 1998–2010 | 108 | ||
Figure 3.1 Episodes of workers’ collective action, 1998–2010 | 109 | ||
Figure 3.2 Geographical distribution of strikes and workers’ protests, February 2007 | 110 | ||
Rediscovery of the strike | 113 | ||
‘These are liberated territories’ | 115 | ||
Mahalla: towards the 2008 uprising | 118 | ||
Conclusion | 121 | ||
Chapter 4: Organisation in the Workplace Before the Revolution: the Nasserist Model in Crisis | 125 | ||
The Egyptian Trade Union Federation: from hegemony to paralysis | 128 | ||
The origins and form of the ETUF | 130 | ||
The ruling party’s machine | 131 | ||
The ETUF as gatekeeper to the electoral arena | 133 | ||
The ETUF’s response to neoliberalism | 136 | ||
Workplace union committees: an exception? | 139 | ||
The state of the federation during Mubarak’s last years | 144 | ||
Figure 4.1 ETUF membership decline in a context of workforce growth, 2003–2011 | 146 | ||
The ETUF’s waning influence within the state | 147 | ||
Political opposition, economic accommodation and the rise of an alternative from below | 150 | ||
Conclusion | 154 | ||
Chapter 5: From Strike Committee to Independent Union | 157 | ||
The property tax collectors’ strike | 161 | ||
From strike committee to independent union | 166 | ||
Table 5.1 Provincial committees of the independent union of workers in the property tax authority, December 2008 | 169 | ||
The development of other independent union networks | 172 | ||
The contradictions of trade unionism | 180 | ||
Beyond the workplace: opportunities and problems | 182 | ||
Conclusion | 188 | ||
Chapter 6: The Revolution’s Social Soul: Workers and the January Revolution | 192 | ||
Dynamics of the uprising: workers and the Republic of Tahrir | 195 | ||
The social and the political during ‘the 18 Days’ | 202 | ||
The Egyptian revolution between Mubarak and Morsi | 204 | ||
Strikes undermine the military-Islamist consensus | 208 | ||
Table 6.1 The growing wave of collective action in 2011 | 211 | ||
Table 6.2 Analysis of patterns of workers’ demands, March–September 2011 | 212 | ||
Table 6.3 The rise in demands for tathir, March–September 2011 | 213 | ||
The battle for the streets | 215 | ||
A surge of social protest against the Brotherhood in power | 219 | ||
Table 6.4 Analysis of protests, February–May 2013 | 221 | ||
Chapter 7: Workers’ Organisations since the Revolution | 224 | ||
Strike organisation since the revolution | 228 | ||
Strike organisation and union formation during the revolution | 233 | ||
The emergence of the national federations | 240 | ||
Table 7.1 EFITU registered unions by sector, October 2011 | 242 | ||
Trade-union bureaucracy in the independent unions | 243 | ||
The revival of the ETUF | 246 | ||
Conclusion: the limits of trade-unionism and the search for a political voice | 251 | ||
Chapter 8: The Crisis of Representation: Workers and Elections | 252 | ||
The reconfiguration of electoral politics after the fall of Mubarak | 255 | ||
Workers in the 2011–12 parliamentary elections | 257 | ||
From parliament to the presidential palace | 260 | ||
How did workers campaign and vote in the presidential elections? | 265 | ||
A swift and bitter end to the Brotherhood’s honeymoon | 271 | ||
The crisis over the constitution | 273 | ||
The crisis of electoral legitimacy and the road to 30 June | 279 | ||
Chapter 9: Tathir: The Struggle to Cleanse the State | 284 | ||
The Officers’ Republic and the military’s grip on the ‘shallow state’ | 286 | ||
Cleansing the state: alternative perspectives | 289 | ||
Re-imagining the public sector from below | 292 | ||
Workers on the frontline of the battle against the Officers’ Republic | 298 | ||
The ‘Brotherhoodisation’ of the state? | 304 | ||
From ‘Rebellion’ to compromise: Nasserism 2.0 | 310 | ||
Tathir from below: a provisional balance sheet | 314 | ||
Conclusion: Beyond the Republic of Dreams: revolutionary organisation, democracy and the question of the state | 319 | ||
The problem of democracy | 322 | ||
Problems of revolutionary organisation | 327 | ||
Notes | 330 | ||
Bibliography | 358 | ||
Index | 378 |