Thursday, July 10, 2014

Regarding El-Sisi's speech on the 10th of Ramadan

Just like any other president preceded him , Abdel Fattah El-Sisi addressed the public on the 9th Ramadan about allegedly the 10th of Ramadan anniversary aka the anniversary of the 1973 war according to the Hagri Calender.
As expected it was not about the war but about the latest economic decisions taken this week to lift up fuel and energy subsidies.
These are my remarks about the 25 minutes recorded Televised speech : 
1- Extreme emotional speeches do not work every time especially in hard economic times. It may work with certain classes especially among the Upper Middle class ladies and Upper class ladies but it won't have the same effect now among the working class that will pay the price for real for such cuts. Already such classes have been paying the price in the past 30 years
2- As he spoke directly in informal Arabic in Egyptian accent , I wonder for real who wrote for him this speech. That speech with this arrangement of ideas can not be improvised , at least the points and their arrangement should be outlined before recording. I real wonder who wrote and honestly I do not think that the usual suspect "Hassanein Heikal" is behind that speech because Heikal is an expert in sophisticated political speeches.
3- He speaks as if the Egyptian people were enjoying their lives in the past , he forgot that Egyptians especially the Middle and Working classes paid a huge price in the past 30 years especially in the past 10 years. A price that paved for the 25 January revolution
4-Reminding the people  how the Egyptian people made sacrifices for 6 years from 1967 and 1973  was a great way to motivate some people but it provokes me for real :
 a) Despite the huge war catastrophic losses we did not have a disastrous economy like now with such deficit , huge population and poverty rate plus endless corruption. 
b) Our economy then was centralized socialist not this unknown economy system we have got in Egypt. I do not know if we are having a Neo-liberal economy or State-Control economy or what !! 
c) The CEOs of pubic sector telecommunication companies , Judges , police general , army generals as well ex-generals ..etc were not paid in millions. 
d) The army did not lend the state , in fact the army was part of the state. The army then actually paid a big price for engaging in politics and civilian life , a lesson El-Sisi completely forgot or rather ignored.  
e) El-Sisi is not Gamal Abdel Nasser , El-Sisi is not Gamal Abdel Nasser
f) El-Sisi is not Sadat either.
5- What is the relationship between ISIS and the Pseudo-Caliphate in Iraq to the budget and subsidies cuts in Egypt !? I do not understand seriously considering the fact that the National security budget has not been toughed and actually since the 25 January revolution both Police and army's salaries increased hugely each year !?
I am speaking about facts here because actually the army "that protected Egypt from the fate of Afghanistan and Iraq according to El-Sisi's statements to Press on Sunday" donated one billion Egyptian pounds to the Egyptian government so financially both army and police do not suffer like other sectors in the country for instance health and education.
Already it is worth to mention that radicalism and terrorism can be fostered in poverty and ignorance , we saw this very well in Egypt in the 1980s and 1990s.
6-With my all due respect before speaking to the people about austerity and its importance when the maximum wage limit is not applied in judiciary or police or army or telecommunications or banks sector !? I repeat this point specifically because I understand why it would not be applied in police or army or judiciary and yet will be applied in other sectors !?
7- We are going to borrow from the IMF after all according to what he said.
8- El-Sisi said that he would work on making Egypt from the great nations , well great nations and countries in our time are truly democratic countries that apply transparency , justice , citizenship and fight corruption. Great nations do not have jail journalists and activists.There is no state inside state as well there.
9- I am ready for austerity measures as long as I receive services , the problem in Egypt that we receive nothing.  

2 comments:

  1. What a great rant, Zeinobia. It makes me want to see El-Sisi's speech with subtitles.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You cheered for a coup that brought this guy into power. I hope every one of his lame speeches burns that memory into your head

    ReplyDelete

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