We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

The Struggle Continues: Social Justice in Post-Morsi Egypt

Click here to access article by Andrew Leber from Muftah.

The author provides an excellent review of efforts by ordinary Egyptians to achieve some form of social justice within the past few years. What is clear is that such efforts are being thwarted by major players from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Empire who have their own interests, interests which don't appear to coincide. The author argues that movements for social justice will not go away, and this fact...
...implies a change from the status quo of social injustice, which has brought millions of labor reformers, Coptic rights activists, Islamists, journalists, intellectuals, farmers, and ordinary people from all walks of life onto the streets over the past few years.
Some revolutionary plan for social reform must be put forward if the Egyptian people are to accept the government as the guarantor of their rights and well-being, rather than a stern overseer or a political prize to be fought over.
The current government and whoever takes its place in the coming year are fooling themselves if they believe a narrow focus on security and economic growth will halt demands for greater justice.