CAIRO - Some Egyptian intellectuals, activists and an online group have started a drive to rivet the attention of the Government to focus on the poor, stressing that the January 25 revolution cannot be complete unless social justice is achieved.
"While the race for the presidency is dominating the scene in Egypt, no real change has taken place expect for the overthrow of [president Hosni] Mubarak. It seems as if the only purpose of the revolution was to topple Mubarak!" said veteran writer Fahmi Heweidi. "The political powers, which are more interested in the media than the Egyptian street, favour dragging Egyptians into a discussion on the Constitution or polls first," Heweidi added. He wondered whom this polarisation among Egyptians over the Constitution and polls will benefit. "Egyptians are wondering about what the next first lady will do instead of thinking how to help their country," Heweidi noted during a forum on the current political scene, stressing that the banner for the next stage ought to be ‘The Poor First’. Some other activists have called on the Government of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf to adopt the idea of banks for the poor, which were first implemented in Bangladesh by Nobel Prize winner Mohamed Younis. "A post-Mubarak government's should have the poor as a priority. This is not the case with Sharaf's Cabinet. He himself has adopted the ‘Constitution First’ campaign," said Tawfiq Okasha, a TV anchor. Meanwhile, the ‘We Are All Khaled Said’ Facebook page, which played an important role as a focus for thousands of activists in the build-up to the January 25 revolution, has changed its approach to ‘Let's fight poverty and raise awareness about it’. The administrators say that a powerful post on the Gidariya blog written by Mohamed Abul Gheit, in which he champions the cause of the Egyptian poor, inspired their decision. In his post – entitled ‘The poor first, you bastards’ – Abul Gheit passionately argues the case that the Egyptian revolution cannot complete without achieving its third announced slogan and goal: social justice. “If anything, the revolution must shake and change the Government’s policies which have been biased in favour of the rich,” writes Abul Gheit. This sense of excitement around the post and its message prompted the ‘We Are All Khaled Said’ administrators, headed by Google executive Wael Ghoneim, to conduct an online poll asking their leaders to evaluate the Government's record in dealing with issues of poverty and social justice. Around 14,049 respondents has said that they do not feel that the Government is serious about tackling the issue. Only 1,797 readers said they believe it is. Many poor Egyptians, who were very excited when the Sharaf Cabinet was appointed last March, have grown increasingly disillusioned with the Prime Minister’s commitment to social justice. This frustration is partly reflected in the spate of industrial strikes by underpaid workers and social protests by many who are demanding jobs and proper housing.
