Saturday
Sep082012
Egypt Feature: Who Speaks for the Workers? (Bishara)
Saturday, September 8, 2012 at 7:46 | Scott Lucas in EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran
Protest rally of Egyptian workers, December 2011
Egypt's January 25, 2011 revolution gave the country's workers a golden opportunity to press their agenda. Workers played a key role in the wave of societal unrest that led to Hosni Mubarak's downfall, and after the long-time president's departure many restrictions on political organization and dissent were relaxed. But workers have not been able to seize that opportunity to cohesively advance their demands. Instead, fragmentation has emerged as the dominant feature of post-Mubarak labor politics. Egyptian workers have struggled to find their own voice as they navigate the legacy of state control over labor organizations and a complicated new political situation.