Year: 2011
USAID in Egypt
The US efforts for promoting democracy in Egypt include:
Ninety percent of the total US$6 billion in USAID granted to Egypt over the past 30 years has been misused, while it is unknown where the rest was spent, a report by the Economic Studies Center revealed. USAID is a US agency whose primary purpose is to distribute civilian foreign aid.
The report said the grants were originally directed to support democracy and human rights, but were spent on salaries of foreign consultants, parties and conferences.
The center based its findings on reports by the USAID and the Egyptian Central Auditing Organization.
It also said that USAID gave the government $50 million to spend on education, of which $10 million were spent on scholarships for Egyptians to study in the United States.
Egypt’s labor movement under attack
In the first three weeks of June, at least 22 workers and farmers have been interrogated by the military prosecutor and/or referred to military courts, according to the Awlad el-Ard NGO.
On Saturday, 10 am, activists will be holding a protest in front of the State Council, in Dokki, in solidarity with Ali Fetouh, the president of the independent union of public transport workers, who is undergoing trial over charges of “inciting strikes.” Fetouh has also received international support from trade unionists in the UK.
The continued crackdown on the labor movement is taking place while the International Labor Organization is awarding our military junta by taking Egypt off its black list. For the ILO, it seems, military tribunals and anti-strike laws mean nothing other than the Egyptian workers are now free.