Hossam el-Hamalawy
I hope you can understand Arabic, coz this conversation is really powerful. A police conscript talks to protesters in Tahrir on Friday, slamming the corruption and oppression of the interior ministry, assuring the protesters that the conscripts support the revolution and took part in it during the uprising by leaving their posts and joining the marches.
UPDATE: The translation is available in the comments section. Thanks Noha!
Margaret Scobey, the hypocrite who was publicly praising Mubarak as an ally in the past, only to change the rhetoric and become some Nelson Mandela following the revolution, is now trying to tell us what to do and what not to do about our economy, even when she’s leaving her post. Speaking to Ahram Online:
“A return to nationalisation will be a huge disincentive to investment,” the United States ambassador to Egypt said in a media roundtable held at the US embassy on Saturday.
“I think Egypt has to make its choice and find an economic policy that would solve its prompt problems; to create jobs and social justice,” said Margaret Scobey, answering a question from Ahram Online on whether Egypt’s growing appetite for nationalisation and public sector involvement would affect US aid policy towards the country.
“Yet I think the public sector cannot [solve its problems],” she said. “History proves privatisation has been very healthy, helpful and successful in helping many countries transform to democracy.”
History has proven that privatization has destroyed our lives, our economy, accumulated the wealth even more in the hands of few. Which history books do you read Scobey? The demand for nationalizing the privatized industries has topped the agenda of the strike wave over the past five years and during the revolution. And whether the American viceroy agrees or not, the campaign to reclaim the privatized factories will continue.