MER Article "Food Security" As Egypt’s dependence on food imports has increased, so has the cry for food security. The phrase “food security” (al-amn al-geza’i) can have several meanings in Egyptian policy debates. It is usually taken to mean either “hedging against fluctuations in world food prices” or “increasing domestic pr (Author not identified) • 2 min read
MER Article The Language of Food “I went down to Cairo with a little wheat in my pocket and they had the red carpet out for me there…. I was speaking the language of food and they understand.” -- US Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz, 1974 For more than a decade now, the political embrace of Washington and Cairo has directly af Kathy Funk, Jean-Jacques Dethier • 13 min read
MER Article New Lands Irrigation Once irrigated and lush but now barren, the Mesopotamian plain circling the ruins of Gilgamesh’s Uruk makes present day calls for food security via vast new irrigation projects appear shortsighted. Irrigation today suffers the same problems as in ancient times -- salt buildup in the soil, collapsing Douglas Gritzinger • 5 min read
MER Article Said, A Bridge Through Time Laila Said, A Bridge Through Time: A Memoir (New York: Summit, 1985). Evelyne Accad • 2 min read
MER Article Cairo's Long Summer The current situation in Egypt has great potential for disaster. On the economic front, the government threatens to eliminate subsidies on food and other basic consumer commodities in order to reduce its current budget deficit of about $4 billion. The subsidies are currently costing $3.8 billion -- Ben Rose • 5 min read
MER Article Egypt's Infitah Bourgeoisie A recent story illustrates the political power of the bourgeoisie in contemporary Egypt: At the beginning of 1985, the Egyptian minister of economy, Mustafa al-Sa‘id, unveiled a set of new trade and banking laws. They aimed, among other things, at imposing a greater degree of Central Bank control ov Robert Vitalis • 5 min read
MER Article Mutiny in Cairo Wednesday, February 26. The story was on BBC at eight this morning. Central Security Forces (al-amn al-markazi) mutinied last night at the big camp at Dahshour and at two camps in Giza, on the road to Alexandria. Thousands of conscripts burst out of the camps and burned nearby luxury hotels. The gov Ann Lesch • 7 min read
MER Article Insurrectionary Women The study of women and politics has usually focused on the participation of women in the formal political arena -- that is, in politics as practiced by political parties, by people holding political office or, at most, by political opposition movements. In the Middle East context in particular, the Judith Tucker • 16 min read
MER Article Egypt's Left Opposition Party Holds Second Congress Cairo, July 2. The National Progressive Unionist Party (Tagammu‘) held its second national congress in Cairo on June 27-28, 1985. The Tagammu‘, Egypt’s principal left opposition party, is a united front formation including members of illegal communist organizations, independent Marxists, Nasserists, Joel Beinin • 4 min read
MER Article Kramer, Minderheit, Millet, Nation? Gudrun Kramer, Minderheit, Millet, Nation? Die Juden in Agypten, 1914-1952 (Minority, Millet, Nation? The Jews in Egypt, 1914-1952) (Wiesbaden, 1982). Up to now, the history of the Jewish community in Egypt has been known only to a few specialists. Some periods have been analyzed quite well -- for (Author not identified) • 3 min read
MER Article Davis, Challenging Colonialism Eric Davis, Challenging Colonialism: Bank Misr and Egyptian Industrialization, 1920-1941 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983). Eric Davis intends his study to answer a wide range of questions concerning capitalism and industrialization in the Middle East. Two issues in particular are cent Fred H. Lawson • 5 min read
MER Article Egypt's Elections, Mubarak's Bind In the May 1984 general elections in Egypt, the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) won almost 73 percent of the vote. The new Wafd got just above 15 percent. The other three contenders failed to get the eight percent minimum needed for a seat: the Socialist Labor Party (‘Amal) got just over seve Bertus Hendriks • 24 min read
