A note on the untenable poverty in Egypt

The rock slide that happened in the Cairo slum about a week ago has fuelled anger among the poorer people of Cairo. For 27 years, in an attempt to build wealth, President Mubarak has led a government dominated by wealthy business men. Yes, there is wealth in Egypt – I encounter wealthy Egyptians every day - but the money is not equally divided; it remains with the upper class, making Cairo a city of striking contrasts. While billboards lining the highways advertise villas in luxury suburbs, half of Cairo's 18 million people live in what is described as "dense slums that fringe the city on all sides; sprawls of rickety brick dwellings built without regulation". 40% of Egypt's 80 million people live on around $1 a day. One dollar! Behind the economical inequality subsists a class thinking and oppression. Men and women still don’t often marry outside of their social class, and people’s status is generally static, tied to family and heritage.

There are a lot of solutions to the political and economical situation in Egypt, but no answer is obvious, and the uniqueness of the country and its people makes the remedy difficult to discover. One thing is certain though; the country will in one way or another develop, and with incidents such as the rock slide occurring what appears to be more frequently, something more drastic is bound to happen sooner or later.