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Al-Ahram Weekly 28 Oct. - 3 Nov. 1999 Issue No. 453 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 28 Oct. - 3 Nov. 1999 Issue No. 453
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Study Special Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters An ideal system
It has been said that the new cabinet was formed to speed up the privatisation process. In the past, I was an ardent advocate of the public sector, which, on paper at least, is unrivaled by any other system. It stipulates public ownership of the means of production, and militates against exploitation; it ensures abundant production and equitable distribution.
I also worked in the public sector, when I was head of the Cinema Institute in the '60s. Unfortunately, however, hands-on experience showed me that the project was a failure. Now I believe that the public sector, when it dominates economic life absolutely, is just like other socialist principles: it requires ideal human beings to implement it. If the public sector built the Soviet Union during the first phase of its development, that is because those who created it -- themselves the creatures of the 1917 Revolution -- were just such ideal men and women. Life, however, is not always ideal. The realists won very quickly, and the public sector in the USSR met its well-known fate.
Only the private sector remains, therefore, despite accusations that it is an instrument for the exploitation of the people. The state's role is to guide it, to guarantee the protection of the working classes, and to ensure that healthy competition prevails. Of course, the national mega-projects must remain under state control. The whole world follows this system today, capitalist and former socialist countries alike.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
