Bread riots

By Salah Eissa

Remember the bread riots of 18-19 January 1977? It's been 30 years now, yet many of those who took part in the riots, including myself, still wonder what good they did.

For a while at least, it seemed as though the riots were going to make a difference. This was one of the few times that the Egyptian people found their voice and stood up to their government, something that hadn't happened much in the preceding 25 years. The public show of outrage forced Anwar El-Sadat's government to rescind decisions it had made, only 36 hours earlier. The silent majority spoke up, and its response was as spontaneous as it was sudden.

Then, things got quiet again. The silent majority went back to its old apathy and majority didn't repeat its insurrection, not even on a modest scale. The silent majority refused to join any of the political parties that were just starting to appear on the scene. And it turned its back on the leftist organisations that had supported it during the riots. Soon afterwards, the regime turned against the Left with a vengeance. With time, the Left dwindled and atrophied, only to be replaced by the Islamic current.

The bread riots had no lasting effect. The government waited for a while, then started removing the subsidies one by one. El-Sadat went back on his democratic promises, and regarded the Left as a sworn enemy. Later on, he opted out of the Arab-Israeli conflict, cut back military spending, and started worrying about how to feed his people. Looking back now, one is tempted to regard the bread riots as a lost opportunity. We could have used the riots to restore dignity to the people. We could have used them to breathe fresh air into our political life. But we didn't; we just didn't.

This week's Soapbox speaker is editor-in-chief of the weekly Al-Qahira newspaper.

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