Democracy, at a price
Cairo, December 7, 2011

Trying to catch the mood in Cairo after the elections. The Christians are worried, althought even some of them voted for the Brothers: “Give’em a chance” they say. “Who else can bring some stability?” I went to see the Zabbalin in the Garbage City and they are not happy. They fear the Salafist will burn their churches and veil their women. I bet they won’t. “We will not allow it” tells me the young dylanesque singer of the Cairo-kee rock group in El-Maadi. “We are ready to go back to Tahrir and stand up for our freedom”. Fine, but for a growing majority of the people in Egypt the real issues aren’t the generals in power nor the right to free speech or to pose naked in your blog: it’s the economic downturn. Tourism, which once accounted for more than 10 per cent of the country’s national income and employed 8 to 10 millions egyptians, is dead. Five star hotels in Cairo are almost empty, occupancy rates in Luxor have plunged to 10 per cent or less, foreign reserves had fallen to $22 billion from $36 billion at the end of 2010, unemployment has climbed to 12 per cent and foreign investors are fleeing. In Khan al-Khalili, Cairo’s biggest suq and business hub, shops are closing down, some on sale. And recovery won’t be easy in a country where nearly half of the population lives below the poverty line. Be the generals or the islamists, whoever is in charge at the end of this long transition to democracy will face a huge task.