THE current wave of protests in Egypt appear to have been triggered by a businessman named Mohamed Ali, who used to work as a building contractor on army projects. After an argument about unpaid bills, Ali fled to Spain, from where he has been using social media to urge the people to rise up. It remains to be seen whether his appeals will be answered by a broader segment of the population. Different theories are circulating. Protests could be steered by an unhappy faction in the army or by the friction between different wings of the sprawling security machine.
The regime has already suggested that the banned Muslim Brotherhood could be behind the unrest.
Large sections of the urban population are feeling the squeeze. They accepted the Sisi takeover because he promised economic stability and protection from the terrorism of the Islamic State, the choice between Sisi and ISIS. Today they see a still-fractured state that is battening down the hatches, and that allows the generals to become richer and richer. “We should stop making gods out of presidents,” declared Ali in a video. The president will surely address criticism that he is a tool of the army rather than a servant of the common people. Sisi could make a start by halting work on new presidential palaces.
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