Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Workers, Trade Unions And The State In Egypt, 1984-1989, Omar El Shafei

Faculty Books

In the last paragraph of their masterpiece on the Egyptian workers' movement, Workers on the Nile, Joel Beinin and Zachary Lockman suggested that "[t]he strike and riot of textile workers in Kafr al-Dawwar in September 1984 may signal an end to the period of relative economic peace and labor quiescence" in Egypt. Their expectation turned out to be true. The 1984 upheaval in Kafr al-Dawwar was followed by five years of intensifying workers' struggle throughout Egypt. This culminated in two major sit-ins at the Helwan Iron and Steel Company in July and August 1989. Two salient aspects of this period …