AFP PHOTO / Stringer
The revolutionary socialists held a protest on Wednesday in front of the Cabinet Headquarters against the visit of IMF Chief Christine Lagarde to Egypt to negotiate the Egyptian request for a loan worth up to $4.8 bn.
The revolutionary socialist movement announced the protest on its Facebook page on Tuesday, calling on people to join it to express their rejection to what they described as “the continuation of the policies of the ousted regime that led the Egyptian people to extreme poverty by receiving loans from international organisations” and added that poor people are the ones who pay the bill by being subject to austerity plans, decreased social security and increased unemployment.
Hossamel-Hamalawy, a journalist and a member of the revolutionary socialists said that the protest was a small, peaceful one that included representatives from the revolutionary group, “We are all Mina Danial,” the Socialist Popular Alliance Party and some independent activists.
“The terms of [the IMF] loan will lead to the same conditions we revolted against in 25 January,” he said.
Hamalawy added that “rejecting the loan is not a leftist stance; nobody wants to lead a hard life under these kinds of loans”
This protest comes as a part of a series of campaigns calling for better standards of living and social equality by the revolutionary socialists, many of which will focus on the IMF loan.
On the social networks people are divided among supporters, opponents and those who demand more details to understand and be able to judge; however, the tweets of Dr. Heba Raouf Ezzat, the activist and Cairo University political science professor, were significant as she declared readiness to pay EGP 30,000 to start a national fund that would finance projects instead of the IMF loan, saying that Egyptians should support the economic independence of their country and avoid more loans.
