After all the protests by the Egyptians over the past three weeks, President Mohammad Hosni Mubarak has announced in front of millions across the world of his intentions to remain as leader of Egypt until the general elections later this year. Much to the disgust of the protesters who wanted him out of the job tonight.
These protesters wanted similar success to the Tunisians when they managed to force President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to resign, meaning a reshuffle to their government. Ben Ali was in charge of Tunisia for 23 years, whilst Egypt's Mubarak enters his 30th year of being in charge of the country - meaning a seven year difference in leadership between the pair.
A lot has happened since Mubarak was sworn into Presidency in 1981. He got Egypt back into the Arab League in 1989 meaning they could regain their voice concerning the modern society in the Middle East. He publically spoke out against the Iraq war in 2003 and has seen changes to his cabinet many times before, including the changing of the economy scene in July 2004. Then the markets in Egypt boomed, particularly in tourism.
Despite this, according to the BBC, Mubarak has survived "six assasination attempts" and Egypt are placed 101st by Human Development Index which was estimated in 2010. It can be argued that 101st is a low ranking compared to Gabon at 93rd and Libya in 53rd. Improvement is needed as far as education, standards of living and life expectancy is concerned. Also, Egypt is low in the rankings as far as giving freedom to the press (133rd) and placed 98th in the Corruption Perception Index scoring just 3.1 out of 10.
Could these be the reasons why the Egyptians are so unhappy? They have planned the 25th January protests for a while so Mubarak was prepared for what was to come. Thousands had joined a Facebook petition for these protests to happen, so they did and haven't stopped since.
It is said that the reason for these protests was to show their disgust by the way they've been treated. They stand against corruption, poverty and unemployment.
Let us look at the statistics to see how bad the Egyptian public are in regarding poverty and unemployment. Across the world, there are one billion people who were living in "absolute poverty". In 1990, the Middle East had 73 million people below the poverty line whilst ten million suffered malnutrition. During the 90s, economy growth was slow meaning standard of living was low.
By 1996, Egypt had 13.7 million people below the poverty line which is equivelant to 22.9% of their population. Despite this large percentage, 52% were considered to be "non-poor". Most of them have low literacy and education levels.
Children as young as eight work up to twelve hours everyday and receive little in return. Women work without pay in their households. The low standard of living shows by the average life expectancy. For females, they get average of 67.2 years to live with the male population average considerably lower. Another reason for this is due to clean running water. Only 40-60% of the poorer population get this, indicating extreme poverty. The national average wage is $1,550, meaning just $4.20 a day.
Unemployment statistics are also shocking. The percentage keeps on rising from 1996 which stood at 11.3%, majority of which are women.
Before I decided to write this blog, I thought "What was their problem?", "Why are the Egyptians protesting to this extent?". With additional research, I can understand their frustration. Judging by the statistics, Egypt are in dire-straits and it's all down to Mubarak's decision making.
It makes me wonder though, have the Egyptians decided to protest now? Mubarak has turned this country upside-down for three decades and that's all he had out of it was being a target for assasination six times?
The Egyptians have voted him in so many times and now they say it's time to go. In my opinion, he should have gone before the statistics were published in Copenhagen and infact Cairo (above). For a country which has a high tourism rate, he should consider his people as his top priority and not the tourists.
Tonight, he has refused to step down and the Egyptians will only be able to breathe this September when he transfers his powers to someone else and the public will have another voice. We can all hope and pray that Mubarak's replacement can perform for the people and not to his/her benefit.
These protesters wanted similar success to the Tunisians when they managed to force President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to resign, meaning a reshuffle to their government. Ben Ali was in charge of Tunisia for 23 years, whilst Egypt's Mubarak enters his 30th year of being in charge of the country - meaning a seven year difference in leadership between the pair.
A lot has happened since Mubarak was sworn into Presidency in 1981. He got Egypt back into the Arab League in 1989 meaning they could regain their voice concerning the modern society in the Middle East. He publically spoke out against the Iraq war in 2003 and has seen changes to his cabinet many times before, including the changing of the economy scene in July 2004. Then the markets in Egypt boomed, particularly in tourism.
Despite this, according to the BBC, Mubarak has survived "six assasination attempts" and Egypt are placed 101st by Human Development Index which was estimated in 2010. It can be argued that 101st is a low ranking compared to Gabon at 93rd and Libya in 53rd. Improvement is needed as far as education, standards of living and life expectancy is concerned. Also, Egypt is low in the rankings as far as giving freedom to the press (133rd) and placed 98th in the Corruption Perception Index scoring just 3.1 out of 10.
Could these be the reasons why the Egyptians are so unhappy? They have planned the 25th January protests for a while so Mubarak was prepared for what was to come. Thousands had joined a Facebook petition for these protests to happen, so they did and haven't stopped since.
It is said that the reason for these protests was to show their disgust by the way they've been treated. They stand against corruption, poverty and unemployment.
Let us look at the statistics to see how bad the Egyptian public are in regarding poverty and unemployment. Across the world, there are one billion people who were living in "absolute poverty". In 1990, the Middle East had 73 million people below the poverty line whilst ten million suffered malnutrition. During the 90s, economy growth was slow meaning standard of living was low.
By 1996, Egypt had 13.7 million people below the poverty line which is equivelant to 22.9% of their population. Despite this large percentage, 52% were considered to be "non-poor". Most of them have low literacy and education levels.
Children as young as eight work up to twelve hours everyday and receive little in return. Women work without pay in their households. The low standard of living shows by the average life expectancy. For females, they get average of 67.2 years to live with the male population average considerably lower. Another reason for this is due to clean running water. Only 40-60% of the poorer population get this, indicating extreme poverty. The national average wage is $1,550, meaning just $4.20 a day.
Unemployment statistics are also shocking. The percentage keeps on rising from 1996 which stood at 11.3%, majority of which are women.
Before I decided to write this blog, I thought "What was their problem?", "Why are the Egyptians protesting to this extent?". With additional research, I can understand their frustration. Judging by the statistics, Egypt are in dire-straits and it's all down to Mubarak's decision making.
It makes me wonder though, have the Egyptians decided to protest now? Mubarak has turned this country upside-down for three decades and that's all he had out of it was being a target for assasination six times?
The Egyptians have voted him in so many times and now they say it's time to go. In my opinion, he should have gone before the statistics were published in Copenhagen and infact Cairo (above). For a country which has a high tourism rate, he should consider his people as his top priority and not the tourists.
Tonight, he has refused to step down and the Egyptians will only be able to breathe this September when he transfers his powers to someone else and the public will have another voice. We can all hope and pray that Mubarak's replacement can perform for the people and not to his/her benefit.
16 hours after writing this blog, Mubarak did resign.
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