Maintaining bread subsidies after protests.. Mamdouh Salem's memory renews fears of canceling subsidies in Egypt

CAIRO

And whenever the Egyptian government takes a decision to completely and comprehensively cancel subsidies, including bread subsidies, observers and analysts recall - within the framework of the government's warning - the memory of these protests that erupted following the decision of the government of Prime Minister General Mamdouh Salem - whose memory of his departure is these days - to cancel Partial support for food supplies.

The decisions led at that time to inflame prices as soon as they were announced, and with them ignited the street in mass protests and demonstrations, the government was forced to reverse the decision.

And the Egyptian government recently announced, through senior officials, the tendency to completely cancel the subsidy, and the imminent increase in the price of bread, amid reassurances from media close to the authority that this will not push the Egyptians to protest, as happened in the seventies of the last century.

The journalist Ibrahim Issa said that the harsh economic decisions will not lead to any reaction from what is desired and desired by the "Brotherhood (Muslims) and the forces that hate stability," as he put it.

Issa bet his future on the impossibility of a protest, noting that the most difficult decisions have already passed, and that the "straw" that is expected to break the camel's back "will not break it."

non-political official

Salem's security background made him take the decision to cancel the support "far from political prudence" according to observers, as Salem did not practice politics far from the wheel of the state, as the late prime minister was a police officer, he rose in positions until he became Minister of the Interior, before he became prime minister.

Although Salem held the ministry 3 times in the 1970s, his name is only mentioned in conjunction with the 1977 protests, which stuck to him, even though the Prime Minister in Egypt cannot take decisions - especially those related to the stability of the country - until after returning to the presidency.

Contemporary politicians at the time said that the appointment of the late President Hosni Mubarak as Vice President of the Republic came under pressure from the military establishment to strike a balance in the power structure, fearing that Mamdouh Salem would succeed President Sadat, as the second largest head in power, and a person from outside the military establishment.

According to the correspondences of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, according to WikiLeaks documents, about the circumstances of Mubarak's appointment as Sadat's deputy, Washington's ambassador in Cairo at the time, Herman Iltz, said in his correspondence with the US State Department, "Observers in Egypt are still looking for a convincing reason to promote Mubarak to the position of deputy." President, and the explanation given by Ismail Fahmy (the foreign minister at the time) is one among the many explanations put forward, including saying that the army gave Sadat something like a last warning by insisting on appointing a military person to a decision-making position to achieve balance with appointing an official from the Ministry of Interior prime minister."

The US ambassador goes on to say that "those rumors are normal and expected with any government that has close relations with the United States."

As for the second evidence - according to the exchanged cables revealed by WikiLeaks - it is "the promotion of Interior Minister Mamdouh Salem to the position of prime minister, due to the Americans' preference for policemen, especially the strict among them like Mamdouh Salem, who moved against extremists and communists."

There is also another version similar to that interpretation, which says that the army is not satisfied with Sadat's policies, and that he asked to promote Mubarak to make one of his men an observer in a position close to the president, but the American ambassador suggested that Libya - because of its dispute with the Egyptian regime at the time - is the one who promotes these Explanations related to the existence of congestion between the army and Sadat.

What is certain, apart from these accounts, is that the military establishment had a decisive word during these events, which prompted the Prime Minister to back down, as he informed the Army Commander, Field Marshal Abdul Ghani Al-Jamsi, that he would not send troops to the street to confront the public angry at the price hike, before the Prime Minister canceled Recent actions.

“On the issue of beans and meat, an official source stated, that the Egyptian people, especially in their interest, are cracking beans.”.. Scenes from the bread uprising that erupted on this day in 1977 pic.twitter.com/WlGoVBOum8

- Al Jazeera Egypt (@AJA_Egypt) January 18, 2021

On this day, January 18, 1977, workers and the poor rose up across #Egypt against lifting government subsidies on basic commodities in what became known as the #bread_intifada.

Although the government killed hundreds of people, strikes, demonstrations, and riots forced the government to back down in just two days.

pic.twitter.com/QyKOZR4aiS

- History of the working class (@wch_arabic) January 18, 2022

beginning and end

Mamdouh Salem was born in 1918 in Alexandria, graduated from the Police College, and graduated in police work, and his breakthrough in the wheel of power began when President Gamal Abdel Nasser chose him to be responsible for his personal security.

After that, Salem was chosen as governor of Assiut in 1967, then of Gharbia in 1970, then of Alexandria in 1970, then Minister of Interior in 1971, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior in 1972.

Sadat assigned him the position of prime minister for the first time in 1975, then was chosen as assistant to the President of the Republic in 1978, a position that often meant the beginning of the end of the political life of senior officials in Egypt.

On February 24, 1988, Mamdouh Salem bid farewell to the world in the British capital (London), at the age of 70 years.

Among the decisions that were associated with the man during his ministerial work were the abolition of the exit visa for Egyptians, the establishment of the Public Funds Crimes Department in the Public Security Authority in 1972, and the establishment of a political security sector in the Ministry of Interior.

One of the jokes mentioned by the late journalist writer Ahmed Bahaa El-Din, in his book "Conversations with Sadat", is that Interior Minister Mamdouh Salem told him that "all the reports that the security services receive against journalists are written by journalists like you."

Bahaa El-Din, who was president of the Union of Arab Journalists, had just been dismissed from his job as a writer for Al-Ahram newspaper by a decision of his old friend President Sadat, "This is normal. The security forces against their colleagues, but if you investigated them before you took their words, you would know that they are among the worst types of failed journalists, whose hearts are filled with grudge against every successful journalist.”

Salem replied, "Of course, and we know that, but do you expect a straight, well-mannered journalist, a son of people, who is successful in his work, to write a report for the detectives for a fee? Bring me ten of these people, even if they are Oxford University graduates who agree to write reports for the detectives, and the detectives will immediately dispense with The kind that usually writes reports.

#OnThisDay/November 30, 1977/

A rare photo of President #Anwar_Sadat in front of his house in Ismailia with Vice President #Muhammad_Hosni_Mubarak, Chief of Staff of the First Lieutenant-General #Mohammed Abdel-Ghani_Al-Gamsi, and Prime Minister #Mamdouh_Salem..

God bless the time of men #Mubarak_Al-Asr_al-Dhahabi pic.twitter.com/mgIE3KXZg

— zizi tiger (@zizitiger) November 29, 2020