Research assistant Amr Khafagy has just had an article published on the independent global media platform ‘OpenDemocracy’ who aim to educate citizens to challenge power and encourage democratic debate across the world.
Entitled ‘Celebrating poverty: the IMF in Egypt‘ the article comments on the latest IMF loan to Egypt and the socioeconomic consequences of the recent economic reforms. It argues that the IMF and western media approaches economic performance in the Global South different to the Global North ones, ignoring who that economic policy and reforms should be for the benefit of the people and improving their lives.
reads ‘the poor come first’
Hailing from Egypt himself, Amr commented “Imagine five million EU citizens falling into poverty in less than two years; [would] it be portrayed as an economic success? [Whilst] Greeks and Spaniards were constantly under the lens of the media and political analyses…Egyptians and their experience of austerity and social hardship is at best dismissed, or even deemed mere collateral damage. Although austerity measures are not always blamed, poverty and rising inequality in the west are now at the forefront of academic debate and under the lens of mainstream Western media, political parties, and even international organizations including the IMF.”
You can read the full article on the open Democracy website – Celebrating poverty: the IMF in Egypt.
