DOCSLIB.ORG

A Geographical Investigation of the Egyptian Context

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Geographical Investigation of the Egyptian Context The International Food Crisis: A geographical investigation of the Egyptian context Mizhar Mikati A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN GEOGRAPHY YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO July, 2020 © Mizhar Mikati, 2020 Abstract This dissertation is a study of the link between international and national economic crises and food insecurity. This dissertation approaches food insecurity from the vantage point of a historical-geographical materialist approach to capitalist crisis and food insecurity. In doing so, this dissertation is divided into two parts; the first part is a conceptual review and development of food provisioning under capital accumulation and the second part is an empirical discussion of the general development of international food crisis of 2008 and the case study of Egypt and food insecurity. In the first part, this dissertation seeks to theoretically examine and conceptually develop a normative approach to the social theory of food needs that runs counter to the general assumptions of capitalist development. In addition, this dissertation reviews the major approaches to food insecurity in order to bring to forefront their approach to economic crises and food insecurity. In doing so, this dissertation develops a value-form analysis to the contradictions of global capital accumulation in the provisioning of general human needs and food needs. This conceptual task is to focus on fundamental contradictions involved in capital accumulation that cannot fully abolish food insecurity in its many forms. In the second part, this dissertation examines the contradictions of capital accumulation in the case study of the international food crisis of 2006-08 and in the Egyptian context. In both cases, this dissertation seeks to articulate the structural limitations faced by a number of food- importing dependent states in capital accumulation in general and the neoliberal period in particular. ii Dedication To My Loving Parents Nour and Rola, And to My Loving Partner Leah iii Acknowledgements This dissertation would have not been possible without the support of many people. I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Raju Das who was essential in my scholarly, academic, and intellectual development. He provided guidance, advice, encouragement and feedback in conducting research for this dissertation and for other academic work. I learned a lot from his expertise that showed me the importance and necessity to develop critical scholarly work in the advancement of knowledge. I would also like to thank my committee members Dr. Greg Albo and Dr. Anna Zalik who provided me with feedback and encouragement as I completed my dissertation. Their comments and feedback on my dissertation draft had also aided me to sharpen my analysis. I would also like to thank my oral examining committee Dr. Ranu Basu, Dr. Hira Singh, and my external examiner Dr. Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro. They provided helpful and critical comments which I will reflect on as my academic journey and research continues. I would also like to thank the staff at York University who always aided me in navigating the university and its resources. Special thanks go to Yvonne who was always there when I needed assistance and guidance throughout my studies. Her support was essential as I completed my studies. I would also like thank all fellow students, fellow teaching assistants, faculty, and staff throughout my studies at York within the Geography Department, but also outside of it. I’d also like to thank Ashley, Catalina, Charvaak, Jarren, Josh, Ritika, Robert, Rupinder, and Sudarshana with whom we had many discussions throughout the years. Many had also provided me with helpful advice, encouragement and comments before my oral examination, making the entire process smooth and enjoyable. I’d also like to thank everyone who I spent working in organizing various conferences and participating in iv various workshops; they were exceptional experiences, and I have everyone to thank. Moreover, my dissertation would have also not been possible without the positive experience and memories that I had as I pursued my undergraduate education at the University of Toronto and my Masters in the Political Science Department at York University. Many of the teachers and fellow students no doubt played a pivotal role in my academic interests, and for them I thank them for their collegiality, friendship and encouragement. I would also like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship for their support throughout my studies. I would also like to thank everyone who took the time to help me navigate fieldwork research and for all the respondents that were willing to share their experiences and expertise and to take the time helping me navigate fieldwork. I would like to also thank all those who I met and worked with when I took a professional leave of absence from York University to pursue an apprenticeship in small-scale food production. This was an opportunity in which I was able to learn the close day-to-day workings and conditions of small-scale farming. This experience has given me grounds to continue and broaden my research as I pursue my studies on the political economy of food production and accessibility. This dissertation would also not be possible without the loving support of my friends and family as I pursued my studies. Their friendship throughout the years always kept me going. I would particularly like to thank my loving parents Nour and Rola, and my partner Leah. Leah, who I had met early during my doctoral studies and who saw this research project unfold was always there with her love, support and advice. My parents, Nour and Rola, were absolutely and unconditionally supportive as I pursued my studies. They have v always been there for me, and I owe it all to them. This research would have not been possible without their love and unconditional support. vi Table of Contents ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................................. II DEDICATION .............................................................................................................................................. III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................... IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................. VII LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................................... XI LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................................... XIV 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 GROWING FOOD, REAPING HUNGER ............................................................................................... 1 1.2 DISSERTATION OBJECTIVES AND CONTRIBUTIONS ........................................................................... 8 1.3 THE EXISTING LITERATURE AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF A VALUE-FORM ANALYSIS ......................... 17 1.4 OUTLINE ...................................................................................................................................... 23 2 FOOD INSECURITY AND CRISES: A REVIEW OF THE EXISTING LITERATURE ....................... 26 2.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 26 2.2 FOOD INSECURITY AND CRISES: EXPLANATIONS AND LIMITATIONS .................................................. 28 2.2.1 Universal Explanations for Food Insecurity ........................................................................... 29 2.2.1.1 Scarcity and the Inevitable Hunger: The Malthusian Approach ................................................... 30 2.2.1.2 ‘Productivism’ and Market Fundamentals .................................................................................... 35 2.2.2 Entitlements and the Critique of Universalism ...................................................................... 40 2.2.3 Wealth Transfer Approach .................................................................................................... 44 2.2.3.1 Unequal Exchange and Food Insecurity ...................................................................................... 46 2.2.4 Food Regimes of Accumulation ............................................................................................ 53 2.2.4.1 The Development of Capitalism, Crisis and Food Regimes ........................................................ 55 2.3 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 61 vii 3 GROWING HUMAN NEEDS: A HISTORICAL-MATERIALIST APPROACH TO FOOD AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT .......................................................................................................................... 63 3.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 63 3.2 HUMAN NEEDS AND SOCIETY:
Load more

Recommended publications
  • When Art Is the Weapon: Culture and Resistance Confronting Violence in the Post-Uprisings Arab World
    Religions 2015, 6, 1277–1313; doi:10.3390/rel6041277 OPEN ACCESS religions ISSN 2077-1444 www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Article When Art Is the Weapon: Culture and Resistance Confronting Violence in the Post-Uprisings Arab World Mark LeVine 1,2 1 Department of History, University of California, Irvine, Krieger Hall 220, Irvine, CA 92697-3275, USA; E-Mail: [email protected] 2 Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University, Finngatan 16, 223 62 Lund, Sweden Academic Editor: John L. Esposito Received: 6 August 2015 / Accepted: 23 September 2015 / Published: 5 November 2015 Abstract: This article examines the explosion of artistic production in the Arab world during the so-called Arab Spring. Focusing on music, poetry, theatre, and graffiti and related visual arts, I explore how these “do-it-yourself” scenes represent, at least potentially, a “return of the aura” to the production of culture at the edge of social and political transformation. At the same time, the struggle to retain a revolutionary grounding in the wake of successful counter-revolutionary moves highlights the essentially “religious” grounding of “committed” art at the intersection of intense creativity and conflict across the Arab world. Keywords: Arab Spring; revolutionary art; Tahrir Square What to do when military thugs have thrown your mother out of the second story window of your home? If you’re Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuta, Africa’s greatest political artist, you march her coffin to the Presidential compound and write a song, “Coffin for Head of State,” about the murder. Just to make sure everyone gets the point, you use the photo of the crowd at the gates of the compound with her coffin as the album cover [1].
    [Show full text]
  • Freedom to Write Index 2019
    FREEDOM TO WRITE INDEX 2019 Freedom to Write Index 2019 1 INTRODUCTION mid global retrenchment on human rights In 2019, countries in the Asia-Pacific region impris- Aand fundamental freedoms—deepening oned or detained 100 writers, or 42 percent of the authoritarianism in Russia, China, and much of the total number captured in the Index, while countries Middle East; democratic retreat in parts of Eastern in the Middle East and North Africa imprisoned or Europe, Latin America, and Asia; and new threats detained 73 writers, or 31 percent. Together these in established democracies in North America and two regions accounted for almost three-quarters Western Europe—the brave individuals who speak (73 percent) of the cases in the 2019 Index. Europe out, challenge tyranny, and make the intellectual and Central Asia was the third highest region, with case for freedom are on the front line of the battle 41 imprisoned/detained writers, or 17 percent of to keep societies open, defend the truth, and resist the 2019 Index; Turkey alone accounted for 30 of repression. Writers and intellectuals are often those cases. By contrast, incarceration of writers is among the canaries in the coal mine who, alongside relatively less prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, with journalists and human rights activists, are first 20 writers, or roughly eight percent of the count, and targeted when a country takes a more authoritarian the Americas, with four writers, just under two percent turn. The unjust detention and imprisonment of the count. The vast majority of imprisoned writers, of writers and intellectuals impacts both the intellectuals, and public commentators are men, but individuals themselves and the broader public, who women comprised 16 percent of all cases counted in are deprived of innovative and influential voices the 2019 Index.
    [Show full text]
  • Food Speculationspeculation Ploughing Through the Meanders in Food Speculation
    PloughingPloughing throughthrough thethe meandersmeanders inin FoodFood SpeculationSpeculation Ploughing through the meanders in Food Speculation Collaborator Process by Place and date of writing: Bilbao, February 2011. Written by Mónica Vargas y Olivier Chantry from the (ODG) Observatori del Deute en la Globalització (Observatory on Debt in Globalization) of the Càtedra UNESCO de Sostenibilitat Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Po- lytechnic University of Catalonia’s UNESCO Chair on Sustainability) and edi- ted by Gustavo Duch from Revista Soberanía Alimentaria, Biodiversidad y Culturas (Food Sovereignty, Biodiversity and Cultures Magazine). With the support of Grain www.grain.org and of Mundubat www.mundubat.org This material may be freely shared, although we would appreciate your quoting the source. Co-financed by: “This publication has been produced with the financial support of the Spanish Agency for International Co-operation for Development (AECID). The contents of this publica- tion are the exclusive responsibility of Mundubat and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the AECID.” Index Introduction 5 1. Food speculation: what is it and where does it originate from? 8 Initial definitions 8 Origin and functioning of futures markets 9 In the 1930’s: a regulation that legitimized speculation 12 2. The scaffolding of 21st-century food speculation 13 Liberalization of financial and agricultural markets: two parallel processes 13 Fertilizing the ground for speculation 14 Ever more complex financial engineering 15 3. Agribusiness’
    [Show full text]
  • Mapping Cairo | Norient.Com 29 Sep 2021 04:27:14
    Mapping Cairo | norient.com 29 Sep 2021 04:27:14 Mapping Cairo by Torie Rose DeGhett France24's multimedia-webdocumentary The song of Tahir square. Music at the heart of revolution invites to dive in contrasting places of music in Cairo. The interactive concept gives a new approach to the role of music in the egyptian protest movement. The documentary by Hussein Emara and Priscille Lafitte is a welcome contribution to the growing discussion about artistic and musical elements of protests in the Middle East. A contribution, that is important in its content, but also in the emotional narrative it presents. Watch Webdocumentary here. In his recently published memoir Revolution 2.0, Wael Ghonim recounts pairing an activist video with music by Haitham Said. He writes: «people found the fusion of images, lyrics, and music inspiring and moving». The video he made «created an emotional bond between the cause and the target audience». That is what the footage and material presented in this documentary do: create an emotional connection with the music, instead of simply collecting it for its interest value. The Songs of Tahrir Square is interactive and visual as well as musical. The songs themselves are almost as much about seeing the vigor and passion of the performances and the crowds of people who sing and chant along with them as they are about the lyrical content. Not much could replace the sense of popular force behind such sentiments as the sight of those audiences. https://norient.com/video/webdocumentary-cairo Page 1 of 4 Mapping Cairo | norient.com 29 Sep 2021 04:27:14 Put together by Hussein Emara and Priscille Lafitte, the web documentary presents itself as a journey through the music of Tahrir, allowing the viewer to navigate a map of Cairo's musical hotspots.
    [Show full text]
  • The Global Food Challenge Towards a Human Rights Approach to Trade and Investment Policies Table of Contents
    The global Food Challenge Towards a Human rigHTs approacH To Trade and invesTmenT policies Table of ConTenTs The Global food Challenge: Introduction 3 Sophia Murphy and Armin Paasch Executive summary 6 Sophia Murphy and Armin Paasch A. FundamenTals 13 I. A Human Rights Approach to Trade and Investment Policies 14 Olivier De Schutter II. Agricultural Trade Liberalization in Multilateral and Bilateral Trade Negotiations 29 Tobias Reichert B. Case StudIes on Trade, InvesTmenT and The rIGhT To food 39 III. World Agricultural Trade and Human Rights – 40 Case studies on violations of the right to food of small farmers Armin Paasch IV. Foreign Investment and the Right to Food 50 Rolf Künnemann V. Women at the Center of the Global Food Challenge 60 Alexandra Spieldoch C. New ChallenGes and ThreaTs 67 VI. The Role of Speculation in the 2008 Food Price Bubble 68 Peter Wahl VII. Deepening the Food Crisis? 79 Climate change, food security and the right to food Thomas Hirsch, Christine Lottje and Michael Windfuhr 1 THe GLobal FooD CHALLenge – Towards a human rIGhTs approaCh To Trade and InvesTmenT polICIes D. Human rIGhTs based alTernaTIves and Tools 91 VIII. An overview of Human Rights Instruments to Raise Concerns 92 About Trade and Investment Policies Elvira Domínguez Redondo and Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona IX. Towards a Convention on the Rights of Peasants 102 Christophe Golay X. Bridging the Divide: A human rights vision for global food trade 112 Sophia Murphy and Carin Smaller List of abbreviations 125 List of authors 127 Imprint 128 2 The Global food ChallenGe: InTroduction t started with the tortilla crisis in mexico.
    [Show full text]
  • Tackling Hunger and Protecting Consumers Curbing Excessive Speculation on Food April 2013
    MP Briefing Tackling hunger and protecting consumers Curbing excessive speculation on food April 2013 • Excessive financial speculation in food commodity with food prices reaching record highs during 2011. derivatives has significantly increased price volatility • The US has enacted new regulations to curb excessive and inflation for staple foods. This has had negative speculation on food but the implementation is being impacts for consumers and businesses in the UK and delayed by legal action from the financial lobby. The EU has contributed to significant increases in hunger and is in the process of agreeing new regulations. It is vital poverty globally. for the UK government to support effective international • This effect was most clearly seen in the food crisis in legislation rather than promoting failed self-regulation. 2007-2008, when the price of maize rose by 180 per cent. Speculation continues to contribute to food price spikes High and volatile food prices The cause of high volatility – excessive In 2008, food prices reached record levels rising 80 per cent speculation in 18 months then declining rapidly. Since 2009 prices have Between 1996-2011, financial speculators’ share of major climbed again reaching a new record peak in early 2011 and commodity derivative markets for basic foods such as wheat have been at high levels since. has risen from 12 to over 60 per cent. Meanwhile, the value of assets held by financial institutions has nearly doubled Food Price Index 1990 to 2012 (2002-2004=100) from US$65 billion to $126 billion between 2006-2011. 250 Research by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, 200 UN Conference on Trade, Aid and Development (UNCTAD), the World Development Movement and others demonstrates 150 the central role of financial speculators in the 2007-2008 food crisis and other recent price spikes.
    [Show full text]
  • Safe Haven Conference
    SAFE HAVENS 2015 10 –11 DECEMBER Biographies ABAZAR A. BAGI HAMID Musician Singer Songwriter. Grew up in the cultural belt between Sudan and the Gulf, and his music is both rooted in traditional Sudanese and African music characteristic of the Gulf area, and heavily inspired by reggae and Afro-Latin music. Abazar Hamid started singing for peace in Sudan at an early age, and formed his fi rst band, “Balsam”, at university. In 1997, he became well-known at regional level when he joined “ Igd Elgalad Band”, and in 2005, he quit his job as an architect to start his solo career, launching the project “Rainbow Songs”. The project brought together musicians from across Sudan, aiming to slip lyrics about Human Rights and dignity past the music monitoring committee. Abazar Hamid released his fi rst solo album, “Sabahak Rabah” (“Good Morning Home”) in 2007 but experienced increasing censorship in his home country. Songs dealing with social and political issues riding Sudan were especially scrutinized, and after severe censorship and verbal threats, Abazar chose exile and moved to Cairo in 2008. In 2009 he established the project “democratizing music” in collaboration with other Sudanese and Egyptian musicians, as a forum to share resources rather than fi ghting each other. Abazar arrived, as Norways fi rst official town-musician, in Harstad the 10th of december 2014. ABDUL HAKIM HASHEMI HAMIDI Graduated from Herat University in Afghanistan, majoring in history. Currently he is completing a Master in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action at Sciences Po, Paris School of International Aff airs. Hamidi started his human rights activities when he was living in Iran as a refugee.
    [Show full text]
  • Safe Music Havens
    Safe Music Havens NORDIC PILOT - INFORMATION FOR HOST CITIES Ramy Essam, Tahrir Square, Cairo (Photo Mark LeVine) Ramy Essam, the creator of the famous ‘#Jan25 Tahrir’ song that was played throughout the Egyptian revolution in February 2011, appeared with severe marks of torture after being detained by security forces, reported Egyptian bloggers... (Freemuse 11 March 2011) On 26 October 2011, Ramy Essam’s concert at the Cairo University Medicine School was abrubtly stopped by the Dean of the university. (27 October 2011) On 21 November 2011 the Egyptian singer Ramy Essam received the Freemuse Award 2011 at a ceremony in Södra Teatern in Stockholm, Sweden. (21 November 2011) .…after publicly singing folk songs that were subsequently repeated by half a million demonstrators in the city of Hama, Ibrahim Kashoush was murdered by Assad’s Shabiha, or thugs, who deliberately removed his vocal chords both to make a political statement and to prevent him from ever being able to utter Irhal ya Bashar (Bashar Get Out) again. (”Silencing the singer”, Elie Chalala, Al Jadid, Vol. 16, no. 63, 2011) “Everybody should be able to sing songs freely in their mother language. It cannot be a crime to sing a folk song...” Raziye Kızıl (known as Gazin) was sentenced to one year in prison for having sung two Kurdish songs and thereby “making propaganda for an illegal organisation”. A second trial now carries an extra five-year prison threat. (Freemuse/BA News Center on 11 October 2011) The singer Hortsang Lhalung Tso was detained by the Chinese authorities just before attending a Tibetan culture show with other popular Tibetans in Tsoe-town.
    [Show full text]
  • Rising Food Prices ARE HIGH FOOD PRICES HERE to STAY?
    OCT. 18, 2011 VOLUME 5, NUMBER 20 PAGES 499-524 WWW.GLOBALRESEARCHER.COM Rising Food Prices ARE HIGH FOOD PRICES HERE TO STAY? lobal food prices reached record highs early this year, sending millions around the world into pover- ty and contributing to starvation in East Africa. Many blame the government-subsidized growth in the market for biofuels, such as ethanol. Biofuels are expected to consume 40 percent of this year’s corn crop from the world’s largest producer — the United States. Others say commodities specula- Gtors caused food prices to ricochet wildly. Europe is considering adopting restrictions on speculation similar to a new U.S. law, but Wall Street is lobbying hard to weaken the American regulations. Perennially high food prices may be the first sign that changing climate is handicapping agriculture. To feed the world’s growing population, experts say farmers must double their food output by mid-century — a tall order to fill without destroying more rain forests and further boosting planet-warming carbon emissions. The solution may be a combi- nation of two warring philosophies: high- tech agriculture and traditional farming methods that are kinder to the environ- ment. Protesters carry a man waving a baguette in Tunis, Tunisia, on Jan. 18, 2011. Anger over rising food prices mobilized many of the thousands of people who took to the streets in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East during the “Arab Spring.” PUBLISHED BY CQ PRESS, AN IMPRINT OF SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC. WWW.CQPRESS.COM RISING FOOD PRICES THE ISSUES Biofuels Linked to Future 503 Food Price Hikes • Are government incen- A humanitarian group says Oct.
    [Show full text]
  • The New Arab Exiles by Mark Le Vine
    Mark Le Vine The new Arab exiles The new Arab exiles – a largely well-educated group of activists that are creating thriving communities in Europe and North 109 America – are a core component of the emerging trans-Europe- 2016 an and Mediterranean public sphere. By representing an alter- 71-72 native to jihadis and by forming a bridge between their coun- tries of origin and their new hosts, they are bound to challenge Aspenia not just individual regimes and governments, but to help rede- fine the very meaning of the term “European”. From the ancient Greeks’ “ostracism” (ostrakophoria) to the Roman term exsilium and the English “banishment”, the involuntary removal from one’s native land has long been experienced as among the harshest of punish- ments for anyone challenging state power. Cicero nearly committed suicide when he was exiled from Rome, saved only by the Mark Le Vine, an accomplished guitarist, teaches pleadings of a friend. Ovid Middle Eastern History at UC Irvine and at the Cen- blamed exile for ruining his ter for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University. poetic genius. Legend even He is currently working on a book on the Arab up- risings after five years. 109-119-Le Vine-ingl_71-72 CORRETTO.indd 109 20/05/16 18.23 has it that Dante’s Inferno was inspired by the hell of a wandering life after his exile from Florence; Casanova was forced to spend the last part of his life as a librarian in a Bohemian castle, after his second exile from Venice. As Dante described it, “Tu lascerai ogne cosa diletta più caramente; e ques- to è quello strale che l’arco de lo essilio pria saetta.
    [Show full text]
  • Food Investments
    Food Investments Food Prices Soared Over Past Decades Increasing demand in particular from the above-average growing population in emerging countries, the increasing competition with biofuel and the negative impact of climate changes are seen as contributing factors. At times food prices rapidly advance. Especially in those periods it is debated passionately to which extent the increased investments in food commodities have not only supported those higher food prices but also increased volatility. The general upward price trend remains unbroken, though (see chart 1 below). Chart 1: International Monetary Fund (IMF) Food Price Index. Monthly data in USD. Source: www.imf.org/en/Research/commodity-prices Is it Acceptable to Speculate in Food? In the public view ‘betting on food’ and ‘food speculation’ are two highly negatively occupied phrases. It is both popular and easy to blame the ‘ruthless’ speculators for higher staple food prices, in particular when prolonged unfavorable weather conditions already induce a shortage of supply. Understandably the topic is emotionalized because millions of human beings’ lives are potentially affected in an existential way. But the topic is also more complex than meets the eye. 1 The fact is that raising food prices have a disproportionate impact on the world’s poor. People in the developing countries spend 50%-90% of their income on food, while it is only on average 10%-15% in the developed countries. Lobby groups are demanding stricter position limits for speculators in food or banning financial institutions altogether to participate. Commerzbank, DZ Bank and its subsidiary Union Investment, Barclays, BNP, Nordea plus a number of other banks already announced to refrain from issuing staple-based Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs).
    [Show full text]
  • “The Revolution Did Not Take Place”: Hidden Transcripts of Cairokee's Post
    “The Revolution Did Not Take Place”: Hidden Transcripts of Cairokee’s Post- Revolution Rock Music CAROLYN RAMZY Abstract In 2016, Egypt’s popular rock band Cairokee renamed the song that propelled them to fame from “Voice of Freedom” to “The Revolution Did Not Take Place.” The new song and its sarcastic video poked fun at the state’s centralized media and military leadership in their efforts to erase the 2011 popular uprising from public memory. Drawing on James Scott’s notion of hidden transcripts and the complicit role of the media in Jean Baudrillard’s The Gulf War Did Not Take Place, I investigate the band’s political shifts in Egypt’s post-revolutionary music soundscape. Despite aggressive efforts to censor their songs, how does Cairokee embed their political critique of military rule in present day Egypt? And, in their use of ruse, humor, and overt disenchantments with the Egyptian uprising, how do their songs and music videos craft, in Baudrillard’s words, a “third order of reality,” overcoming the classical dichotomy between the “virtual” and the “real” for their audiences offline, only to replicate the same exclusionary class politics that they critiqued in their music? Figure 1: Video still of Eid’s “Sout Al Horeya” or “Voice of Freedom.” The protester’s banner in this image reflects a line from the song’s chorus: “In every street of my country, the voice of freedom is calling.” Image taken by the author. Watch video: http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/mp.9460447.0014.103. Music & Politics 14, Number 1 (Winter 2020), ISSN 1938-7687.
    [Show full text]