Protests on Mubarak’s birthday amount to little in Egypt

There was little turnout or passion for the nationwide strike planned to coincide with Egyptian President Mubarak’s 80th birthday on Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reported the same day.

The strike had called for Egyptians to protest the government’s inability to address the food crisis, rising inflation, political oppression, and growing economic disparity. People could show their support for the event by not going to work or wearing black clothing. However, according to the article, “Few took to the streets, few boycotted work, and few wore black.”

Despite almost a month of organization and planning, the loose coalition of intellectual leftists, cyber-dissidents, and members of the weakened Muslim Brotherhood was presented with another disappointing outcome, beaten by Mubarak’s carrot-and-stick tactics of offering pay raises while deploying massive police forces.

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