Egypt ... some thoughts

Dear Colleagues

In TrueValueMNetrics, there is accounting for everything that comprises quality of life. Good things are assets in the "state" of the community, and bad things are liabilities.

It is good to be moving up the socio-economic ladder ... good to be progressing out of poverty. It is bad to be stuck in poverty especially when the privileged classes, mainly the political class, the business class and to some extent the people within the security apparatus are getting richer and richer in both absolute and relative terms.

It is good to have freedom ... something that too few people on the planet have. It is good to be empowered ... even in a modest way ... to get heard and to be a part of an improving society.

Greed is a powerful motivator ... but it is not a good motivator. The human spirit is way better than mere greed.

So what is going on in Egypt. Several decades ago there was a global revolt against what was often referred to as Colonial oppression. When I was a student, there was great optimism about the wonderful future that was going to emerge when colonial oppression was replaced by "independence". Sadly, in far too many cases, colonial oppression was replaced by a combination of local political oppression and a new world order of corporate exploitation ... not to mention military opportunism.

The revolt in Egypt represents a very public statement of total dissatisfaction with the way in which Egypt is being run by its leaders ... and indeed, of dissatisfaction with the global community that makes this type of leadership possible.

There will be success if those who are dissatisfied with the way Egypt has functioned are able to do things that better serve the legitimate economic aspirations of the people as a whole. From my perspective this is a business challenge as much as it is a political or security challenge. The business community ... the global business community ... needs to address the root causes of food price increases and do it quickly. The business news channels need to talk as much about economic hardship from food price increases as they do about the potential for more profit from the corporate food sector.

Huge corporate profits on top of poverty is a volatile combination ... in its extreme as in Tunisia, and Egypt ... and indeed in Iraq and some time back in the Shah's Iran ... but increasingly a concern everywhere.

As the revolts in North Africa progress ... one also has to think what lessons there are for Haiti. I believe that there are important lessons to be drawn.

People need to be at the center of success ... and this energy needs to go into building an economic system that really works.

Sincerely

Peter Burgess