Sadat: Helped Usa Suck Egypt Dry

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Vasser personified 'Arah socialism' in truth. nationalist state capitalism SOME PEOPLE'S reputations are saved by their deaths. That was true for Anwar el-Sadat. And it was just as true for his predecjessor, Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Had they lived a little longer, they would have had to face the failure of their most ambitious projects.

Nasser is remembered by ¡the Egyptian masses as the man who broke the grip of imperialism and its local z ents on Egypt, and who jof industry. He is also remembered as an intransigent opponent of Zionism.

But the truth is very different. By 1970, the year of this death, Nasser had already begun - albeit slowIly - dismantling the system he had built up.

By the time of his death, there had been concessions t-dhaminata mantas solona .o tne prvate secior wnuse role Nasser had considerably curtailed a decade pefore.

Restrictions on private mports had been relaxed, contracts had been given to privately-owned oil companies, and some land had been returned to the big landlords who had owned it Discussion about the liberalisation of the economy was already well under way.

At the same time, the Egyptian regime had accepted the US-sponsored Rogers 'Peace' Plan - a diplomatic cover for the murder of the Palestinian masses in Jordan.

When Sadat took over, the process of compromising with imperialism was accelerated. And the price lemanded for this sell-oul was slashed: Egypt's independence was mortgaged not for the huge inflow of investment that had been envisaged, but for a relatively small but poisonous trickle: enough to enrich foreign capitalists, too little o lift Egypt out of bottom.

less debt and the mass of its people out of permanent poverty.

The first move in this process came with Sadat's dismissal of Ali Sabry from ic.E government in May =: Sabre mas the leader Site gro-seve: tenderc;

a.rz ire lasserites and =: :em:ra. came on the ca: betore the arrival in 1 E.:: is Secretary of ie: Wiiam Rogers. The * =.a was unmistakable.

•Ear iater. Sadat =[÷…÷C Soviet military = X÷-: This move was .**c uc as a nationalist =... :o Soviet pressur..rah i was the oppowas the Egyptian _..Z i ass's reaction to :-serialis: pressures and -e. signal of their readembrace US these obvious -.a= imperialism -maRec aluot. A more : =: us courtship and an .=.=. ritue were needed .-- summer of 1973 ice iovited the national -aia io consider a so: a.e0 dia. a document whose -:. a= outlines were *-pesec wo prepare the :ars urmation of Egypt.

Saca: : dedication to demicracy w'as clearly dez insiraied a month later *hen the regime passed a which provided for sentences up to life imprisonment for membership of political organisations outside the Arab Socialist Still US imperialism remained aloof. But when in October 1973 Sadat waged war on Israel, the US was forced to intervene and take responsibility for arranging a 'peace' formula.

The price for Egypt's signature on any 'peace' treaty would be US investments and Us arms.

That did it. The US could no longer remain aloof, it could only play hard to get a bit in the hope that Sadat would make further concessions. And that worked, too.

By February 1974, Sadat was ready to promulgate three decrees, shifting control over the economy from the state bureaucracy to bodies which included i representatives of foreign capital and improving conditions for foreign investment.

The decrees exempted enterprises investing in the Canal Free Zones from taxes and duties, exempted new enterprises in the rest of Egypt from paying tax on profits for a period of five to eight vears. and freed business and investment banks irom currency controis.

Tree: morias later. ITE Eri.E. = = anc secuesa... . erty to be illega, añü.... consequences void.

Collusion

This was the prelude to the 'Infitah' or 'Open Door' policy.

With such allurements, wasn't US capital bound to flood in? Not at all: US investors did not fully trust Sadat. and they did not trust the stability of his regime, despite the popularity it enjoyed from the limited success of the October War.

More had to be done. Sadat flied Hassanein Heykal, editor-in-chief of the semi official El Ahram, and a pioneer of compromise with imperialism during Nasser's Ifetime. Heykal was replaced by Ali Amin, a journalist driven out of Egypt by Nasser for alleged collusion with the CIA.

Yet despite this, a new interim economic plan and new investment aw favouring foreign capital, Sadat's efforts were rewarded by only a meagre trickle of investments and contracts.

Still more drastic measures had to be taken. With Andrew lornung M.KAHTIZB The economic situation continued to deteriorate. The trade deficit was huge, debts were huge. The only thing that wasn't was, still, the inflow of investment. US imperialism and its collaborators in the Middle East - the Saudis, the Kuwaitis; the Gulf sheikhs and others - wanted still more guarantees. A $50 million World Bank loan was secured only by the Suez Canal company (the recipients of the loan) agreeing to "hire advisers and specialists whose experience, ability and conditions of appointment are acceptable to the Bank" • The loan for the publiclyowned Thora cement works requires it to follow a policy laid down by the World Bank. The Egyptian railways operate under similar conditions.

The IMF demanded further reductions in subsidies and a complete float of the Egyptian pound - together these would force huge price rises, the main burden falling on the poor.

Sadat did not budge on these - but he agreed to compensate US investors for claims resulting from expropriations under Nasser. A month later, in mid 1976, a new Investment Law was passed exempting imports from customs and easing restrictions on repatriation of profits.

Still Egypt got little except a new Hilton Hotel. The pressure mounted on Sadat to capitulate completely and allow the international agencies to plunder at will.

Luxury

The break came with the appointment of a new deputy prime minister tor financial and economic affairs, who was tied to the IMF and the Kuwaiti ruling family, and was himself a banker. That did it.

The international agencies were now confident that their man, Abdul Moneim al-Qaisouni, would cut the tape for a field-day of profiteering. They were not disappointed. And sure enough, the new budget he drew up included the slashing of food subsidies they had been demanding.

When the working-class revolt of January 1977 forced a retreat, so frightened were the imperialists that they decided to rush loans to Sadat to save his regime from possible overthrow.

The much-heralded Open Door policy has indeed opened the door to ry and the working class. British troops followed.

their property confiscated. rather than the USSR.

luxury consumption for a few. In a country with an average income of 98 ne

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developed the nation's eco- nomy through state control

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