Thirst revolution: practices of contestation and mobilisation in rural Egypt

Abstract

Between 2007 and 2018, water-based protests in Egypt received extensive visibility in media headlines. These protests were first sparked by events in a village in the Nile Delta in 2007; since this demonstration, water-based protests, known as Thawrat Al-'Atash or the Thirst Revolution, have become widespread. Nevertheless, the vast majority of academic research looking at social movements in Egypt has focused on urban protests. This paper investigates the dynamics of water-focused protests in rural Egypt. We use a political ecology approach to understand ecological distribution conflicts and perceived unjust distribution of water that was behind the social unrest.The article includes a classification of local-scale water-based protests in rural Egypt, which breaks down their causes and shows how the protest movement is embedded within biophysical, water management and agriculture development politics.

Land and small farmer resistance in authoritarian Egypt

“…Water provision was increasingly privatized after 2005. As a result, drinking water, which despite figures for widespread availability, was often only intermittent and of poor quality, especially for rural households, increased in cost by 25% in 2016 and by an additional 30% in 2017 (El‐Nour et al 2021, 9). Protest against poor provision and quality had begun much earlier in 2007.…”

“…And in 2018, another organization noted 165 water‐based rural protests regarding potable, irrigation, and waste water. As one rare synthesis of protest has noted,

The multiple waves of water protest, occurring because of the same grievances but under different governments, are an indication that inequality in access to water is systemic, ingrained in the workings of the state beyond the politics of the day (El‐Nour et al, 2021, 11).

…”

“…The multiple waves of water protest, occurring because of the same grievances but under different governments, are an indication that inequality in access to water is systemic, ingrained in the workings of the state beyond the politics of the day (El‐Nour et al, 2021, 11).…”

“…Farmer protests about poor service provision and worsening livelihoods have occasionally spilled over into direct confrontation with land owners and power holders. Farmers mixed ordinary weapons of the powerless (Scott, 1985, xvi) with direct protest of “strikes, sit‐ins and road blockades with filing complaints” (El‐Nour et al, 2021, 11). Farmers understood, through experience and practice, the brutality of security forces and beltagi (thugs) hired to disrupt protest and opposition to government and landlords that played out, whenever possible, hidden from public view.…”

“…Small farmer resistance to policies that rewarded larger land holders and a policy that favours export producers, in both the new, reclaimed and old Nile valley and Delta lands, has been recurrent especially since the late 1980s. After the soft coup of 2013, resistance has been restricted but remains evident (Ahmed, 2019; El‐Nour et al, 2021). The GoE has promoted a policy and practice of capital accumulation that has rewarded a landed elite, some of whom are urban‐based, the military, and sections of a post‐2011 revitalized business community.…”