Egypt's Labor Pains: For Workers, the Revolution Has Just Begun

This past spring, Western and Egyptian media alike attributed the explosive Tahrir Square protests to organizing by middle-class movements of students and intellectuals, battling for political freedom and armed with social media. This popular narrative holds that it was only when young people ignited a popular uprising that Egyptian workers shut down the country's ports and public services in solidarity. But history indicates the opposite, that years of labor organizing laid the groundwork for today's protests and will determine whether working Egyptians have a stake in the state that is emerging.