Belatedly, Egypt Spots Flaws in Wiping Out Pigs

This article can be found here.

September 30, 2009

Before last spring, pigs were often allowed to stroll the streets of Cairo, Egypt, eating all the discarded organic waste that littered their path. That is, before the country's leading experts advised the mass slaughter of these species in order to slow the spread of a certain sickness called the swine flu. No longer around to provide their waste reduction services, pigs are being replaced by sheep, who have struggled to keep up with the quality of their predecessors' work. Residents are reporting an increased stench in the city, and officials are beginning to wonder if the measures taken will reap any positive results. The author uses this humorous anecdote to lightly introduce the broader issue of an over-reactive and rash Egyptian government. As the article takes a more serious tone, the author Michael Slackman takes a broader prespective by acquainting the reader with Cairo's other service industry issues, like the prevalence of bribes. By supplying them with quotes from Cairo's suffering citizens and qualified experts from that region-- like the chief of the infectious disease department at the Ministry of Agriculture, Sabir Abdel Aziz Galal, who advised against the pig massacre-- Slackman brings the article above the level of a merely entertaining article to one that seriously explores the legitimacy of the Egyptian governement.