My letter to Andrew Patterson, President of Bechtel for the Middle East and Africa
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Dear Mr. Patterson,
As you know, the Egyptian government is awaiting a decision by the International Monetary Fund on a $12 billion loan. The government has already agreed to the IMF loan conditions, and has already taken many steps to fulfill them, with the implementation of several other measures planned in the coming months. If it is approved by the IMF, this loan will be the biggest ever granted by that institution in the region. The burden of repaying this loan, and the harsh Austerity measures stipulated in its conditions, will fall upon the backs of the Egyptian people, although they have had no say in the negotiations, and although they are governed by the man who overthrew the man they elected to the presidency. There exists, therefore, no popular consent whatsoever regarding being burdened in this way.
Egypt has appealed to the IMF because Egypt is effectively insolvent. As a businessman, you know very well that one does not responsibly lend money to someone who is bankrupt and who cannot possibly pay back the loan. This is not a formula for economic rehabilitation; it is a formula for economic sabotage and debt slavery.
In fact, the only beneficiaries of this loan, indeed, the only intended beneficiaries, are companies like yours. It is therefore important for you to know that the ongoing revolutionary movement in Egypt will hold Bechtel, and every other multinational corporation operating in the country, accountable for the consequences of this loan if it is approved. A toll will be imposed on your profitability for your complicity in the debt enslavement of Egypt, and for your collaboration with the anti-democratic regime that forced itself into power. Call it, if you like, an “Oppression Tax” , levied by the people to increase the cost of doing business with a tyrant.
We invite you, alternatively, to use the tremendous influence of your company to support the popular will and to lobby the IMF to reject the loan to Egypt. We hope that you will choose to align Bechtel with the people of Egypt, with democracy, and with justice. If so, you will be welcome; if not, then you should know that you will not be free to do business in Egypt as long as Egypt is not free.