1
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The right to housing?
-OK and have you heard of such a thing as the right to housing?

2
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-What?
-The right to housing.

3
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Of course - as an Egyptian citizen I know I have the right to decent housing, a decent life and livelihood.

4
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But where - who will get me these rights?

5
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It's the right of every Egyptian to have housing, to be able to live decently - all of this is your right as an Egyptian!

6
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It's my right, sure - but who do I demand this from?

7
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No, I don't know about these things...

8
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My right to housing... I've heard of it, but I don't see it in front of me.

9
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No, it doesn't exist. At all.

10
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Right to housing? There is no equality in housing at all. None whatsoever.

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Urban Dangers
1. Pollution

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There is no attention paid to sewage systems,

13
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They regularly burst,

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[44.4% of housing units in Egypt are not connected to sanitation systems.]
-Maintenance is neglected,

15
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They're ruling over the country, and it remains in filth.

16
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Not once have they come here and paved the road or anything for this country.

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Those people that won in the elections promised to fix things and pave the roads and so on - and we've seen none of that.

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Constant fires... smoke... all of that.

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The only thing the district would do is come here and expand the roads and pile up the garbage... until you've got mountains of it.
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See this power line?

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If one of Habib el Adly's men were living near this power line it would have been removed by now.

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Urban Dangers
2. Collapsed buildings

22
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-They pulled me out from beneath all of this rubble,
Look what it's like down there - if you look at it, you'd be too scared to pass down there.

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This house collapsed, and the rescue team came, and got them out from above,

24
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Neither the district nor the governor has paid any attention to them,

25
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The house collapsed, and we've been stranded like this since Monday.

26
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And no one gives a damn. No one's paid any attention to us, no one's come to us.

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Around 2% of housing units presently have construction flaws.
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Urban Dangers
3. Forced Eviction

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The first day the military police came, and the Ministry of Interior, they raided us out of the blue, at 6 am,

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-[Text] This is how the poor are treated in Egypt.
They just kept demolishing everything... without a word.

30
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We ended up with our things out in the open, abandoned. They broke all our things, demolished them, beat us and abused us, and then left us.

31
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They did nothing else. We asked about halting the order for the demolitions - they said no, there will be no halting.

32
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They demolished the building with everything inside, furniture and all. They didn't even let anyone.... take even their personal things.

33
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As if we're in Gaza.

34
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[Lacking the Basics]

35
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I'll show you that the flat consists of a room, and something like a kitchen to keep equipment in.

36
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A room, where seven people sleep. Seven people, and a common toilet.

37
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A common toilet.

38
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He has neither housing, nor home, nor living.

39
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He and his family sleep here.

40
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Around 4.5% of families live in a single room.

41
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Around 6% of families use common toilets.

42
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Don't ask me why I sell a loaf of bread for 50 piastres now,

43
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Ask the governor! The governor refuses to subsidize you here, tells you you don't deserve it.

44
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He says, you live in Mohandiseen [an upscale neighbourhood]

45
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We pay a lot for the gas canisters - when we find them. We rarely find them.

46
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Thirty, thirty-five pounds. ($5)

47
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Around 76% of Egyptian families depend on gas canisters to cook with.

48
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[Transportation]
-Yeah, transportation, we ride in semi pick-up trucks,

49
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The drivers don't stop, and we can't climb in from the back,

50
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And it's 1 pound ($0.17) per person, no matter how short the distance,

51
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Give them half and they keep fighting with you, and there we are standing at the stop,

52
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And riding in the back, too.

53
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The semi-formal public transport sector (microbuses) provides around 35% of transportation needs in Cairo.

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[Water]
-We get water but, I mean, it's usually polluted.

55
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You pay for the water, either way you're paying, whether you like it or not,

56
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And if you don't pay they cut off the water supply.

57
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And I'm living in Nile country. We're surrounded by Nile water.

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Water cuts for a day or more in Cairo: 37 %

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National rate of water network loss: 50%

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Community Self-Organization

61
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For them it's a slum, but for us, it's the best place in the world.

62
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It's enough that not a single incident of theft has occurred.

63
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No one has dared to sneak into our neighborhood.

64
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Because we're real men and we stand up to protect it.

65
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Here we don't have singular roles - we take on the responsibility of the local government.

66
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Meaning district governance.

67
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We clean... we do the job of the Ministry of Environment.

68
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We take on protection and security... the jobs of the police and the Interior Ministry.

69
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We protect the place.

70
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They spread the idea that people in slum areas are all filth.

71
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That we don't know anything.

72
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Poverty isn't a shame!

73
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They are the reason - this poverty is targeted - they are the reason it exists.

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For 20 years this place was a garbage dump.

75
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We cleaned it up of our own accord.

76
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Because they refused to - even the gas canisters, we get them from outside to distribute among people here.

77
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But state - there is no state. Government? There is no government.

78
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I got these numbers - up till 100,

79
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To get a canister, you take a card, let's say number 8 - and you get that canister.

80
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Out of a very small amount, I have to spend daily wages for protection,

81
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With the same amount, I get bulbs and wires, to light the roads,

82
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I use it to clean.

83
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As you can see, some passerby donate as well.

84
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So we can say... there is still good in Egypt.

85
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We just need more of an awakening in conscience.

86
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We stood and protected the place - why?

87
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I mean.... it's your country, your people, your blood.

88
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It's your place, where you live, where you grow.

89
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That goes for the poor as well as the rich.

90
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During the days of the revolution, things got a bit out of control,

91
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We work hard, and build,

92
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Lest they pop up again and cause any disturbance, you know?

93
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It's your property and everything, but it brings quite a burden,

94
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For anyone who wants to build. Especially someone who's ill - won't build anything at all.

95
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Slums? Of course not.

96
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I mean I was born here, 80 or 90 years ago, and we're doing work no one knows anything about,

97
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If it's developed properly, it'll be the best place in all of Egypt.

98
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These 'slums' are their own creation,

99
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I am, thank God, a poor man with faith.

100
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But, thank God, I am rich with God's blessings and people's prayers for me.

101
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But I have the capability and the ability to do things even the biggest authority in the country can't accomplish!

102
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Why, because I live in the area, and I know what will benefit the area, and what it needs.

103
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Now who are they that can benefit the country?

104
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And who will listen to us, and help us, and see what our demands are.

105
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Our demands are not personal demands for us - they are public demands.

106
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That can benefit the country, benefit the citizens using these roads.

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The right to housing, and a just and sustainable society.
Have you taken your rights?

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Special thanks to the people of: Kom Ghorab, el-Basateen, Shubrament, St. Katerine, Greater al-Amrawi farm, el-Hagana farm, el-Muneeb.

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The Right to Housing Series
First Episode