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Fadi Zaghmout

A strike in Jordan on 4th of May!

I came across this facebook group/event that is calling for a general strike in Jordan on the 4th of May to protest on the continuous increase of prices.

Their goals as they state in the group are:
1. To force the government to make real actions in order to stop the inflation of prices. (As if the government hasn’t tried, and still trying, all what it can do about it)

2. Keep the prices of Gas and electricity as it is currently. (As if it is in the hand of the government the increase of Oil prices around the globe)

3. Stop selling national’s properties. (A lot of Jordanians are concerned about this issue. It has some advantages and some disadvantage. Requires a long debate here)

4. Forcing private sector to increase the prices of their employees. (How wise that would be? The government did already pushed private sector to do so, but they can’t really force anyone)

They are calling people to stay at their homes on the 4th of May till 11:00 AM, and not go to work. They claim that this is a civilized way for protesting without causing a real trouble altough at the very first of their message they say that this call is for the eyes of Jordan and for the support of those who striked in Egypt!! Why are we striking for the Egyptians??!

I am all for civilized reactions and communication with the government for any cause, but I really wonder how much such strike can cause? If you read the newspaper, you would tell that the government is concerned about the inflation of prices more than anyone and they are trying their best to limit its effect by different means. King Abdulla himself interfered more than once and gave direct orders to the government to take certain actions.

Reality is that what is happening is a global crisis. The inflation of oil prices is affecting everyone. We are not immune to that, and such strikes won’t solve the problem. What we can do is try to decrease our expenses and produce more. Strikes would only make a bad situation worse in this case.

They call the strike, the stike of the honorable men! To me honorable men are the ones who work hard to make a good life for their families, not those who whine for the government to feed them.

What is ironic that this facebook group contains many member of the upper class of society where I doubt such inflation in prices have a major effect on their lives! Some of the members in my own contact friends list do drive mercedes and live at the very riches neighbourhood in West Amman!

I don’t like to use the term ‘faffies’, but if the spoiled youngsters of west amman is calling for a strike for the inflation of prices, what are the other Jordanians living around the country doing to deal with this crisis? Are they working their ass off to meet theirs and their children basic needs?

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Responses

  1. Dave Avatar
    Dave

    It is ironic that the strike is to protest the higher prices of everything, so they want to combat that by not making any money for a day. Sure, it makes loads of sense. 😛

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  2. yasaminatdimashq Avatar
    yasaminatdimashq

    Ya salam, what a strike!! Observer el post is too long that I read only the first half of it bas I was empressed 🙂

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  3. Tala Avatar
    Tala

    you mean increase the salaries for private sector employees

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  4. Tala Avatar
    Tala

    the important question observer, is what is the government doing to curb inflation? give me practical examples that can convince the people that the government is shouldering responsibility.. shu ya3ni they are concerned?? elaborate please.

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  5. The Observer Avatar
    The Observer

    Dave, hehehe! Exactly! Stupid!Yasmin, :S sorry for the long post! 🙂Tala, don’t you read newspapers? :). 1. They opened more aswa2 sha3beyye for vegetables and fruits to make their prices less. 2. They are working on the kings initiative of building homes for limited income people3. They reduced the sales tax and other taxes on several necessary items4. They are trying to study the options of prohibiting exporting chicken and egg to lower their prices (this can be a bad move according to fahed al fanik in his article yest)5. Opening the market for exporting brazilian eggs (i think)a lot of other actions in these lines. You can read about it in everyday newspaper.

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  6. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Arab observer,Our problem in this country is we are about 5 million, lets say 2 million of us are under the age of 18 (not working)and maybe one million are over the working age (retired) then you have another million government workers who are doing nothing in the government offices you go there you have 10 people there and one person who is actually doing the work, this leaves what one million people who are actually working in a real job in the private sector and are feeding the economy of the 4 million and the government is asking them to also increase their employees wages after lifting all the subsidies in jordan petrol flour bla bla bla how can they????.Nasser

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  7. 7aki Fadi Avatar
    7aki Fadi

    There is a 40% increase in the GLOBAL food prices in hte whole world, it[s all over the news here so this problem is no jsut Jordanian it’s indeed a global issue.

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  8. John Coutu Avatar
    John Coutu

    Its true the problem is global, however, the case of Jordan is worsening as the country is becoming more and more like sub-saharan african countries in the sense that there is a widening gap between rich and poor, government agencies are more and more corrupt, and somehow people are getting poorer and poorer The fact that people in Jordan are afraid of the mere mention of corruption is enough to prove my point.I’m personally not Jordanian but lived there for a few years up until last year.

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  9. The Observer Avatar
    The Observer

    Nas, regradless of the exaggeration in your reply, I agree with the idea 😛7aki fadi, THANK YOU! This is a global issue! I was watching the news the other day, in addition to the oil prices, the food prices increased dramatically because of the new way of producing oil out of crops!john coutu, pardon you, but we have a certain amount of freedom of speech here in Jordan and we can most definatly critisize the government and corruption. While the gap has widened between the rich and poor in the past few years, it is still is not as bad as you made it sound. We do still have a big middle class.

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  10. Tala Avatar
    Tala

    you have a second job if im not wrong yet you are single, this is the only resort to be able to save anything these days and yet wont manage if you are not single !! saying that everything is alright and the people are managing and the government is doing its best is selfish, the government is shushing the people and not working for their own good, so just dont sugar coat the truth..

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  11. whatever Avatar
    whatever

    I agree with john, true prices are increasing globally, but i would like to see less corruption, just to get a sense that people in office actually give a fuck, excuse my french.As for the initiatives, by the necessity of my work i mingle a lot with eastern amman below poverty line population and know that all the initiatives are mere talk,,, what is 5000 JDs going to do for someone who is homeless? kilo il tomatoes bi 1.60 JD, and i am not talking Cozmo prices. And as for freedom of speech, i understand why you would have to say that observer, but i am anonymous, and can say that what happened to the Majali for criticizing a corrupt government official is in no way proof for what you say. Had o hoo ma7soob 3ala il government.All that said, for some reason i do not support the strike… i really have to search for that reason tho!

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  12. Natasha Avatar
    Natasha

    I agree that it is a global problem, but I think it is affecting us more. ya3ni, food and clothes in Jordan are getting as expensive as in Europe and the States , but you can’t compare the salaries. a 5 years experienced engineer , would get a salary of 60,000 (worst case) in the states, in Europe not less than 50,000 euro. In Jordan it is 10,000-20,000 JD ———-That is all fine I understand we don’t have any resources, but can’t we have a better taxation system, that is incremental??? Many big companies do not pay taxes, or pay the percentage of tax that a regular employee pays, that is nonsense!———–Corruption!! We have it big time I’ll give you one silly example and tell me if that is not corruption:Why did all the rich ppl buy lands in “Al Mafraq” ? How did they get to know that the price will increase how ? how ? I’ll tell you how because somebody from the government told them!!! Isn’t that corruption??———there are many things that can be fixed !! But they are not there are many banks and companies that got stolen and nobody went to jail , why ? ———I still believe that this country will develop and improve eventually. but it is getting harder every day, with all the educated ppl leaving for better chanceswe need a lot of work , and a lot of fixing .The people as well have a big responsibility; we need to stop buying 10 kg of vegetables and trashing half of it.we need to stop dreaming of living in a big flat while a flat of 50M would be enough for a small family.The public transportation system if fixed and more people use it can help a lotResearch and development on using the solar energy … What I wanted to say is that the responsibility is a shared one, everyone can do something to help, and of course the government can do and force a lot.

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  13. The Observer Avatar
    The Observer

    Tala, I am not sugar coat anything. I am not denying that the prices are increasing, I just listed to you some of the government actions to help making the effect lesser. Yes, I am carrying two jobs now, and working hard to improve my own situation. I can very well have a single job and live with a certain living standard, and can as well get married and live in another standard. It is my own choices. Other people do the same. The government is responsible of helping and provide the support it can for the unfortunate poor, and it doing well in this.

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  14. The Observer Avatar
    The Observer

    Whatever, corruption is everywhere either. I just want to make it clear here that I am not a governmental official, and that ofcourse there is a room of improvement that we are all entitled to point out and critisize. But I can also see the work the government is doing to help and the continuous decisions to minimize the effect of the increases of prices. We all can raise our voices and point out the wrongs, but a general strike is not the answer. It can only make things worse!

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  15. The Observer Avatar
    The Observer

    Natasha, 1. we are all aware that the life quality level in Jordan is lower than the western countries. We are still a developing country and need a lot of work to catch up. So if the effect is harder on us, who shall we blame? the government?2. The taxation system is being studied by the economic staff of the government and is being discussed by the parliament. I guess all what we can do is trust their expertise in coming up with a better system, or voice out our opinion and pressure those people to come up with such system.3. We have corruption, and it ain’t going anytime soon. We can just push for less corruption. Strikes wont get rid of it!4. Some went to jail, and we have witnessed some trials in the newspapers, right?5. THANK YOU! That is the real problem, we are pressured to live a luxurious life more than we can afford! The problem is not that we are starving. Maybe some few people sleep without dinner in Jordan, but those who want a better car are the ones who are complaining, preparing for a lousy strike and call themselves men of honor!

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  16. Omar Avatar
    Omar

    I truly believe that the problem of Jordan lies in the people having attitudes like that of the author of this article.“Everything cannot become better than it is now! the problem is not in anyone’s hands, no one can do better!”I cannot but feel a deep pain when i read your ridiculous comments.. I am sorry

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  17. Ask Siz Prens Avatar
    Ask Siz Prens

    i would appreciate if you can contact me079-6667779i have a lot i want to discuss with you

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  18. whatever Avatar
    whatever

    observer, i used to say that if u ran for the Parliament i would have voted for you. Sorry my friend, i take it back!

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  19. The Observer Avatar
    The Observer

    Omar, who said that nothing can be better than it is now?! You have got me wrong!ask siz prenz, what is that for?Whatever, if I am to run for the parliament, I will make sure to use a better language that people would like regardless of whether it is good for jordan or not! 😉

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  20. Mohanned Avatar
    Mohanned

    What surprises me is that you are a big supporter of freedoms! But today you want people to stay quiet? Can you explain this to me please? If people want to protest about the smell of their farts, they should have the right to do so! No one, should set the limits of what can be done or said, it is as simple as that..I am just amazed and disappointed, I hope this is just a mistake on your behalf.Our country has soo many problems, and simply ignoring them or pretending they don’t exist won’t make them go away..

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  21. The Observer Avatar
    The Observer

    Mohannad, is there anywhere in my post that I asked the government to fight those people and place them in jail?!?Ofcourse everyone has the right to strike (in a peaceful manner) and I as well has the right to disagree with it. Right?

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  22. Mohanned Avatar
    Mohanned

    Your disagreement is built on what basis? And what does your disagreement mean? Isn’t it just the same argument that we hear repeatedly? isn’t your disagreement fortifying the same argument for oppression?I am just disappointed in oyur stance on this issue! But I don’t blame you, because most of the people in jordan are traped inside a box that they can’t think outside of it…So saad fadi!

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  23. The Observer Avatar
    The Observer

    mohannad, stopping work production for a couple of hours is thinking out of the box for you? Calling people to work and improve their conditions instead of whining is an act of opression?Do you really believe that our government want to starve us? What we have in Jordan is a country with established laws and regulations. We have a staff of ministers that have certain duties to work on and are liable to the king.Yes, there is corruption, and yes there might be some shortageous and wrongs in doing some tasks, but we have our parliament and media to point those shortageous out. We can use those tools instead of striking with no alternative real solution to what we have. It not like the strike would change anything. It would cost Jordan some essential production time.

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  24. Mohanned Avatar
    Mohanned

    The box is not always something to think outside of, it is something some are trapped in.One more thing: The officials work for the people,and as such it seems that your understanding of governing is distorted.

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  25. Batir Avatar
    Batir

    A strike is always a civilised way of protest and I am totally in favor of it. I would also like to see the impact of a facebook/ e-mail campaign in Jordan. It has been successful in Egypt and my curiosity is active now to see how it can be done in Jordan. The problem is that I don’t think the employers will be fond of this idea. This strike can be a little bit successful for people working in NGOs and international organizations, maybe in the private sector but totally ineffective in government. I don’t think the government is doing enough for combating inflation and that requires an reaction from people.

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  26. Hani Obaid Avatar
    Hani Obaid

    Not that I think it would do any good to strike as far as lowering prices, but at least I just wish the government would stop confiscating the private homes of people for ridiculous compensation, and claiming to be building public projects and then turn around and sell the property to a private firm. This is certainly something they have the power to stop, but not the will.

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  27. whatever Avatar
    whatever

    Do you really believe your definition of a minister Fadi!? I am very deeply disappointed, no amount of ice cream can make me happy now.

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