By day, Abu-Bakr Makhlouf holds a high-powered job as head of investor relations for a real-estate company whose main shareholders are various arms of the Egyptian government and leaders of the ruling National Democratic Party.
The 33-year-old has an envious existence, earning a large six-figure salary and enjoying membership in Cairo’s exclusive Gezira Club
After pulling a 14-hour day, Mr. Makhlouf trades his suit and tie for jeans and a sweater. He trudges 10 minutes from his home in upscale Gemalek
The only outward sign of his dual identity is a white bandage he wears like a badge. It covers an eight-centimetre gash in his forehead suffered when someone lobbed a rock at his head during clashes last week.
Some of Egypt’s elite – the “sub-billionaire” set – are playing an unusual role in this country’s uprising, having prospered under the rule of a regime they are now attempting to rip down.
There are those, like Mr. Makhlouf, who are literally leading double lives, juggling day jobs that require them to attend board meetings with members of Mr. Mubarak’s inner circle while playing revolutionary by night.
“I decided on purpose I didn’t want to be involved in politics. I have never voted in my life,” said Mr. Makhlouf, recalling his life before the uprising, and sipping an espresso at Cilantro, a café not far from his home.
The politicization of the Egyptian elite has been one of the most striking hallmarks of the protests that continue to grip this country.
“We all talked about our anger, at dinner parties, but the expectation was any uprising would be a revolution of the hungry, pitting the haves against the have-nots,” said Ghada, who would not give her last name, a senior executive at a private equity firm that manages $8.6-billion in assets.
Instead, Egypt’s wealthy have emerged on the front lines of the protests in Tahrir Square, which swelled yesterday and spread to other parts of the city in a clear rejection of the government’s proposals of limited reform.
Wael Ghonim
Mr. Ghonim’s dramatic release from an Egyptian jail and subsequent emotional live television interview has emboldened those who identify with him – well-heeled Egyptians who have benefited from the economic growth and privatization created under some of Mr. Mubarak’s reforms, but who have inwardly seethed at the state’s corruption, violence and the limits it has imposed on their social freedoms.
Indeed, the economic disruption caused by the protests has sent many of their companies into financial freefall, but even at the Gezira Club, between sets of croquet and polo matches, you won’t hear many complain.
Ahmed Mansour Khalifa, owner of a large pharmaceutical company in Cairo, smoked cigarettes in his white adidas sports jacket on one of the club’s sunny verandas.
“I agree with the protesters. Of course, of course we need change,” Dr. Khalifa said.
“Now it is affecting our business and our economy, but it’s going to make a big difference in the future,” he added.
His company’s growth has been stymied by corruption, which has proved more damaging than the demonstrations, he maintains.
To register a new drug, for example, “even the smallest people in the government would take bribes.”
“If I want to register a medicine, it takes ages. You must pay under the table. You must pay a lot of money,” he said.
He, and his wife, Riham, inherited their membership in the club. First-time members pay an initiation fee of more than $50,000.
