The Rashid Tragedy: The Perpetrator is Clear

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

As the death toll from the Rashid boat tragedy rises, Egyptians are grappling with the devastating loss of their youth, swallowed by the sea while trying to escape the despair and hopelessness of their homeland.
Rather than identifying the actual perpetrator, blame has unjustly shifted onto the victims of this disaster. However, this tragedy exposes a system entrenched in poverty and neglect, condemning a regime that has denied young Egyptians even the barest chance for a dignified life in their own country.
These young people knowingly risked drowning, fully aware of the deadly fate that often awaits migrants. Yet, they had no alternatives. Caught in a system where connections and bribes are the only pathways to even modest jobs, they were left behind. Desperate, they sought a chance at life in a foreign land, even if it meant confronting death and persecution along the way.

The circumstances of this tragedy do more than implicate the regime—they point to its direct complicity. The military spokesperson’s statement, which claimed that the Border Guard had thwarted an illegal migration attempt even as victims’ bodies were still being recovered, implies a chilling level of indifference if not active involvement. Accounts from the victims’ families and local Rashid fishermen, shared widely on social media, reveal how the state failed to rescue those in need and even obstructed fishermen from continuing rescue efforts. These testimonies strongly suggest the state’s involvement in this crime.

In a country where the wealthy are granted privileges and exemptions while the poor are crushed under rising taxes and soaring prices, it is no surprise that so many feel forced to flee. Poverty and unemployment have become unbearable, and the dangers of leaving are perceived as worth the risk. This same regime, which secures itself with weapons, security forces, and prisons to suppress any opposition or dissent, will not mobilize to save its citizens—it will act only to arrest the survivors.
Mubarak’s crimes, which caused the deaths of Egyptians in train crashes, ferry disasters, and theater fires, were not forgotten. The people rose against, overthrew, and imprisoned him, even though the counter-revolution ultimately reversed much of that progress.

Likewise, Sisi’s crimes—which claim the lives of Egyptians at sea, in prisons, in police stations, under torture, and at the hands of security forces—will not go unpunished. Justice will prevail.