Since
yesterday, and actually earlier, middle class activists have
been urging Egyptians to suspend the protests and return to
work, in the name of patriotism, singing some of the most
ridiculous lullabies about "let's build new Egypt,"
"Le'ts work harder than even before," ect . . . In
case you didn't know, actually Egyptians are among the
hardest working people around the globe already.
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"The
Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions supports the
demands of the people's revolution and calls
for a general
strike of Egyptian workers," reads this banner in
Tahrir Square. (Photo by Hossam el–Hamalawy) |
Those
activists want us to trust Mubarak’s generals with the
transition to democracy–the same junta that has provided
the backbone of his dictatorship over the past 30 years. And
while I believe the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, who
receive $1.3 billion annually from the US, will eventually
engineer the transition to a “civilian” government, I
have no doubt it will be a government that will guarantee
the continuation of a system that will never touch the army’s
privileges, keep the armed forces as the institution that
will have the final say in politics (like for example Turkey),
guarantee Egypt will continue to follow the US foreign
policy whether it’s the undesired peace with Apartheid
State of Israel, safe passage for the US navy in the Suez
Canal, the continuation of the Gaza siege and exports of
natural gas to Israel at subsidized rates. The
“civilian” government is not about cabinet members who
do not wear military uniforms. A civilian government means a
government that fully represents the Egyptian people’s
demands and desires without any intervention from the brass.
And I see this hard to be accomplished or allowed by the
junta.
The
military has been the ruling institution in this country
since 1952. Its leaders are part of the establishment. And
while the young officers and soldiers are our allies, we
cannot for one second lend our trust and confidence to the
generals. Moreover, those army leaders need to be
investigated. I want to know more about their involvement in
the business sector.
All
classes in Egypt took part in the uprising. In Tahrir Square
you found sons and daughters of the Egyptian elite, together
with the workers, middle class citizens, and the urban poor.
Mubarak has managed to alienate all social classes in
society including wide section of the bourgeoisie. But
remember that it’s only when the mass strikes started
three days ago that’s when the regime started crumbling
and the army had to force Mubarak to resign because the
system was about to collapse.
Some
have been surprised that the workers started striking. I
really don’t know what to say. This is completely idiotic.
The workers have been staging the longest and most sustained
strike wave in Egypt’s history since 1946, triggered by
the Mahalla strike in December 2006. It’s not the workers’
fault that you were not paying attention to their news.
Every single day over the past three years there was a
strike in some factory whether it’s in Cairo or the
provinces. These strikes were not just economic, they were
also political in nature.
From
day 1 of our uprising, the working class has been taking
part in the protests. Who do you think were the protesters
in Mahalla, Suez and Kafr el–Dawwar for example? However,
the workers were taking part as “demonstrators” and not
necessarily as “workers”– meaning, they were not
moving independently. The govt had brought the economy to
halt, not the protesters by its curfew, shutting down of
banks and business. It was a capitalist strike, aiming at
terrorizing the Egyptian people. Only when the govt tried to
bring the country back to “normal” on Sunday that
workers returned to their factories, discussed the current
situation, and started to organize en masse, moving as a
block.
The
strikes waged by the workers this week were both economic
and political fused together. In some of the locations the
workers did not list the regime’s fall among their demands,
but they used the same slogans as those protesting in Tahrir
and in many cases, at least those I managed to learn about
and I’m sure there are others, the workers put forward a
list of political demands in solidarity with the revolution.
These
workers are not going home anytime soon. They started
strikes because they couldn’t feed their families anymore.
They have been emboldened by Mubarak’s overthrowal, and
cannot go back to their children and tell them the army has
promised to bring them food and their rights in I don’t
know how many months. Many of the strikers have already
started raising additional demands of establishing free
trade unions away from the corrupt, state backed Egyptian
Federation of Trade Unions.
Today,
I’ve already started receiving news that thousands of
Public Transport workers are staging protests in el–Gabal
el–Ahmar. The temporary workers at Helwan Steel Mills are
also protesting. The Railway technicians continue to bring
trains to halt. Thousands of el–Hawamdiya Sugar Factory
are protesting and oil workers will start a strike tomorrow
over economic demands and also to impeach Minister Sameh
Fahmy and halt gas exports to Israel. And more reports are
coming from other industrial centers.
At
this point, the Tahrir Square occupation is likely to be
suspended. But we have to take Tahrir to the factories now.
As the revolution proceeds an inevitable class polarization
is to happen. We have to be vigilant. We shouldn’t stop
here… We hold the keys to the liberation of the entire
region, not just Egypt… Onwards with a permanent
revolution that will empower the people of this country with
direct democracy from below…
* Hossam
el–Hamalawy is an Egyptian socialist, journalist, and
photographer. Visit
his blog: <www.arabawy.org>. Follow Hossam el–Hamalawy at <twitter.com/3arabawy>.