With the
re-introduction of the emergency law, the military junta is desperately
trying to strangle the revolution and return to the “normality” of the
Mubarak era. But the workers are on the move. The recent upsurge in
strikes and protests could spell the end for the SCAF regime.
With the
re-introduction of the emergency law, the military junta is desperately
trying to strangle the revolution and return to the “normality” of the
Mubarak era. But the workers are on the move. The recent upsurge in
strikes and protests could spell the end for the SCAF regime.
Workers challenge the SCAF regime – Photo: Carlos LatuffA
new wave of worker militancy is sweeping across Egypt. While the world
mainstream media is focusing on the diplomatic intrigues following the
attack on the Israeli embassy, the real events in Egypt are being kept
out of the public domain. The fact of the matter is that the working
class of Egypt is now threatening the very survival of the military
junta’s regime.
Since the beginning of September, a massive wave
of strikes and protests has flared up. Without doubt, the scope of the
strikes is by far the biggest since the great victory that ousted
Mubarak in February. These are taking place despite the law – issued in
April – criminalizing strikes which “harm the national economy”, and
despite regulations issued by the ruling military junta making
negotiations during the course of strikes unacceptable.
Right now,
the doctors’ strike is making headlines in Egypt. Doctors are demanding
the improvement of health services, raising the health sector share in
the budget from 3.5 percent to 15 percent and restructuring the sectors’
salaries and wages system.
Also, a week-long strike and daily
protest action by workers and students pressured the management of the
American University in Cairo (AUC) to meet the main demands of the
protesters. This is a very symbolic victory. Without doubt, it will
embolden wider layers to take up action.
The teachers on strike
For
the first time since the revolutionary events of 1951, the teachers are
staging a nationwide strike. The Independent Teachers Union, who called
for the strike, have been mobilising for work stoppage action for
weeks. They have been demanding a monthly minimum wage of 1200 pounds
(148 euro) as well as the release of a productivity bonus, promised
earlier by the government. They have also demanded the dismissal of
Education Minister Ahmed Gamal El-Din Moussa. The Independent Teachers’
Union has stated, in a pamphlet it issued to the public, that it called
the strike not only for economic gains but to improve conditions for
students.
Work stoppages began across the country on Saturday the 17th,
and were strongest in governorates such as Beni Suef in Upper Egypt.
The strike spread to Cairo and Giza on Sunday where the academic year
officially begins a day later than in the rest of the country.
Education
ministry spokespersons announced that only 0.6 per cent of teachers
heeded the strike call and that the overwhelming majority of Egypt’s one
million teachers reported to work. But no-one believes these ridiculous
lies. According to several independent sources, activists and
journalists, about 65 to 75 per cent of teachers are taking part in the
strike.
Maha Hamdy, a primary school 6th grade Arabic language
teacher in the Hawamdiya district of Giza, told Ahram Online that
teachers’ participation levels in the strike in her area was much bigger
than the official state media reported: “Twenty-five out of 37 schools
have joined the strike,” she said
“Governorates like Port Said,
Kafr El-Sheikh, Suez, South Cairo, South Sinai and Qena witnessed a full
strike, while partial strikes occurred in Central Cairo, Qaliubiya,
Luxor, Beni Suef, Tanta, Giza and Aswan,” Shaimaa Said, coordinator of
the general strike operations room, told Daily News Egypt.
In Cairo, high school students are reported to have formed groups in order to give active support to the strike.
An
interesting fact is the strike-breaking role played by the Muslim
Brotherhood. Activists have reported that members of the Muslim
Brotherhood influenced group, Teachers Without Rights, have been
crossing picket lines. This fact exposes the real role that the MB is
playing. During the years of Mubarak dictatorship, they posed as
“opposition” while at the same time making secret deals with the regime.
But now they act as the main pillar of support for the military junta,
the corrupt state bureaucracy and the wealthy elite.
The MB’s are playing the same strike-breaking role as they have always done. Before the massive demonstrations on 9th
September, they urged people to stay at home and wait for the MB
politicians to negotiate with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces
(SCAF).
“We are reaching boiling point”
A perhaps much more important development is the massive wave of strikes and factory occupations among industrial workers.
this month, the 22,000 textile workers at the Misr Company for Spinning
and Weaving in Mahalla struck and won some economic demands.
Immediately, strikes spread like rings in water to other factories,
where workers demanded the same concessions from their own bosses.
The
workers at Misr Company for Spinning and Weaving are threatening an
open-ended strike, demanding increased bonuses and food allowances. They
also demand increased investment in public sector textile enterprises
in order to save the industry from collapse.
“All of Egypt’s
workers from Aswan to Alexandria are exploited and under-paid. The
interim government and SCAF should set a just and adequate minimum wage,
for workers in all sectors of the economy, which is in keeping with
rising living expenses,” said Mohamed al-Attar, a veteran labour
activist at Misr Company for Spinning and Weaving, to Al-masry al-youm.
“Workers
are tired of empty promises. Workers gave the authorities seven months
to address these common grievances and have seen little to nothing in
terms of actual reforms. We are reaching boiling point.”
This
summer, we saw a number of strikes and factory occupations, especially
in Suez. Workers are demanding a reversal of the last decades of
counter-revolution on the factory floor. They are demanding investment
to replace asset-stripping. They are demanding nationalisation to
replace privatization. They are demanding workers’ control to replace
the catastrophic mismanagement under the regime’s stooges. September has
seen an increase in the industrial struggle. Everything now points in
the direction of a more generalised struggle among the industrial
workers. There is some talk of a general strike, although it is still on
a small scale.
On the 18th September, workers in sugar
refineries in Arment, Luxor were on strike for the sixth day. The
strikers accused management of clientelism to the US and Israel, and
chanted “open strikes until the fall of the regime”.
The postal
workers have struck. So have the public transportation workers. The 450
workers at the Swedish-owned Olympic are on strike. All around the
country, there are reports of massive strikes.
“Workers use the
same slogans as those of Tahrir… but referring to the mini-Mubaraks they
have in their firms,” journalist and activist Hossam El-Hamalawy told
Daily News Egypt.
“Those workers are not simply demanding extra
wages like what the media is trying to propagate — they are fighting
corruption and turning the economic struggle to a political one,” he
added.
Manoeuvres at the top
Minister of Manpower and
Immigration Ahmed Hassan al-Borai said that labour unions’ elections
will be postponed till after the parliamentary elections slated for
November. It is a joke in very bad taste. This minister, who has never
himself been elected to any position by any legitimate means, now tells
the workers to wait until the career politicians have somewhat – the
minister hopes – consolidated their grip on the situation, until they
elect their own leaders.
All the al-Borais of Egypt, all the
generals, the MB’s and the people who benefited from the Mubarak
dictatorship are desperately trying to hold back the masses from taking
any action themselves. “Don’t organise, don’t protest! Keep your mouths
shut, lower your heads and return to normal life. Then everything will
be well. Trust not yourselves, only us, your leaders!” Such is their
message. Unfortunately for these corrupt gangsters, the masses are not
eager to listen to this endless flow of empty words from people who have
never done anything to help the revolution.
On the contrary, this
week has seen a considerable rise in the level of mass protests and
strikes. On Friday, the teachers are planning a large scale
demonstration in front of the cabinet.
If the workers are to win
their just and modest demands, a greater level of co-ordination and
organisation is needed. There cannot be any talk about waiting for the
career politicians to conduct their counter-revolutionary manoeuvrings.
An open-ended, well-coordinated general strike in the private and public
sector would break the neck of the SCAF, who are just waiting for an
opportunity to crush the revolution.
Six months with the SCAF in
the place of Hosni Mubarak have brought virtually no change at all to
the masses of Egypt. It was the Egyptian masses who fought and died to
do away with the Mubarak regime. Now is the time to finish the job:
purge the state, re-nationalise all privatised companies, introduce
workers’ control and use the country’s wealth, which is currently
controlled by a small, corrupt clique, to secure housing, education and
health for the people.
Now the SCAF have even re-introduced the
Emergency Law. This is not an indication of strength. On the contrary,
it is a clear sign of weakness on the part of these US-educated
generals. In the moment of truth, the Emergency Law offered no
protection for Hosni Mubarak. He was toppled by the massive strikes,
providing social strength to the January 25 revolution. The SCAF are
sensing the threat of a similar fate for themselves. The Egyptian masses
have shown great determination and courage over and over again, while
bourgeois commentators and professors had told them that they were
powerless. These “clever” people have understood nothing about the
revolution.
The revolution has done away with Mubarak, but the
problems of a capitalist system in decay are overwhelming. To solve the
most burning problems socialist measures are needed and this is already
shown in the demands for nationalisation and for new (elected) leaders
in industry. The workers are taking up socialist slogans, not out of
theoretical considerations, but from their own experience. The SCAF and
the gangsters behind them are right to be scared.
For the Egyptian
revolution to triumph, all that is lacking at this moment is a bold
leadership that is up to the task. The most urgent task of the Egyptian
revolution is to build the revolutionary party. The creation of the
Democratic Workers’ Party was a step forward in this matter. Now there
is an urgent need to connect all the militant workers in a common action
to bring down the remnants of the Mubarak regime.
