Egypt

Egypt: protests continue as elections begin

By Clive Bradley Voting has started — in a process which will take four months — in Egyptian elections, the first since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in February. Polling stations in some areas had to stay open late to accommodate the huge numbers of Egyptians wanting to cast their vote. This is despite a call for a boycott from some of the protestors who have reoccupied Cairo’s Tahrir Square and the centres of other cities. Does this reveal a gulf between the protestors and the mass of Egyptians? A distance, but probably not a gulf. The protests have been spurred by continued repression meted out...

Egypt: revolt against the army

By Clive Bradley Protests in Egypt left at least 28 dead and hundreds of injured. On Friday 18 November, Tahrir Square filled with demonstrators, frustrated with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) which has held power since Mubarak’s removal in February. Parliamentary elections are due to start on 28 November — though several parties have declared a boycott in light of this weekend’s events. The army, initially reluctant to give up power, is promising a new President by June 2012 and has accepted the resignation of the current cabinet. When the army intervened during the revolution...

An Iranian road?

Mustafa Abdel Jalil, chair of the National Transitional Council in Libya, has declared that post-Qaddafi Libya will be governed by Islamic sharia law, and so polygamy will be legalised and usury banned. In Tunisia’s Constituent Assembly elections at the end of October, the Islamist party Nahda won over 41% both of the votes and of the seats, a better result than had been predicted. An October opinion poll in Egypt (Al Masry Al Youm, 11 October) found fully 67% undecided, 10% refusing to answer, 13% opting for liberal or secular parties, and 9% for Islamist parties. (Though on Egypt’s peace...

Support Egypt's unions

By Clive Bradley As winter draws in, the most important single achievement of the “Arab Spring” is the powerful new labour movement that has emerged in Egypt. Last month (on 14 October), 149 new, independent unions launched a Democratic Labour Congress at a conference in Cairo. Prior to the January 2011 revolution there were only three independent unions (only one of them very big); otherwise Egypt’s workers belonged to a state-run federation whose contribution to events in Tahrir Square was to help organise attacks on demonstrators. The Congress follows months in which new unions have been...

Egypt's military targets Copts

Over 30 protesters were killed by military police and sectarian thugs in Cairo on Sunday 9 October. The military government, blaming the violence on mysterious foreign agitators, seems to be deliberately boosting Muslim-Christian tension as a “divide-and-rule” ploy. Evan Hill reported on Al Jazeera: “Unidentified gunmen, baton-wielding military police, roving bands of men chanting ‘Christians where are you, Islam is here’... But it was the rampaging armoured personnel carriers that stand as the night’s horrific symbol of military brutality... Video clearly shows the giant, camouflaged vehicles...

Middle East: the workers emerge

By Clive Bradley Until the beginning of 2011, North Africa and the Middle East had been dominated by authoritarian regimes and dictatorships for decades. Popular opposition, too, had been muted. The so-called “Arab Spring” — now Autumn — reveals that profound social and political changes had been taking place “beneath the surface”. Common to most of the uprisings has been on the one hand, growing resentment — especially among youth — of the repressive regimes, and on the other frustration at general social inequality and in particular the closing down of opportunities for, eg, university...

Nawal El Saadawi: "Only the beginning of the revolution"

Egyptian feminist and novelist Nawal El Saadawi died on 21 March 2021, aged 89. In July 2011, while visiting London, she spoke to Solidarity . Saadawi later adopted a soft attitude to the 2013 military coup and the regime it installed, which is still effectively in power. For our very different attitude, see here and here . What opportunities have opened up for women as a result of the democracy movement, and what are the problems? The problems of the revolution in Egypt and the problems of women are connected... US/UK/Israel don’t want the revolution. They want the outcome of the revolution...

Students of the world

After a strike by 2,000 workers and students at the American University in Cairo (AUC), which lasted more than a week, university bosses issued a statement on Monday 19 September in which they appeared to concede the strikers’ main demands. The strike had focused on winning a cap on fees, a reversal of a recent 9% fees hike, greater student representation in the running of the university and a series of workers’ demands including wage increases and a reduction in working hours. The AUC said: “The American University in Cairo reached an agreement today with the Independent Syndicate...

Egypt: the workers' demands

The Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU) made this statement on 5 September. Over the coming few days hundreds of thousands of workers will exercise their right to strike and organise sit-ins, in defiance of all attempts to intimidate them and prevent them from exercising these rights, such as the law criminalising strikes and protests. The 22,000 textile workers of Misr Spinning in Mahalla have shown that this law does not frighten them, and it will not prevent the strike that they have set for 10 September demanding a new rate for the minimum wage, a 200% rise in bonuses...

Strike wave grips Egypt

Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions Published on 5 September 2011 Over the coming few days hundreds of thousands of workers will exercise their right to strike and organise sit-ins, in defiance of all attempts to intimidate them and prevent them from exercising these rights, such as the law criminalising strikes and protests. The 22,000 textile workers of Misr Spinning in Mahalla have shown that this law does not frighten them, and it will not prevent the strike that they have set for 10 September demanding a new rate for the minimum wage, a 200% rise in bonuses and increased...

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