A social uprising starts toi take place besides the civic one. Labour unrests and strikes have been frequent in state owned factories where wages are very low.
There are really two revolts going on here in Egypt says the Forward:
Hossam Hamalawy: The revolution should continue in the factories: Feb 14
And
The workers have been staging the longest and most sustained strike wave in Egypt's history since 1946, one that began in the textiles city of Mahalla. It's not the workers' fault if the world hasn't been paying attention. Every single day over the past three years there has been a strike in some factory in Egypt, whether it's in Cairo or the provinces. These strikes were both economic and political in nature.
So:
These workers are not going home any time soon. They started striking because they couldn't feed their families any more. They have been emboldened by Mubarak's overthrowal, and cannot go back to their children and tell them that 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, including the right to establish free trade unions away from the corrupt, state-backed Egyptian Federation of Trade Unions.
The uprising entered so a second stage - a social stage. It was part of the protest from the beginning
The uprising had a social dimension from the begnning, as explains its instigator, Wael Ghonim in a CNN interview:
There are really two revolts going on here in Egypt says the Forward:
The other revolt, very much overshadowed by the first, is a struggle by a very poorly paid working class that includes industrial workers who are largely concentrated outside the capital. These participants come from the cement works and steel factories of Helwan, an hour-and-a-half drive south of downtown Cairo; the textile factories of Mahalla el Kubra in the Delta to the north; workers at the port of Alexandria and the many employed to man and maintain the Suez Canal, as well as equally low-paid public sector and lower-level civil service employees concentrated in Cairo.
Consider that a medical school graduate without funds or connections to open his own clinic or work in a private hospital catering to Egypt’s middle and upper-middle classes will be employed at a public sector medical center for little more than the equivalent of $100 a month. Then, think what lesser levels earn — at best, $40 or $50 a month.Hossam Hamalawy: The revolution should continue in the factories: Feb 14
He reminds us:
remember that it's only when themass strikes started on Wednesday that the regime started crumbling and the army had to force Mubarak to resign because the system was about to collapse.And
The workers have been staging the longest and most sustained strike wave in Egypt's history since 1946, one that began in the textiles city of Mahalla. It's not the workers' fault if the world hasn't been paying attention. Every single day over the past three years there has been a strike in some factory in Egypt, whether it's in Cairo or the provinces. These strikes were both economic and political in nature.
So:
These workers are not going home any time soon. They started striking because they couldn't feed their families any more. They have been emboldened by Mubarak's overthrowal, and cannot go back to their children and tell them that 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, including the right to establish free trade unions away from the corrupt, state-backed Egyptian Federation of Trade Unions.
activist and blogger, Alah Seif told Deutsche Welle that a let-up in nationwide strike action was not imminent and that the army has to tread carefully around that issue.
So far the decisions made by the military council have been consistent with our demands, even if they have been made unilaterally," he said. "But when the army threatens to arrest people for striking, that is going to add to the mistrust and prove that the army does not understand human rights."
He says the military is used to giving orders and needs to learn how to deal with civilians, but stresses that there is no shortage of skepticism among the population as to whether or not the new custodians will deliver on their promise of free elections in six months.
"The army has been in power in some way or another since the republic was formed, and there is widespread suspicion that they might remain in power," he said. "Ultimately I cannot judge the intention of the supreme council, it is a black box."
He says the military is used to giving orders and needs to learn how to deal with civilians, but stresses that there is no shortage of skepticism among the population as to whether or not the new custodians will deliver on their promise of free elections in six months.
"The army has been in power in some way or another since the republic was formed, and there is widespread suspicion that they might remain in power," he said. "Ultimately I cannot judge the intention of the supreme council, it is a black box."
The uprising entered so a second stage - a social stage. It was part of the protest from the beginning
The uprising had a social dimension from the begnning, as explains its instigator, Wael Ghonim in a CNN interview:
WATSON: Did you plan a revolution?
GHONIM: Yeah, we did.WATSON: what was the plan?
GHONIM: The plan was to get everyone on the street. The plan was number one we’re going to start from poor areas. Our demands are going to be all about what touches people’s daily life. And by the way we honestly meant it. One of the very famous videos we used all the time to promote this was a guy eating from the trash.
Gilbert Achcar sums up last few years in an interview for ZSpace:
"From 2006 to 2009, Egypt saw the unfolding of a wave of industrial actions, including a few impressively massive workers strikes. There are no independent workers unions in Egypt, with one or two very recent exceptions born as a result of the social radicalisation. The bulk of the working class does not have the benefit of autonomous representation and organization. An attempt at convening a general strike on April 6, 2008 in solidarity with the workers led to the creation of the April 6 Youth Movement."
Juan Cole explains in the Detroit News :
"While university-educated new middle classes have played a key role in organizing the protests and mobilizing youths, they are typically tightly connected with labor syndicates and blue collar workers, whether urban or rural. Many of the key demands of the movement have to do with pay equity and living conditions for the working poor and the unemployed.
Gilbert Achcar sums up last few years in an interview for ZSpace:
"From 2006 to 2009, Egypt saw the unfolding of a wave of industrial actions, including a few impressively massive workers strikes. There are no independent workers unions in Egypt, with one or two very recent exceptions born as a result of the social radicalisation. The bulk of the working class does not have the benefit of autonomous representation and organization. An attempt at convening a general strike on April 6, 2008 in solidarity with the workers led to the creation of the April 6 Youth Movement."
Juan Cole explains in the Detroit News :
"While university-educated new middle classes have played a key role in organizing the protests and mobilizing youths, they are typically tightly connected with labor syndicates and blue collar workers, whether urban or rural. Many of the key demands of the movement have to do with pay equity and living conditions for the working poor and the unemployed.
Ignoring this central element in the revolts leads many U.S. observers to misunderstand their significance and to obsess about Muslim fundamentalists"
"Growth in the gross domestic product fell from over 7 percent in 2007-08 to only 4 percent in 2008-09. Galloping inflation rates as high as 25 percent hurt workers. The fall in petroleum prices accompanying the economic downturn meant that the 3 million Egyptian workers abroad, many in oil states, either had to come home in humiliation or at the very least could not send back home as much money as before.
Unemployment rose to about 25 percent for ages 15-25 in the last quarter of 2008, and the ability of the economy to create jobs was much weakened. The Egyptian stock market lost about half its value in 2008 alone, making it one of the worst affected by the crisis, along with Dubai and the Russian Federation"
The revolution begun as a labour movement, after the political protest exhausted themselves.
In Egypt and also in Tunisa. Here's how: (NYT)
After a strike that March in the city of Mahalla, Egypt, Mr. Maher and his friends called for a nationwide general strike for April 6. To promote it, they set up a Facebook groupthat became the nexus of their movement, which they were determined to keep independent from any of the established political groups. Bad weather turned the strike into a nonevent in most places, but in Mahalla a demonstration by the workers’ families led to a violent police crackdown — the first major labor confrontation in years.
Just a few months later, after a strike in the Tunisian city of Hawd el-Mongamy, a group of young online organizers followed the same model, setting up what became the Progressive Youth of Tunisia. The organizers in both countries began exchanging their experiences over Facebook. The Tunisians faced a more pervasive police state than the Egyptians, with less latitude for blogging or press freedom, but their trade unions were stronger and more independent. “We shared our experience with strikes and blogging,” Mr. Maher recalled.
And there was the serbian OTPOR example:
-For their part, Mr. Maher and his colleagues began reading about nonviolent struggles. They were especially drawn to a Serbian youth movement called Otpor, which had helped topple the dictator Slobodan Milosevic by drawing on the ideas of an American political thinker, Gene Sharp. The hallmark of Mr. Sharp’s work is well-tailored to Mr. Mubark’s Egypt: He argues that nonviolence is a singularly effective way to undermine police statesthat might cite violent resistance to justify repression in the name of stability.
-The April 6 Youth Movement modeled its logo — a vaguely Soviet looking red and white clenched fist—after Otpor’s, and some of its members traveled to Serbia to meet with Otpor activists.
The revolution begun as a labour movement, after the political protest exhausted themselves.
In Egypt and also in Tunisa. Here's how: (NYT)
After a strike that March in the city of Mahalla, Egypt, Mr. Maher and his friends called for a nationwide general strike for April 6. To promote it, they set up a Facebook groupthat became the nexus of their movement, which they were determined to keep independent from any of the established political groups. Bad weather turned the strike into a nonevent in most places, but in Mahalla a demonstration by the workers’ families led to a violent police crackdown — the first major labor confrontation in years.
Just a few months later, after a strike in the Tunisian city of Hawd el-Mongamy, a group of young online organizers followed the same model, setting up what became the Progressive Youth of Tunisia. The organizers in both countries began exchanging their experiences over Facebook. The Tunisians faced a more pervasive police state than the Egyptians, with less latitude for blogging or press freedom, but their trade unions were stronger and more independent. “We shared our experience with strikes and blogging,” Mr. Maher recalled.
And there was the serbian OTPOR example:
-For their part, Mr. Maher and his colleagues began reading about nonviolent struggles. They were especially drawn to a Serbian youth movement called Otpor, which had helped topple the dictator Slobodan Milosevic by drawing on the ideas of an American political thinker, Gene Sharp. The hallmark of Mr. Sharp’s work is well-tailored to Mr. Mubark’s Egypt: He argues that nonviolence is a singularly effective way to undermine police statesthat might cite violent resistance to justify repression in the name of stability.
-The April 6 Youth Movement modeled its logo — a vaguely Soviet looking red and white clenched fist—after Otpor’s, and some of its members traveled to Serbia to meet with Otpor activists.
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