Mahalla testimony

A Mahalla labor organizer involved in the April 6 Uprising…

None of us expected the events to explode in such manner on 6 April. What we were hoping for at best was to repeat what happened on 17 February on a larger scale. May be instead of 20,000, we’ll get double that.

After the round up of the (Textile Workers’ League) leaders and the occupation of the factory, all of us thought the day was over. But the citizens outside the factory were waiting. They were the real heroes of the day. They all saw what we did on 17 February. They felt what we were talking about. They were our families at the end of the day, not strangers. From the early morning many were roaming outside the company gates and waiting for us to do something. They were waiting for the strike. When the strike was aborted, they took the initiative.

It’s wrong to ignore the direct link between 17 February ‘organized’ demonstration and the April 6 ‘spontaneous’ uprising. The first was a dress rehearsal for the latter, and helped hype up the morale of the citizens in the town. If the factory had gone on strike, the events would have taken a different direction of course.

There’s anger towards the Muslim Brotherhood parliamentarian for not doing anything for the people in Mahalla. The group itself refused to support the strike and did not mobilize its supporters on that day to the streets… But at the same time, some young Muslim Brotherhood students from Mahalla and Tanta disobeyed their organizational orders the joined the protests on occasions… Yes, I assure you, they were acting without the consent of their leadership.