Year: 2008

In solidarity with the Egyptian free union activists

Posted on By 3arabawy

The General Secretary of the British National Union of Journalists has sent a letter of solidarity to the Egyptian Real Estate Tax Collectors who are building the country’s first independent trade union in half a century:

Dear sisters and brothers,
I am writing to wish you success and offer solidarity on the launch of your new free union.
Independent trade unions which stand up for their members interests are vital for working people across the globe and I was inspired when I heard about your struggle both for improved conditions at work but also for free and independent trade unionism.
I will discuss with my colleagues ways we can offer practical support for your struggle in the British labor movement.
In solidarity
Jeremy Dear
General Secretary, National Union of Journalists

Jeremy Dear

Mubarak renews media crackdown

Posted on By 3arabawy

From the AFP:

An Egyptian court on Sunday fined a television agency boss LE 150,000 ($27,000) after his company broadcast images of food rioters tearing down portraits of President Hosni Mubarak in April.
The court fined Nader Gohar, who owns the Cairo News Company, LE 100,000 for operating a broadcast network without the necessary permits and LE 50,000 for operating unlicensed broadcasting equipment, Gohar told AFP.
The case was brought following a complaint by the government-owned Egyptian Radio and Television Union, which owns all broadcast signals in Egypt.
Gohar, who could have faced up to five years in prison after broadcasting images of Mubarak posters being torn down during deadly riots in April, said his equipment had been confiscated, effectively putting him out of business.
“I’m not happy with the sentence. [The judge] didn’t give me a prison sentence because they know it would be a shame for them, so they make me pay money and confiscate the equipment to stop me broadcasting.”
Gohar said the ruling meant he was “almost out of business.”

Ghazl el-Mahalla workers to protest privatization

Posted on By 3arabawy

The Textile Workers League has distributed leaflets today calling for a one-hour protest against privatization this Thursday, 30 October, 3:30pm by the end of the first work shift.

Propaganda and agitation in Ghazl el-Mahalla Co factories have been resumed in full force following the set back caused by the April security crackdowns, and I learned last week that the circulation of the League’s newsletter has doubled.

More details later.