Category: Blog

More price increases?

Posted on By 3arabawy

I’ve just received this message from a journalist friend in Cairo three minutes ago:

GOVERNMENT ABOUT TO RAISE PRICES ON CAR FUEL!! ALL KINDS!!! ALSO CIGARETTES, CAR LICENSING FEES, ETC. PARLIAMENT DISCUSSING LIVE ON TV, Ahmad EZZ ANNOUNCING DECISIONS, BROTHERHOOD AND INDEPENDENTS ALMOST RIOTING IN ASSEMBLY, TRYING TO SHOUT EZZ DOWN, FATHI SUROUR TRYING TO SHUT THEM UP. DECISION SEEMS TO HAVE ALREADY BEEN TAKEN, BUT WAITING OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT. TRANSMISSION JUST CUT, REVERTED TO STUDIO BECAUSE IT WAS TOO EMBARRASSING.

UPDATE: An hour later I received this message from the same journalist friend:

Decision expected sometime this afternoon. Imported cigarettes to increase up to 33%, ceiling of 25 piastre increase on local cigarettes like Cleopatra. Price increase on natural gas to heavy-use industries. 90 octane gas for cars to increase to 175 piastres, 92 octane to increase to 185, 95 octane to 275, solar to increase to 110 piastres from 75, same for kerosene. Tax breaks removed from private schools and educational institutions, licensing fees for motorcycles, trucks, pickup trucks, private cars to increase. For private cars its staggered, so for cars less than 1030 ccs, currently 16 pounds, will increase to 116 pounds. At the highest end of the scale, cars more than 2030 ccs will increase to 2 percent of the car’s value, with a lower limit of 1000 pounds. Licenses for trucks, currently between 50 and 500 pounds, to increase to between 500 to 2000 pounds. Some heavy industries will be hit, like steel projects, fertlizers, petroleum, etc with removal of tax breaks.

UPDATE: The MB Parliamentarians are holding a press conference today 3pm:

دعـــوة
تدعوكم الكتلة البرلمانية للإخوان المسلمين بمجلس الشعب المصري لحضور المؤتمر الصحفي بشان ”
زيادة أسعار المحروقات والسجائر وتراخيص السيارات لتعويض نسبة الـ30% التي أعلن عنها الرئيس مبارك ”
وذلك اليوم الاثنين 5/5/2008 في الساعة الثالثة ظهر اليوم أمام البوابة رقم 3 بمجلس الشعب .
أ.د محمد سعد الكتاتنى
رئيس الكتلة البرلمانية للإخوان المسلمين
—
خبر صحفي
يعقد نواب الإخوان والمستقلين والمعارضة مؤتمراً صحفياً في الساعة الثالثة ظهر اليوم أمام البوابة رقم 3 بمجلس الشعب رداً على زيادة أسعار المحروقات والسجائر وتراخيص السيارات لتعويض نسبة الـ30% التى أعلن عنها الرئيس مبارك، حيث فوجئ النواب بتقرير سري للجنة الخطة والموازنة لم يعرض على اعضاء اللجنة أنفسهم، بل لم يعقد في المجلس أصلاً، وهو التقرير الذي يشمل ارتفاعات تصل إلى 40% في أسعار المحروقات .
وقال النائب حسين محمد إبراهيم نائب رئيس الكتلة والمتحدث الرسمي أنهم سيعقدون المؤتمر الصحفي رداً على طريقة اعداد اللجنة التقرير فضلا عن الزيادات التي تطلبها الحكومة لرفع الاسعار بهذا الشكل الجنوني .
وقد شهدت الجلسة العامة لمجلس الشعب صباح اليوم مناقشات ساخنة وعنيفة بين نواب الاخوان والمعارضة والمستقلين وعدد من نواب الحزب الوطني، في مقابل نواب الأغلبية الذين ايدوا قررات الحكومة بشدة ، وقد أدى موقف الاخوان والمعارضة والمستقلين إلى فشل مجلس الشعب في أخذ الموافقة على هذه التعديلات في جلسة سريعة مما دفع الدكتور فتحي سرور إلى الاعلان على أنه سيتم تخصيص الجلستين الاولى والثانية لسماع آراء النواب.

UPDATE: Here’s a report from Reuters.

Blogging the strike: Activists remain behind bars

Posted on By 3arabawy

From the Daily News Egypt…

The last entry on Kareem Al-Beheiri’s blog, egyworkers.blogspot.com, reads, “It is now 7 am on April 6 and I am on my way to the Mahalla textile factory to cover the events of the strikes. I wish success to all seeking to expose the failing Egyptian political system.”
It is unlikely that in those early hours of the morning Kareem expected that a month later his blog would still post the very same entry. Kareem was among the hundreds of protesters, journalists, activists and bloggers arrested around Egypt on April 6 and 7.
Although workers had organized a strike planned for April 6 inside the Spinning and Weaving factory in Mahalla Al-Kubra, State Security forces prevented the workers’ strike from ever coming off the ground. Yet, protesting masses on the streets could not be halted.
Leading up to May 4, Mahalla streets are crowded with State Security vehicles causing Hamdy Hussein, Director of the Afaq Socialist Center to describe the town as being under “military occupation.”
Prior to the protests on April 6, in an attempt to quell the uprising, minister of investment Mahmoud Mohieddin raised worker’s food allowance from LE 43 to LE 90. Days following the April 6 strikes Mahalla workers received a 30-day bonus, while other workers across the country were given a 15-day bonus. In an attempt to placate the masses on Labor Day, President Hosni Mubarak announced a 30 percent raise for public sector workers.
Worker and activist Hamdy Hussein explained that this raise, though played up in the government press was nothing out of the ordinary. “The 30 percent income raise is part of established worker rights,” Hussein told Daily News Egypt.
Hussein stresses that various grassroots factions — not the worker leadership — organized the protests that took place in the city of Mahalla Al-Kubra and across Egypt on April 6 and 7. The people assembled in the streets because of a deep frustration and anger at the political system in Egypt, he added.

Lawyers had managed to visit blogger Kareem and Textile Workers’ League leading activist Kamal el-Fayoumi, as well as Tarek Amin, in Bourg el-Arab prison two days ago according to a Socialist source in Cairo. I wasn’t told yet any details about how the meeting went, but what the socialist source said, confirmed by Mahalla blogger Abdel Gelil, is that the morale of the detainees is high.

What’s worrying however is all detained Ghazl el-Mahalla activists have been officially fired from their jobs by the state management of Ghazl el-Mahalla company.

And to add to the melodrama, it turned out, according to a statement I received from the lawyers yesterday, that both Kamal el-Fayoumi and Tarek Amin were contacted prior to their arrest on 6 April by someone who identified himself as a journalist with the BBC Arabic service, requesting an interview. When Kamal and Tarek went to the agreed place, “they discovered it was a [police] ambush,” added the statement. The BBC should officially respond to this, and give an explanation. Did any of their journalists get in touch with Kamal and Tarek on that day prior to their arrest? If so, what went wrong? But if not, then they should simply ask the Mubarak’s regime why use their name in scams against dissidents!? Next time an Egyptian activist gets a phone call from someone who claims to be from the BBC Arabic Service will definitely think twice before answering any questions or agreeing to meet somewhere…

Fellow activists in Cairo and Mahalla are calling on labor unions around the world to issue new solidarity statements with the Mahalla detainees, who are currently held in Bourg el-Arab Prison, Alexandria, by a martial decree from General Habib el-Adly, Mubarak’s Torturer-In-Chief. We urgently need statements that denounce their sackings from their jobs, and which demand their immediate release and reinstatement. Feel free to email me, or better post your solidarity letters in the comments section, and I’ll do my best to see they reach labor organizers in Egypt…

جبهة الدفاع عن متظاهرى مصر
البيان الثاني و الثلاثون
المحلة:
لم تتوقف حشود الأمن عن التوافد على مدينة المحلة منذ عصر الأمس، وقد تحولت المدينة إلى ثكنة عسكرية ، و نقاط تفتيش ثابتة في كل شارع ، ومنطقة مصنع مصر للغزل والنسيج ممنوع الاقتراب منها أو التصوير، وهناك تهديدات مباشرة تلقاها العمال انه في حالة الاحتجاج والتظاهر سيكون الرد بالرصاص الحي.
معتقل برج العرب:
قد تمكنت الجبهة من زيارة معتقل برج العرب أمس، وكنا ذاهبين لزيارة المعتقلين السياسيين والبالغ عددهم 19 معتقل من البحيرة وكفر الشيخ والمنصورة والإسكندرية والمحلة ، وبالصدفة اكتشفنا وجود 42 معتقل من اهالى المحلة معتقلين جنائيا، وعندما قدمنا تصاريح زيارة السياسيين علمنا بقرار إطلاق سراح إبراهيم صالح وإبراهيم توفيق و أسامة كامل واحمد أمين ومحمد عوف من المنصورة، واحمد عراقي ومصطفى حلمي من الإسكندرية ، وطاهر أبو شعرة من دمنهور، وبذلك بقى في المعتقل كريم البحيرى وطارق أمين وكمال الفيومي من عمال المحلة ، ومحمد زايد الصباحي وسامح حسانين وناجى السخاوى من كفر الشيخ وقطب حسانين واحمد السيد من الإسكندرية، وعادل العطار وعصام جويدة من البحيرة، وقد حكي لنا عمال المحلة الثلاثة وقائع القبض عليهم صباح يوم 6 ابريل الساعة العاشرة صباحا وقبل حدوث اى احتجاجات في المحلة، فقد القي القبض على كريم أثناء مصاحبته لفريق قناة بى بى سى العربية، أما طارق وكمال فقد اتصل بهم شخص عرفهم بنفسه انه من قناة بى بى سى العربية ويرغب في التسجيل معهم وعندما ذهبوا إلى المكان المتفق عليه اكتشفوا انه كمين.
القاهرة
القاهرة تشهد يوما عاديا من تكدس المواصلات ، وزحمة الشوارع ، وملابس المواطنين العادية والتي لا يغلب عليها السواد، ولا يكسر هذا المشهد إلا الحشود الأمنية بمنطقة الإسعاف وإمام دار القضاء العالي، بالإضافة لبعض الحشود الأمنية بمنطقة التحرير، أما أبرز الملامح فكانت في حرب الصحف بين القومية والمستقلة حيث عمدت القومية إلى الاحتفاء بمولد الرئيس وكان أبرزها الأهرام الذي ربط بين مولد مبارك وميلاد مصر من جديد، في حين جاءت الصحف المستقلة متضاربة حيث أبرزت نهضة مصر خبر رفض 14 حزبا لإضراب الفيس بووك واتهام هذه الأحزاب للمضربين بالقوى غير الشرعية وبالعمالة لأمريكا، في حين أفردت المصري اليوم ملفا عن حكم مبارك وأوضحت في الصفحة الأولى تحول المحلة إلى ثكنة عسكرية، أما الدستور فكان المانشيت الرئيسي حول 4 مايو بين عيال الله وعيال الحكومة، وأفردت صفحة عن أحوال المعتقلين، في حين جاء مانشيت البديل بعنوان جائعون مصاحبا لوجه مبارك وعليه علامات الشيخوخة وتعليقات حول أمراض الشيخوخة وأفردت بالداخل صفحة عن المعتقلين وملفا حول شخصية مبارك بعنوان كل 80 سنة وأنت طيب يا ريس مصر عجزت أمام نقابة المحامين فقد ترددت أبناء عن احتمال تظاهر المحامين أمام النقابة في الساعة الثانية ظهرا
دمنهور:
تم بالأمس القبض على علاء أحمد فوزي من مدينة دمنهور

Lebanon, Canada, Sweden: SOLIDARITY WITH MAHALLA

Posted on By 3arabawy

The Lebanese comrades staged a protest in front of Mubarak’s Embassy in Beirut, in solidarity with the Mahalla workers and detainees.

Down with Mubarak!

Carole has more photos:

Solidarity from Lebanon

I also received a video of the protest that took place in Toronto, Canada, on 11 April in solidarity with the Mahalla workers:

And here are letters of solidarity from Canadian labor unions:

April 11, 2008
His Excellency Hosni Mubarak
President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Abdin Palace
Cairo, Egypt
Re: Egyptian Workers at the El Mahalla El Kurba
Dear President Mubarak:
On behalf of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), representing 3.2 million working women and men across Canada, I strongly condemn the recent violent acts against the workers of the El Mahala El Kurba factory in the Nile Delta.
The CLC has been informed that thousands of textile workers at El Mahalla El Kurba went on strike for increased wages to compensate for continually rising inflation. We were shocked to learn that, to disperse protesters, the police fired rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowd. Many people were injured and hundreds acquired breathing problems resulting from gas inhalation.
We urge the Egyptian government to ensure an immediate stop to all attacks on workers and involved citizens, and immediately release all political prisoners who have been detained for their labor and political activism.
We note that, in the last few years, Egypt has witnessed many workers’ protests and strikes, in a number of industries, particularly in the spinning and weaving sectors. Your governmnet has cracked down on political opposition, jailed journalists and editors, closed human rights organization and imprisoned hundreds of political activists.
The CLC urges you to take direct action against these violations of basic human and trade union rights – namely the right to organize, freedom of expression, freedom of opinion and freedom to publish information.
We are also calling for the immediate enforcement of the Administrative Court judgement annulling all unfair decisions to close the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS) headquarters and allow its legal right to register.
I look forward to your immediate and decisive action in these matters.
Very sincerely,
Kenneth V. Georgetti
President
Canadian Labour Congress

From the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE):
April 22, 2008
His Excellency Hosni Mubarak
President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Abdin Palace
Cairo, Egypt
Your Excellency:
We write to express grave concern about the recent acts of violence against textile workers in El Mahalla, an industrial town in the Nile Delta. We are told that several workers have been killed and that more than 250 workers were arrested after the April 6 strike at the factory, one of the largest in the Middle East.
We are aware that thousands of textile workers, on strike for better wages to cope with continually rising inflation, have faced rubber bullets and tear gas. We understand that many workers were injured as the police resorted to this violent response.
In recent years, we are aware that your government has cracked down on political opposition, jailing journalists and other critics, shutting down human rights groups and detaining political activists.
We join with many others in urging you to stop the attacks on citizens and workers, particularly those at El Mahalla, and to release political prisoners detained because of their labor and political activism.
We further urge you to guarantee citizens’ democratic rights to gather, strike and protest the failure of the government to guarantee a safe and dignified living, fair wages and suitable working conditions. Also of concern is the closure of the Center for Trade Union and Workers services headquarters. We urge you to reverse that decision.
We endorse the call for a public investigation into the El Mahalla events with a view to bringing to justice those who ordered shots to be fired on strikers. Clearly, these recent incidents of violence suggest the need to insure the economic stability, social justice and protection of citizens’ rights to security, equality and dignified living.
Yours truly,
Paul Moist
National President
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
Claude Généreux
National Secretary-Treasurer
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
cc:
Ambassador Dr. Mahmoud El-Saeed, Egyptian Embassy, Ottawa
Egyptian Consulate, Montreal
The Council of Ministers
Karam Saber, Executive Manager, Land Center for Human Rights
Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
Maxime Bernier, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister
Canadian Embassy, Cairo
Ken Georgetti, President, Canadian Labour Congress
National Executive Board members, Canadian Union of Public Employees

From the International Solidarity Committee, Ontario Division, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE):
Statement of Solidarity with Egyptian Workers
10 April 2008
CUPE Ontario International Solidarity Committee Condemns Attacks on Striking Egyptian Workers
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario International Solidarity Committee strongly condemns the latest round of repression by the Egyptian government against workers and protesters in El-Mahalla, an industrial town in the Nile Delta.
Eyewitness statements from workers, human rights, and solidarity organizations in Egypt indicate that thousands of workers and their families have been targeted by government troops in the area. At least two protesters have been killed by security forces, over 300 workers arrested, and the area placed under siege.
The repression follows a courageous call for a one-day general strike, originating in El-Mahalla, and supported widely by workers, human rights groups, and political organizations across the country. El Mahalla Factory is one of the largest textile factories in the Middle East.
CUPE stands firmly with our Egyptian brothers and sisters in their fight against neo-liberalism and state repression. We call on the Egyptian government to immediately release all those arrested in the last few days, particularly children. The Egyptian government must immediately cease the practice of torture in detention and bring to justice all those involved in human rights abuses. Furthermore, we call on the government to respect the right to strike and organize, and for workers at El Mahalla to be granted a livable wage and decent working conditions.
CUPE International Solidarity Committee urges its members to send messages of protest to Egyptian officials in Canada as well as emails of support to the striking workers (see below). We note the call by workers for further strike action on May 4th and will continue to stand in solidarity with all workers in the region.

And I received the following message from Sweden:

We in the SAC, Swedens Workers Central Organization, protest strongly and with anger against the violence that the aggressive agents of the police used on the protesting workers. The Egyptian workers need to be treated with the fullest respect, as they deserve, since they create everything.
When they struggle for what is just and fair, their demands should be listened to and fulfilled. Using brute, fatal force and lethal weapons against those who feed and dress a world is unacceptable! These simple demands should be met.
– all activists should be released immediately
– the right to strike left untouched
– the right to demonstrate should be left untouched
– no more violence against the workers of Egypt
– justice for the injured workers and the family of the murdered boy
– the demands of the workers should be met
The International committé of the SAC
Per Lundin