Category: Blog

Real Estate Tax strikers’ victory opens new door for civil servants’ struggle

Posted on By 3arabawy

The Center for Socialist Studies issued a statement on the victory of the Real Estate Tax Collectors’ Strike, asserting this will open new doors for the struggle of professionals and civil servants in other government sectors.

I received also some photos of the strikers celebrating their victory following the negotiations with the Finance Minister, taken by labor journalist Mostafa Bassiouny.

  • The strikers chanting for victory as the finance minister leaves the building, Photo by Mostafa Bassiouny
  • Kamal Abu Eita chanting following the end of negotiations with the minister in victory, Photo by Mostafa Bassiouny
  • Kamal Abu Eita chanting following the end of negotiations with the minister in victory, Photo by Mostafa Bassiouny

Another fight is also looming in the air… Once again it’s over the unions… The strike all throughout was run by the Higher Committee for the Real Estate Tax Collectors’ Strike, headed by the dynamic Kamal Abu Eita and in theory included one representative from each of the country’s 26 provinces. In effect, from seven to 15 members including Abu Eita were the real force in the committee as they were present together in Cairo, while the others were consulted over the phone. Where were the state-sponsored Union Committee members? They were not involved. And in a humiliating proof of their illegitimacy and lack of credibility they were not even invited to the final negotiations between the Finance Minister and members of the Higher Committee for the Real Estate Tax Collectors’ Strike, the true representatives of the civil servants.

The state-sponsored union bureaucrats standing in the street, while the strike leaders and the Finance Minister negotiate an agreement. Photo by Mostafa Bassiouny.

[The state-sponsored union bureaucrats standing in the street, while the strike leaders and the Finance Minister negotiate an agreement. Photo by Mostafa Bassiouny.]

Qursaya residents skeptical of Ahram report on scrapping mega-project

Posted on By 3arabawy

From the Daily News Egypt…

Residents of the island of El-Qorsaya have vowed to continue their campaign to resist eviction from their homes despite reports published by the state-owned Al Ahram newspaper that plans to build a tourist complex on the island have been scrapped.
According to the report, which appeared on the newspaper’s front page on Wednesday and which is entitled “Government cancels plans for tourist project on El-Qorsaya, upholds residents’ rights,” the Agricultural and Irrigation Committee of the People’s Assembly together with government representatives had decided to cancel plans for the construction of a tourist complex.
The report states that the decision was made after MP Muhammad Aboul Enein and Azab Mostafa made urgent appeals to the Committee about islanders’ fears that they would be expelled from their land.
The article claimed that the government has succeeded in “presenting a model of democracy for the protection of citizens’ rights.”
Artist and El-Qorsaya resident Muhammad Abla is more circumspect.
He told Daily News Egypt, “This report is simply false. This PA committee doesn’t have the authority to make these sorts of decisions, it can only make recommendations.”
He also questioned why the decision had not been reported in any other newspapers, and said that the campaign to save the island would continue until the report is verified.

Mubarak’s police renews crackdown on Sinai Bedouins; Israeli troops open fire on Egyptian homes killing 1

Posted on By 3arabawy

From the Daily News Egypt:

Security forces in North Sinai arrested around 15 Bedouins on Tuesday night after a protest which saw a government official and his driver injured.
Five people were also arrested on Wednesday after government forces stormed their houses.
Some of those detained were teenagers, who were taken into custody with their fathers, according to North Sinai Tagammu party member Ashraf El Hefny.
The arrests were carried out over the protest, with government officials accusing those they rounded up of inciting the demonstration.
On Tuesday, hundreds of Bedouins demonstrated in Bab Sedout, eight kilometers south of Rafah where security forces had earlier dismantled a tent set up for a peaceful sit-in by the Bedouins.
At Bab Sedout Bedouins burned tires and threw stones at government vehicles.
An AP report stated that the head of the emergency unit at Al-Arish hospital reported that government official Desouqi Muhammad El-Naggar, 52, was in critical condition and suffering from a head concussion, while his driver was slightly injured.
Besides protesting longstanding mistreatment at the hands of the government and the continued detention of many Sinai Bedouins, the protesters were also rallying against what they perceive as highly prohibitive conditions on bank loans by the Bank for Development and Agricultural Credit, which some 8,000 farmers are unable to repay.
“The bank has a lot of people in debt, in addition to the usual security crackdowns,” Hefny told Daily News Egypt.
Tensions between the government and the Bedouins continue to escalate as security crackdowns in the wake of a spate of bombings and economic disenfranchisement fuel Bedouin discontent.
Bedouin blogger, activist and founder of the Bedna Ne’esh (We Want to Live) movement Mussad Suleiman Hassan — known as Mussad Aboul Fagr — was arrested in Ismailia on Dec. 26 and has been remanded in custody for 15 days pending investigation.

In other developments:

Israeli troops at the Kerem Shalom crossing, 3.5 km south of Gaza, opened fire Thursday on Egyptian houses killing Hmeidan Suweilam, a Sinai Bedouin whose house lies on the border.
Suweilam’s house was one of 150 houses subject to Israeli gunfire, AFP reported. Suweilam died after being taken to a hospital to treat bullet wounds.
No explanation or comment has been offered by the Israelis regarding the incident, which comes at a volatile time in Egyptian-Israeli relations.