Category: Blog

Mahalla updates: More than 1,000 are demonstrating now against price increases

Posted on By 3arabawy

While the Cairo protest has been called off, I’m receiving news from Mahalla that more than 1,000 workers and political activists have turned out to protest increase in prices of basic commodities. The demonstration is still going on now, and is taking place at El-Shoun Sq.

UPDATE: I chatted with Kareem el-Beheiri who attended today’s Mahalla’s protest:

حضر النهاردة المظاهرة حوالى 1000 شخص من مختلف البلاد
حضر حزب التجمع والوفد والناصرى والعمل والاخوان المسلمين وجبهة اليسار المصرى ولجنة الدفاع عن الصحة ولجنة الدفاع عن القطاع العام
ومواطنيين من المحلة الكبرى
الحالة الامنية كان الامن محاوط المظاهرة كلها
رفع الامن حالة الطوارىء امام هتافات المتظاهرين
من الهتافاات
ياهالينا ضموا علينا رغيف العيش مش لاقينة
اعلى واعلى وعلى الصوت اللى هيهتف مش هيموت
دقى ياساعة الشركة ياحرة على ايامنا السودا المرة
صحى النوم يازعيم
دا احنا اجورنا بالملاليم
صحى النوم يارئيس دا احنا وصلنا للتفليس
سيبوا الناس متمشوهاش ياللى بعتوا بلادنا بلاش
خلصت المظاهرة الساعة 2 الظهر

Real Estate Tax Collectors’ strike update: Partial agreement reached with minister; Sit-in and demos called off; STRIKE CONTINUES

Posted on By 3arabawy

I’ve received news from the strikers’ camp in downtown Cairo:

Negotiations took place yesterday between the Finance Minister and State Security officers on one side and the strike leaders on the other… A partial agreement has been reached. I still need to confirm the details, but roughly here are the highlights:

1-Two month salary will be paid to the 55,000 strikers before Eid.

2-The Minister will meet with the strikers on 23 or 24 December to finalize a decree granting the Real Estate Tax Collectors the same bonuses and incentives as those received by their colleagues at the Ministry of Finance.

3-No striker will be victimized.

4-The camp set up by the strikers in front of the Ministerial Cabinet in downtown will be disbanded today temporarily for two weeks, and the solidarity demonstrations will be called off. However, the strike will continue until the above mentioned ministerial decree is issued.

UPDATE: Nora has some details in Arabic here.

UPDATE: It’s 12:30pm now, and the downtown sit-in is suspended by the strikers who folded their tents, carried their bags, exchanged hugs and kisses, chanted for hours confident about victory, and are now mounting buses back to the provinces. A group of the strike leaders, I was told, are meeting with the Finance Minister again today for further negotiations. Police troops had stepped up their presence since the morning. Agents from Qasr el-Nil Police Station, as well as State Security’s Counter-Communism Bureau, were spotted around the parliament and in el-Qasr el-Eini St.

UPDATE: It’s confirmed the strike is continuing in Cairo and the provinces, despite the temporary supension of the downtown sit-in.

Real Estate Tax Collectors’ strike: INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY URGENTLY NEEDED

Posted on By 3arabawy

I’m passing a message from the Higher Strike Committee for the Real Estate Tax Collectors’ Strike.

If the government does not respond to the demands of the 55,000 strong strike today, then tomorrow Thursday escalation is expected. More buses carrying striking tax collectors and their families will descend on Cairo from the provinces, and the downtown Cairo sit-in participants can well amount to 20,000.

Kamal Abu Eita and other members of the Higher Committee for the Real Estate Tax Collectors' Strike كمال أبوعيطة وبعض أعضاء اللجنة العليا للإضراب

The strikers (who receive a basic monthly salary of roughly US$50) are demanding their inclusion to, or receiving similar treatment to their colleagues at, the Ministry of Finance, as well as impeaching the corrupt head of the Real Estate Tax Collection Authorities Ismail Abdel Rassoul. This is probably the first time the tax collectors go on strike since the 1919 revolution against the British occupation. There is large presence of Copts and women in this branch of the government. Anyone who visits the strikers camping outside the Ministerial Cabinet building in downtown Cairo can see for themselves the fantastic solidarity between Muslims and Christians, men and women, in a society that often stands accused of sectarianism and chauvinism.

Real Estate Tax Collectors' Strike إضراب موظفي الضرائب العقارية

Yesterday some NDP MP showed up at the sit-in and summoned the strike leaders to the parliament to negotiate with Fathi Surror, the parliament speaker. They went there, but no meeting took place! They were promised a meeting the following day (ie, today). This was interpreted as a confusion among the govt ranks on how to handle the strike, which is turning into a national and international embarrassment for the govt.

Meanwhile, another 6 million govt civil servants are watching closely what’s happening. The latter have their grievances and a victory for the Real Estate Tax Collectors will be a victory “to the whole mowazzafin (civil servants) and the Egyptian people,” as one of the strikers from the Kafr el-Sheikh province told me.

Real Estate Tax Collectors' Strike

This strike is no less important than Ghazl el-Mahalla‘s. And the strike leaders are calling on the international labor unions to issue solidarity statements on their behalf, and lobby the Egyptian government to respond to the strikers’ legitimate demands.

Real Estate Tax Collectors' Strike إضراب موظفي الضرائب العقارية