Hossam el-Hamalawy
Video taken by Gigi Ibrahim:
January 28th, 2011, Kasr El Nile bridge at 5:08 pm. This was one of many attempts to cross Kasr El Nile bridge into Tahrir square, but we were faced with tear gas, water canon, rubber & live bullets. We didn’t actually cross it until later that night. It was one of the longest most brutal battles, but in the end the power of the people won.
Thursday was a fantastic day! I attended the launching of a new independent union in Egypt, by the BRAVE public transport workers, whose strikes were central to the overthrow of Mubarak. This was followed by another declaration of another free union, by the Manshiyet el-Bakri Hospital workers.
Many of the workers present in the event also signed to join the Democratic Labor Party. More free unions are coming soon, mark my word. The strategy adopted by the radical left is giving full support for the strike wave, pushing strongly in the direction of forming a unified labor party that represents the political interests of the working class in the ongoing revolution and, in parallel efforts, building a new federation of independent trade unions.
This revolution is hardly finished, and we have to work 25 hours a day to liaise between strike leaders and organizers of social protests across the country. We need to create national coordinating mechanisms. The spontaneity of the current strikes is not enough to achieve victory. We need structures, formed by the workers themselves, that will link the different industrial centers together, and reach out to the civil servants and students. Only then we can talk of overthrowing the military dictatorship.