Tag: gamal mubarak

Heikal on Gamal Mubarak

Posted on By 3arabawy

A Western journalist who recently lunched with Muhammad Hassanein Heikal asked him about presidential succesion in Egypt, and what chances Jimmi had regarding inheriting the country’s rule from his daddy:

[Heikal] was adamant that Gamal Mubarak would not be the next president: “Everyone hates him!” he exclaimed at one point. He also talked at length about the extent to which President Mubarak has insulated and isolated himself from ordinary Egyptians and has built an impermeable bubble of courtiers and yes-men around himself.
One of the other lunch guests remarked on the fact that that morning, Mubarak had presented the Egyptian “Order of Merit”, one of the country’s highest honors, on the outgoing head of US Central Command, Gen. John Abizaid. “Outrageous! That just proves how isolated Mubarak has become!” was Heikal’s reaction.

The same evening, the journalist was

once again generously hosted, this time by Ali Dessouki and his wife Eglal. Ali is a recent Minister for Youth and Sports. He and another of the dinner guests, Muhammad Kamel, are both on the NDP committee that’s working on political reform. We had a very lovely dinner in an incredibly posh new sporting- and social club out to the southeast of the city, and a conversation that was often very lively. Ali grew very impassioned as he explained to me how the regime felt it really had to crack down on the Muslim Brotherhood these days, with an argument along the lines of “We gave them an inch [of liberalization] and they tried to take a mile, so we really had no alternative but to push back against them very hard.” On that basis he was adamant about justifying, for example, the recent re-arrest of some dozens of MB activists immediately after they had just been freed on the orders of a judge…

1000 transportation workers on strike in Mahalla

Posted on By 3arabawy

I received a statement from the Workers’ Coordinating Committee saying 1000 bus drivers, ticket collectors, maintenance workers in El-Mahalla El-Kobra’s Bus Service have gone on strike since the morning. The workers are demanding their late bonus payments from their management. In addition, rumors are sweeping the company that the government will allow Ghabbour’s (private) Company to run bus lines on the same routes taken by the government’s bus service, in a move signals the govt’s intent on liquidating its bus service on these Mahalla routes, and sack its labor force.

The giant is awakening slowly…

A victory achieved by strikers in one factory, could encourage fellow workers to launch their own fight in the neighboring factory. Unfortunately, I did not have time up till now to write something substantial on the escalating militancy among the Egyptian working class. I hope I’ll put together something by next month. In the meantime, keep your eyes on the Nile Delta industrial towns–the historical hotbed of proletarian politics, and on the transportation sector: railways and trams.

So you get Tora and Cement workers going on strike after the victory achieved by the Textile workers in Mahalla. Underground Metro drivers slowed down their trams from 90km/h to 30 km/h in solidarity with the train drivers who blocked the trains with their bodies the day before yesterday, sending chills to the bones of every official at the Ministry of Transportation.

The struggle in one sector spills over to other sectors. It’s the domino effect, which became almost a natural law of activism. Victories open the appetite of everybody, and defeats demoralize the whole class.

But we are witnessing now a slow upturn in industrial militancy. Egypt’s movement for change, and in specific the revolutionary left, MUST DO ITS BEST to link its struggle against Mubarak’s autocratic regime to that in the floorshops in those factories. A general strike in this country should rid us from the regime and its gestapo once and for all. Hit them where it hurts… their pockets!

The Winter of Labor Discontent comes also as a slap on the face of those among Egypt’s new left, who have turned their backs on the working class, with their elitist neoliberal-disguised-as-leftist politics that supports privatization and claims independent working class activities are impossible, because the workers are “immature” and “not ready to play an independent role.” Well, guess what? 27,000 workers went on strike in Mahalla in December., and those “immature, dirty, illiterate” brown-faced workers occupied their factory, formed committees to manage their strike, formed security teams to patrol their factory making sure no sabotage happened, took their decisions democratically in mass meetings… and last but not least, their “economic” strike over bread and butter issues, quickly turned “political” strike in the end with thousands of workers chanting “Kefaya Mubarak! Kefaya Gamal!” and that’s when the regime, pissing in its pants, rushed to meet the workers’ demands.

Again, and again, and again, I’d like to repeat that the movement for change in Egypt is DOOMED to failure, unless we link ourselves to Mahalla, Helwan and their industrial sister towns.

More later…

اللجنة التنسيقية للحقوق والحريات النقابية والعمالية
إضراب عمال مرفق أتوبيس المحلة
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منذ صباح اليوم دخل عمال مرفق أتوبيس المحلة الكبرى في إضراب شامل عن العمل ضم السائقين والكمسارية وعمال الورش والجراجات والبالغ عددهم ألف عامل، وذكر المضربون لمبعوث اللجنة التنسيقية بالمحلة أن الإضراب جاء احتجاجا على امتناع الإدارة والمحافظة عن صرف الحافز والاضافى من ناحية ، وعلى محاولات خصخصة المرفق من ناحية ثانية حيث نما إلى علم العمال وجود اتفاق بين المحافظة وإحدى شركات غبور على تسيير أتوبيسات لشركة غبور على نفس خطوط أتوبيسات المرفق ليحدث إحلال تدريجي في الخطوط، وقد تأكد ذلك للعمال من قيام شركة الأهرام بتسيير أتوبيسات على خط ميت غمر المحلة تمهيدا لتسيير أتوبيسات جديدة على خطوط جديدة.

الاثنين 22/1/2007

The tale of two amendments

Posted on By 3arabawy

Re Mubarak’s speech to the People’s Assembly and Shura Council, the day before yesterday, here’s an AP report by Nadia Abou El-Magd:

Mubarak: Amend constitution article criticized as opening way for succession of his son
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ Egypt’s long-serving president asked parliament Sunday to amend an article of the constitution that critics say was tailored to allow his son to succeed him.
President Hosni Mubarak told parliament the article should be changed to make it easier for candidates from registered political parties to run for president. He did not provide details.
Mubarak, 78, also dismissed speculation that he would step down before his term ends in 2011. He has been in power since 1981.
“I will carry on with you, crossing to the future, shouldering the responsibility, as long as my heart is beating and I’m breathing,” Mubarak told parliament in a speech marking the beginning of the new session.
The opposition claims the article, which was rewritten last year to permit Egypt’s first multi-candidate presidential election, opens the way for Gamal Mubarak, the president’s youngest son, to become Egypt’s next leader by making it impossible for anyone to compete against the ruling party in the 2011 election.
The article requires that independent candidates obtain 250 recommendations from members of parliament or city councils to be eligible to run. Those offices are overwhelmingly held by members of Mubarak’s ruling National Democratic Party, or NDP.
The article also stipulates that only political parties representing at least 5 percent of parliament can put forward a presidential candidate _ a requirement no political party achieved in last year’s legislative elections.
Egypt’s largest Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, which holds nearly 20 percent of parliament, is officially banned. Its lawmakers ran as independents.
Egypt’s opposition said the NDP’s previous refusal to amend the article demonstrated that it was clearing the way for 42-year-old Gamal Mubarak, who has risen rapidly in the party in recent years and is now deputy secretary general. Hosni Mubarak denies his son is being groomed to replace him.
The United States has called greater democracy in the Middle East a top priority, and at one time wanted its ally Egypt to be the centerpiece of reform. But critics say President Bush has recently backed off pressuring Cairo as concerns have escalated over the war in Iraq and Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
In his speech, Mubarak said the upcoming parliament session would witness “the biggest and widest range of constitutional amendments since 1980.” He said changes would also highlight Egypt’s commitment to free market policies and social justice.
But political analysts say Mubarak’s speech adds little to his earlier statements.
“People don’t expect anything new or serious from this government or this party, and there is nothing new or serious from them. The only serious things are coming from the opposition forces _ Islamists, secularists and the judiciary,” said Osama el-Ghazali Harb, a former NDP member and political scientist.
Another political expert, Diaa Rashwan, said the speech was similar to Mubarak’s platform ahead of the September 2005 elections.
“It was as though he hadn’t heard people’s objections to it,” he said.