Tag: mahalla

State Security Prosecutor summons Ghazl el-Mahalla labor leaders for interrogation

Posted on By 3arabawy

I spoke with Kareem el-Beheiri around three and half hours ago, and he assured me the morale is extremely high among the strikers. Thousands of them were sleeping over in the factory. Kareem was then rushing to upload the videos and the pix of the strike.

He also said Mubarak’s Central Security Forces troops are still unseen around the factory since their retreat on Saturday night after it became clear the strike was to proceed on the following morning. However, Kareem said the place is swarmed with plainclothes State Security Police agents, as well as agents from the Mukhabarat… Yep, in case you didn’t know Mahalla has an office for the Mukhabarat (the agency which is entitled with foreign security issues) since it’s considered a “strategic city” since the days of Nasser. These Mukhabarat agents show up when there are strikes or signs of discontent. It goes to show the power and strength of Mahalla, and the fear it constitutes to the Egyptian ruling class.

Kareem also said he was verbally threatened by a State Security agent, after he shouted against the government and the president.

I also spoke with Muhammad el-Attar and el-Sayyed Habib after I hung up with Kareem. Both have virtually lost their voices from exhaustion and from chanting in the marches. Both are keen on seeing international solidarity coming on their behalf, and are personally requesting in the name of the 27,000 Ghazl el-Mahalla workers that international labor organizations and unions express an urgently needed solidarity.

More worryingly, Attar told me he’d been summoned to the State Security Prosecutor’s office, together with Faisal Laqousha, and two other labor activists (I could hardly hear the names, as Attar’s voice was weak and I was standing by the train station where there was so much noise). Attar doesn’t know the charges yet to be leveled against him and his comrades.

I’m calling once again on labor activists around the world to issue statements of solidarity. The security crackdown on the strikers may well be underway.

Down with Mubarak’s Police… Victory to the Mahalla Strikers…

Ghazl el-Mahalla on STRIKE!

Posted on By 3arabawy

Ghazl el-Mahalla blogger Kareem el-Beheiri uploaded more videos of the strike. Listen to the workers chanting “We will not be ruled by the World Bank! We will not be ruled by Colonialism!”

I hope other bloggers are on their way to Mahalla by now to report on and fraternize with the strikers. They NEED your solidarity. Please bring (besides your digital cameras) food, juice bottles, Cleopatra cigarettes boxes and travel to Mahalla. It’s only a couple of hours away from Cairo. We need more of you up there in the Nile Delta.

Victory to the Ghazl el-Mahalla Strikers… Down with Mubarak’s neo-Liberal dictatorship…

Kafr el-Dawar textile workers to strike on Tuesday in solidarity with Mahalla

Posted on By 3arabawy

YES! The news I was awaiting for has finally arrived. Kafr el-Dawar Textile Workers for Change have announced they are mobilizing for a strike Tuesday morning, in solidarity with Ghazl el-Mahalla workers, if the latter’s demands are not met by then.

UPDATE: Kareem el-Beheiri posted the Kafr el-Dawar Textile Workers’ statement on his blog.

Here’s a quick translation of the statement…

After closely following what is happening to our brothers and comrades from the Mahalla workers, and after all the efforts they did in order to reach a just settlement with the management, General Federation.. we find there was rightly no other choice in front of the Mahalla comrades but to strike. Diplomacy, delegations and pleas are not going to solve the workers’ problems. It’s the strike that can, and so be it…
We the workers of Ghazl Kafr el-Dawar have been in contact and consulting with fellow workers in the (company) halls and in Factory #4. We understand that the Mahalla workers are calling for several demands including:
1- Impeaching the company board chairman
2-Impeaching the Factory Union Committee officials
3-Linking the monthly incentives to a fixed percentage of the monthly basic salary
4-Increasing the food allowance to match in the increase in prices
5-Raising the salaries to match the increase in prices
6-Paying the workers their annual share of profits
7-Solving the transportation crisis
8-Paying the workers housing allowances
We, the labor leaders in Ghazl Kafr el-Dawar, announce our full solidarity with the Mahalla workers, and join them in the fight for their demands, which are similar to ours. We also demand that the (Kafr el-Dawar) management implements the rest of our demands, which they shelved away, including fixing the (transportation) buses and improving the medical services for the workers, and opening the door for promotions for those have earned diplomas.
Mahalla, We have taken an oath that we will follow you, and launch a strike by maximum Tuesday; by then we would have mobilized the biggest number of workers in the factory to support both your demands and ours. We affirm that this Tuesday will be a strike if your demands are not fully met… And let the strike take us to wherever they want us to go…
Kafr el-Dawar Textile Workers For Change
Sunday, 22/9/2007

My heart and thoughts go out to the strikers in Mahalla. Best of luck to the comrades in Kafr el-Dawar. If that strike goes well, expect a hot industrial autumn in Egypt.

THE WORKERS UNITED, WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED… DOWN WITH MUBARAK’S NEO-LIBERAL DICTATORSHIP…