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Hossam el-Hamalawy

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Hossam el-Hamalawy

Tag: memory of the class

1978 Tunisian Intifada

Posted on 24/07/200807/02/2021 By 3arabawy

[2-1-1978] Protesters attacking ruling party office, during a general strike organized by the General Union of Tunisian Workers, which turned into an intifada [Photo courtesy of the UK Socialist Worker Archives].
[2-1-1978] Protesters attacking ruling party office, during a general strike organized by the General Union of Tunisian Workers, which turned into an intifada [Photo courtesy of the UK Socialist Worker Archives].
The following paragraph is an edited excerpt from my MA thesis, which I wrote around eight years ago on the 1977 Egyptian bread intifada:

Following the 1967 war, anti-Jewish riots spread in Tunisia as well as attacks on western interests and embassies [1]. The movement, however, was soon to assume a more mature political character, with students coming in the forefront. Strikes and demonstrations continued over the following year by the students, with support of the lecturers against state repression [2]. The government noted the militant intervention of Communists and Maoists in the events [3]. It also stepped in more than once to ban demonstrations in support of the Vietnamese struggle and the French students during the May Parisian uprising [4]. Maoism became a dominant force in the Tunisian universities, drawing its main inspiration from the French student movement [5]. The radicalization reached the peak by the 1970s, to explode into a workers’ uprising led by the trade unions against the government in 1978, that was put down brutally by the security services and the army.

1] Arab Report And Record, London, 1-15 June 1967: 196.
2] Arab Report And Record, London, 16-31 March 1968: 79; 1-15 April 1968: 95-6.
3] Arab Report And Record, London, 1-15 August 1968: 229; 1-15 September 1968: 266.
4] Arab Report And Record, London, 16-31 May 1968: 138; 16-30 November 1967: 368.
5] Harmel, Muhammad. Men ‘l-Hizb al-Wahed ‘l-ta’dodya: Massira Majida le-Tahqiq al-Badil al-Demoqrati (From one Party to pluralism: a glorious march towards achieving the democratic alternative). Damascus: Markaz El-Abhath We El-Derassat El-Ishtirakyya Fi El-Alam El-Arabi, n.d., Page 47.

‘I hate soldiers. I hate to see a man with a bayonet fixed on his rifle, who can order me off the street’

Posted on 24/07/200808/02/2021 By 3arabawy

John Reed, “The Worst Thing in Europe,” The Masses, March 1915:

I hate soldiers. I hate to see a man with a bayonet fixed on his rifle, who can order me off the street. I hate to belong to an organization that is proud of obeying a caste of superior beings, that is proud of killing free ideas, so that it may the more efficiently kill human beings in cold blood. They will tell you that a conscript army is Democratic, because everybody has to serve; but they won’t tell you that military service plants in your blood the germ of blind obedience, of blind irresponsibility, that it produces one class of Commanders in your state and your industries; and accustoms you to do what they tell you even in time of peace.

1947 Mahalla Textile Strike

Posted on 22/07/200808/02/2021 By 3arabawy
[9 September 1947] Three workers were killed and 17 injured, while 20 police were injured during the riots which broke out at the Ghazl el-Mahalla factory, as police cracked down on thousands of workers who went on strike following the dismissal of some of their comrades demanding improved work conditions. This was followed by more clashes as textile workers in Shobra el-Kheima struck in solidarity [Photo from Keystone, Courtesy of the UK Socialist Worker Archive]
[9 September 1947] Three workers were killed and 17 injured, while 20 police were injured during the riots which broke out at the Ghazl el-Mahalla factory, as police cracked down on thousands of workers who went on strike following the dismissal of some of their comrades demanding improved work conditions. This was followed by more clashes as textile workers in Shobra el-Kheima struck in solidarity [Photo from Keystone, Courtesy of the UK Socialist Worker Archive]
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