Thousands of Ghazl el-Mahalla strikers demonstrated following breaking their fast with the dusk prayers, demanding the release of their five detained comrades, reports Kareem el-Beheiri.
Tag: protests
Ghazl el-Mahalla on STRIKE!
Excerpts from a message I received from journalist Jano Charbel:
I went to the Mahalla Strike on Sunday.
7aga Gamda Gamda! (This is solid solid!) 25,000 men and women on strike.. very uplifting!
The company’s security guards wouldn’t let me in, they then took me and photographer Ahmad Ismail to the security chief – some brigadier general – who told me that we couldn’t enter. He said “da beiti wenta deif, wana ka sa7eb el beit men 7a2i en amna3ak men dukhoul beiti (This is my house, and you are my guest. It’s my right to ban you from entering my house).”
He told us to do our work outside the company’s walls.
Workers whom I don’t know saw that we couldn’t get in, so they brought us inside by force.
Around 10 workers intertwined their arms in mine and cannon-balled me through three lines of security guards.
The mood inside was one of total defiance. People are sick of the ultra low wages, company corruption, and financial fraud.
The security is totally pissed off, and will crackdown and arrest the heroes.
This (Mahalla strike) looks likes it could very well spread further and beyond – to Kafr El Dawwar to elsewhere across the country.
Here are some of the pix taken by Jano:
“It’s a scene, which I find no words to describe with”
I received a message from a Socialist journalist and comrade who is reporting on the Mahalla strikers. Here’s an English translation of some excerpts just to give you an idea what the mood is like there…
After the first day of the strike and sit-in, the picture inside the factory is really amazing. 10,000 people breaking the fast together in Talaat Harb Sq, located inside the company compound. It’s a scene, which I find no words to describe with.
The government has started to present some compromises via the head of the Factory Union Committee Seddiq Siyam, in exchange for disbanding the strike. But the stupid forgot he was asking this (strike suspension) while the workers’ emotions and zeal are running at the highest peak you can imagine.. The inevitable happened.. the dude was screwed. The workers almost killed him, seriously I’m not joking. But he was saved at the last moment by the strike leaders.
My hearts and thoughts go out to the Mahalla strikers. I hope I start seeing some solidarity movement by the Socialist Students in Cairo, Ain Shams, Helwan and Alexandria Universities soon.