Resources on the Revolutionary Socialists
The Socialist Alliance (an umbrella coordination mechanism that includes the Revolutionary Socialists, the Egyptian Communist Party, the left-leaning Justice Center for Labor Rights) has issued a statement, in solidarity with the textile strikers in the Nile Delta towns, and denouncing the corruption of the government’s General Federation of Trade Unions.
You can find the statement in Arabic here.
I’ve also received news that the Kafr el-Dawar workers may start a hunger strike tomorrow.
Kefaya’s demo that was scheduled to happen in front of the Public Prosecutor’s office on Monday, was moved due to security siege to the Lawyers’ Syndicate and the Press Syndicate.
Around 100 assembled in front of the Lawyers’ Syndicate, while 300 others managed to gather in front of the Press Syndicate.
Demonstrators chanted against Mubarak, corruption, and police torture. Activists also extended their solidarity to the Lebanese opposition fighting a US-client government in Beirut. “Hosni Mubarak and Sanioura–Bush is the original, they are the photocopies,” went the chants. The Mahalla textile strikers got also a lion-share of chants in support of their struggle against their corrupt neo-liberal management.
Protesters clashed on several occasions with the Central Security Forces troops that surrounded the Press Syndicate, leading to minor injuries. Photos below, taken by Nasser Nouri:
The Revolutionary Socialists distributed leaflets during the demo, calling for wider mobilization within the factories, university campuses, professional syndicates to achieve the radical political change Egypt needs–rather than focusing the struggle on narrow, superficial constitutional amendments within the parliament.
I left the scene of the protests by 4:05pm. By then, 400 demonstrators at the Press Syndicate were chanting, demanding the execution of President Hosni Mubarak on charges of treason and mass torture.
Faced with the security violations in the recent Student Union elections, the Muslim Brotherhood and Socialist Students have been mobilizing for the launch of the Free Student Union (FSU), in an attempt to establish an independent association that can represent Egypt’s student community without interference from the security services.
Today, the elections for the Free Student Union are underway in Ain Shams University. I was on the phone with rights lawyer Emad Mubarak, who went to the university campus to monitor the elections together with a group of activist academics.
In the Faculty of Commerce, where Emad is now, the security personnel mobilized the government-appointed Student Union officials to disrubt the FSU elections. Since 11am, dozens of those students have been assembling with drums, shouting and singing and harrassing anyone who approaches the place where the FSU elections poll is set up. The University Security personnel have withdrawn from the scene, in order to make the crackdown to be students vs students without govt involvement. Muslim Brotherhood activists are currently under siege at the university mosque.
In the Faculty of Law, Dr. Omar Helmi, the faculty’s dean, tore down the banner the FSU put up, but elections are still going.
UPDATE: A testimony by Dr. Aida Seif al-Dawla, who was present with a group of academics to monitor the FSU elections, could be found in Arabic here.