strikes archives — Page 175 of 251

“It’s the only language the government understands”

Posted on 17/12/200722/12/2020 By 3arabawy

It’s been a long day.

I gave a training session in the morning to a group of local and Arab human rights activists on internet campaigns, part of a workshop organized by HRINFO, then had to rush to Abdeen to see the Kafr Elw residents.

Later I met with the Qursaya Island residents at the Press Syndicate.

… and the Real Estate Tax Collectors celebrating their strike victory.

I heard horrific tales from the Kafr Elw residents about police assaults, still saw impressive militancy among the women, who basically are leading the fight now against the government while their husbands have taken the back seat for fear of arrest.

I felt frustration and sheer alienation are spread among the Qursaya Island residents vis a vis Mubarak’s central government, but heard the phrase “we will die on our island, rather than give it to the government, army or anyone else” more than once.

I met again with the Real Estate Tax Collectors. But this time it was different. Last time I saw them was in front of the Ministerial Cabinet, where they were camping… they were exhausted, disheveled, yet resilient, as they slept night after night surrounded by the pigs in downtown Cairo… Tonight, they felt like heroes, and they were heroes having achieved victory in a bitter fight, in their first strike since 1919.

“I walk today in the street, with my head up high,” said Amr, one of the strikers. “I wouldn’t have been able to look into the faces of children if I came back home after the strike with nothing. I won. We won. I tell the people in the street I was one of the Real Estate Tax strikers, and they tell me poetry. I feel our victory is a victory to all civil servants and all Egyptians.”

As I was taking the elevator to the Syndicate’s ground floor on my way out, there were two of the building’s staff workers (either waiters or janitors) chatting about the “beto3 el-3aqariya” (the guys from Real Estate):
“They stayed for more than a week in the street,” said one.
“I know,”
“Seems everybody is doing it.”
“What do you mean?”
“The e3tissamat (sit-ins)!”
“Oh, I know. I know.”
“It’s the only language the government understands.”

A Visual Diary of a Working Class: The Real Estate Tax Collectors’ Strike

Posted on 14/12/200705/02/2021 By 3arabawy

Several bloggers visited the strikers’ camp before its suspension.

Check out some pix by IRC President and by Spellz. Also, Mak forwarded me some shots he took with his mobile:

Tax Collectors sit-in, Photo by Demagh Mak

More photos by journalist and friend Jano Charbel:

اعتصام موظفي العقارية بشارع حسين حجازي، تصوير جانو شربل

And some pix by Farah.

Good job ya shabab. I hope the blogosphere continues to devote this excellent attention to the current wave of strikes. Mubarak’s dictatorship will not be overthrown except by a general strike or another Jan 1977.

We need to continue disseminating the photos of the struggles both locally and abroad. “Seeing” the industrial action by photos and/or videos has a ultra-empowering effect on those who are fighting for the same cause in Egypt and elsewhere, more than just “hearing” or “reading” about it.

Statement on the Real Estate Tax Collectors’ strike

Posted on 13/12/200714/01/2021 By 3arabawy

I received a statement signed by the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, the Workers’ Coordination Committee and the Egyptian Workers and Trade Unions Watch with more details of the agreement between the government and the strikers.

There’s a mistake however in the last line. The statement says the tax collectors are threatening to resume their “strike” on 9 January if the govt betrays its promises. In reality however the strike resumes. The civil servants will go to their offices but will not collect the taxes. They are threatening to resume the downtown Cairo “sit-in” once again on 9 Jan if the agreement is not fulfilled.