Tag: unions

Protesters call for overthrowing Field Marshal Tantawi الشعب يريد إسقاط المشير

Posted on By 3arabawy

On Sunday evening, around 2000 protesters marched against the proposed law by Essam Sharaf’s cabinet banning strikes and protests. We started from the Press Syndicate in Abdel Khaleq Tharwat street, marched through Maarouf St, Champlion St, then Tahrir Square, finally ending up in front of the parliament and the ministerial cabinet headquarters.

Participants in the march ranged from independent trade unionists and labor activists, to youth activists from different organizations. The chants were quite militant, taking on Field Marshal Tantawi and the army. Protesters called for overthrowing Tantawi, accusing him of being a dictator, crony, part of the Mubarak’s regime. At some point, the chants were even calling for executing Tantawi and Mubarak in public squares. The demonstrators also unleashed their wrath on the military police denouncing the torture of activists in the Egyptian Museum and Military Prison. The state-run media also was the target of the chants, with persistent calls for purging it from NDP elements.

This coming Friday will hopefully witness a big turn out for the protests called to purge the state-run media. And in the meantime, we still have to pursue our fight for free unions and taking Tahrir to the factories.

Public Transport workers declare a free union

Posted on By 3arabawy

Thursday was a fantastic day! I attended the launching of a new independent union in Egypt, by the BRAVE public transport workers, whose strikes were central to the overthrow of Mubarak. This was followed by another declaration of another free union, by the Manshiyet el-Bakri Hospital workers.

Many of the workers present in the event also signed to join the Democratic Labor Party. More free unions are coming soon, mark my word. The strategy adopted by the radical left is giving full support for the strike wave, pushing strongly in the direction of forming a unified labor party that represents the political interests of the working class in the ongoing revolution and, in parallel efforts, building a new federation of independent trade unions.

This revolution is hardly finished, and we have to work 25 hours a day to liaise between strike leaders and organizers of social protests across the country. We need to create national coordinating mechanisms. The spontaneity of the current strikes is not enough to achieve victory. We need structures, formed by the workers themselves, that will link the different industrial centers together, and reach out to the civil servants and students. Only then we can talk of overthrowing the military dictatorship.