Archive for the ‘Highlights’ Category

VIDEO – Egypt on verge of general strike

VIDEOS – Tahrir Intifada إنتفاضة التحرير

As of time of writing, the square is under our control, but the clashes continue in primarily Mohamed Mahmoud Street, and on occasions in Sheikh Rihan Street and Bab el-Louq.

#Nov19 Police cracks down on Tahrir protesters

The Central Security Forces attacked protesters camping out in Tahrir this morning, causing dozens of injuries. A military police showed up following the attack, but it was chased away by demonstrators who were chanting against Field Marshal Tantawi and SCAF. Protesters as of time of writing keep regaining control of the square and losing it, as there are severe clashes still happening, with the CSF using tear gas, rubber bullets and birdshots.

The scenes I’ve witnessed today are very reminiscent of the 28-29 June clashes that triggered the 8 July Sit-In… Police brutality has been one of the triggers for this revolution and continues to be a major radicalization factor. It’s a constant reminder that the regime we fought to topple still exists in full force.

Below is a video I took discretely with my mobile of the troops withdrawing earlier from Tahrir after they smashed the sit-in…

CBS 60 Minutes – SCAF and the Egyptian Revolution

Army and police massacre protesters at Maspero

The army and police committed a horrible massacre against peaceful protesters today in Maspero, Cairo. Army vehicles ran over protesters. Live ammunition was used. Extensive rounds of tear gas were fired, and showers of beatings from the military police, the central security forces and plainclothes thugs.

At least 19 people have been killed, and more than 150 injured. The toll keeps rising.

The Army also stormed Al-Hurra and 25 January TV stations, and took them off air. The Egyptian state run TV is inciting the public against the “Coptic protesters” and even called on the citizens to take to the streets to “protect the army”!! SCAF is trying to instigate a sectarian civil war.

The protesters are not only Copts. There are Muslims present in the protests too and are talking active part in resisting the police and the army. There are ongoing battles as I’m writing now. The unifying chants in downtown Cairo is against the army and field marshal Tantawi. Protesters are chanting: “Muslims and Christians… One hand!” and “Death to the Field Marshal.”

For continuous updates, please follow me on Twitter and follow the Revolutionary Socialists on Facebook.

6 October 1981: The day a dictator was killed

On 6 October 1981, my father decided to take me and my one year old sister to the military parade that was to be held in our neighborhood, Nasr City, marking the 1973 War.

We had just returned to Egypt after a few years of diaspora, in Yemen and Kuwait, where my father took my family, following the failure of the 1977 uprising. My father’s friends at the time where either in jail or got transferred from their university jobs during the infamous September 1981 crackdowns on dissidents.

Why did my father, who had no love for Sadat, take us to the parade? It was never clear to me. My father just thought, it’s Eid, what the heck, let’s take the kids to watch the tanks, planes, and the show.

I was roughly four years old at the time, and of course my memory won’t compute the events in a historian’s fashion. We were supposed to be at the Manassa that day. My dad knew an army officer who was a close friend to his elder brother in Tanta, and the guy had promised he’d get us seats in the Manassa, where Sadat, Mubarak and co were to watch the parade.

The officer didn’t show up, according to my dad. And probably we were damn lucky he didn’t. We ended up sitting at a stage on the opposite side of the autostrade, besides the Pyramid of the Martyrs. My aunt’s husband came along with us that day, together with two of my cousins.

The stage was almost empty, except for our family. My father told me years later that army trucks arrived before the start of the show, with the “crowd” (who were nothing but army conscripts in plainclothes), and all were chanting for Sadat.

These scenes I remember well. Some noise, explosion, and my father shouting to me: “Jump!” The stage was roughly a meter or a meter and half higher than the ground. And as a four year old kid, I clung to the edge, trying to see if my legs could reach the ground. There was chaos, and the “audience” were jumping off the stage, and some were stepping on my fingers. I was screaming. My father grabbed me, and helped me reach the ground, while carrying my sister with his other hand.

We started running for our car, which was parked in Youssef Abbas Street. My cousins were following us, and all were running, screaming, as shots kept being fired.

As we arrived home (15 mins later). My father entered the house, and shouted to my mom: “I think they killed Sadat!” My mom answered, while continuing to bake the Eid cookies: “Fi setteen dahia! (Screw him)” My mom was no fan of Sadat. She had participated in the 1971-2 student revolt, was severely beaten up by the Central Security Forces, and always held Sadat personally responsible for the atrocities against the students.

Sadat was regarded as a traitor in my family. And a traitor he was. We did not mourn him. On the contrary, there were celebrations in our house, and millions of other Egyptians sighed in relief.

When the 6th of October comes every year, I remember that day. The day our president got killed. The day his vice president Hosni Mubarak took control and started his reign of terror. This 6th of October comes and Hosni Mubarak is deposed by the people, not by a gang of armed Islamists. And his trial continues, I wish him nothing short of the fate of his predecessor.

VIDEO – The Muslim Brotherhood and the Egyptian Revolution

Blogging the labor strikes الصحافة الشعبية والتضامن مع حركة العمال

Egypt’s Mass Strikes: When the economic becomes political

As thousands of workers continue to strike in the Upper Egyptian sugar refineries over pay, work conditions, as well as purging the management from the remnants of Mubarak’s regime. The strikers, seen in the videos, also accuse the management of clientalism to the US and Israel, and chant for “open strikes till the fall of the regime.” The workers also use the same slogans as those of Tahrir: “We will leave. He’s the one who should leave,” but referring to the mini-Mubarak they have in their firm.

The current mass strikes are political in essence, not just economic. While activists are mobilizing thousands in Tahrir to denounce the military tribunals, the workers in the hundreds of thousands are in effect breaking the anti-strike law which refers strikes to military courts. The common denominator between all the strikes, though they still lack a centralized command or coordinating body, is the purging of the company management from corrupt, regime affiliated figures. The strikers are even raising questions about global politics, anti-imperialism and anti-Zionism, during their industrial actions.

The strike wave constitutes the only hope for the Egyptian revolution…

Piggipedia: SS directors of departments

The site 25 Leaks has published a 2008 State Security Police document, detailing some of the new departments established within the now dissolved apparatus. Tons of names are listed and I invite you to check them out and come forward with any more information you have about them. These officers who ran Mubarak’s gestapo should be held accountable and treated as the bosses of a criminal syndicate.

From SS Officers

Among the names on that list is SS General Rushdi el-Qamari who’s been profiled previously in the Piggipedia. It turned out that the man, who served and still serves as the interior ministry’s representative on the NTRA board and who oversaw the telecommunications shut down during the January uprising, was the director of a department in SS called “The General Information Department,” serving as the head of the “Telecommunications and Coding Group”.