Egypt, the Left and International Solidarity

Note: As I was about to publish the post below, I read the news on twitter that Egyptian journalist and blogger Hossam al-Hamalawy has been summoned to a military prosecutor for questioning tomorrow, after talking about military tribunals against civilians and violations by the military police against peaceful protestors on a TV-show broadcast last thursday (the clip above). This futile - I'm sure - attempt to silence one of Egypt's most well-known radical voices, and one who has played a vital role in spreading news about Egypt's nascent labour movement and the wave of strikes and protests that lead to the revolution has to be condemned. More than anything it underlines the need for international solidarity with the democratic and progressive forces in Egypt as they struggle to create a just and democratic society. Protests in solidarity with Hossam and the other summoned journalists will be held tomorrow in Cairo and Alexandria.

Here it goes - another attempt to revive the blog which consumed so much of my time back in they days, when strikes and protests occured almost every day but a revolution stilled seemed like a distant possibility (a funny thing I learned about revolutions is that they always do, even as more and more people tell you it has become inevitable). I switched to blogging in Swedish after I was kicked out of Egypt back in 2009 and have been blogging intensely the past few months, as well as giving talks about Egypt around Sweden. However, there are very few resources in English about the Egyptian left and labour movement (Hossam al-Hamalawy’s blog remains one of the best place to go to find such news), which is one of the reasons I have decided to go back to writing in English - at least now and then. Being barred still from entering Egypt this is at least something I can do. Don't expect daily updates however - expect irregular postings, far-from-perfect-translations of news or articles, and an occasional commentary or rant.

Besides the labour movement and left in Egypt, another theme that I will try and highlight in this blog is that of international solidarity. Last week the Egyptian doctor and leftist Alaa Shukrallah and the women’s rights activist and author Azza Kamel visited Sweden to meet political activists, feminists and unionists, and to speak at a seminar at the Worker’s Educational Association (ABF) in Stockholm (watch part of Alaa's speech here). The subject was international solidarity, and if the importance of this wasn’t already apparent it became so the next day, when news reached us that Azza Kamel’s daughter had been arrested by military police while putting up posters ahead of the May 27 protest in Cairo (she was released later that same day).

While there is a great need for immediate solidarity work and campaigns against human rights abuses in post-Mubarak Egypt, both Alaa and Azza stressed the importance of another task for the left in Europe today: to raise awareness about the link between democracy and social justice in Egypt and the region. This involves exposing and resisting the failed neoliberal economic policies that caused increasing poverty and inequality and ultimately led to the revolution - but are still being promoted by the international financial institutions and European and US governments. An international campaign for debt cancellation would be very helpful, as the regime now uses the external debt and the threat of “bankruptcy” as a propaganda weapon against any demands for social reforms.

The international left should also work to expose the regional counter-revolutionary alliance with Saudiarabia as the driving force, and the hypocrisy of Western governments that still ally themselves with authoritarian regimes while claiming to “support democracy” in Egypt and Tunisia. (Another suggestion that came up during the meeting was for international activists to put together lists of companies from their countries that collaborated with Mubaraks regime, especially within the security field, or benefited from or contributed to corruption in Egypt.)

Both Alaa and Azza pointed out that the Egyptian people need support in hard times as well as good times. While some in the west (as well as within Egypt) may have had unrealistic expectations of what the revolution would achieve in the short term it is necessary to realize that the people of Egypt are only in the beginning of a long and difficult struggle – the outcome of which will not only decide the future of Egypt for decades to come but will influence the whole region and the world. Alaa stressed again and again that the left in Egypt doesn’t need or ask for financial support (something which foreign embassies and NGO:s has been all to eager to throw on Egyptian youth activists and bloggers) but practical solidarity and cooperation based on the notion that “our struggle is one”: “A democratic and just Egypt can only survive in a democratic and just region, which in turn can only be built in a democratic and just world”.

Video: Alaa Shukrallah on the Egyptian revolution - causes and prospects

Watch Alaa Shukrallah from the Popular Socialist Alliance speak about the Egyptian revolution at a meeting in Stockholm on 25 may 2011 (filmed by Lennart Kjörling):

Appeal for solidarity from Bahrain

Comrades at various leftist parties and organizations

Bahraini people went out on the streets on the Feb. 14 on the 10th Anniversary of the National Action Charter . The national reform document on which people have voted in a referendum with 98.4% for it in 2001. On this date, the people decided to demand the royal regime to start implement the political reforms it promised. The demands state that to start effective procedures towards reforming the political regime, combatting corruption, abolishing racist and sectarian discrimination in Bahrain, guaranteeing fair distribution of wealth. And these protests were faced with a crazy reaction from the Bahraini authorities, the number of casualties till now is 7 so far, and this repressive campaign continues to use live ammunition, blocking entrances to a number of villages and towns, raiding and attacking homes in addition to the spreading of armed military tanks in roads.

This repressive attack is considered abandonment from the government of the reform project which guaranteed to the people their right to protest as per the 2002 Bahraini constitution.

Henceforth, we call on all Arab and International organizations to begin a protesting campaign to expose these practices of Bahraini authorities and to protest in front of Bahraini Embassies and UN headquarters in their countries and to maintain contact with Rights organizations regarding this matter. We also call on them to send denunciation letters to those embassies or to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs against these policies. The Bahraini people awaits your courageous stance for its struggle to its legitimate right to live in freedom, justice and dignity.Our path you know is rough and filled with thorns, death on its sides... but we will march on.

Please send your solidarity appeal to:

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (MMFF)

PO Box 547

Fix Line +973-17227555 +973-17227555

Fax +973-17212603

Fax +973-17210575

Fax +973-17225107

MINISTRY OF CABINET AFFAIRS (MMCC)

PO Box 1000, 26141

Fix Line +973-17223366

Fax +973-17211363

Solidarity with Youssef Shaaban

Activists will demontrate today in solidarity with journalist Youssef Shaaban who was detained while covering a demonstration on Friday:

Solidarity with Yucef Shabaan and all the detainees

The popular democratic movement for change (7ashd),

The Justice and Freedom Movement,

The Free Front for Peaceful Change

The 6^th of April movement

Invite you to join their open sit in

Wednesday at 7 p.m.

At Press Syndicate

Freedom for Yucef Shabaan

Freedom for all Detainees

Egyptian police arrest local journalists during Gaza protest

Hossam el-Hamalawy reports that three journalists working for Al-Masry Al-Youm was arrested today while covering a pro-Palestine protest in front of the french embassy in Cairo. Follow Hossam on twitter for updates. 

Free union celebrate anniversary, State unions withdraws from international federation

Two days ago, members of the independent URETA-union for real estate tax collectors gathered to celebrate the opening of their headquarter and the one year anniversary of the founding of the first free union in Egypt since 1957. The celebration was attended by the regional secretary of the Public Services International, which accepted URETA as a member last spring and has criticized interference in the work of URETA by state-controlled union officials. 

Apparently, this visit has now provoked three state-controlled unions in Egypt to withdraw from PSI in protest against recognition of the "illegal" URETA union. State union officials explain that they are not against the right of free association (of course) but only against "interference in the internal affairs of Egypt," something every "honorable Egyptian would reject." 

Also, on December 26 the new general union for employees of tax- and customs authorities will be officially included in the Egyptian Trade Union Federation as the 24th general union in Egypt; a move that should be understood as part of the ongoing attempts by the ETUF to marginalize the free URETA union. 

 

Norwegian pension fund drops Israeli company

Norway's finance minister announced today that the Israeli company Elbit Systems Ltd has been dropped from the national oil fund due to ethical concerns - namely the company's involvement the construction of the Wall on the West Bank. The minister told the press: "We do not wish to fund companies that so directly contribute to violations of international humanitarian law."

Selling shares in a company isn't exactly a strong economic sanction, but this is still a pretty powerful statement coming from a European government official. I eagerly await the response from Avigdor Lieberman and all those pundits who has been making claims like this recently: "behind the humanitarian mask that has been has been assiduously nurtured by the Nordic and Scandinavian countries, are a group of society elites, leftist journalists, clergy, employees of non-governmental agencies (NGOs), and politicans, particularly in Sweden and Norway, who have been regularly demonizing Israel and Jews, using classic themes of antisemitism, which have morphed into anti-Israel motifs." 

Those who make those claims rarely (correction: never) bother to provide any proof, of course, and I strongly suspect most of them could hardly even point out Sweden or Norway on a world map.

Update: (via Ali Esbati): The decision to disinvest in Elbit was apparently taken already on June 30 this year, but made public only today, which should kill all speculation that this is somehow a revenge for Israel's criticism last month of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of novelist Knut Hamsun - a celebrated novelist who won the Nobel prize in the 20's but later became infamous and widely condemned for his Nazi sympathies. 

International unions criticize Egypt's government

Via the CTUWS website: The Public Services International, PSI, sent a protest letter directed to the Prime Minister of Egypt against the pressures on the Real Estate Tax Collectors union. An excerpt: "PSI urges your government to take swift measures to ensure that RETA can freely exercise its role as an independent trade union organisation; to condemn all acts of intimidation and harassment against the leadership and members of RETA and to condemn all external interference in RETA’s activities."

PSI is a global trade union federation representing more than 20 million men and women working with public services around the world. URETA was accepted as a member in April, as the first Egyptian union outside the state-controlled trade union federation. While this kind of criticism may not affect the government of Egypt very much, it is certainly embarrassing for the state-affiliated unions - two of which are also members of PSI - who are increasingly seen outside of Egypt as the pro-regime tools of social control they have long been.

Solidarity statement with Tanta workers

An encouraing example of solidarity among Egyptian workers and civil servants: "The committé for solidarity with Tanta Linen Co. Workers" - including Mahalla textile workers, The real estate tax collectors union in addition to political activists and rights groups - released a statement in support of the demands of the Tanta workers who have been on strike for three weeks. The statement also criticizes the government for refusing to protect the worker's rights and demands that the privatization of the company, that was sold to a Saudi investor in 2005, is cancelled.

Humanitarian workers continue hunger strike at Rafah border crossing

I just spoke to a British doctor from a group of medics and aid workers who went on hunger stike at the Rafah border crossing 4 days ago, protesting the refusal of the Egyptian authorities to let them cross into Gaza after almost three weeks of waiting. Some of the hungerstrikers are from another group of medics that has been waiting at the border for 50 days. According to Dr. Omar Mangoush, police has prevented any foreigners from crossing the last checkpoints between el-Arish and Rafah since the hungerstrike started, and detained at least one Egyptian journalist for talking to the doctors "without permission."

Mahalla prisoners on hungerstrike

Mahalla residents who were sentenced to jail by a security court after the demonstrations on 6 and 7 april last year has entered a hungerstrike, el-Badeel reports, protesting against maltreatment and abuse in the prison. According to a letter sent by them to el-Badeel, they have been targeted by daily beatings since their families announced their participation in the "6 april strike." A solidarity protest is being planned for Tuesday in front of the public prosecutors office, downtown Cairo.

Call for solidarity with Tanta Linen Co. workers

A quick summary and translation of a message just sent to me by a leftist lawyer: "On Sunday 8 March the south Cairo court will examine the case raised against the Saudi investor Abdallah al-Ka'ki, after he fired nine workers, including two union representatives, after a strike in last July. Please spread the call and participate in a show of solidarity with the workers of Tanta Linen Co. during the court session at the south Cairo court at Bab al-Khalaq on Sunday, 8 March."

The whole message in arabic can be found at Tadamon.

Long live Palestine - and the Arab regimes

I just read this report by Hossam al-Hamalawy about George Galloway's "ass-kissing carneval": "The “red carpet” welcome, planned by Egyptian activists and opposition parliamentarians, to receive George Galloway’s “Viva Palestine” caravan, has been canceled. The activists learned tonight that Mr. Galloway has made arrangements with Mubarak’s NDP, and will be received by Ahmad Ezz, steel industry monopolist, senior NDP henchman, and the target of several anti-corruption campaigns."

A quick online search reveals that the Egyptian regime isn't the only one courted by Galloway. He recently met with the prime minister of Tunisia and hailed the government's support for the people of Gaza. Meanwhile, The Tripoli Post reports that "Libyans at the public and official levels are preparing to welcome the convoy with cheers and support for their noble undertaking.. Leading the welcome preparations of the convoy is the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation (GICDF) which said it is to join the Gaza Aid Convey with its own convey of medical aid. ... According to GICDF, the pro-Palestinian British PM George Galloway, the force behind the aid initiative, has been in contact with the foundation and coordinating with it."

Arguably, coordinating with the regimes in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt is probably the only way to have such a caravan pass through the North African countries, and to ensure its entry into Gaza from Egypt. But if Galloway hadn't designed this campaign in order to ensure the maximum possible media attention for himself, he could have considered other ways to support Palestine - without becoming a propaganda tool for authoritarian regimes. This is particularly offending in the case of the Egyptian regime, since it was widely criticized in the region for its stance during the war, its participation in the blockade, and the heavy crackdowns on pro-Gaza demonstrations.

I'd like to draw attention to another initiative recently launched in Sweden: "Ship to Gaza." The idea is "to send a ship from Scandinavia to Gaza via ports in Europe and the Mediterranean with humanitarian assistance, from human to human. The voyage draws attention to an issue that must have a just solution, and sends a clear message to the people in Gaza: you are not alone." Behind this campaign stands solidarity movements, trade unions, religious groups, and European Jews for a Just Peace. Thus, it's a real grassroots initiative, and I would be surprised if the organizers allowed it to be used as internal propaganda by Arab dictators.

UPDATE: Sarah Carr spoke today with Sabah El-Mokhtar, a British lawyer and one of the organisers of the Viva Palestina convoy, who told her: "With the greatest respect to him, none of us know who this Ahmed Ezz is. We are not involved in the domestic politics of Egypt and categorically deny that we have coordinated with political parties. We have to deal with the state's authorities in order to get through Egypt and our coordination has been with these bodies only. If a state wants to send representatives to greet the convoy that is entirely a matter for that state. In the states we have passed through already like Algeria we were greeted by many people and sometimes we didn't know who they were – whether they were official figures or not."

In other words, if any autocratic regime wants to use the convoy as a tool for domestic propaganda, they are most welcome to do so, because the campaign is not involved in "internal politics," and the organizers are too naive or careless to find out who they are dealing with.

Note that I'm not condeming the participants in the convoy or suggesting that their initiative is not a "noble undertaking," as the Libyan state-controlled media put it. I'm just saying that activists in Europe should work harder to find ways to support Palestine without alienating the oppresed opposition in Arab countries, as the struggle for a just solution in Palestine must be linked to the struggle for democratic reform and justice in the Middle East.

MB on Gaza, internal reform, and the social protest movement

Islam Online recently published an interview with Mohamed Habib, deputy supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, conducted by blogger and journalist Abdel Moneim Mahmoud. It focuses on the question - asked by many - of why the MB mobilized on a large scale during the recent war on Gaza, while being comparatively passive on internal issues, whether economic or political.

Habib's response is that solidarity with Gaza is among the first priorities of the movement, and that this is not separate from but "parallell" or "equivalent" to demands of internal reform, because of the strong link between fighting Israeli occupation and the autocratic regimes in the region. He also says that the issue of Palestine is the central and most important issue for all muslims and arabs, but also something that concerns the whole world. And for the MB, he says, it enters "the heart of our strategy and planing."

He then goes on to say: "The issue of Palestine, with its regional and international dimensions, has both negative and positive effects on the internal situation, whether economical or political, in the Islamic and the Arab world. We shouldn't distinguish between what's happening on the regional level and internally in Egypt. In our view, solving the question of Palestine will be an entrance to solving the internal problems of the arab nation and muslim nation, including the issue of political reform."

Interestingly, this is almost opposite the slogan that is commonly heard among leftists: that the road the the liberation of Palestine runs through Cairo, Damascus and Amman. One possible way to interpret this statement is as an implicit acknowledment that the MB won't dare to seriously challenge the regime as long as the regional situation means that a MB-led government in Egypt risk being treated as a pariah by the US and the "international community," in the same way as the elected Palestinian government led by Hamas.

Habib also says that support for the Palestinian resistance can "liberate us from fear" and inspire the peaceful struggle for change in Egypt and Arab countries. Comparing the issue of Gaza and internal reform, he says: "There are priorities, and when there is a humanitarian catastrophe as in Gaza, it is a human and legal and national duty to pressure our regimes and governments to move, and to express our angers towards the aggressor."

Still, he acknowledges that "the brotherhood did not respond as strongly to social issues like the bread crisis or soaring prices as we should have at the time." His explanation for this is that "involvement in the social protest movement in a political way could make the regime deal with it more harshly and violently." Despite this, he claims, the MB has been giving support to the social protest movement, and "were present" in many of the protests, including the strikes in Mahalla, "but without giving them a political character to ensure the continued existence [of the movement]."

This sounds rather vague. Also, all the union activists and workers I've met in Mahalla and during other strikes and protests in the industrial sector during the last year strongly denied any involvement of the MB (or any other political group for that matter) in organizing or supporting their struggle. In the rare cases where militant workers have admitted association with - or even talked favorably of - any political trend, it has been the socialists or communists.

Activists continue Gaza solidarity march despite crackdown

The ToGaza group staged another march yesterday - click the pic for my report in Daily News Egypt - and pledged that the campaign will continue. I'm the first to admit that this event only made the news because the crackdown on the previous march. It's worth noting that many of the participants this time were newcomers who decided to join after hearing about the last march - a clear sign that since the recent war on Gaza, many foreign students and others in Egypt really feel an urge to do something about Palestine, despite the obvious security constraints imposed on all forms of activism here.

Israel-Sweden Davis Cup game to be played without audience

An upcoming tennis game between Sweden and Israel will be played without audience, a decision that was hailed as a partial victory by the organizers of a campaign for a total boycott of the game. Thousands are expected to participate in a demonstration on 7 March, the first day of the game, and Israel is reportedly bringing its own security forces to protect the team.

Blogger Mohamed Adel on hungerstrike

Detained blogger Mohamed Adel is starting a hungerstrike, protesting his continued detention and maltreatment in the prison, el-Badeel reports today. Adel was detained on 20 November in a café in Downtown Cairo, and is being accused of membership in an illegal organization. He visited Gaza during the temporary border breach in January last year.

Israeli athletes face boycott calls and pitch invasions

I heard about this game but didn't see the clip until today.

I note that the Left Party in Sweden, as well as the youth and womens sections of the Social Democrats is demanding a boycott of the upcoming tennis game between Sweden and Israel, to be played between 6 and 8 March. Similar calls were heard before the olympic games in China, and of course didn't have any effect. In this case, however, the game is played in Sweden, not in a distant police state, so it's very likely that there will at least be large demonstrations in connection to the game. Media has been speculating that Israel might want to send it's own security agents to Sweden in order protect the team and the ambassadors to Sweden and Denmark in case they attend the game. The boycott campaign caught the attention of Jerusalem Post after an activist threw a shoe at the Israeli ambassador during a public lecture at Stockholm University.

One of the groups that support a boycott has set up the blog "Stop the Game" in Swedish as well as Arabic (although the arabic version only have one post so far).

Magdy Hussein refused visit by wife and lawyer

The prison administration in Port Said refused a visit to Magdy Hussen, secretary-general of the "suspended" Labour Party, by his wife and laywer, al-Badeel reports. The administration says regulations don't allow visits in the first 11 days, and refused to make an exception. Hussein was sentenced to two years in jail last week by a military court for visiting Gaza without a permission.

According to a report in al-Youm al-Sabi3, Hussein sent a letter to his wife stating that we doesn't want to present a plea for pardon to the president, as his party was planning.

Tabula Gaza v2.0

Philip Rizk relaunched his blog Tabula Gaza, after it was closed down by State Security. His first post is about the horrible experience of his kidnapping and detention, and ends with this message:

"The Gaza Strip is a different form of concentration camp. No Palestinian- whether students, the sick, businessmen and women- can travel beyond its borders and Israel permits only a very very few internationals to enter. These- mainly journalists and NGO workers like I used to be- remind me of zoo visitors that take pictures and talk about the terrible conditions of the animals in their cages but then leave, in the meantime Gaza remains the same. According to the UN 85% of Gazans are reliant on food aid, again like animals in a zoo they are fed and kept alive, but barely. Leaked reports from the Red Cross recently reported high percentages of malnutrition of children especially in the refugee camps- 70% of Gazans are refugees from 1948. The purpose of our protest march was and continues to be to raise awareness of the ongoing siege on Gaza building on the momentum of protest during the Israeli military onslaught on Gaza at the start of this year.

Your outrage about my unjustified imprisonment mirrors my outrage about this ongoing injustice done to the Palestinian people. If our governments and representatives the world over will not change the status quo we- the multitude-must mobilize, on the streets, on the web, in government, in schools, anywhere to call for change. Such an outrage changed South Africa not that long ago and it can change the injustice carried out against Palestinians today.

Email us your ideas and actions here: info@togaza.net
Follow up with us here: togaza.net"