EgyWorkers Against Privatization

EgyWorkers from companies that were privatized under Mubarak’s regime staged a protest during their court case calling to return these companies back to the public sector. I spoke mostly with workers from Ghazl Shebin, where 1000s of jobs were lost their jobs and 1000s of money stolen in this corrupted privatization process. The workers are demanding all companies to be nationalized since contract conditions were violated. The case was postponed to September 11th.

About Ghazl Shebin Textile Company

Ghazl Shebin textile company was privatized under the authority of the ex-minister of investment Mahmoud Mohieldin in 2006 to Indorama Corporation, for 122| million EGP. This Textile company of 5700 workers used to be one of the leading exporting textile factories to Europe with net profit of 9 million EGP in 2005-2006 alone, and the main competitor to Indorama Corporation. With the help of Nazif’s cabinet including Youssef Bourtros Ghali (ex-finance minister), Osman Mohamed Osman (ex-economy development minister), Rashid Mohamed Rashid (ex- business & industry minister), Farouk Okda (ex- head of central bank), and Esha Abdel Hady (ex-labor force minister), the factory now has 1200 workers.

The working conditions have deteriorated tremendously in addition to the thousands of workers that were laid off with no compensation. Some of the workers that have been hired back are hired under very strict contracts, where they are fired every year for 2 months and hired back so the employer can avoid paying pensions & benefits to the workers.

The amount of corruption that goes into this so called “privatization” process is unacceptable. Privatization here literally means the stealing of the hard-working Egyptian workers’ money. What “privatization” good will it do to the people who don’t have jobs and those who are being deliberately exploited for the money-hungry businessmen & politicians? A7aaaa!

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Military Police Piggipedia

Rasha Azab confronting a military officer she believes was there in the Egyptian Museum on March 9th during the arrests and abuse conducted on protesters from Tahrir. He refused to take off his sunglasses when she asked him to take it off. If anyone recognizes him or knows his name please let me know. You can find more pigs here.

June 28: CSF Attack an Empty Tahrir – قوات الامن المركزي تقتحم التحرير

 

This video was shot on June28th around 10:30 pm showing CSF officers entering an empty Tahrir while beating protesters with rocks. The police started attacking people in Tahrir saying that they are running after “thugs” when nothing apparent was happening. These clashes lasted until 3:00 pm the following day with over a 1000 injuries from tear gas, shrapnel & rubber bullets. The police hasn’t changed; it has been 5 months exactly since the revolution and nothing has changed especially when it comes to police pigs.

The Families of Martyrs Speak – اهالي الشهداء يطالبون بالقصاص

The families of martyrs started a sit-in in front of Maspero on Friday June 24th demanding the prosecution of police officers engaged in the killing of their sons and daughters during the 18 days of the up-rise since Jan25. The sit-in lasted 5 days. After the Balloon Theater clashes with police, the families decided to end the sit-in empty handed with no media attention whatsoever in the 5 days of the sit-in. I went to the sit-in everyday, and spoke with many of the families there, who come from different cities all over Cairo, and Egypt including Sinai & upper Egypt. The families of martyrs have been under a lot of pressure from police (directly & indirectly) to change their testimonies in return of money, but every single person I spoke with said, “not with all of the world’s money, would I sell my son’s blood.” These families have lost their sons & daughters and all they demand is justice to be served; for every killer to be prosecuted transparently and sufficiently.

What surprised me the most is that without this, what many called “insignificant” sit-in, the now on-going Tahrir sit-in would not have happened this way and the central security forces confrontation in Tahrir the night of June28th would not have happened, which is exactly what’s bringing back the revolution’s momentum. There were many divisions within opposition on what to focus on in this period. Many are focused on writing the constitution first, others favoring parliamentary elections first, and my favorite group, who is focusing on “rebuilding Egypt” by painting the pavement 60 times over. The truth is, there will be no meaningful popular constitution, no real parliament that represents the revolution, and definitely no success in the revolution, IF we, “shabab 25,” don’t focus and win those battles that will make or break this revolution like this one. The families of martyrs battle, in my opinion, is one of many under-supported causes that not only have almost no disagreement on, but most importantly, it directly links all of the demands of the revolution that haven’t been met yet.

The families of martyrs are demanding the cleansing of the judicial branch through the efficient & transparent prosecution of murderers, the cleansing of the state police through holding the corrupted accountable for murder and torture, and the cleansing of media, which is not only ignoring their demands, but also tarnishing the reputation of protesters and jan25 martyrs. We are going back to Tahrir and all squares in Egypt with full force on July 8th, I urge you to join for the revolution, for the martyrs, for Egypt!

Power of the people.