I couldn't have imagined that in the middle of our revolution, I might find someone to say that the revolutionaries shouldn't call for any strikes! I thought it was an ABC in the handbooks of the revolutions(!) that after toppling the police and the dictator and intervention of the military, the only weapon to use is the strikes. The military can kill people protesting but CAN NOT deal with striking workers sitting at their home! So, again, to remind: the strikes are the only way to continue our revolution for these reasons:
1- Before anything, the demands of all strikes and protests now are very legit! They need to have a good life with average standards and actually the participated in the revolution for that very reason.(This is especially true if we put in mind that there is already a verdict of the minimum wage setting it to 1200 LE)
2- The strikes are the main tool people can use to exert more and more pressure on the military to meet ALL the demands of the revolutionaries as the huge businesses worldwide won't stand anymore losses.
3- The revolution was calling for toppling and destroying the whole regime not Mubarak only. Mubarak has gone but there is a lot and a lot of corruption soldiers in every sector of the state. The strikes are the main tool to expose those corrupted officials and remove them. Egypt is like a big ship now, the captain has been killed but we still need to shake this ship well to force all the rats to leave that ship and run away! Strike is the way to make that shaking!
4- If we are looking for a good political environment in Egypt in the future, we need to start building it's core now; and that's the unions. Workers have to start building independent unions everywhere and rebuild new forms to communicate. This needs to be done ASAP as the strikes waves are already there, people are still in the euphoria of the victory and there won't be any police harassment anytime soon!
I don't know if you know but ppl striking (especially in banking sector) have salaries that range from EGP 6000 to 12000. I really don't kno wut they are striking about!! Honestly- the economy is shrinking... It wasn't aslan that great. It is obvious the only direction Egypt is heading is back. Ppl were complaining that 40%of Egypt population live on USD 2 a day. These ppl are not protesting. They are out there looking for day jobs! Haram... if the protests continue and the economy shrinks more- they are the ones who are going to get extremely hurt. Haram begad!
ReplyDeleteLet's not even get into the tourism industry. Employees are gettng laid off left and
right.
You also have to realize that the revolution got really shady on Friday. So many Islamist influences. Is Egypt gonna end up like Iran in 79- surrndering to Islamist control or Algeria in 91-where the military attacked the Islamists after winning with a landslide first parliamentary elections.
Btw just wondering have you ever heard of eveloutionary change?
Well, regarding the banking sector, I dun know from where did u get these number. This is not true. You might be talking about the foreign banks but the national ones are not even close to this!
ReplyDeleteIf those poor people are not the ones protesting, so can you tell me how the protests hit millions in numbers?! And who is striking now if they are not?!
Talking about Islamists in the revolution means that u never been to Tahrir. This is totally untrue.
btw, evolutionary change is a myth...