Hundreds of thousand of people all over Egypt have demonstrated on Friday, according to Al Ahram, against the way the military is handling the expected handover of the power to civilian institutions. The main ire of the protesters was directed towards a document about the make-up of a constituent assemble that has to be formed after the parliamentary elections of 28 November and that has the task of drawing up a new constitution. The disputed document, called the Selmy-document after deputy Prime Minisyter Ali al-Selmi who oversaw the process of drawing it up, gives the army an important say in the formation of this assemble and the process of writing the new constitution.

Of the participating Islamists, the Muslim Brotherhood and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), were the most visible, outnumbering their counterparts. The group has notably boycotted most of the million-man marches that took place following the popular 18-day uprising.

Apart from flags, shirts and green caps emblazoned with the groups logo, two criss-crossed swords, the Islamist group came readied with their banners bearing emblems of the FJP and the Brotherhood’s student groups. Several banners indicated the various members’ governorate of origin in a show of their mobilisation power.

Salafists were also heavily represented in Tahrir, particularly by Al-Nour (Light) and Al-Asala (Authenticity) parties, believed to be the two largest Salafist parties in Egypt.

Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya also participated in the demonstration, stating that the proposed principles “do not reflect the will of the people”. Al-Jamaa spokesperson Assem Abdel Maged said stressed that “the will of the people is the most important thing, and the ‘El-Selmi document’ goes against this will.”

The Selmy-document earlier raised objections from almost all political parties since it granted the Egyptian armed forces political powers far greater than those given parliament or the president. Among the communiqué’s most controversial points were Article 9, stipulating that the military budget remain confidential; Article 2 (second section), giving the military the right to “object” to certain articles of the new constitution; and Article 3, which notes that, in the event that the constituent assembly fails to draw up a new constitution within a six-month period, the SCAF – in its capacity as acting president – would have the authority to draw up a brand-new assembly.

Since then discussion have taken place between the government and the parties. Some points were dropped or amended in such a way that several parties dropped most of their objections. And the discussions still continue, writes Al-Ahram- However, a provison that the assemblee will be constituted from inside and outside the new parliament, and will be chosen from among a broad spectre of public figures, seems to be still standing. This is blocking the way for the islamists who are pretty sure of obtaining a strong position, if not a majority in the new parliament, and who therefore had counted on having also a majority in the new assemblee.

It is ironic that it is now the islamists that are on a confrontation course with the military, where it just some weeks ago still looked as if islamits and military were had in glove. However, the islamists are far from being the only ones with objections. The April 6 Youth movement already called for a new Demonstration, next Friday. After last Friday´s “Friday of One Demand” protest, they want to have a “Guarding Friday” to demand free parliamentary elections. The group also wants to demand the expulsion of candidates from the now-defunct National Democratic Party (NDP), who are seeking to get back into the parliament.

The Administrative Court of Dakahliya governorate returned a verdict that could prevent anyone from the former ruling NDP from running in elections. The ruling, nonetheless, was later reversed and now the remnants of the former regime seemed poised to be involved in the ballot.

AUTHOR: Martin Hijmans
URL: http://the-pessoptimist.blogspot.com/
E-MAIL: m.hijmans [at] planet.nl

Coptic mass funeral (Al-Masry al-oum)

The question marks over what exactly caused the bloodbath during the Coptic demonstration in Cairo on Sunday, will surely remain in place for quite some time. One may hope that the commission of inquiry, that the government installed in the meantime, will shed some light on how it was possible that the army reacted in the outrageous way it did, running over unarmed protesters with heavy armoured vehicles. Also should be examined how it was possible that it did not keep mobs from attacking the marching Copts in Shubra in the first place, as that, accoing to many reports, seems to have ignited the riots.

It seems quite obvious that something is completely wrong with the way the army handles security matters in Egypt. Although prejudices against the Copts, which are widespread in salafist circles as well as in the predominantly Muslim army, certainly seem to have played a big role, one should also remember that it is not the first time that attempts by the army to handle security matters went completely out off hand. One has only to remember the utter chaos that broke out on 9 September when protesters went from Tahrir to the Israeli embassy and took apart the wall that had been erected in front of it. (see also here, in Dutch). That day ended aslo with several dead and no less than over the 1000 wounded.

This time, however, it seems that not only the army was to blame. Also the Egyptian state television came severely under fire. Al-Ahram Online reports that the TV is heavily criticized because it not only failed to calm matters, but actually played a role in aggravating the situation. Broadcasters on state television at one point called on the Egyptian public to head en masse to Maspero to defend Egyptian soldiers from what they described as ‘angry Christian protesters’.

It seems that these calls were heeded as indeed later in the night vigilante mobs with swords and machetes attacked demonstrators who fled the scenes where the army was using bullets and tear gas. Call-ins to state TV from viewers, meanwhile, where not very helpful either. ‘Armed Christians clashed with and killed military police,’ one call-in viewer claimed. State television also aired footage of injured military police officers, but failed to carry images of flattened corpses of killed demonstrators which were circulating virally over internet sites.

In this context it is noteworthy that Egyptian state television is one of those media where the staf still lagely consists of the old guard from the days of Mubarak, because only a handful leading figures were replaced. One cannot help but ask one self to what extend the remaining staff might still be familiar with the habits of the former government, which used so frequently to turn the Copts into scapegoats.

In the meantime it became clear that some 21 protesters, mainly Copts, were killed as army tanks ran over several people and shot rubber, and live bullets. Three other death fell among the military police, the army said. The Egyptian ministry of health confirmed that at least 329 people were injured.

Meanwhile on Monday the Egyptian authorities executed a man who was sentenced to death for the killing of five Copts and a Muslim watchman in January of last year in Naga Hammadi in Qena Governorate. The murder by Mohamed Ahmed Hussein, who was better known by his nickname al-Kammouny, was considered to be one of the worst sectarian killings in recent years in Egypt.

AUTHOR: Martin Hijmans
URL: http://the-pessoptimist.blogspot.com/
E-MAIL: m.hijmans [at] planet.nl

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…

AUTHOR: Hossam el-Hamalawy
URL: http://www.arabawy.org
E-MAIL: hossam [at] arabawy.org

Postal workers on strike. They carry a banner witn the name of their union: The Independent Union of the Workers of the Egyptian Post.

It looks as if  the ruling military council in Egypt (SCAF) is running out of wisdom. AhramOnline reports that the SCAF and the government-Sharaf met on Wednesday to discuss what a cabinet spokesperson described as a “deteriorating security situation’ and took some very restrcitive measures.

The meeting came at the end of a tumultuous week. Thousands of workers have begun a series of economic strikes, others are planning to join the strike wave at the beginning of next week. Revolutionary youth groups like the 6 of April Movement continue to mobilize for a massive rally to take place in Tahrir square today, Friday, to challenge the continuing processes of civilians by military courts and çorrct teh path of the revolution’. Annd then there was the clash, last Tuesday, of fans of the country’s largest football team, Ahly, with the police that left 133 people wounded.

As a consequnece, the SCAF issued six directives for Sharaf to follow immediately.

1. The cabinet will use all legal means to prosecute what the council described as all and any acts of thuggery.
2. The cabinet will support all police efforts to maintain peace.
3. The cabinet will intervene to halt all strike actions, and it will enforce a law it passed last spring, which criminalizes certain strikes that disrupt public life.
4. Sharaf will not negotiate with strikers over any demands until workers halt their workplace actions.
5. Sharaf will suspend issuing new licenses to Satellite television stations.
6. The cabinet will start legal procedures to review licenses it issued to any Satellite television network that incites violence and protests.

The minister of information, Osama Haikal, said at the end of the joint meeting that the military council remains committed to freedom of expression and media. But unfortunately the measures against strikes and tv-channels tells otherwise.

The SCAF and the government alike don’t seem to know very well how to deal with the growing discontent, like the anger over the military processes, the general dissatisfatcion about the course of the revolution, the increasing number of strikes, an the growing criticism by different media like the new tv-channel Tahrir for istance. Of these particularly the strikes should bother them.  Since the end of the month of Ramadan a new wave of labour strikes and protests in the public sector have spread across Egypt. In dispute after dispute, workers focus on two main issues: raising wages, and purging different government-owned factories and institutions of corrupt officials from the Mubarak era.

The recent action seems to reflect a sense that many workers in the public sector have run out of patience with Sharaf’s government, which made a number of promises when it first took office last March, but has not adequately delivered. For example, Sharaf’s cabinet refused to honour a three-year-old court order that mandated that the government raise the national minimum wage for workers to LE1,200 per month. Instead, Sharaf told workers that his government could only commit to raise wages for everyone to LE700, and promised to do so by July, but failed to deliver even on this much lower figure. Moreover, Sharaf’s cabinet has also failed so far to put a cap on the excessive salaries it pays to top officials in the public sector, a widely popular demand among public sector workers. To add insult to injury, many workers think that Sharaf has, for the most part, treated Mubarak-era officials with kid gloves, and dismissed only a handful from high positions.

In fact, most Egyptian workers across the country come to work every morning, seven months after they played a key role in toppling the former dictator, to be greeted by the same old bureaucrats and authoritarian figures from the Mubarak years. A case in poit are the workers at the Egyptian Postal Services Authority. Thousands of low-paid postal workers are now on strike for the second week. They demand that Sharaf purge the publicly owned Postal Services of dozens of corrupt managers and over-paid consultants. Also they want a 7 per cent annual pay increase to keep up with inflation and a 200 per cent bonus for meeting annual production goals.

The recently-formed independent unions of postal employees called for the strike.Hisham Abdel-Latif, the president of the Cairo branch of the independent union, told Ahram Online that postal workers feel bitter due to the astronomical differences between their meagre salaries and out-of-control compensation packages that top officials in the services receive. For example, Abdel-Latif said that the salary of an employee after 15 years does not exceed LE 1500, whereas the director of the Postal Services pays 26 of his top consultants an average of LE25,000 per month. These consultants are mostly retired police and army generals who are friends of the director and do not contribute anything, but simply drain the resources. Three of the Postal Authority’s director’s four top deputies get even the sum of LE168,000 per month. Abdel-Latif said, whereas the slaray of the Authority’s director himself remains a total secret.

Last winter, in the weeks immediately after the ousting of former president Mubarak, postal workers organised several strikes and protests in order to pressure the ruling military council into dismissing top officials in the Postal Authority who were part of Mubarak’s entourage, as well as dismissing some external consultants. In response, the SCAF sent army soldiers to break a number of strikes, but also promised that it would take note of workers’ demands. However, as months went by, Sharaf’s government dragged its feet on the issue of meeting postal workers’ wage demands.

For years now, according to Abdel-Latif, postal workers have felt that they have created a massively successful operation that brings in billions to the government, without seeing any of the fruits of their labour.In fact, the Egyptian government generates a considerable amount of cash from its Postal Authority.he Authority not only uses post offices to deliver regular mail services to the public; it also runs savings accounts for millions of citizens and handles the distribution of pension cheques to millions of retirees.

“The Postal Authority is not only a solvent entity, it is actually quite profitable. Their savings accounts operation brings in LE62 billion annually, which the authority invests in banks,” Abdel-Latif told Ahram Online. “They can easily afford to improve the living standards of their hard working employees.”

Other workers are theatening to follow the same course as the postal workers. Among the 22,000 workers at the country’s largest textile factory in Mahalla, in the Nile Delta, the Egypt Weaving and Textile Company.  Doctors, teachers and university professors are also preparing actions. The employees of Cairo Airport ar already striking, and the list is far from complete.

AUTHOR: Martin Hijmans
URL: http://the-pessoptimist.blogspot.com/
E-MAIL: m.hijmans [at] planet.nl

AUTHOR: Hossam el-Hamalawy
URL: http://www.arabawy.org
E-MAIL: hossam [at] arabawy.org

Hafzi spent a long years of his career in SS, before he went on to assume senior positions in the ministry’s departments in charge of tourism and business. By 2007, he was already the security director of Giza, and two years later he became the minister’s first assistant for security in both Giza and the 6th of October provinces.

Hafzi’s ties with his SS mentors never ceased for a moment throughout his career. A leaked 2007 SS document, for example, discusses his proposal to install CCTV cameras to spy on Cairo University students. Hafzi is also accused of involvement in the crackdown on, and the murder of, Coptic protesters in Giza’s Omraniya district in November 2010.

Instead of facing justice in a public trial after the revolution, Essam Sharaf‘s cabinet rewarded him with a promotion as a governor. This is another reason why we should be in Tahrir on 27 May…

AUTHOR: Hossam el-Hamalawy
URL: http://www.arabawy.org
E-MAIL: hossam [at] arabawy.org

The Army’s Special Forces, Paratroopers, with the help of Central Security Forces (yes, they are back and the US-made tear gas canisters are back too!) and plainclothes policemen cracked down on Tahrir protesters starting from 3:20am, with tasers, live ammunition. There are reports of injuries. We still don’t know if anyone died yet. (Two did, according to Reuters. And at least 15 were wouded, TP).

Earlier the Military Police tried to enter Tahrir to detain the officers who joined the revolt, but the protesters drove them back and chased away General Hamdi Badeen, the head of the Military Police.

Ahram on line reports: The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has released a statement claiming the attack was targeted against thugs and members of the former-ruling National Democratic Party who they accused of ‘conducting sabotage’ in the square. Among those blamed for sabotage was Ibrahim Kamel, already accused of plotting the infamous ‘camel attack’ of 2 February, one of the bloodiest days of Egypt’s 18-day revolt. The Council has since issued an order for Kamel’s arrest.

But Al Ahram also seems to hint that internal differences of opinion within the army might have been a reason for what happened: ‘Youtube videos were circulating days before Egypt’s “Cleansing Friday”, showing army officers calling on their counterparts to join Tahrir Square protests and condemning the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces,’ it writes.

AUTHOR: Martin Hijmans
URL: http://the-pessoptimist.blogspot.com/
E-MAIL: m.hijmans [at] planet.nl