Continuing people's struggles in Egypt: Replay or new phase?

Replay of the January/February events, or exciting new phase? In the first part of July, Egypt saw mass mobilisations which, at first sight, might seem a replay of what happened in the beginning of this year. Half a year after the successful overthrow of Mubarak, the country witnessed another peak of protests.
On July 8 and July 15, after the Friday prayers, people once more gathered in huge numbers at Cairo's Tahrir Square -- the square that was the undisputed epicenter of the revolt against Mubarak. Once again, the Egyptian public has primarily targeted the state's apparatus of repression, demanding a clean-up of the police force, speedier trials of former Mubarak functionaries, and an end to military trials of civilians and protesters. And once again the country's Military Council, which in February staged a state-coup and put itself in charge of the transition to parliamentary democracy, has sought to appease the protesters.
Thus, Interior Minister Mansour Essawy, on the eve of the second mass rally at Tahrir Square, announced "the biggest shake-up" in the history of the police. Presumably, over 6 hundred senior police officers will face early retirement. Yet once again, sections of the public have refused to budge. Thus, in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, thousands of people, on July 15, reportedly broke away from the main rally and staged a protest at the police headquarters, demanding the resignation of the interior minister himself! Is this a replay of the Egyptian people's aversion to repressive state rule? Or are we witnessing something new?
Perhaps a "replay" of the events which led to the revolutionary uprising earlier this year may not be out of place. Crucial, as is well known, was the role played by the April 6 Movement, the group of youngsters who successfully launched an appeal via internet, calling on their Facebook friends to demonstrate. Less known is the fact that the Cairo youngsters drew their organisation's name, their original inspiration, from workers of the country's largest textile mill, Misr, who on April 6, 2008 had launched a strike.
The Facebook activists met the workers before embarking on their own campaign. They subsequently were to move away, or at least downplay the Misr workers' social demands. Yet it is entirely just to recall that this year's revolt was preceded by several, very significant waves of workers' strikes.
Samir Amin, the world famous economist, has termed the 2008 wave of strikes in Egypt a gigantic success, "the very strongest in the African continent." According to him, it resulted in concrete increases in wages -- of 10% to 15% on average -- as well as increased scope for independent trade unions to operate.
Again, in 2010, Egypt saw another wave of workers' struggles. An important impetus reportedly was provided by a court decision. In March that year, Egypt's Court of Administrative Disputes ruled that the state, Mubarak's state, should fix a minimum wage -- to apply to all publicly and privately-employed salaried workers. This reportedly triggered the year's "battle of salaries." According to some researchers, not a single day passed during 2010 without "at least three protest movements!" Most were workers' strikes.
Again, whereas educated youngsters ultimately took centre-stage in mobilising against the Mubarak regime, it would be wrong to belittle the contribution of the Egyptian working class. In fact, some Egyptian sources argue that the role of the working class was crucial both in Tunisia, where the Arab revolt started, and in Egypt. In Tunisia, the unions' call for a general strike reportedly was "decisive." And in Egypt, the transport workers for instance helped paralyse the country before Mubarak agreed to step down.
During the last days preceding the dictator's imposed resignation on February 12, calls for political strikes reportedly were multiplied. Outside the capital Cairo, in the middle-sized city of Suez for instance, where the ferment was very noticeable this July too, workers of a cement factory unleashed a political strike. Hence, the "spill-over." People's resistance by no means ended on February 12. In fact, Mubarak's resignation opened the gates.
Even as the Military Council sought to contain people's indignation, calling for an end to all social struggles on February 16 -- strikes and other protests erupted in sectors like petrol and gas, steel, postal services, etc. Even members of the Cairo police went out demonstrating. Clearly, Mubarak's departure by no means ended the public's indignation over all injustices committed under his dictatorship. It ushered in a new phase of Egypt's revolution. As if people had only started tasting the sweetness of protests!
Yet the clearest hint suggesting that post-February events in Egypt are not just a replay is perceived by looking at the nature of workers' demands. Here, it is fair to put the spotlight briefly on what has been happening in cities such as Mahallah Al-Koubra in the centre of the Nile Delta. Shortly after the Military Council tried to prohibit strikes, workers of the Misr textile company planted tents in the factory compound, replicating the tent camp at Tahrir Square! Affixing posters on the factory walls, they put forward their list of demands, foremost of them being the dismissal of the company's director whom they accused of corruption. This daring action had more than local significance.
Misr's workers hold an impressive record of opposition against company misrule. In the past, they are reported to have successfully pre-empted denationalisation, in the period when Egypt's military rulers opted to privatise many of the industries brought under state control in the period of Nasser's state socialism. The same -- struggle to bring down company directors -- has since occurred in numerous other factories.
Surely, the demand for wages increments which was so central back in 2008 remains important. Surely, workers now insist that the minimum wage be fixed at 1,200 Egyptian Pounds. They want a living wage, whereas many still have to survive on a quarter of this amount. Yet the outcome of the February revolt has encouraged workers to, also, speak out in favour of democracy in the company where they toil.
Thus the workers' struggles aimed at "cleansing" their factories from Mubarak's cronies confirm indeed that Egypt's revolution has entered a new phase. Even as the Military Council seeks to play a double game of containment and appeasement, in an effort to turn the tide, the people are moving forward. In June, the Military Council signed an agreement with the IMF, seeking $3 billion loan on conventional terms.
Yet many industrial workers are aware of the fact that the privatisation policy of the past had induced a depression in the social level of wages, and are unconvinced. They want to see more economic and political changes and are speaking out. As to the Western powers -- since the triumphal overthrow of Mubarak in February -- they have strenuously sought to turn the world's attention away from Egyptian events. Thus, one of Nato's war objectives when intervening against Gaddafi in Libya's civil war, has been to refocus the attention of the Western public away from the revolt in Egypt and its potentially radical implications.
Meanwhile, Egypt's workers, undisturbed by the fact that Cairo's youngsters "stole" the initiative, have amplified the meaning of the battle for democracy in the Middle East. They are -- so it seems at least -- not interested in a replay, but want to bring the Arab revolt to an entirely new stage.

The writer is International Correspondent, The Daily Star.
E-mail: [email protected]