Coming home to Egypt

By Robby Stern

Watching a video from the protests in Wisconsin, I saw a young man who was part of the protests in the Wisconsin State Capitol building carrying a sign that said “I went to Iraq and came home to Egypt”. As masses of people gather in various locations around Wisconsin to fight the Mubarak-like attack on the democratic rights of workers, there is no doubt that the revolution in Egypt has also had an inspirational influence on people in Wisconsin and throughout the world, including many Washingtonians.

While the domination of the U.S. plutocracy is quite different from the iron fist of Hosni Mubarak, there are significant parallels. Both countries have huge economic and political inequality and have experienced attacks on and/or elimination of democratic rights, as exemplified by the struggle in Wisconsin and other states. The content of voluminous traffic on the internet as well as discussions among gatherings of people in our area demonstrate that the example set by the people of Egypt has served as an inspiration locally and all over the world.

The revolution, characterized by nonviolent direct action leading to the ouster of Mubarak, was not a spontaneous uprising. The success of this phase of the revolution came after years of sacrifice and struggle against the repressive Mubarak regime. For thirty years, an emergency law, backed by brutal security forces trained and supplied by the U.S., attacked every effort on the part of reformers and unions to alter their economic conditions and create democratic reform.

Struggles intensified at the turn of the 21^st century as the wage disparity grew between the upper 2 % of the Egyptian population and the rest of the people. Opposition groups that led the recent popular uprising included: the secular Kefaya movement that  first protested for democratic reforms in 2004; the April 6^th Movement made up primarily of young people (the median age in Egypt is 24) that began their public presence with solidarity actions in 2008 in support of workers who were planning to strike on April 6 in El-Mahalla El-Kubra, an industrial town just outside Cairo; the National Association for Change, led by Mohamed ElBaradei, a loose group from many different political affiliations and religions, men and women whose goal is to change the Egyptian Constitution to create the opportunity for a democratic political system; and the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest and largest Islamist organization, that played a key role in fighting to rid Egypt of British colonial control and that publicly opposed Mubarak’s National Democratic Party.

The Egytian labor movement also played a central role. In Tahrir Square, a new umbrella labor organization was formed, the Federation of Egyptian Trade Unions. It unites white collar and blue collar workers around the need for reform of the Egyptian state. It seeks to supplant the state-controlled Federation of Trade Unions. 

The democratic revolution in Egypt in significant ways can be traced to the attempt of workers at the state-run textile factories of al-Mahalla al-Kubra, just outside Cairo, to launch a major strike on April 6, 2008. The idea spread elsewhere in the country, promoted by computer-literate working class youths and their supporters among middle-class college students. The new Federation orchestrated the effective labor strikes that closed factories and offices, freeing workers to demonstrate in February of this year. 

Throughout the last twenty years, Egyptian workers took collective action and were forcefully repressed, often with the tacit or explicit approval of the state-controlled Federation of Trade Unions. Under the newly formed Federation of Egyptian Trade Unions, organized workers are a key element of the demand for economic and political reform.

There are parallels between the U.S. and Egypt.   On February 9, New York Times Op-Ed writer Charles Blow wrote a piece entitled The Kindling of Change. He cited statistics indicating that income inequality in the U.S. is significantly greater than the income inequality in Egypt.  In addition, the unemployment rate in the two countries is strikingly similar. 

Among the ways the countries are different is in the U.S. we spend a significantly smaller percentage of our income on food than in Egypt. Blow also asserts that the level of democracy in the United States is much greater than that in Egypt. While Blow is correct, it is also true that the U.S. plutocracy is asserting a growing stranglehold on our political and economic system. Workers and the poor in the U.S. are experiencing a growing assault on their ability to have a decent living and a hopeful future for themselves and their children.   

All across the world from the Middle East and North Africa to Wisconsin and the state of Washington, advocates for social and economic justice are inspired by the example of the Egyptian people. We express our solidarity with the democratic aspirations of the people of Egypt and wish them success as they work to transform their country into a place where people have the opportunity to live with dignity and respect. We support the Egyptian people and identify with their determination to live in a country where they can raise their children with the expectation that future generations will live lives of hope and fulfillment.