General strike put down by force

In the last days thousands of workers and citizens have taken to the streets of Mahalla al-Kubra, an industrial centre in northern Egypt, to protest rising prices and to demand a respectable minimum wage and social security.

More than 10,000 workers took to the streets during 6hth and 7th of April. They countered the harsh measures imposed by the security forces of Hosni Mubarak, dictator since 1981. The militancy of the Egyptian worker sends a clear message to the ruling elite of the country: This regime must go.

The call of the workers of Mahalla to strike was met with a deeply felt response in all ladders of Egyptian society. 6th of April was declared a day of general strike by the opposition movement. Despite of huge security measures, threats of legal actions and an ambivalent attitude taken by the country's largest oppositional group, the Muslim Brotherhood. In spite of all this, about 30 percent of the work force was absent on the day of the strike.

The political movement in Egypt have taken huge steps forward the last days in breaking the fear and directly confronting the state. We support the Egyptian people in their struggle for democracy and hold that change cannot come without a popular movement to topple the
pro-imperialist regime.

The Egyptian state is one of the pillars of the US and Western dominance in the region. As such, the Western regimes are also responsible when Mubarak and his cronies detain, jail, beat, torture and even kill citizens. Thus, the leaders of the Western state share their part of the responsibility when civilian Egyptians are being killed by the goons of the state.

The Egyptian workers and popular movement is fighting for a different kind of regime change than what is wished for in the White House. The Egyptian people want real democracy and real sovereignty. Their struggle to topple the pro-US and pro-Israel regime is just and
deserves the support of anti-imperialists worldwide.

Anti-imperialist Camp