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labor activism was the origin of the revolt

Egyptian Women Protest against eviction of Tahrir Square

The U.S. Embassy in Egypt issued a report in April 2008 on the strike day 6 in the industrial city of Mahalla and the protests that spread to Cairo.

In this report, revealed by Wikileaks, it reads: "What happened in Mahalla is significant (...) has entered a new organic force of opposition that apparently defies political labels and is unrelated to the Muslim Brotherhood. This may force the government to change its script. (...) What happened on April 6th joined forces several opposition activists with many Egyptians, through the call to strike on Facebook, which has brought together 70,000 fans in the network, and has garnered significant national attention. The link user Facebook's middle and upper classes with their counterparts in poor Mahalla factories has created a new dynamic. "The report is titled: Mahalla: isolated incident or the tip of the iceberg?

The answer soon come. From this strike has not been a week without protests, demonstrations and strikes in Egypt. The report itself attributed the causes of such a price rise, corruption, pro-US and pro-Israeli stance of the Mubarak regime and the dramatic situation of the country's lower classes. and highlights how significant that the Muslim Brotherhood were distanced from those demonstrations.

Despite reports like this, the West has for years endeavored to present the Middle East as conditioned primarily by religion, in a role play rough and child social presenting masses of bearded fanatics, without feelings, without overtones . Stereotypes childish, simplistic and even racist have primacy in the analysis of many think-tanks and the reports of governments ...

The Egyptian revolution has revealed that not all Muslims are Islamists, who are Democrats Islamists, Arab non-Muslims and Muslims who want secular states. Middle East that there are workers, men and women, social demands and progressive and secular ideals, including socialists, communists or atheists. A serious analysis of the Egyptian revolution can not leave out class struggle, poverty and foreign interference as the root causes of the outbreak of the protests.

Mubarak has fallen, but thousands of Egyptian workers in virtually all industrial sectors are leading the strike to demand back wages, raising the minimum wage to trade unions controlled by the regime, the creation of free trade unions , recovery or self-management by workers in public enterprises have been closed or sold, and nationalization. Consider that the real revolution will only occur when there is food and rights for all.

Since 2004 he has been in Egypt more than 3,000 workers' protests. The Egyptian labor activism has been one of the largest social movements Arab world in recent decades and yet has been almost absent in the information pages of the Western media. The U.S. and European governments should take responsibility for supporting for years to Mubarak and his regime. And some media outlets would have to ask whether it is rigorous and realistic to be guided by the theories they are told they work for those governments. Olga Rodriguez

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