Workers Solidarity Movement

The day after Christmas 2010, Vice-President García Linera, in the absence of President Evo Morales, who was on a tour of Venezuela, announced that the state subsidies of some fuels were to be removed. He also spoke of raising taxes on some of them such as gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel. As a result, petrol rose by 72%, diesel by 84% and aviation fuel by 99%.

Today is work-life balance day. "Hurrah!" you think. Think again. Despite how friendly it sounds, work-life balance is not something to celebrate. There are three things to know about work-life balance.

This is the first of a series of interviews with Egyptians speaking directly of their experiences within the revolution and ongoing struggles.  I hope to cover some themes not covered by the traditonal/mainstream press, and allow space for Eygptians themselves to talk about aspects of the recent uprising they feel is important. The bias toward experiential knowledge is a conscious choice, simply because it is often the most neglected form of knowledge in political story telling. Ordinary voices are held as a poor sibling to powerful deterministic political forces and quickly subsumed into an unbending tide of formal history, which cannot speak to the lived experience of people themselves as agents of change and shapers of their own destiny.
 

Libyan leader Gaddafi is in the final throes of his dicatatorship as mass demonstrations  take place across the country,as tribal leaders , political allies and army units switch sides.  The courageous actions of the mass of protestors despite brutal murderous attacks by security forces still loyal to the regime, have confounded the dicatorship. Much as in Egypt people have not broken under the attacks but become more enraged. Bahrains monarchy is teetering. Even China is now feeling the effects of this wave of protest and defiance with protests at a number of centres yesterday.

As the struggle for democracy in Egypt continues to rapidly develop WSM members are using twitter to monitor news from protesters and good media source on the ground there and sharing important updates via our twitter account.  You too can see what we are selecting from the huge amount of information pouring onto twitter by following the WSM twitter feed. The latest tweets are below.

Friday was declared 'Departure Friday' by democracy protesters in Egypt as a second Friday of mass protest was been called to drive president Mubarak from his 30 year reign. Huge numberstook part in these protests.

Recent days have seen intense street fighting as protesters had to defend themselves from mobs mobilised in a desperate bid by Mubarak to hold onto power.  Meanwhile there are dozens of disturbing reports of secret police arresting protesters at their homes and workplaces.  There has also been a sustained violent campaign against journalists which has forced the majority of them off the streets and onto balconies around the square.  On Friday morning Aj Jazeera had its Cairo offices trashed.

Following the refusal of Mubarak to resign a mob of his supporters attempted to fight their way into Tahir square in Cairo where anti-Mubarak protests demanding democracy have rallied over the last week. Some of the mob who have been captured were carrying police ID's. The intention appears to be to either drive the democracy protesters off the streets and/or create an excuse for army intervention to 'restore stability,'  something the official opposition is now calling for. The UN has issued a statement fearing that 300 have been killed and 500 injured, its unclear if this refers just to today's events.

Live broadcasts from Al Jazeera indicate that there have been serious injuries including a journalist who has been stabbed. Footage showed the attack opening with men mounted on camels and horses charging into the square and into the line of anti-government protesters that had linked arms with some people being trampled and some attackers pulled off their horses.  

A member of NEFAC our East coast USA Anarkismo.net  sister organisation recorded this interview with a revolutionary in Tahir square late in the evening

After a week of popular revolt two million people are demonstrating in Cairo today demanding that president Mubarak and his son leave the country and that the regime be changed. An indefinite general strike has also been called by organisers of the movement.

The revolt which started last Tuesday with small groups in their hundreds marching and meeting up has now engulfed all of Egyptian society, resulting in the collapse of the police force and the deployment of the army. Ordinary Egyptians formed Neighboorhood Defence Committees to patrol their streets and a new Federation of Unions has been declared.  In the streets today the mass of people are debating what the next steps are as opposition groups struggle to be seen as the leadership of this essentially leaderless movement.

As protests continue in Egypt the people are becoming more organised and creating their own structures. After a few days of unsuccessfully trying to smash the movement for change through violent repression, the police were withdrawn from the streets and the army ordered in. The largely conscript army however was unwilling to use violence against the population, whom the majority of soldiers clearly sympathise with.

‘End this Corrupt Regime’   - That’s what one young man screams into a camera as thousands of people clash with cops on the streets of Cairo. Just how corrupt is this regime.  Mubarak may have started his career commanding an air force against Israel, but in the 30 years in power, he has become another champion of enterprise and the neo-liberal open economy.  Democracy occasionally held up like some beacon has constantly been promised but never really acted upon.  2011 is the year that has scheduled Presidential Elections, but obviously the Egyptian masses aren’t happy with the promises of something better to come.