[Marxism] Wow, does this ever answer my question about Facebook

[Louis Proyect]

Egyptian Islamists join call for general strike
Tue 29 Apr 2008, 15:06 GMT

By Jonathan Wright

CAIRO, April 29 (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest 
opposition group, on Tuesday joined the campaign for a general strike 
against the government on May 4, the 80th birthday of long-serving 
president Hosni Mubarak.

Brotherhood leader Mohamed Mahdi Akef said people should stay at home on 
that day "in peaceful protest to demand solutions to the crises and to 
tackle the deteriorating conditions which the people are suffering".

"The Muslim Brotherhood is against public policies which entrench 
corruption and despotism ... The executive has blocked its ears and shut 
its eyes to all calls for reform," he added.

The prestige of the ruling establishment has been shaken over the past 
year by an increased number of labour strikes demanding higher wages to 
face inflation which has hit 14.4 percent in the year to March. Food 
prices from dairy goods to cooking oils have also hit record highs.

A group of activists, mainly leftists and liberals, agitated for a 
national strike on April 6 to coincide with a strike by textile workers 
in the Nile Delta town of Mahalla al-Kubra, without much success outside 
the town itself.

The Brotherhood, which can mobilise larger crowds than any other 
opposition force in Egypt, did not actively back that strike, depriving 
the protest movement of crucial support.

Advocates of a May 4 strike, grouped on the social networking system 
Facebook, are demanding a minimum wage, salary rises linked to 
inflation, legislation and other measures to control prices, and the 
release of people detained in Mahalla.

Two people were killed and more than 150 injured in Mahalla in riots 
spread over two days.

The government, on the defensive after recent big jumps in food prices, 
quickly offered the Mahalla workers more money. Prime Minister Ahmed 
Nazif has promised that public-sector workers will get pay rises of at 
least 20 percent in July.

The main Facebook group promoting the strike now has close to 74,000 
members, up from about 60,000 a month ago.

The Muslim Brotherhood did not state in detail the political demands 
behind the strike but the Islamist movement has been in the forefront of 
calls for fair elections and the rule of law.

The Brotherhood has borne the brunt of a government crackdown on many 
forms of dissent over the past 15 months, and hundreds of members are 
usually in custody without charge.

A May 4 strike also has the support of the umbrella protest movement 
Kefaya, which began in 2004 in opposition to a new presidential term for 
Mubarak or any attempt to install his politician son Gamal as his successor.

Mubarak's current fifth term expires in 2011 and he has not said what he 
intends to do afterwards. His son Gamal, a senior official of the ruling 
party, has denied having any presidential ambitions but is widely seen 
as Mubarak's obvious heir.

Issandr el-Amrani, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, said it 
was natural for the Brotherhood to take a more confrontational attitude 
toward the government after a military court jailed 25 members on April 15.

"But I don't really see that this strike in itself, even if the Muslim 
Brotherhood supports it, is going to be a decisive moment," Amrani said.

(Editing by Giles Elgood)