Egypt - the class war carries on

In Egypt dozens of strikes and sit-ins have stalled business across the public and private sectors in recent months. And to union leaders and labor activists, the core revolutionary demands of the working classes have yet to be acknowledged. Minimum wage has been raised and promises have been made, but most have yet to see concrete change on the ground. And indeed, amid the cracks, crevices, and gaping political and ideological fault lines that have shattered the early unity of the February revolution that toppled Mubarak, is a divide that increasingly seems to define other debates as well. It's about class.

"There is total class warfare going on in Egypt right now that I don't even think [the liberal movements] can see," says Joshua Stacher, a political scientist and Egypt expert at Kent State University. "If middle upper class, urban people in Cairo and Alexandria get some of their demands met, they could care less about minimum wage, or the fact that the healthcare system is complete crap," he says of the competing array of post-revolutionary demands. "The dominant discourse that's coming out on TV is that it's not the right time to protest for these things. Like 'You shouldn't have a living wage right now, you're being greedy.' "

Protests for political reform are crucial, many argue, because the system of governance will define Egypt's future on all levels. Labor strikes, on the other hand, can and should be postponed: it's not the right time, they say. So the political elites have prioritized political reforms and the debate has largely been split along Islamist versus liberal lines.

Meantime all of the articles outlawing freedom of expression are still in place. The Supreme Council of Armed Forces, the de facto government, have continued if not enhanced many of their pre-revolution policies of repression and instituted an anti-strike law, which criminalizes public assembly that disrupts stability. There's also an anti-thuggery law, which is broadly used to target protesters. For expediency's sake, SCAF has also been using military trials. In early June, the military council announced that there had been over 7,000 military trials since the 25 January Revolution. Human rights advocates say it's likely closer to 10,000 and that these are mostly civilians, who should be tried in civilian courts. SCAF is intent on preserving power by whatever means necessary.

It's not about religious ideology all. "Mostly their demands are political like 'Freedom' and the debate over what comes first - constitution or elections," says labor activist Adel Zakaria of the urban elite, who he describes as middle class. "Workers don't care about that. They have their own problems - mainly they need to eat."

In Zagazig, the railway workers say they want overtime compensation and better pay. Some say they make little more than 500 Egyptian Pounds ($84) a month - hardly enough to raise a family on, and still 200 Egyptian Pounds below the new national minimum wage. "We normal people are calling for our rights," explains one train air conditioner technician plainly.

While they lack political clout, the lower class masses - at least in the form of striking workers - have been loud. Workers groups that established the country's first independent labor union federation in March are calling for a million man protest to demand that the government crack down on cronyism in job hiring and uphold its promises to establish better worker rights.

From here and here