The labor strikes in Mahalla have played a great role in motivating the different grassroots movements in Egypt. Mahalla labor activists were the main reason behind the success of the April 6 National Strike of 2008. On Labor Day, May 1, which came a few weeks after the strikes, President Hosni Mubarak made a historical statement on raising the salaries of Egyptian laborers 30 percent of the current value. Mahalla's labor movement has, since then, become an inspiration to all Egyptian trade unions across the country. Different protests were launched and tens of strikes erupted all over Egypt in the past two years. The Mahalla labor movement has also become a serious threat to the regime. State Security is besieging the small industrial city of Mahalla constantly, with daily abuses. On April 6 this year, they prevented traveling to and from Mahalla in order to avoid similar riots to those of 2008. Even public figures and well-known politicians are sometimes prevented from entering the city. Two weeks ago, Dr. Ayman Nour – Al-Ghad chief – and a dozen party members were prevented by security forces from entering Mahalla to avoid their meeting with workers after work hours. As a result of the great influence of the Mahalla labor force in pushing forward and strengthening the grassroots movement in Egypt, the Mahalla Textile Company is now practicing clear labor rights violations against the workers, whose names were highlighted during the past two years. Yesterday, the company fired Abdul Kareem Al-Behiery and a number of his associates without clarifying the reasons behind this arbitrary action. Al-Behiery has been blogging about labor rights in Mahalla since 2007. Al-Baheiry, Kamal El-Fayoumy and Tarek Al-Sonousy were arrested during the April 6 strikes of 2008. After being released, they were forced to change their residence and work location and security attempted to force their disassociation with other groups of labor activist, including, but not limited, to Amal Abdul Salam, Wedad El-Demerdash, Mohamed Mohamed Al-Attar and Wael Habib. Another group of labor activists like Mostafa Fouda, Tamer El-Metwaly and Tarek Ameen were deprived of their bonuses because they participated in a demonstration at the headquarters of the company to protest the massive loss of company assets and profits due to the lack of proper maintenance to company machines. They were also calling for forming a new board of directors and firing the general deputy Fouad Abdul Aleem Hassan because he proved being unqualified to run the company. The situation in Mahalla deserves our attention and support. **Abu Hussein is a labor activist and blogger in Mahalla. BM
