Shwaya Anticlimactic

There was supposed to be a big strike today. Bread prices are going up and people are generally unhappy. My understanding of the situation is that there was to be a strike at a textile factory and anti-government groups planned to piggy-back on it to call for a larger general strike. No one was supposed to go to work or buy anything, we were supposed to wear black and fly the Egyptian flag ( i do, incidently , have an Egyptian flag in my window from when we won the match -see below).

Unfortunately, Egypt has been under emergency law since 1967, and it's only been lifted twice for a few months each time, then reimposed. Under emergency law striking and demonstrating of any kind are prohibited. Which is why the thing today was kind of a bust. Sadly. I didn't come downtown because foreigners aren't allowed near demonstrations by law, and I was told it would be dangerous. I considered going somewhere to see what was going on from a safe distance, but I checked in with some friends who live downtown and they said all they saw was a large military presence and no demonstrators. Some news sources (linked below) have pictures of demonstrations but I don't know where they are and if they're even from today. Oh well. I didn't buy anything today in solidarity, but I'm afraid the workers here didn't quite make the statement they'd hoped.

I saw some of the emails that were circulating and my professor helped us translate them. They were very inspiring - calling for civil resistance and peaceful protest and using phrases like "Just sitting still and hoping God will fix your life won't get you anywhere." Apparently the Muslim Brotherhood was supporting the strike too. In Egypt they're prohibited from participating in Government but they run many charity NGOs and programs that really help people, and many Egyptians I've spoken with want them to have a say in the parliament.

In other news, the editor of a major oposition paper - Al-Dostur (the constitution) was convicted of something or other and sentenced to 6 months in prison for writing about the president's health. Oy. Egypt.

Here's more on the strike:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/04/05/egypt.strike.ap/index.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7332929.stm

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/52949F62-D450-42C2-A194-17AE16404ABC.htm