How can a blind lead who is endowed with eyesight?
To the people and afflicted of Duweiqa; To the people of el-Mahalla, Egypt's heroes;
To the people of Serando, Ezbat Moharam, Albaraoudi and Toson villages; To the peasants whose rights are usurped; To all the inhabitants of slums in Egypt; To Egypt's free teachers, who are affected by teachers' pay-scale; To Egypt's free engineers who seek to liberate their union from government guardianship and looting; To all honest doctors, who want suitable wages to ensure good conditions without running after private clinics;
To honest Egyptian university professors, who seek a special pay-scale guaranteeing them a decent life;
To all employees of education departments and schools whose salaries are not enough to buy bread;
To all free Egyptian suffering from injustice and corruption; Call for your right and declare April 6, 2009 a day of public protest... Signed: April 6 Youth, who love Egypt. I received this statement, in which April 6 Youth Movement announces its second strike, 77 days before the strike itself.
The movement wants to stage a bigger strike and calls on Tom, Jack and Harry to protest against the government. We are not "blind" and we don't need anyone guiding us to the straight path. Has this statement really been issued by April 6 Movement? And who are those who call on the people to go on public strike? This movement's strange statement reminds me of a suspicious statement issued every morning by the so-called Free Officers Movement. Actually, they are neither officers nor free. It's just e-foolishness. We have some legitimate questions to ask and they cannot be answered through sentimental words such as: "We're youths who love Egypt". I also do not understand the fact that the overwhelming majority of them does not belong to any political trend and has no political tie at all. Indeed, protests are a political action carried out by politicized groups. It is not a fault to be engaged in politics and it is not an advantage not to have any political tie. The important thing is political legitimacy. The movement members claim they love Egypt. Isn't there another way to express love for this country except the annual organization of strikes? It is true that the movement's strike last year was quite successful. However, is the Movement brave enough to announce that it has failed to protect its call? This call has indeed been exploited by some opportunists to achieve their political schemes after they turned a peaceful strike into a clash with security forces, which left some casualties in el-Mahalla and led to the imprisonment of some of the movement's activists in Cairo.
Can the movement protect its annual call from being exploited by banned groups? On its website, the movement admitted that some parties and political forces took part in calling for a general strike to protest against deteriorating living conditions. If this movement wants us to protest once again, don't we have the right to know whether banned anti-civil-state groups and organizations took part in that strike or not? To be more accurate, has the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) taken part in that strike? The movement emphasizes that it does not call for a new group or party. It says: We try to be our precious Egypt's conscience!
The question now is: doesn't the movement blame itself for the victims of last April 6 strike?
