English
May 28, 2014Comrade Mahienour’s sentence sparks solidarity action from Brazil to Austria
Article by Ranwa Yousif
Eight days ago, comrade Mahienour el-Masry was jailed on charges of breaking the anti-protest law, She follows Ahmed Douma, Louay al-Qahwagi, Amru Hadhaq and our colleagues Alaa Abdel-Fattah and Mohamed Hosni who were sentenced on the same charge in the “Shura Council” case into El-Sisi’s prisons, as well as dozens of other young activists detained and dragged before the judges on charges of breaking this law. Mahienour’s imprisonment has opened the door to international solidarity not only with her but rather with all the detainees in Egypt.
The Metro workers union in São Paolo in Brazil has launched a solidarity campaign which organized demonstrations demanding her release and the release of detainees in Egypt. The decision to start the campaign was voted through during their meeting to organize activities during the upcoming World Cup in protest at the repression of workers and their use in ways which resemble forced labor in staging the competition. The union issued a statement which said:
We express our complete solidarity with our revolutionary comrade Mahienour and with all the Egyptian activists who are facing repression at the hand of the military dictatorship. We express our complete rejection of the criminalization and repression of youth and workers in Egypt and affirm the importance of all revolutionary women’s organizations taking a clear and strong position denouncing and rejecting any attempts by the counterrevolution to abort the inevitable continuity of the revolution which began in 2011.”
Among the other organizations which announced their solidarity is the Austrian organization Linksruck. Hundreds of Austrian activists organized a protest rally opposing the detentions under the protest law in Egypt. The Revolutionary Socialist Workers Party in Turkey also announced solidarity as did the Irish MP Richard Boyd Barrett.
The Working Class Movement to Defend the Rights of Black People and Against Racial Discrimination and Capitalism in Brazil issued a statement saying “we express our solidarity with Mahienour and demand the release of all the detainees in Egypt.” There was also solidarity from the steel workers union in São Jose dos Campos.
Finally the Communist Youth Union in Tunisia announced its solidarity and published a statement saying:
the jailing of Mahienour and before her numerous young activists such as Louay al-Qahwagi and Amru Hadhaq is not only a campaign targeting the youth of the revolution in Egypt but it aims to liquidate those who reject the return of dictatorship and the military state under the cover of the Emergency Law and counter-terrorism.”
The statement pointed to the similarities between the situation in Egypt and Tunisia saying “what is happening in Egypt are the same as the plans which the Tunisian authorities are pursuing to liquidate the youth of the revolution through the use of the law and the judges. We saw this in the case of comrade Ayman Latif, member of the Communist Youth Union who was sentenced to prison on charges of protest and rioting in the wake of the events which took place in Tunisia following the assassination of comrade Chokri Beleid.”
