Statement from the Campaign for a Just Labor Law: To the Workers and Toilers of Egypt: Take to the Streets on April 25

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

Workers of Egypt, this issue isn’t just about two islands (Tiran and Sanafir) that the regime handed over to Saudi Arabia in exchange for a bit of aid—far from it.

This issue is much bigger than that. It’s about our people who gave their lives defending these islands while resisting Israeli aggression in 1967. And today, their blood is sold so the ruler can remain powerful. Giving up the land is also a betrayal of the rights of our children, grandchildren, and the generations to come, who have a right to their land and its resources.

The truth is that surrendering the land in exchange for a bit of money is part of a broader policy of privatization—selling off factories and land to investors, passing oppressive laws that violate workers’ rights, attacking union freedoms, firing workers, raising prices, and perpetuating all the suffering we are enduring.

This concession also reveals how the regime is throwing itself deeper into the arms of the Zionists, America, and Saudi Arabia, who all have a vested interest in controlling the Gulf of Aqaba. All these forces are enemies of the Egyptian people—they conspired against Palestine in the past, just as they stand against Egypt’s revolution today.

Furthermore, this sale shows that the regime sees us as little more than disposable foot soldiers in its camp. Our opinions were entirely ignored during the secret negotiations with Saudi Arabia—as if we don’t exist. Our will and voices have been discarded in the trash, just as the regime has done with the Civil Service Law, which it insists on enforcing despite parliament’s rejection.

For all these reasons, the Campaign for a Just Labor Law calls on the workers of Egypt to take to the streets on April 25. We urge militant labor unions to join the call for protests, issue statements supporting the Egyptian people’s demands, and declare their rejection of the regime’s actions in public squares and workplaces. Stand against the handover of the two islands and demand the release of our comrades and sons who have been arrested from universities, streets, cafes, and homes simply for raising their voices and saying No to selling Egypt.

Campaign for a Just Labor Law