All Support for Engineers: Down with State Bullying

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

The regime could not acknowledge the defeat of its supporters in the Engineers’ Syndicate just three months after their defeat in the Journalists’ Syndicate. Twenty-five thousand engineers supported the continuation of Tarek El-Nabarawy as the head of the Engineers’ Syndicate in the most potent extraordinary general assembly in the syndicate’s history, saying “No to the candidates of the Future of the Nation Party… No to turning the syndicate into a complex serving investors and the state.” So, the regime decided to intervene with all its might to stop the winds of change coming.

Orders were issued to judges to refuse to announce the result and to the police to completely disappear from the scene, allowing hordes of thugs to advance, smash the ballot boxes, tear up the voting papers, and assault the engineers. Ironically, this attack took place in the exact location where the national dialogue was being held, where the regime claimed to believe in dialogue as a path to change. These repressive methods aim not only to squander the engineers’ votes and perhaps drag the syndicate back into the dark ages of authoritarian control but also to spread despair among millions of Egyptians who followed the event, with the unspoken sentiment among them being, “We too are capable.”

The terrified regime, facing a growing economic crisis and rising prices, does not want any message to reach the masses, suggesting that movement is possible and can bear fruit. Hence, it committed its crime openly and brazenly under the gaze of cameras. However, what happened in the Engineers’ Assembly cannot go unchallenged; it requires resistance and solidarity from all civil society organizations, political forces, and professional and labor unions. The engineers are called upon to defend their squandered will and torn votes through all forms of protest.

The Revolutionary Socialists affirm their support for the engineers and their leader, Tarek El-Nabarawy, viewing the engineers’ struggle as everyone fighting for democracy and change. They emphasize the need to turn what the regime’s thugs did into a tool to gain sympathy and support for the engineers in Egypt and beyond. The issue is no longer about Tarek El-Nabarawy; it is about the Egyptians’ right, especially the engineers, to change, to choose who manages their syndicate and handles their affairs, and their right to raise their voices and say enough to the regime and its catastrophic policies.