Support for Egypt’s Lawyers: No to the Republic of Fear and Extortion

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

The brutal capitalist regime has found no other source than the meager earnings of the working class to devour what remains under the name of the electronic invoice in an attempt to meet the conditions of the International Monetary Fund and to cover the budget deficit caused by its policies biased towards the significant capitalists, including the military and monopolistic businessmen.

As an authoritarian regime, new taxes are imposed without opening discussions with the stakeholders, especially the professionals, and without the presence of their representatives, particularly with the legislative authority being usurped by a parliament formed by the security apparatus to support the regime and serve as a facade whenever needed.

Naturally, the ruling clique does not subject its financial and administrative actions to the will and supervision of those who pay these taxes, as they decide where the money is spent.

The regime’s bullying and biases did not stop there, as the Ministry of Finance revealed the exemption of companies affiliated with the General Intelligence and the police from the electronic invoice.

However, the growing and suppressed popular discontent with the ruling policies, which led to the collapse of the Egyptian pound and caused an unprecedented wave of inflation, ignited a spark of anger from the Bar Association, the largest professional union in the country with about half a million lawyers and a long history of political struggle and resistance to tyranny and normalization. Tens of thousands of lawyers, the vast majority of whom are wage earners or owners of small offices, rose in all governorates of Egypt against the starvation policies, raising slogans rejecting registration in the electronic invoice, including “It’s easy to raise fees, but living is harsh,” and “The story is simple: the client is left high and dry,” and “You privatized it, we’ll eat each other, we don’t want the IMF.”

These massive movements by the lawyers, poised to reach a general strike, have shaken the state’s stance and pushed it to propose delaying the decree’s implementation. This has also prompted other professional sectors, such as dentists, pharmacists, and engineers, to move, with different unions expected to join. Coordinating these movements under a single umbrella is a crucial and decisive step towards achieving a fundamental victory, not just postponing the decree’s application.
The Revolutionary Socialists organization immediately demands the abolition of this unjust decision and believes that funds to cover the state budget deficit should come from policies such as imposing progressive taxes on prominent businessmen, implementing a maximum wage limit, and expelling consultants who plunder the ministries’ funds.

The Revolutionary Socialists affirm their support for the lawyers in their difficult battle, considering their stance a critical step not only to restore the right to protest, demonstrate, and strike after nearly ten years of absence but also to defend the poor citizen’s right to access justice for free or at a nominal cost.

The Revolutionary Socialists emphasize that unconditional support for the lawyers is a duty for all political forces, as victory in this battle will open the door to a wave of social movements against starvation policies and give a solid boost to the existence of intense professional and labor unions, which can serve as the real lever to restore democracy in the country and stop the ferocious capitalist attack on wage earners.

Long live the struggle of the lawyers!
Together to overthrow the decree of the Republic of Levy!