revolutionary youth on Tahrir Square in Cairo. The marvellous movement
of the workers and youth of Egypt is an inspiration to the whole world.
It gives new hope to the exploited and oppressed, not only in the Middle
East but everywhere.
In the name of the International Marxist Tendency we salute your
heroism and pledge ourselves to support the Egyptian Revolution by every
means at our disposal. We call on the Labour Movement of every country
to mobilise in defence of our Egyptian brothers and sisters.
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The President’s promises and the
bloody events of Wednesday,
February 2nd
We the protesters who have currently been in a sit-in at Tahrir
(Liberation) Square in Cairo since January 25th, 2011 strongly condemn the
brutal attack carried out by the governing National Democratic Party’s
(NDP) mercenaries at our location on Wednesday, February 2nd, under the
guise of a "rally" in support of President Mubarak. This attack has
continued on Thursday, February 3rd. We regret that some young people have
joined these thugs and criminals, whom the NDP is accustomed to hiring
during elections, to march them off after spreading several falsehoods
circulated by the regime’s media about us and our goals. These goals
that aim at changing the political system into one that guarantees
freedom, dignity and social justice to all citizens are also the goals
of the youth. Therefore we want to clarify the following.
Firstly, we are a group of young Muslim and Christian
Egyptians; the overwhelming majority of us does not belong to political
parties and have no previous political activism. Our movement involves
the elderly and children, peasants, workers, professionals, students and
pensioners. Our movement cannot be classified as "paid for" or
"directed by" a limited few because it has attracted millions who
responded to its call of removing the regime. People joined us last
Tuesday in Cairo and other governorates in a scene that witnessed not
one case of violence, assault on property or harassment of anyone.
Secondly, our movement is accused of being funded from
abroad, supported by the United States, as being instigated by Hamas, as
under the leadership of the president of the National Assembly for
change (Mohamed El-Baradei) and, last but not least, as directed by the
Muslim Brotherhood. Many accusations like these prove to be false. The
protesters are all Egyptians who have clear and specific national
objectives. The protesters have no weapons or foreign equipment as
claimed by instigators. The broad positive response of the people to our
movement’s goals reveals that these are the goals of the Egyptian
masses in general, not any internal or external faction or entity.
Thirdly, the regime and its paid media falsely blame us,
young demonstrators, for the tension and instability in the streets of
Egypt in recent days and therefore damaging our nation’s interests and
security. Our answer to them is: It is not the peaceful protesters who
released the criminal offenders from prison onto the unguarded streets
to practice looting and plundering. It is not the peaceful protesters
who have imposed a curfew starting at 3PM. It is not the
peaceful protesters who have stopped the work in banks, bakeries and gas
stations. When the protesters organised the one-million demonstration
it came up in the most magnificent and organised form and ended
peacefully. It is not the protestors who killed 300 people, some with
live ammunition, and wounding more than 2,000 people in the last few
days.
Fourthly, President Mubarak came out on Tuesday to announce
that he will not stand in the upcoming presidential election and that he
will modify two articles in the Constitution, and engage in dialogue
with the opposition. However, the State media has attacked us when we
refused his "concession" and decided to go on with our movement. Our
demand that Mubarak steps down immediately is not a personal matter, but
we have clear reasons for it which include:
- His promise not to run again is not new. He promised when he came to
power in 1981 that he will not run for more than two legislatures but
he continued for more than 30 years.
- His speech did not put any collateral for not nominating his son
"Gamal", who remains until now a member of the ruling party, and can
stand for election that will not be under judicial supervision since he
ignored any reference to the amendment of Article 88 of the
Constitution.
- He also considered our movement a "plot directed by a force" that
works against the interests of the nation as if responding to the
demands of the public is a "shame" or "humiliation".
- As regards to his promise of conducting a dialogue with the
opposition, we know how many times over the past years the regime
claimed this and ended up with enforcing the narrow interests of the
Mubarak State and the few people who control it.
And the events of Wednesday proved our stand is vindicated. While the
President was giving his promises, the leaders of his regime were
organising (along with paid thugs and wanted criminals equipped with
swords, knives and Molotov cocktails) a brutal plot to attack us in
Tahrir Square. Those thugs and criminals were accompanied by NDP members
who fired machine guns on unarmed protesters who were trapped on the
square, killing at least 7 and wounding hundreds of us critically. This
was done in order to end our peaceful national popular movement and
preserve the status quo.
Our movement is Egyptian – Our movement is legitimate – Our movement is continuing
The Youth of the Tahrir Square sit-in