Tomorrow I Wear Black

A textile company in Egypt has had all they can take from the government. Low wages and higher prices mean that many can not feed their kids. The people in Egypt are finding it harder and harder to live, and they finally can’t take it anymore. These workers called a strike in their factory for tomorrow April 6. Judging by the 50,000 member group on Facebook, people are following suit.

I spoke to the organizer of the group about what they hope to accomplish. Obviously this one strike isn’t going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Rather, strikers and protestors in Egypt put themselves in a precarious position since they are breaking the law. Her response is that she simply can not sit back and watch what is going on in her country without speaking. She is not calling for a violent protest, nor is she asking that people disrupt their day. Rather, the strike calls for people to do what they can. If you can stay home from work or school without being penalized, do so. If not, then don’t purchase anything tomorrow. If not, wear black.

The protest isn’t going to change anything tomorrow, but it has captured the government’s attention. Security forces will be outside ElMahallah textile factory tomorrow morning in anticipation of the strikes. There have been rumors that downtown Cairo, where the American University in Cairo is, will be closed down with no one able to get in or out of Tahrir Square. AUC is still open and the government offices, also located downtown, are operating on a normal schedule. Political parties such as the Labor Party, the Karma Party, revolutionary socialists, Kefaaya and the Nasserist Socialist Party have joined in the protest, and have given their support to the day. When I called the NDP (National Democratic Party), the ruling party, I couldn’t get anyone to answer the questions.

So tomorrow I will wear black. As people die all around me from unnecessary hunger and preventable disease, I will wear black. I will mourn the young minds lost in a lacking educational system. My fellow Egyptians and I will protest political torture, press imprisonment, police abuse, low wages and rising prices. Tomorrow we will speak out.