Courage under fire - Egypt and resistance
(MZ: I share this article written for the Morning Star paper in the UK, http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/ )
(Wednesday 09 April 2008)
JOHN WIGHT is left inspired by this year's Cairo Conference.
THE Egyptian Journalists Union in central Cairo is a grand multistorey building with lifts that arrive once every five minutes if you're lucky, though I suspect that this was due as much to the heavy demand placed on them during this year's three-day Cairo Conference than any inherent technical deficiency.
I was there as part of a six-person delegation from the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC). After the experience, I advise anyone who gets the opportunity to attend next year.
Being able to meet and listen to delegates from the Arab and Muslim world and internationally was both edifying and inspiring. It certainly provided a lot more clarity with regard to the ongoing struggle taking place on the front lines against US imperialism and Israel's continuing siege of Gaza and occupation of the West Bank.
The theme of the 2008 conference was International Campaign against Zionism and American Occupation and, over three days, multiple plenary sessions and numerous workshops took place on themes ranging from the state of the anti-war movement to the nature of the Arab resistance.
Also in attendance was a large contingent of Egyptian workers, who were there to garner support for their one-day general strike on April 6.
Given the repressive nature of President Hosni Mubarak's regime and its track record of stamping out dissent and strikes, this was a significant development. The charged atmosphere at the conference reflected a feeling that the Egyptian working class was at last on the move.
The Egyptian authorities apparently thought so too - huge armoured trucks filled with riot police were stationed in the streets around the venue to make sure, we were informed by the organisers, that no impromptu demonstrations were held outside the venue as in previous years.
The Muslim Brotherhood had a significant presence as well and we enjoyed informal conversations with a number of them.
Their analysis of the Middle East was very sharp and they were extremely friendly and eager to exchange views.
Later, I was part of an international delegation invited to meet the Brotherhood's leadership at their headquarters on the other side of the city, which proved an interesting experience.
Other Arab and Muslim representation came from the Egyptian International Socialist Tendency, the Jordanian Socialist Thought Forum, a few Nasserite formations, the Islamic Labour Party and Hezbollah in the shape of Fayad Ali of Hezbollah's political bureau.
International delegates also attended from Italy, Greece, Spain, Austria, France, India and Canada. A group of these international delegates had organised an initiative to reach Gaza by bus after the conference ended, the objective being to deliver medical supplies and break the siege. Immediately upon hearing about this initiative, a number of members of the SPSC delegation decided that we would take part.
Politically, the conference managed to succeed in fusing the analysis of those struggling on the front lines against zionism and imperialism in the Middle East with the analysis and experience of those of us working to build anti-war and anti-imperialist movements in the West.
That said, it was disappointing to find that there were no delegations at the conference from the movement within the US.
For me, this served to diminish the conference's relevance as a convergence of the international movement. Hopefully, it's a weakness that will be rectified in time for next year's event.
The day after the conference ended, we made our attempt to reach Gaza by bus. There were around 35-40 of us, all Europeans apart from five comrades from Egypt and Palestine who took part. Such an eclectic mix made for an interesting exchange of views and political analysis as we headed out of Cairo, over the Suez Canal and into the Sinai Desert.
The general feeling was that we were unlikely to make it all the way given the Egyptian government's policy of shameful complicity in the siege, but we intended to get as far as possible and then, as soon as we were stopped, to get off the bus and stage an impromptu protest against Israel's siege of Gaza and Egypt's complicity in helping to enforce the siege.
At an Egyptian checkpoint in the Sinai Desert roughly 200km from Gaza, this is exactly what happened.
We were turned back by the police and, in response, immediately got off the bus with our banners and proceeded to block the checkpoint for roughly half an hour.
During this time, we made a few speeches, chanted slogans and generally made as much of a statement as we could. We then decided to attempt to march on through the checkpoint in the direction of Gaza, hoping that it would attract some media attention and succeed in raising the issue within Egypt and throughout the region. The Egyptian police let us march through the Sinai for an hour or so, before arriving en masse and stopping us under threat of force.
After a short stand-off, we returned to the bus and began the journey back to Cairo, where we held a press conference outside the EU building in front of a large group of assembled media, which by now had been informed about what had transpired.
During the expedition, I spoke to the handful of Arab comrades who'd come along. I was struck by their courage, as, for participating in this event, they said that there was a strong possibility that they would be visited at their homes by the Egyptian authorities in the coming days.
Maryam, a journalist with website Islam Online, said that it was only because we were internationals that we had managed to get as far as we did across the Sinai. If the delegation had comprised only Egyptians and Arabs, those involved would have faced arrest and torture.
Certainly, such courage from those who live under repressive regimes served to reaffirm my faith in humanity.
End.
