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Connor Kelly: Last night I talked with a young man from Egypt who took part in the recent demonstrations. He said he was brutally physically and sexually assaulted by security forces in Cairo. There are no channels in Egypt by which he can report the incident to the press or otherwise. It is imperative that the voices of the victims of injustice and oppression be heard.
– “In a dictatorship, independent journalism by default becomes a form of activism, and the spread of information is essentially an act of agitation.”
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As the Egyptian Revolution continues, the the sacrafice of ordinary men and women grows. The military dictatorship of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) has wielded its iron rule on the people and has proved itself to be as bloody and repressive as the Mubarak regime. SCAF, supported by the West has murdered people on the streets of Alexandria, Cairo and countless other Egyptian cities, and are using torturous methods to do everthing in their power to curb the progress of the revolution.
But still, people gather in their thousands to fight for democracy – strikes and occupations are taking place across Egypt. Just yesterday, thousands of women marched in Cairo against the beating of female protesters. The revolution continues – the fight for freedom remains alive.
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Yesterday, I received a report from a young man aged 18 from Egypt. He had taken part in the demonstrations around Tahrir square over the last few days. He told me that two nights ago was arrested and brutally assaulted, both physically and sexually by state security forces. He was held for two hours, between 3am and 5am.
“I was arrested yesterday’s night by state security in an empty street near to tahrir and sexually assulated…… everything happened in the street……hard hitting and insults and they took all my money.”
He said the assault took place on Mohamed Mazloum Street in Bab el Louq and involved, “about 6 policmen from the state security and 5 or 6 from their men.”
This is just one of a multitude of similar incidents happening on the streets of Egypt daily. Over the last five days alone, dozens of people have been killed and hundreds injured by state security forces. The young man returned home to his family but despite his horrific ordeal he plans to go back and rejoin the demonstrations:
“I will go back to Cairo on thursday or friday”
When asked about the protests and the future of the revolution he said:
“SCAF would like to take the power for ever as a military dictatorship…..as what happened in 1952 in egypt. Also they are mubarak’s men and his followers…… they have the same ideology of dictatorship and fighting freedom… like what happened for Alaa Abdel Fatah and many other victims of mili-trials.”
The generals intend to rule Egypt the same way Mubarak did. SCAF represents an alliance of top officers, senior officials and businessmen who were the real power behind former dictator Hosni Mubarak’s regime.
I asked him what he thought of Western support for the military regime:
“Let’s say that the western governments are talking about freedom and social justice and those are their gods. How does that western government stand against any protesters who demand for freedom and social justice. If they are talking about real freedom and social justice….. they have to be against SCAF and with revolutionaries everywhere …but not ruling revolutionaries demands.”
The Egyptian military recieves billions of dollars from the United States every year. As we saw last month, the heavy tear gas being used against protesters was manufactured in the U.S. Despite the murder of countless civilians at the hands of the security forces the Western powers continue to back SCAF both militarily and finacially, as they did the Mubarak regime beforehand.
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“Our number is not great… we are losing victims everyday and the number of us is not too much at tahrir….it’s dangerous i know.”
The fight of the people of Egypt is the fight of ordinary people everywhere. It is the same fight for democracy, the same fight for freedom that is happening all over the world. Demostrations are taking place in major cities across the world. We must stand in solidarity with the people of Egypt and we must demonstrate alongside them. Their ongoing revolution and their sacrafice should be an inspiration to us all.
Solidarity with the People of Egypt!
- Connor Kelly
Joe McDonnell
“And you dare to call me a terrorist
while you looked down your gun
When I think of all the deeds that you had done
You had plundered many nations,
divided many lands
You had terrorised their peoples,
you ruled with an iron hand.
And you brought this reign of terror to my land.”
“If you strike at, imprison, or kill us, out of our prisons or graves, we will evoke a spirit that will thwart you, and perhaps, raise a force that will destroy you! We defy you! Do your worst!”
- James Connolly
“I was only a working-class boy from a Nationalist ghetto, but it is repression that creates the revolutionary spirit of freedom. I shall not settle until I achieve liberation of my country, until Ireland becomes a sovereign, independent, socialist republic.” – Bobby Sands, born 9 March 1954, martyred 5 May 1981
“They have nothing in their whole imperial arsenal that can break the spirit of one Irishman who doesn’t want to be broken.” – Bobby Sands
(Thanks Shaun!)
There’s an inner thing in every man,
Do you know this thing my friend?
It has withstood the blows of a million years,
And will do so to the end.
It was born when time did not exist,
And it grew up out of life,
It cut down evil’s strangling vines,
Like a slashing searing knife.
It lit fires when fires were not,
And burnt the mind of man,
Tempering leandened hearts to steel,
From the time that time began.
It wept by the waters of Babylon,
And when all men were a loss,
It screeched in writhing agony,
And it hung bleeding from the Cross.
“Our vengeance will be the laughter of our children.” – Bobby Sands
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