Friday, April 04, 2008

General Strike In Egypt Targets Cost Of Bread, Other Necessities

Via
TA3BEER: Meditations on Mediation



By Courtney C. Radsch
2 April

Cairo, Egypt -- Using FaceBook, blogs, SMS, independent media and good old fashion word-of-mouth, activists and workers in Egypt are preparing to stage a countrywide general strike on April 6.

Calling it the "Egyptian Intifida" supporters are calling for civil disobedience, asking everyone to stay home from work and not buy anything; demonstrations of solidarity planned for embassies around the world. The strike is aimed primarily at protesting the rising cost of bread and other basic necessities and to demand increased wages.

Networks and event invitation have appeared on FaceBook. The "General Strike in Egypt" FaceBook group has more than 54,000 members, an event another 2000 confirmed). The cyberspace activism coupled with on-the-ground grassroots organizing promises to test the political efficacy and continued relevance of the Egyptian activists blogosphere and cyber-activists following a government crackdown on Kifaya and Muslim Brotherhood over the past year that seemed to take some of the wind out of the sails of cyber-activism.

The text of the document from when all this activity apparently springs is as follows:

  • Complete Article
  • No comments: