Society facts: The 6th April in Egypt

I read French newspaper « El Ahram hebdo » every week. This newspaper deals with Egyptian news and society problems like swine flu, sexual harassment of women, the events of 6th April 2008. I decided to learn more about what happened on the 6th April 2008.

I read plenty of news about this event in Egypt. I met French, Belgian and Spanish journalists who introduce me to the famous blogger Shahinaz, a telecommunication engineer in French firm « Orange ». Thanks to Shahinaz, I understood the origin of this event and what happened on this day.

The origin of 6th April

Since the beginning of 2008, strikes and social demonstrations were reccurent in Egypt. These were due to price escalation (cost of living increased 50% for Egyptian households since the beginning of 2008) while salaries stagnated and there was a bread crisis.

Because of these, Egyptian workers of the biggest textile firm of the Middle East located in Ghazl El-Mahalla (Nile delta city) decided to go on strike on 6th April 2008. The principle demands of the workers were:

Compensation for the strike period, Food demand, Housing demand, Stop corruption in the country

These demands also became the goal of the global country strike. The unionist and opposition movement Kefaya (« it’s enough » in English) appealed the Egyptian population not to work on 6th April to support workers on strike in Ghazl El-Mahalla. This appeal was diffused thanks to communication technologies such as SMS, facebook and blog. For example, the facebook group « 6th April » comprised more than 60 000 persons on 5th April.

On 5th April, a political announcement was made to warn Egyptian population not to demonstrate on 6th April. This announcement had the opposite effect and justified the 6th April movement.

What happened on April 6^th 2008:

On 6th April, according to Shahinaz, the government dispatched policemen to the most important place of Cairo like Talaat Harb street and Tahrir square. Throughout the day, more and more Egyptians (children, mother, student ….) went in the street.

In Ghazl El-Mahalla, violent clashes happened between the police and crowds of demonstrators (1 dead). Policemen were criticized for the way in which force was used against demonstrators, and for the arbitrary detention of hundreds of Mahalla residents. The most important sign of this demonstration was the destruction of the image of Moubarak :

What happened on April 6th 2009

One year after, the same actors appealled for a strike. The strike was not as widespread as April 6^th 2008. The government strategy was to be closer to the population during the months of March and April to fulfill all of their demands. For these reasons, a general strike didn’t take place in Egypt. See in Appendix B the news in El-Ahram Hebdo concerning April 6th 2009.

To conclude, the 6th April 2008 was an important day because it was the first general strike in Egyptian history. Facebook, blog and SMS were the most important communication way to federate the strikers. According to Shahinaz, this day represents a revolution day for Egyptian people. Also, on future 6th Aprils, she thinks that something will happen between the government and the Egyptian population. It’s a hope for Egypt’s future.