Convoy To Rafah Reports
ftp | 10.12.2004 00:00 | Social Struggles
A group of London and Brighton based activists are in Egypt for the convoy to the Rafah organised by the Egyptian Popular Committee for solidarity with the Palestinian Uprising. Over the next few weeks expect a number of reports on the sights and sounds that we come across. In this one, we visit destitute workers with asbestosis occupying their former employers factory in the City of "The Tenth of Ramadan", about an hour out of cairo.
5 go mad in Egypt - The tenth of Ramadan DYING ASBESTOS WORKERS RESISTANCE CAMP
ftp, 08.12.2004 20:01
"Our government doesn't allow people to take photographs of factories" said the apologetic guard of the neighbouring empty factory. We sat in the sun whilst a besuitted director from the company which owns the failed factory, made calls to get 'permission for me to photograph the 'Egyptian-Spanish Asbestos Company' next door. In all likelihood, he was probably phoning the State security Service who turned up about 40 minutes later. As we waited for someone in head-office to "write the paper to give permission - just for you", there was chat with a group of men gathered around. It is clear that they had not seen too many westerners with cameras and video cameras hanging around the industrial factory littered with enormous industrial units, owned by an assortment of multi-nationals and wealthy Egyptian businessmen.
They couldn't make sense at all of what this strange person was doing wanting photos of the factory next door because it was an "interesting building" it became clear there were some time delaying tactics going on, so I got up and walked back to the main group who were outside the factory we had come to see, filming and talking tothe 53 workers who have been occupying the factory in protest at being discarded, with terminal asbestosis, the diagnosis of which had been hidden from them for three years, finally coming to light after a director of the company died, aged 49 in 2002. Sympathetic union officials had discovered the medical reports dated 1989, which confirmed the imminent painful deaths of the men who had not understood the big warning signs on the Canadian asbestos that they were paid 180 Egyptian pounds per month before bonuses to amalgamate with concrete for large pipes that the company churned out, some of which were sitting at the end of the yard.
The men have been replaced by new workers on tougher but better paid contracts who have been recruited to replace these ailing men who have not seen their families for 40 days and who cry when we ask about their children. They have no money to send home and have no idea how their families have been coping. The men were not paid in April or May, and the owner refuses to sign the forms that may give them access to some form of minimal social insurance. For now it is an impasse, they have no money and neither do the new replacements, who sit at home waiting for this occupation to end so that they can start to kill themselves for the owners profits.
One man puts it like this - "These foreigners they send us their rubbish to kill us and to make us impotent so that we will die out" - his bleak sentiments shock the other workers who are embarrassed because we, of course, are foreigners.
Since touching down in Sharm El Sheikh on a charter flight full of excited tourists who will take home a picture of swimming pools and large hotels with marble floors and private beaches as their main memories, and who will not see the other side of Egypt that is just below the surface, like a scar that is waiting to be discovered, we have become aware of lots of stuff we didn't know and they won't find out.
They will see the many checkpoints that litter the Sinai and Egypt, and which are the bain of the taxi drivers existence as they struggle to exist in an economy that is further decimated by the loss of many Israeli hoildaymakers since the explsions at the Taba Hilton and nearby in the Sinai a few months ago.
It is unlikely they will hear about the 3000 - 5000 men of Al-Arish near Rafah, Egypt who were arrested after the bombing, and who have languished in prison for well over a month deprived of access to lawyers and the women from the community that now has no men. Neither will they hear about the new trade deal being negotiated between America, Israel and a number of Arab states which will give each state priviliged zones with tax concessions for exporting their garments to the United states, on the condition that a percentage of each garment (believed to be 11.7%) is made from Israeli compnents, such as zips, badges, buckles and buttons. Soon different areas in each state will be vying to do business with Israel so that they can have preferential treatment in the US market. Arab against Arab, fighting to have closer links with Israel whilst their Palestinian cousins are squeezed more each day by the US sanctioned occupation that shows no sign of disappearing ..........
Neither will they see the communities that are destroyed by facilities for the rich, paid for by the high levels of aid that Uncle Sam gives the state of Hosni Mubarak, in return for his compliance in "security matters", including his role in the plans to turn Gaza into the worlds largest open air prison - a plan more likely to be scuppered by the outrage of the Israeli far right, than the anger on the Arab street towards the west and its policies in the region.
WELCOME TO EGYPT! WELCOME! WELCOME! says the smiling man in the underpass as we make our way back to the metro and to a meeting in cairo, having decided we had enough footage and story when the state security agents turned up and mulled over what to do with this motley crew of European activists here to lend solidarity to the occupying workers.
AND FUCK YOUR RELIGION!!!! he mutters in Arabic as he thinks we have moved out of earshot. Hmmm - I wonder what he could possibly have against Christians - surely nothing to do with the images of Iraq, Afganistan and Palestine that he has pumped into his front room by a globalised media service on a daily basis.
We come away humbled by these men who speak out so eloquently against the injustice that they face, who believe so passionately that if Mr. Mubarak would just hear about their situation he would sort it out - a belief some cling to despite the owner telling them in a meeting - "I have the government under the sole of my shoe - they will do nothing for you" - who look at us blankly when we ask if they are getting support from anyone - it is illegal in Egypt to collect money from the public if you are not state sanctioned - and even a recent earthquake appeal for Iran wasn't.
It is easy to break the law in Egypt - we have done so many times, without even trying, and without even knowing.
Homepage:
http://www.rafahmarch.org
ftp, 08.12.2004 20:01
"Our government doesn't allow people to take photographs of factories" said the apologetic guard of the neighbouring empty factory. We sat in the sun whilst a besuitted director from the company which owns the failed factory, made calls to get 'permission for me to photograph the 'Egyptian-Spanish Asbestos Company' next door. In all likelihood, he was probably phoning the State security Service who turned up about 40 minutes later. As we waited for someone in head-office to "write the paper to give permission - just for you", there was chat with a group of men gathered around. It is clear that they had not seen too many westerners with cameras and video cameras hanging around the industrial factory littered with enormous industrial units, owned by an assortment of multi-nationals and wealthy Egyptian businessmen.
They couldn't make sense at all of what this strange person was doing wanting photos of the factory next door because it was an "interesting building" it became clear there were some time delaying tactics going on, so I got up and walked back to the main group who were outside the factory we had come to see, filming and talking tothe 53 workers who have been occupying the factory in protest at being discarded, with terminal asbestosis, the diagnosis of which had been hidden from them for three years, finally coming to light after a director of the company died, aged 49 in 2002. Sympathetic union officials had discovered the medical reports dated 1989, which confirmed the imminent painful deaths of the men who had not understood the big warning signs on the Canadian asbestos that they were paid 180 Egyptian pounds per month before bonuses to amalgamate with concrete for large pipes that the company churned out, some of which were sitting at the end of the yard.
The men have been replaced by new workers on tougher but better paid contracts who have been recruited to replace these ailing men who have not seen their families for 40 days and who cry when we ask about their children. They have no money to send home and have no idea how their families have been coping. The men were not paid in April or May, and the owner refuses to sign the forms that may give them access to some form of minimal social insurance. For now it is an impasse, they have no money and neither do the new replacements, who sit at home waiting for this occupation to end so that they can start to kill themselves for the owners profits.
One man puts it like this - "These foreigners they send us their rubbish to kill us and to make us impotent so that we will die out" - his bleak sentiments shock the other workers who are embarrassed because we, of course, are foreigners.
Since touching down in Sharm El Sheikh on a charter flight full of excited tourists who will take home a picture of swimming pools and large hotels with marble floors and private beaches as their main memories, and who will not see the other side of Egypt that is just below the surface, like a scar that is waiting to be discovered, we have become aware of lots of stuff we didn't know and they won't find out.
They will see the many checkpoints that litter the Sinai and Egypt, and which are the bain of the taxi drivers existence as they struggle to exist in an economy that is further decimated by the loss of many Israeli hoildaymakers since the explsions at the Taba Hilton and nearby in the Sinai a few months ago.
It is unlikely they will hear about the 3000 - 5000 men of Al-Arish near Rafah, Egypt who were arrested after the bombing, and who have languished in prison for well over a month deprived of access to lawyers and the women from the community that now has no men. Neither will they hear about the new trade deal being negotiated between America, Israel and a number of Arab states which will give each state priviliged zones with tax concessions for exporting their garments to the United states, on the condition that a percentage of each garment (believed to be 11.7%) is made from Israeli compnents, such as zips, badges, buckles and buttons. Soon different areas in each state will be vying to do business with Israel so that they can have preferential treatment in the US market. Arab against Arab, fighting to have closer links with Israel whilst their Palestinian cousins are squeezed more each day by the US sanctioned occupation that shows no sign of disappearing ..........
Neither will they see the communities that are destroyed by facilities for the rich, paid for by the high levels of aid that Uncle Sam gives the state of Hosni Mubarak, in return for his compliance in "security matters", including his role in the plans to turn Gaza into the worlds largest open air prison - a plan more likely to be scuppered by the outrage of the Israeli far right, than the anger on the Arab street towards the west and its policies in the region.
WELCOME TO EGYPT! WELCOME! WELCOME! says the smiling man in the underpass as we make our way back to the metro and to a meeting in cairo, having decided we had enough footage and story when the state security agents turned up and mulled over what to do with this motley crew of European activists here to lend solidarity to the occupying workers.
AND FUCK YOUR RELIGION!!!! he mutters in Arabic as he thinks we have moved out of earshot. Hmmm - I wonder what he could possibly have against Christians - surely nothing to do with the images of Iraq, Afganistan and Palestine that he has pumped into his front room by a globalised media service on a daily basis.
We come away humbled by these men who speak out so eloquently against the injustice that they face, who believe so passionately that if Mr. Mubarak would just hear about their situation he would sort it out - a belief some cling to despite the owner telling them in a meeting - "I have the government under the sole of my shoe - they will do nothing for you" - who look at us blankly when we ask if they are getting support from anyone - it is illegal in Egypt to collect money from the public if you are not state sanctioned - and even a recent earthquake appeal for Iran wasn't.
It is easy to break the law in Egypt - we have done so many times, without even trying, and without even knowing.
Homepage:
http://www.rafahmarch.org
ftp
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Report on asbestos workers from another of the mad 5
13.12.2004 15:15
On route to visit them we were told not to film outside a railway station on the outskirts of Cairo. Under emergency legislation the state has made it illegal for foreigners to film anything other than tourist sites and contact between Egyptians and foreigners is seriously limited.
We travelled to an isolated industrial site outside the Tenth of Ramadan where 54 workers were staying in improvised shacks inside and outside the closed factory complex with an assortment of private security and police informers.
The workers had been at the site for 40 days surviving on a few donations given by (not enough) sympathetic groups in the city. It is an amazing and frightening step for this handful of workers to have taken in such an oppressive atmosphere. Their boldness is explained by the fact that they have literally nothing to lose - almost all of these men are likely to die as a result of the asbestos poisoning they have contracted from working at the factory. One worker said he could only foresee two paths for himself in the future "prison and death".
The workers could not read the warnings written on the bags of asbestos provided by a company called 'Thetford" in Quebec. in 1999 they undrwent a medical examination but the factory hid the results from them until sympathetic union officials revealed to them that they had all contracted asbestos poisoning. The delay meant that their conditions were too advanced for effective treatment.
Th factory was closed and reopened three times after compaints to various government departments. The protesting workers will not be reinstated but their is a chance the factory will open again and the employer, the owner of a successful cafe chain called Gruppys in Cairo, has already hired a new team of workers with squeaky clean lungs to work there if it does.
Workers told me of how they worked with asbestos wearing no overalls, flimsy masks with no shower or washing facilities.
Workers showed us their wounds during interviews, one man's legs had swollen from water retension, another had spina problems, one had gone partially deaf from the noise in the factory many workers had breathing difficulties, many will die. All that is left for them is to sit on the industrial estate, away from their struggling families, without access to any social security or free medical services and without any suggestion that they might receive compensation.
Throughout the interviews workers were shadowed by the police informer. A cheery gentlemen who expressed solidarity and compassion for the workers while equally cheerfully receiving money for betraying them to the state. As we departed the police arrived, having heard thet foreigners had come to visit the workers. The citizens of Cairo are even forbidden to donate money to the workers, charity is reserved for the state (who do not give it in abundance)
Activists in Cairo hope to start a campaign in support of the workers and hope to receive international attention. These men are isolated on their industrial estate and badly need solidarity, they are already starting to get media attention, I hope they are not easily forgotten
: )