I was part of a group of International Solidarity Movement activists who travelled to Egypt on Sunday to meet Egyptian activists preparing to take a convoy of food and medicine from Cairo to Rafah (Gaza). The activists of the Egyptian Popular Comittee in Solidartity with the Palestinian Uprising have taken 25 such convoys since the start of the intifada in an atmosphere of repression and corruption. While in Egypt activists tried to make links with broader social movements in Egypt.
From speaking to activists from the anti globalisation movement in Cairo I heard about a group of workers living in a city known as the tenth of Ramadan outside Cairo who had been working for the Spanish/Egyptian Asbestos Company. The workers had develped tumours and other probems after working in the factory. The factory had been shut down by the Minstry of the Interior workers are afraid that the factory will reopen and have occupied the premises . They are also demanding payment of wages owed to them, they haven't been paid since May
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
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