Egypt’s Workers: All They Needed Was the Courage

[Omaha Steve]

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6904/all_they_needed_was_the_courage/

Tuesday Feb 1, 2011 8:47 am

By Stephen Franklin


Thousands of Egyptians gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square heeding a call by the opposition for a 'march of a million' to mark a week of protests of Hosni Mubarak's regime, on February 1, 2011. (MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images)


When they began staging their protests in downtown Cairo, it seemed so risky, so unimaginable, so likely to be brutally swatted away by the heavy-handed hordes of government thugs.

In the republic of fear that has long reigned over Egypt, such things didn’t happen. Showing the smallest hint of disobedience could be painful and sometimes fatal.

Yet the workers kept on coming despite the beatings, the threats and long confrontations with the government and companies that seemed to be going nowhere, and rarely toward workers’ interests.

But they were—I know what I saw in Cairo last year. The nation’s workers were one of the groups who began to open the doors to the room where Egyptians have for decades stored their collective grit and outrage. They are now rediscovering those national assets.

FULL story at link.

[snot]

1. K&R'd

[Warpy]

2. They always had the courage and the rage

What they needed was desperation fueled by growing hunger.

When there's so damned little to lose, risking it all doesn't seem so bad.