I spoke with Kareem el-Beheiri around three and half hours ago, and he assured me the morale is extremely high among the strikers…. Thousands of them were sleeping over in the factory… Kareem was then rushing to upload the videos and the pix of the strike… He also said Mubarak’s Central Security Forces troops are still unseen around the factory since their retreat on Saturday night after it became clear the strike was to proceed on the following morning. However, Kareem said the place is swarmed with plainclothes State Security Police agents, as well as agents from the Mukhabarrat… Yep, in case you didn’t know Mahalla has an office for the Mukhabarrat (the agency which is entitled with foreign security issues) since it’s considered a “strategic city” since the days of Nasser. These Mukhabarrat agents show up when there are strikes or signs of discontent. It goes to show the power and strength of Mahalla, and the fear it constitutes to the Egyptian ruling class…

[Above: Kareem speaking during the Workers' Coordination Committee meeting, February 2007. Photo by Hossam el-Hamalawy.]

Kareem also said he was verbally threatened by a State Security agent, after he shouted against the government and the president… So if any “accident” happens to him, I’m putting the full blame on State Security police…

I also spoke with Mohamed el-Attar and el-Sayyed Habib after I hung up with Kareem. Both have virtually lost their voices from exhaustion and from chanting in the marches… Both are keen on seeing international solidarity coming on their behalf, and are personally requesting in the name of the 27,000 Ghazl el-Mahalla workers that international labor organizations and unions express an urgently needed solidarity.

[Ghazl el-Mahalla labor leaders Mohamed el-Attar and El-Sayyed Habib, March 2007. Photo by Hossam el-Hamalawy.]

More worryingly, Attar told me he’d been summoned to the State Security Prosecutor’s office, together with Faisal Naqousha, and two other labor activists (I could hardly hear the names, as Attar’s voice was weak and I was standing by the train station where there was so much noise). Attar doesn’t know the charges yet to be levelled against him and his comrades.

[Above: Ghazl el-Mahalla labor leader Mohamed el-Attar, March 2007. Photo by Hossam el-Hamalawy.]

I’m calling once again on labor activists around the world to issue statements of solidarity… The security crackdown on the strikers may well be underway…

Down with Mubarak’s Police… Victory to the Mahalla Strikers…