In response to a call by the Textile Workers’ League, Ghazl el-Mahalla workers demonstrated yesterday against corruption and privatization, calling for prosecuting their managers who’ve caused LE147 million losses to the company. The workers also repeated some the April 6th demands of a LE1200 national minimum wage, and denounced the increase in food prices..

It was very difficult for me to find out the exact size of the demonstration. Two journalists I spoke with put the number in the hundreds. Three activist sources inside the company and two labor journalists gave me different estimates that ranged from 4,000 to 10,000.

Somethings we gotta note about yesterday’s demo:

1- The protest was spearheaded, yet again, by the female garment workers…
2- No matter how big or small the protest was, it marks a huge step forward in breaking the barrier of fear in the factory, following the April police crackdown. As I posted before, political propaganda and agitation on the factory floor have been resumed following the severe setbacks due to the crushing of the April Intifada…
3- The major news wires AP, AFP, and Reuters, continue to be absent from the labor scene and social protests, ignoring the elephant in the room, focusing their reports as always on car crashes, Islamists, Gaza tunnels, and Mubarak’s efforts in brokering peace with the Israelis, bla bla bla…

I have bookmarked some articles, blog postings and photo galleries about the protest here…