Ikhwanweb :: The Muslim Brotherhood Official English Website

April 6th Calls for General Strike and Leaders Refuse To Join

In its statement that Ikhwanweb received a copy of, the April 6th movement called on a general strike for the Egyptian society on April 6 to protest against oppression and tyranny. The statement stressed that the strike is a major step towards a peaceful civil rebellion which the movement considered the only way to bring about change and get rid of corruption.

Facebook Digg Yahoo Del.icio.us reddit StumbleUpon Mixx Google

In its statement that Ikhwanweb received a copy of, the April 6th movement called on a general strike for the Egyptian society on April 6 to protest against oppression and tyranny. The statement stressed that the strike is a major step towards a peaceful civil rebellion which the movement considered the only way to bring about change and get rid of corruption.
 
The statement emphasized the boiling situation in Egypt under the pressure of the poor economic situation as the simple Egyptian citizen is continuously exposed to a fierce process of systematic impoverishment by the state and an unjust distribution of national wealth monopolized by a few businessmen and beneficiaries of the National "Undemocratic" Party policies that are pushing the majority of Egyptian citizens under poverty line and forcing them to suffer the paradoxes of life as they see the planes of businessmen while they drown in the "death" ferry or burn in the Upper Egypt train, and see the villas and mansions in Marina and Sharm El-Sheikh while their houses collapse on their heads in Duweika.
The statement explained that since last April 6, a wave of strikes has been triggered in different parts of the country exceeding 1000 strikes up till last December.
 
The statement called for a general strike to achieve the following goals:

- Minimum wage of 1200 LE that would guarantee the Egyptian citizen a dignified life and secure future for him and his children and that would be proportional to prices.
 
- The election of a foundation committee to draw up a new constitution for the country that would secure political and syndicate liberties and limit the presidential term to a maximum of two terms.
 
- Halting the exportation of gas to Israel.
 
As for the heroes of the last April 6th strike, one of the movement"s prominent leaders, Israa" Abdul-Fattah, had a different stance towards the call on the strike as she considered the current conditions unsuitable for the success of the strike unlike last year"s, denying any security pressure behind her stance.
 
Israa" also said she refused the concept of "periodic" strikes as they contradict the ethics of a strike.  In her opinion, for a strike to be successful, it must have goals and requests. "The strike to be held next month has no goals or requests and is only to preserve the periodicity of the strike," Israa" added. However, she is willing to join without delay, any peaceful strike, protest, or demonstration with a specified goal, Israa" clarified.