8 March: Together for the victory of women and the revolution!

The Revolutionary Socialists, 8 March 2012 http://www.e-socialists.net/node/8415 During the first year of the revolution, Egyptian women and girls have played an unprecedented role in the struggle for national freedom: they have joined the ranks of the martyrs and injured, lost their children and husbands or seen them injured and blinded. They have been comrades in the occupations of the squares, participants in the strikes in the factories and in the trade unions, leaders of demonstrations, doctors and paramedics in the field hospitals serving the wounded demonstrators, journalists and media workers keeping the embers of the revolution alight, and fighters in the front ranks of the clashes, facing bullets, beatings and virginity tests at the hands of the criminals. There is no question that Egyptian women have rediscovered themselves and their own strength, confirming that whoever violates womens rights violates the rights of the nation as a whole. Whoever imprisons women is trying to imprison the people and the revolution, and that womens liberation will only be achieved through the liberation of society from exploitation and from the exploiters. We have seen tens of thousands chanting Daughters of Egypt are a red line! in the face of the cowards [from the military who attacked them]: we will not let them escape justice. In the light of the deals we are witnessing between the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the remnants of the old regime, and the Islamist parties which have the parliamentary majority to ensure that the President and the Constitution will protect their interests, the importance of Egyptian womens celebration of International Womens Day, which commemorates womens struggles for political and economic rights around the world, is growing in importance. Today more than ever we need to unify the efforts of Egyptian women, who make up around a third of industrial workers, and half of state employees, in a revolutionary movement to confront attempts to steal the revolution and womens rights. We need a movement which works in the factory and on the university campus, in the trade unions, in the streets and which can go from door-to-door. Egyptian womens success in winning their rights depends on the success of the revolution in achieving its goals. Egyptian women unite in order to bring down the remnants of the Mubarak regime and his military council! Unite for bread, freedom, human dignity and social justice and for womens rights in the face of those who would deny them! Fight for: Complete equality between men and women in pay, allowances and bonuses Increased penalties for sexual harassment and all forms of oppression and discrimination Restoration of rights to maternity leave and the provision of a nursery at all workplaces employing more than fifty people An increased budget for the care and health education of women Changing the personal status laws [governing marriage, divorce etc] to ensure womens rights Long live the struggle of Egyptian women! Victory to the revolution! Power and wealth to the people! The Revolutionary Socialists 8 March 2012