CAIRO: Egyptian activists joined forces with their American counterparts to form the October 2011 Movement, pledging mutual support for their common goals and the “Reclaiming the Revolution” Friday demonstration and the occupation of Washington DC’s Freedom Plaza on October 6.
“While our nations face many different challenges and remain thousands of miles and cultures apart, we find that we share many of the same concerns within our respective countries,” the activists said in their joint ‘solidarity statement.’
“Both the people of the US and Egypt require real democracy so that the views of the people are represented,” said the statement which included more than 20 preliminary activists’ signatures.
Among the Egyptian activists who signed the solidarity statement is popular blogger Asmaa Mahfouz who explained that this movement aims at joining forces against the US foreign policy which they all strongly disapprove of.
“We all object the US foreign policy which supports dictatorial governments,” noting that in the case of Egypt “they offer funds to the Egyptian military which continues to oppress protesters,” Mahfouz told Daily News Egypt.
“We will be organizing international protests and marches which will all take place simultaneously in different countries,” she said.
Although each group is currently preoccupied with the ongoing events in their respective country, in the future they vow to better coordinate.
“We are planning to support many other issues in Arab countries such as Palestine, Syria and Libya,” Mahfouz pointed out.
In their solidarity statement, the Egyptian activists, who also include blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah, and members of the October2011.org participants indicated the aspects of their struggles which require mutual and transnational coordination among protesters in order to achieve reform.
The October 2011 is a movement supporting “human needs, not corporate greed,” and intends to consolidate leading progressive activists in the US into a viable umbrella coalition that can work together towards principles of “peace [as well as] social, economic, and environmental justice” that are supported by “super-majorities of Americans” yet get compromised due to political and economic pressures, according to the statement.
Demands
The movement has four main demands, the first of which is “both the people of the US and Egypt require real democracy so that the views of the people are represented” as they note that currently, desires for free and fair elections have not been achieved according to the level of popular demand in both nations.
The second demand is to “end US foreign policy positions which undermine the Egyptian democracy movement as well as the character and reputation of the United States.” The activists are calling on an end to “hegemonic” foreign policy positions among US policymakers. “It is time for the United States to join the global community of nations as a partner rather than a predator, as a collaborative multi-lateralist rather than as an American exceptionalist,” they statement said.
Activists are also demanding that “both countries end the wealth divide in order to provide for the necessities of the people and to create new sustainable economies for the 21st Century.”
Activists noted that both Egypt and the US suffer from a broad wealth divide that has lead to widespread poverty and economic stagnation.
“When policies begin to eliminate the wealth divide, we will take the first steps towards ending crony-dominated economies held in place by corrupt oligarchic governments in both nations,” explained the statement.
The fourth and final demand in the solidarity statement is that “Both countries need to respect human rights, this involves an end to torture, a method for systematic documentation of human rights abuses, and mechanisms to ensure accountability for those responsible for human rights abuses.”
The activists find that both Egypt and the US suffer from decades of human rights abuses, which include suppression of free speech, illegal detention, secret rendition, and torture on the part of both nations.
The October2011.org includes many organizers of the recent Occupy Wall Street protests and are now calling on the occupation of the Freedom Plaza to draw attention to recent Congressional budget talks, which to them emphasized wasteful military-industrial spending and corporate handouts over social programs or more sensible foreign policy positions, according to their official website.
“Inspired by the courageous, nonviolent uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Greece, Spain, and elsewhere, people in the US have come together to form the October 2011 Movement,” said the organizers on their website.
