[Onthebarricades] Global unrest: Senegal, Assam, Balochistan, Egypt

[Andy]

*  SENEGAL:  Attack on street traders sparks mass unrest
*  INDIA:  Unrest by adivasis in Assam
*  BALOCHISTAN:  Killing sparks strike, blockades
*  EGYPT:  Victory for textile workers' strike

Concessions fail to end riots over ban on Dakar's street hawkers
Agencies in Dakar
Friday November 23, 2007
The Guardian 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2215700,00.html

Senegal's worst riots for almost two decades persisted into a second 
day yesterday, despite government efforts to defuse a crisis 
triggered by a decision to ban hawkers from the streets of the 
capital, Dakar.

Market stalls remained shuttered while police fired tear gas at 
stone-throwing protesters, witnesses said. The unrest was 
nonetheless less destructive than the violence which convulsed the 
city the previous day after President Abdoulaye Wade's government 
ordered police to evict thousands of street vendors whose stalls 
line the city centre's pot-holed streets.

"Enough's enough," said the red-banner headline of Le Populaire 
newspaper. "Dakar joins the evicted street vendors to show their 
discontent with the government."

The disenchantment began to spread last week when the security 
forces began clearing the capital's intersections of beggars and 
hawkers under a presidential decree aimed at bringing some order to 
the city's clogged streets.

On Wednesday groups of men protesting at the ban faced off against 
riot police, throwing stones at the officers. The police replied 
with tear gas and arrested dozens. Police were also seen beating 
some men with batons as they quelled the protest and shut down a 
union march that the government had prohibited because of the 
unrest. Two buildings burned, along with cars caught in the melee.

The unrest was extremely rare for a west African city often held up 
as an example of peace and stability in the region. It was 
aggravated by wider discontent over unemployment, rising prices of 
rice and bread, and a perception that the government is building 
luxury hotels and roads while ignoring the poor.

The government has indicated that it will soften the presidential 
decree. The prime minister, Hadjibou Soumare, who met 
representatives of the traders late on Wednesday, agreed to keep 
certain central streets open to vendors at the weekend, and to set 
aside a special area for them during the rest of the week, said 
Maimouna Sourang Ndir, the minister of life quality and leisure.

Local aid groups estimate that there are between 50,000 and 100,000 
unlicensed vendors and beggars in the capital. Young men sell 
everything from ironing boards to electronics in the streets.

Dakar's legions of jobless young are also losing patience. "Wade 
pledged to help the youth if he got a second mandate," one of them, 
Ibrahim Mbemgue, 28, told Reuters. "He betrayed the people."

Behind the Adivasi unrest in Assam 
M.S. Prabhakara 
http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/03/stories/2007120354911100.htm 

The continuing violence in Assam over the last few days, in 
particular the wanton vandalism and the crude and vigilantist 
retaliation that took place in and around Dispur in Guwahati on 
November 24, has rightly attracted wide and critical notice. 
However, any exclusive concern with the violent events of that 
Saturday, in particular the voyeuristic focus by the visual media on 
the shameful attack on the person and personal dignity of a young 
woman by the mob that has been unreservedly condemned by the people 
of the State, may obscure the real issues: the demand of the 
Adivasis for classification as a Scheduled Tribe, and the complex 
factors that inform the resistance to that and similar demands. 

The Adivasi, a nomenclature now adopted by the approximately 20 
million strong Tea Garden Labour and ex-Tea Garden Labour community, 
is not the only community in Assam seeking classification as a 
Scheduled Tribe. Five other communities (the Tai-Ahom, the Moran, 
the Motok, the Chutia and the Koch-Rajbongshi), all presently 
classified as Other Backward Classes (OBC), have also for long been 
pressing for recognition as Scheduled Tribes. The first four live 
predominantly in the districts of Upper Assam while the Koch-
Rajbongshi live predominantly in western Assam, sharing broadly the 
same physical (and political) space as the Bodos, the most numerous 
of the tribal communities of the State. The Adivasis are, for the 
most part, settled in the vicinity of the tea gardens. 

Contrary to the general impression, the clashes do not bespeak any 
deeply ingrained hostility between `tribal people and non-tribal 
people,' or between the tribal people and caste Hindus, in Assam - a 
convenient distinction between supposedly irreconcilable categories 
made in much of the analysis of the so-called ethnic clashes in 
Assam and the north-eastern region. The Adivasis, though aspiring 
for recognition as a tribal community and indeed historically 
belonging to authentic tribal stock, are at present not recognised 
as a tribal community. It is only in popular usage that they are 
referred to as Tea Garden Tribes and ex-Tea Garden Tribes. Strictly 
speaking, their fight is not so much for their recognition as a 
tribal community as for the restoration of that tribal identity to 
which they believe they are entitled, being the descendants of 
various tribal communities of Central India who, over a century-and-
a-half ago, went or were indentured to work in the gardens of 
eastern India. What they are fighting for is therefore the 
restoration of their legitimate cultural patrimony.

Why and how did the descendants of the tribal people whose ancestors 
were brought to Assam from other parts of India cease to be tribal 
people in their present environment? The answer lies in the peculiar 
rules that determine such recognition, according to which a person's 
tribal identity is irrevocably and forever linked to her or his 
place of origin - in the present instance, the persons' ancestral 
origins. For instance, the progeny of a Munda, a recognised tribal 
community in Jharkhand and other contiguous States, one of the 96 
communities listed under the category, Tea Garden Labourers, Tea 
Garden Tribes, Ex-Tea Garden Labourers and Ex-Tea Garden Tribes in 
the official `Central List of Backward Classes, Assam,' who was 
taken to Assam to work in the tea gardens over a century-and-a-half 
ago has lost his tribal identity, though were such a person to 
return to his (now notional) ancestral place, he would regain his 
tribal identity. 

Such absurd rules and requirements do not however obtain in other 
cases of migration. A non-tribal person moving, say, from Karnataka 
to Assam continues to retain all the socio-cultural coordinates of 
his or her identity. 

Indeed such absurd anomalies govern even the movement of tribal 
communities within Assam, and in the States that were carved out of 
colonial Assam after independence. For instance, the 23 recognised 
tribal communities in Assam are broadly identified under two 
categories: the Hill Tribes, that is, the 14 communities recognised 
as `tribal' in the `hill areas,' now comprising the two Autonomous 
Districts of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills; and the Plains 
Tribes, that is, the 9 communities recognised as `tribal' in rest of 
Assam, supposedly all `Plain'. Neither of the locational 
identifications is accurate, indeed cannot be accurate, given the 
facts of geography but that is the least of the problems. 

More materially, neither of these two categories carries its tribal 
identity when it moves out of its `designated areas.' Thus, Census 
figures for Guwahati city, very much in the Plains of Assam, which 
has people from every part of the country and also from foreign 
parts, do not enumerate a single person belonging to any of the 
14 `Hill Tribe' categories. Indeed, every Plains district enumerates 
zero population of Hill Tribes. 

Similarly, the Census figures for the two Hill districts do not 
enumerate a single person from any of the nine designated `Plains 
Tribe' categories. The reality is different; however such personas 
living outside their allotted spaces are for official purposes 
simply made `un-persons'. 

While the Adivasis' case for the restoration of their primordial 
tribal status seems strongest, the issues and demands underlying the 
struggle of the five other communities seeking recognition as 
Scheduled Tribes are equally complex. The Koch-Rajbongshi, also 
known as Sarania Kachari, historically part of the Bodo Kachari 
stock, lost their tribal identity over a long period going back to 
the days before the colonial conquest of Assam through a complex 
process of conversion and acculturation into the Vaishnavite variety 
of Assamese Hinduism. Such advantages as the conversion may have 
brought have lost their relevance in post-independence India where, 
increasingly, the tribal identity is getting to be perversely 
privileged by non-tribal communities. Corresponding urges and 
expectations no doubt drive the demands of the other communities 
seeking to be classified as Scheduled Tribes. 

The State government says it is not opposed to conceding the demands 
but has pleaded its inability in view of the existing rules. There 
are indications that these rigidities may be relaxed, at least in 
respect of the Adivasi demand. However, if the Adivasi demand is 
conceded, the demands of other communities too will have to be 
eventually conceded. The issue also has national implications, in 
the context of the contradictions highlighted in the presently 
dormant Gujjar agitation for classification as ST. 

The more immediate opposition in Assam to the extension of ST 
recognition to the six communities is however likely to come from 
the presently recognised Scheduled Tribes. The estimated 20 lakh 
Adivasis constitute about 60 per cent of the total ST population of 
the State which, according to the 2001 Census, was 3,308,570. 

The addition of such a large population to the present ST pool will 
undoubtedly affect existing allocations in areas such as reservation 
of seats in legislative structures, higher education and jobs. Put 
simply, such identity struggles carry a cost, and a price. 

(For a more detailed discussion of these issues, see Manufacturing 
Identities? Frontline, 7 October 2005; In the Name of Tribal 
Identities, Frontline, 2 December 2005; and Separatist Strains, 
Frontline, 1 June 2007.) 

Balach Marri's killing : Balochistan shuts down
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\11\23\story_23-11-
2007_pg1_5

QUETTA: More than a hundred protesters were arrested across 
Balochistan on Thursday as the province observed a complete shutter-
down strike against the killing of Nawabzada Balach Marri, a Baloch 
nationalist leader. 

Police rounded up around fifty protesters in Quetta, most of whom 
had come from Sariab, where Balochis are in a majority. Fifteen 
protesters were arrested in Gwadar, where the Balochistan National 
Party, National Party and the Baloch Students Organisation had 
called for a complete strike. Ten leaders of the National Party were 
detained in Panjgur district where police used tear gas and baton-
charged the protesters. Dozens of protesters were arrested from 
other provincial districts including Khuzdar, Dalbandin, Turbat, 
Sibi, Panjgur, Mustung, Noshaki. Life came to a stand still in these 
districts while protests were largely peaceful.

"A state of red alert has been declared in Quetta with 4,000 police 
personnel and the Frontier Corps (FC) deployed at different 
locations. Around 70 mobile teams will continue to patrol Quetta," 
the city's police chief Mohammad Akbar said. 

In Quetta, a complete shutter down strike was observed in the Baloch-
populated areas where protesters burnt two government vehicles and 
pelted stones at official buildings. Shops, banks and business 
centres remained closed. The city government had announced the 
closure of all educational institutes on Thursday.

However, life continued as usual in the rest of the city. Supporters 
of Balach Marri also blocked many roads, including the RCD and 
Mekran Highways for many hours. Meanwhile, three bomb blasts took 
place in Hub, Balochistan's industrial town, and Sibi, suspending 
power supply to many parts of Hub township and damaging the local 
post office. staff report

'The struggle is one'
The Mehala Al-Kubra textile workers are providing a model for 
protest, and not just in the public, industrial sector, writes Faiza 
Rady 
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/870/eg5.htm

In Mehala Al-Kubra, a sprawling industrial town in the Nile Delta 
north of Cairo, the tension is still palpable following last month's 
strike at the state-owned Misr Spinning and Weaving Company. On 
Sunday, the workers' coordinating committee distributed a leaflet in 
which they accused the plant's newly appointed union leader, Masaad 
Al-Fiqi, of catering to the president of the General Union of 
Textile Workers, Said El-Gohary, instead of representing labour 
interests.

The workers, whose basic pay is supplemented by a complex system of 
monthly and yearly bonuses, are demanding a 22 per cent increase on 
incentive payments. 

"Twenty-two per cent may sound like a huge increase but it really 
isn't much," says labour activist and veteran textile worker Al-
Sayed Habib. "The highest increase in incentives amounts to LE150 
($45) and we've only had three such increases over the past 18 
years."

Average take-home pay at the plant, including bonuses and 
incentives, is about LE500 ($75) -- which barely places the workers 
above the two dollar-a-day poverty line. Younger workers, and those 
recently hired, receive below average wages. They are paid LE300 or 
less, which pushes them below the poverty line. Egyptian textile 
workers are at the bottom of the regional salary scale. According to 
the American Chamber of Commerce they earn 92 per cent less than 
workers doing similar jobs in Israel, 81 per cent less than in 
Turkey and 65 per cent less than in Tunisia. 

Inflation has eaten away at spending power that was already severely 
limited. Official sources say inflation is running at 12 per cent 
though, as Egyptian labour historian Joel Beinin points out, the 
real figure is likely to be much higher. The price of vegetables has 
increased by 37.6 per cent while the cost of many basic 
pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, has doubled. 

"Most of us cannot survive on our salaries. The cheapest flats now 
rent for LE300. How can we survive if we have to pay our entire 
salary on rent?" asks Faysal Nakousha. "Many work at a second job 
after their eight-hour shifts. They end up working an average of 12 
hours a day, sometimes more. We don't see our families; our lives 
are reduced to a mad race around the clock. And we still barely keep 
our heads above water. For me the worst feeling about living in such 
dire poverty is to know that my kids are being deprived of many 
things." 

Habib and his comrades see their protest action as part of a long-
term process. "Our strike hasn't yet been settled. We gave the 
government a one-month grace period to make payments and comply with 
our other demands. This is going to be a long struggle," he says. 
The workers have accused CEO Mahmoud El-Gibali and his assistants of 
embezzling company funds and squandering money on personal trips 
abroad and are demanding they be dismissed. The allegations are 
still being investigated. 

In addition to bread and butter issues the workers have formulated 
other, more political demands, the most important of which is the 
call for independent labour unions. In March, 14,000 Mehala workers 
signed a petition to impeach their local union committee and 
denounce the General Confederation of Trade Unions (GCTU) as an arm 
of the government.

Their rejection of the GCTU has had a domino effect on workers' 
protests nationwide. The 7 December Movement -- Workers for Change 
(the name of the coalition of workers refers to an earlier strike by 
the Mehala workers) has issued a statement saying that "one of our 
first goals is not to recognise official representatives like the 
workers' unions and syndicates which have clearly demonstrated they 
do not represent workers' demands". Workers for Change are connected 
to the protest movement Kifaya and view themselves as part of the 
political opposition to the current regime. In addition to rejecting 
the state-controlled GCTU, they are directly contesting the 
government's neo-liberal policies by protesting against the drive to 
privatise the public sector -- a demand every public sector workers' 
strike has picked up. "Important elements among the Mehala strikers 
are now framing their struggle as a political fight with national 
implications," says Beinin. "They are directly challenging the 
economic policies of the regime."

And they are building a movement. "I have just returned from a 
meeting with a textile workers' committee from the Shebin Al-Kom 
plant," says Mohamed El-Attar, a prominent Mehala strike leader. "We 
are coordinating with other workers and plan to meet with them on a 
regular monthly basis because we're all in this together. Whether 
we're industrial workers or white collar workers, in the public or 
in the private sector, the struggle is one." 

An activist with the Centre of Workers' and Trade Union Services 
(CWTUS), an advocacy NGO that the government closed last April, 
Attar believes that Egyptian workers have succeeded in launching a 
nationwide intifada since the Mehala textile workers' first work 
stoppage on 7 December, 2006. They decided to strike after the state-
owned company failed to fulfil Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif's pledge 
to increase public sector workers' annual bonuses from LE100 ($18) 
to the equivalent of two months' pay. 

Unwilling to risk a protracted showdown with a labour force of 
27,000 the government backed down and came to the negotiating table. 
The strikers and Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieldin reached a 
compromise: the workers accepted a bonus equal to 45- days-pay 
instead of the promised two months, and the minister pledged to pay 
them a ten per cent profit-share if the company made more than LE60 
million in profits. 

The Mehala workers' December strike established a successful model 
of protest triggering a wave of industrial actions across Egypt, 
including the ongoing tax collectors' protest that has mobilised 
some 55,000 workers. Though initiated by industrial workers, the 
labour intifada has quickly gained momentum within both the public 
and private sectors. The Land Centre, an agricultural workers' 
watchdog, reports a total of 283 industrial actions during the first 
half of 2007. In the wake of the December strike in Mehala textile 
workers from mills in Shebin Al-Kom and Kafr Al-Dawwar went on 
strike over similar demands. Railway and metro workers, teachers and 
tax collectors have all followed suit.

The Mehala workers have also pointed to an alternative to the local 
union committees of the GCTU. "Among the Mehala workers' most 
important gains is that they forced the confederation to accept 
their committee as a negotiating partner in lieu of the local union 
committee," says labour journalist and CWTUS activist Adel Zakaria. 

"It is incredible, we actually received an invitation from Said El-
Gohary, head of the General Trade Union of Textile Workers, to 
attend union meetings at the headquarters in Cairo," says 
Attar. "They recognise us as the Mehala workers' committee because 
they know they can't negotiate without us. This is a victory."


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