I met Mohammed Hassan Aazab earlier this year over tea at a table of young anarchists in downtown Cairo. The anniversary of the revolution had just passed with massive protests and the emergence of a Western-style black bloc that appeared to have little to do with anarchists in the city. At the time, much of the ongoing grassroots organizing was against sexual violence — in particular, the mob sexual assaults that have become synonymous with any large gathering in Tahrir. The trauma of such violence carried out against protesters was apparent in our conversation. In fact, Aazab told me that he was done with protests and politics, and had resigned himself to the dysfunction of day-to-day life in Egypt.

Then came June 30. Crowds reportedly as large as 33 million took to the streets to call for the Muslim Brotherhood to step down from power, just a year after Mohammed Morsi took office. In the pre-dawn moments of July 1, as Aazab’s phone battery dwindled steadily, I reconnected with him to chat a bit about his return to resistance.

An anarchist tent in Tahrir Square. (WNV/Mohammed Hassan Aazab)

Continue reading →

Sam Mbah

Sam Mbah is the co-author, with I. E. Igariwey, of African Anarchism, originally published in 1997. In that book, Mbah and Igariwey argued for an anarchist alternative in Africa. I have included excerpts from African Anarchism in Volume Three of Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas. Last year, Mbah gave an interview in which he discusses the prospects for anarchism, and a “African Spring,” in Nigeria, where he remains active. Below, I reproduce some excerpts from the interview, in which Mbah discusses power and corruption in Nigeria, the negative role of established religion, the weakness of civil society and trade union organizations, the role of the oil industry, environmental degradation, deindustrialization and the need for continuing support from people outside of Nigeria.

The entire interview can be found at: http://sammbah.wordpress.com/

Continue reading →

Call World Social: The people want the fall of the system

Download the call here / pdf

Revolutionaries of the world,

On the occasion of the World Social Forum which will be held in Tunisia during March 2013, we believe that the liberal reformist approach opted for by the organizing bureaucracy of the Forum will in no way lead to a revolutionary project for the people of the world. Even though the event is presented as an opportunity for the revolutionaries coming from all corners of the globe to meet, we deem that the ultimate objective, namely the collapse of the capitalist system, will not be taken into consideration.

Continue reading →

The black bloc in Egypt say they are the defenders of protesters opposed to President Mohamed Morsi’s rule [AFP]

The last time kids in black caused this much trouble in Egypt, it was Satan’s fault. Well, at least that’s what the Muslim Brotherhood and the Mubarak government claimed during the infamous “Satanic metal affair” of 1997, when over 100 metalheads – musicians and fans – were arrested and threatened with prosecution and even death simply because they dressed in black and liked extreme music.

The persecution of Egypt’s metalheads, or “metaliens” as many called themselves, drove the burgeoning scene underground for much of the next decade. It did not begin to resurface until the mid-2000s, at the same time as political movements like Kefaaya emerged, and the strikes in the industrial centre of Mahallah occurred. This period saw a renewed, if still sporadic, militancy that would coalesce into the revolutionary surge of late 2010 and early 2011.

Continue reading →

An unprecedented situation is taking place in the city of Port Said – complete self-management, a rejection of everything that authority represents. It is a situation that the main actors in the Egyptian struggle at this time – the workers – are trying to reproduce in other cities too.

Port Said is now completely in the hands of the people. At the entrance to the city, in place of the old police roadblocks, there is a checkpoint manned by locals, mostly striking workers calling themselves the “popular police”. The same is true for the traffic – no more traffic cops but young men, students and workers who are self-managing the city’s traffic.

Continue reading →

Anarcha-feminists came today, 12 February 2013, to the embassy of Egypt in Moscow to express solidarity with the victims of sexual assault/violence that took place throughout Egypt during the revolution and even after the revolution, when the Muslim Brotherhood came to power.

We don’t have any illusions about the Egyptian government and we don’t ask it to protect demonstrators, who are actually protesting against the system.

We appeal to the demonstrators, to the people, who came out onto the streets in order to fight for justice and a better life. Women are half of society. They double the voices on the streets! Women will strengthen this movement; if you say “no” to medieval customs and let women become your comrades in the struggle!

Continue reading →

Solidarity with the Libertarian Socialist Movement!

Support the Egyptian People!!

Last Sunday, January 21, several political activists were arrested after the riots provoked by the police in front of the Alexandria court of justice. Among them are four members of the Libertarian Socialist Movement, a member of the Revolutionary Socialist organization (Trotskyist) and 16 other unaffiliated. All are activists who fight against the reactionary regime of the Muslim Brotherhood. After January 21, the defendants were wrongfully imprisoned for twenty days. Today, they are released on bail, except the Trotskyist militant, and they all still awaiting trial.

This sentence is not a coincidence: these activists are deeply involved in union and neighbourhood mobilization, and they are fierce opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood. This happens in a context in which the police have shown, for the last few months, great brutality against the protesters and demonstrators. Besides, all the political activists are followed, receive anonymous threats and are harassed. Proof of this is the raid against political activists who distributed leaflets in the streets of Alexandria a few days after the events of January 21.

Continue reading →