Stop the military crackdown in Egypt
Solidarity with protests against oppression of Coptic Christians
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We are appalled by the murder of more than 20 people during attacks on a peaceful protest on 9 October in Cairo. Thousands of Christians and Muslims marched to the State TV buildings at Maspero, calling for an end to violence and incitement against Egypt’s Coptic Christian community. Eyewitness accounts from journalists and human rights activists at the scene make clear that army vehicles deliberately mowed down protesters, troops fired live ammunition at people and gangs of state-backed thugs attacked the Coptic hospital where injured and dying protestors were being treated.
We are disturbed to hear that while these horrific scenes unfolded Egyptian state TV broadcast distorted accounts of the events laying all blame for the violence at the door of protestors.
We condemn this brutal act of state repression against people who dared to raise their head against oppression. It is also an attempt to divide and weaken the growing movement against military rule which has brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets in protest over the past few weeks.
As trade unionists and activists in the UK we have been inspired by the Egyptian people’s courage in making the 25 January revolution. We have followed closely the strikes and protests by hundreds of thousands of workers and students across Egypt over the last few weeks for the fundamental demands of social justice and an end to corruption and repression. These strikes have united Muslims and Christians in a common struggle.
In the UK we have faced numerous attempts by the racists, the media and the state to divide our movement through whipping up hatred of Muslims and other minority groups. We know that unity in struggle can beat such attempts to divide us. We send our solidarity greetings to our brothers and sisters in Egypt now who are standing firm by the principles of the revolution, and pledge our support for their battle to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice.
John McDonnell, MP; Katy Clark, MP; Bob Crow, General Secretary, Rail Maritime Transport Union; London Transport Regional Executive RMT; Steve Hedley, London Regional Organiser, RMT; Vaughan Thomas, President, London Transport Region RMT; John Kelly, Secretary, London Transport Region RMT; Unjum Mirza, Political Officer, London Transport Region RMT and 73 other RMT reps; Sue Bond Public and Commercial Services Union National Vice-President, Zita Holbourne PCS NEC, Andy Reid, PCS NEC; Jane Loftus, President Communication Workers Union, Tony Cairns, Senior Deputy General Secretary, Communication Workers Union; Mark Bergfeld, Education Activist Network; Louise Christian, Human Rights Lawyer; Rhetta Moran, Unite Against Fascism; Mark Campbell, University and Colleges Union, National Executive Committee; Nick Grant, National Union of Teachers, National Executive Committee
More names to be published shortly.
MENA Solidarity Network 
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the words of a canadian christian musician,bruce cockburn come to mind”….i dont believe in generals,and their stinking,torture states”.its unfortunate to say the least that nearly 30n years on from when those words nwere vritten,they remain relevant.then it was guatemala,el salvador,nicaragua.now it is egypt,syria,palestine/israel…to many places to name….many tears to cry.
the shocking news of the brutal,careless,callous,indifferent murder of my coptic christian brothers and sisters in cairo brought me to tears.i hedar they were in silent vigil,holding placards and candles.im disgustted by the uter cowardice of the egyptian military who cynically used state tv to call out other egyptians to protect the army against the peaceful copts.
lost,
member of the international luxemburgist network
beyond my tears i am enraged by the brutality and cynicism of state after state repressing people after people,and of rulers in egypt,syria,britain,greece,the united states-indeed most of the world-telling us this is the way it is.i am ashamed that our rulers here in the uk cry crocodile tears,say a few carefully chosen but meaningless words and let the killing continue.
the struggle is international for humanity to raise its head,get off its knees,to live in dignity and respect.i know i am closer to my brothers and sisters,those of us who”do”and struggle,than to those who rule over any of us.
the only way to change this is to proyest at every kind of brutality,opression,repression and exploitation,to link all our struggles across the world and to begin to construct a different social order in which we live and let live,in which we create and imagine an order based on human need and abilities not greed and power
i will do what i can to make my contribution to creating the world we have to win,as a commonwealth for us all.i willingly sign my rejection and disgust at the brutality shown to the copts.