A letter from the Revolutionary Association of Textile Workers to the revolutionaries on the barricades in Tahrir Square, Alexandria and Suez
Original Arabic here

29 November 2011

Eleven days behind the barricades in the squares of Egypt is proof that the revolutionaries have reclaimed revolutionary legitimacy in seventeen provinces. Yet although the revolutionaries have offered themselves as martyrs in the squares as sacrifices for freedom, equality and justice, they have offered their wounded, and lost more than 11,000 to the military’s prisons, we have still not reaped the harvest of our struggle.

Now, after ten months where we’ve seen the remnants of the old system simply recycled, and opportunistic attempts by the political forces with religious authority to ignore the revolutionary legitimacy of the masses in the squares, ten months where the blood of the martyrs has irrigated the pavements anew, now they are fabricating and falsifying the democracy we fought for. They are signing the revolution’s death certificate at the ballot boxes because they know that their path to power can only pass through the blood of the martyrs and the injured. It is therefore down to the revolutionaries in the squares to propose an alternative to the bloodstained democracy which the military council and its allies among the political forces with religious authority have decided upon.

The return of the masses to the squares has inspired experiences among the revolutionary forces of the students, workers, peasants, professionals and the marginalized which we must build on to create the new form of democracy that we must defend.

The military council and its allies in the corridors of power and the political parties are preparing a parliament to extend their presence and legitimacy. Now is the time for the masses in the squares to create forms of popular revolutionary democracy in Tahrir, Alexandria, Suez, Mansoura and Sohag. We must develop new, legitimate revolutionary forms of democratic representation from the streets and therefore we must create popular revolutionary councils in the public squares by:

1. A public vote by the tens of thousands on the barricades in Tahrir Square to create the first popular revolutionary council by choosing 100 revolutionaries from within the square to express the goals and demands of revolutionary legitimacy
2. The Popular Revolutionary Council must form elected committees which shall take all their decisions by voting.
3. The Revolutionary Council shall inform the Military Council of the decisions it has taken via the media
4. Popular Revolutionary Councils must be formed in the public squares in Alexandria and Suez after Tahrir, and they must co-ordinate in order to achieve the goals of the people’s revolution.

The Popular Revolutionary Councils are the most mature form of the democratic expression of the people’s aspiration for justice, equality and freedom. They represent revolutionary legitimacy against the ‘legitimacy’ of Mubarak, his council and of his allies.

We propose to you the election of a Popular Revolutionary Council in the public squares because we support the revolution with all our strength, and as an association of workers in spinning and weaving which was formed after the revolution we will join in support and solidarity with all your democratic decisions through sit-ins, partial strikes and even a general strike because of our confidence in you.

Victory to the revolution!
Glory to the Martyrs!

Revolutionary Association of Textile Workers