And once again the darkness is so deep, no light can drive it back. And the abyss is so dark, so mute and echoing, it swallows her up and wraps her in eternal silence. This is Salima, 62 years old, from Um al-Fahm. That night, five years ago, when cars converged on her humble home and the grandchildren alighted, she knew that Ahmed, one of her eight children, was no more. Five days of intensive care had stopped time in its tracks. Hope had not survived.
Representatives of the independent union WAC-Ma’an took part in an international trade union conference in Istanbul in November, initiated by the LabourStart website and hosted by Turkish unions. Participants included some 100 representatives from 30 countries, among them European states, Australia, North America, Africa and Iran. However the most notable delegates came from the Arab states including the those who experienced firsthand the recent revolutions: Egypt and Tunisia. The conference concentrated primarily on the issue of the international workers’ movement and the Arab Spring.
In these very days, marking 100 years of Women’s International Day, a new chapter is being written in history by millions of women and men in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and elsewhere. We salute the workers who first raised the banner of revolt in Egypt in 2008, who persisted and who now see the fruit of their sacrifices. This is the springtime of the peoples in the Arab world, opening a gateway of hope for all. At last we may dare to believe that we can determine our destinies, securing the right to live and work in dignity.
