AUC Strike : And the flag Mania reaches to the New AUC Campus

The AUC strike has entered its 5th day in row since its start earlier this way and it seems that it will not end this weekend or today especially with the escalation that took place this afternoon and surprised everybody.
If you do not know what is going on in the AUC , well this week the  the workers “ DDC workers , Security staff and custodial workers” along with students decided to go in to strike against the administration of the university. Some of the university professors along with some of AUC alumni are standing with the students and the workers. Here is a list with the demands of the workers and students as well.

AUC strike demands

Earlier today President of AUC Lisa Anderson went and talked with the students in some sort of negotiations that did not succeed. She left the meeting and headed to her office along with her secretary after a little tension with the students , nobody attacked her physically from near or far by the way.  In fact according to protesters’ statement issued yesterday it was her guards that created chaos in order to make it as if the students were attacking her. According to Gigi Ibrahim , The AUC president left when the students began to speak about workers’ human rights and working conditions.
The students are demanding that she steps down.
Now yesterday afternoon we were surprised with by an unexpected escalation : The protesters pulled down the American flag !!

AUC Strike : Bringing Down the AUC flag

It was surprising and shocking. The protesters rallied with the flag for a while chanting chants like “Raise your head , you are Egyptian” and “We will not leave , she will leave”.

Rallying with the flag " Gigi Ibrahim"

Anyhow the protesters folded and returned it back to the admiration office.

Heading to the admin office to return the flag

 

Returning back the flag "Gigi Ibrahim"

There was a huge backlash from everybody as far as I could see whether from other AUC students or Alumni or foreign watchers online. Everybody mixed what happened with politics in a way I can’t blame them for , it is as if there is a flag fever in the country !!
I am not an AUCian but I know if the Egyptian flag was pulled down from Al Azhar university branches or University of Alexandria branch in Beirut or Cairo university branch in Khartoum , I will not feel happy about "Actually I wonder if our flag is hoisted up on these universities' branches outside Egypt"
As soon as I hit the send button in twitter with the news , I found many replies from all around the globe with some ridiculous comments from the kind ‘Are you going to nationalize the AUC !? ‘ , ‘ You hate the Americans’ and the most ridiculous one of all ‘Good bye to your revolution’ !!!
I will not enter a debate except when you think about , this small incident shows what we suffer in the Egyptian revolution itself recently from unneeded emotional escalation without any regard to the consequence.
I followed the whole matter on twitter from different accounts including Gigi Ibrahim’s who is currently under huge attack because of the flag despite she made it clear it was not her idea. Gigi has posted a beautiful photo gallery from the AUC strike on her Flickr account.

Many students and alumni disapproved on the move.

Dispute among #AUC student body over the taking down of the American flag on campus. From tone of incoming messages, most opposed to action.Thu Sep 15 16:31:59 via webAUC Caravan
Caravan_AUC

I do not get how the American flag has become Lisa’s flag and how they would not return back except she apologized again when I think about. Gigi said that it was not a political move but rather a symbolic one as the flag represents Lisa’s hypocrisy !! This seems political to me !!
This is what we suffer actually in our revolution if you remember , emotional decisions . As Farah Saafan said how this would help the cause of the workers before the students !?

Alright can we go back to focusing on the original demands of AUC workers? Can we move on PAST the flag drama? #AUCstrikeThu Sep 15 16:06:51 via webFarah Saafan
FarahSaafan

The workers in AUC take LE 400 only in month.

هرجع أكمل شغل.. إشربوا العلم كلوا العلم و سيبوا العمال إلي بياخدوا ٤٠٠ جنيه في الشهر من غير اجازات إسبوعية يولعوا #AUCstrikeThu Sep 15 16:10:25 via webFarah Saafan
FarahSaafan

I am for the #AUCstrike demands. I however dont see how taking the US flag down is pushing the case forward, in fact, it only weakens it.Thu Sep 15 15:42:08 via webSarrah Abdelrahman
sarrahsworld

You must know that many people regard this strike as one of the important strikes in the students movements after the revolution that can open for change in the Egyptian universities.
For the record this is not the first time it happens in the history of AUC in the past 11 years despite it is the first time in the new Campus. In 2001 leftist journalist/blogger/activist/student then Hossam El Hamalawy pulled down the American flag from the Old Tahrir Campus and hoisted instead of it the Palestinian flag. It was during the intifada , El Hamalawy was arrested and tortured by the state security because of it. The American flag had been not seen at Tahrir campus since then till the AUC was transferred to its new home in New Cairo.
Now Guardian has published a report about the AUC strike by Jack Shenker that made many AUC professors angry from what they considered wrong information in the Guardian’s report despite Shenker is from the best foreign reporters in Egypt.
The final Ultimate of the protesters is the closing of the university which nobody wants whether the protesters from students or workers or professors.
Here is one of the groups on Facebook that represents the Custodial workers “The AUC independent Syndicate”

Technorati Tags: AUC,Citizen journalism,Media,Politics,America,National,Lisa Anderson,Gigi Ibrahim,Hossam El Hamalawy,American flag,Strikes,#AUCstrike,Economy,Jack Shenker