The Rising of Egypt's Working Class

The real “intelligence failure” of the ruling class

"... revolutions are not just about changing institutions. Most profoundly, they are about the dramatic remaking of the downtrodden. Revolutions are schools of profound self-education. They destroy submission and resignation, and they release long-repressed creative energies – intelligence, solidarity, invention, self-activity. In so doing, they reweave the fabric of everyday life. The horizons of possibility expand. The unthinkable – that ordinary people might control their lives – becomes both thinkable and practical." - David McNally

The following article by David McNally documents the conscious rising of the working class in Egypt and how its participation in struggles in recent years provided a foundation for the political uprising that took place just now in the country. And it traces how the political uprising, in turn, gave rise to an even wider participation of working people in the political uprising, enriching it with labour strikes, occupations and self-organized revolutionary institutions including peoples' clinics, security forces, instruments of direct democracy, and the spreading of self-organization model throughout all levels of society, from the streets to the universities and the workplaces, from the the occupied factories to the front lines of street battles.

Liberation is an act of simultaneous conscious awakening and direct action, a concrete engagement with Reality guided by a freed Consciousness, a massive collective labour of love that conjoins praxis and theory; it's a spiral in which labour struggles and political struggles fuel and nourish each other to turn in a widening rising helix. As that helix turns, it brings in more people into its process, sculpting an expansion of the liberated community outwards and higher. David McNally's article paints a picture of how this took place in Egypt and anchors it to the work of other prominent revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg, who had a lot to say about the revolutionary moment, and its process.

Observing the events of Russian Revolution of 1905, she wrote that they unfolded contrary to the expectations of dogmatists and authoritarian committee-men: "Instead of the rigid and hollow scheme of an arid political action carried out by the decision of the highest committees and furnished with a plan and panorama, we see a bit of pulsating like of flesh and blood, which cannot be cut out of the large frame of the revolution but is connected with all parts of the revolution by a thousand veins."

A brilliant analyst and thoroughly committed revolutionary, Rosa Luxemburg saw the complexities of the revolutionary phenomenon and called it as it is, a pulsation of Life affirming itself:

"The mass strike, as the Russian Revolution shows it to us, is such a changeable phenomenon that it reflects all the phases of the political and economic struggle, all stages and factors of the revolution. Its adaptability, its efficiency, the factors of its origin are constantly changing. It suddenly opens new and wide perspectives of the revolution when it appears to have already arrived in a narrow pass and where it is impossible for anyone to reckon upon it with any degree of certainty. It flows now like a broad billow over the whole kingdom, and now divides into a gigantic network of narrow streams; now it bubbles forth from under the ground like a fresh spring and now is completely lost under the earth. Political and economic strikes, mass strikes and partial strikes, demonstrative strikes and fighting strikes, general strikes of individual branches of industry and general strikes in individual towns, peaceful wage struggles and street massacres, barricade fighting – all these run through one another, run side by side, cross one another, flow in and over one another – it is a ceaselessly moving, changing sea of phenomena. And the law of motion of these phenomena is clear: it does not lie in the mass strike itself nor in its technical details, but in the political and social proportions of the forces of the revolution."
http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1906/mass-strike/ch04.htm

Petros Evdokas, petros@cyprus-org.net
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Mubarak's Folly:
The Rising of Egypt's Workers

by David McNally

Rarely do our rulers look more absurd than when faced with a popular upheaval. As fear and apathy are broken, ordinary people – housewives, students, sanitation workers, the unemployed – remake themselves. Having been objects of history, they become its agents. Marching in their millions, reclaiming public space, attending meetings and debating their society's future, they discover in themselves capacities for organization and action they had never imagined. They arrest secret police, defend their communities and their rallies, organize the distribution of food, water and medical supplies. Exhilarated by new solidarities and empowered by the understanding that they are making history, they shed old habits of deference and passivity.

It is this – the self-transformation of oppressed people – that elites can never grasp. That is what explains the truly delusional character of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's speech on Thursday, February 10, where he prattled on in surreal disconnection from events. But while the aging dictator may be uniquely out of touch, he merely reflects the biases of his class. For it is a general characteristic of our rulers that they imagine those below them to be inherently stupid and deferential. They treat the downtrodden as labouring drones and cannon fodder for military adventures. They feed them lies and empty promises and send in the riot police when the subjugated get unruly. And most of the time they get away with it.

That is why popular revolutions are inexplicable to them. As ordinary people cast off resignation and obedience, as they take control of their communities and reclaim the streets, they become unrecognizable to their rulers. This is the real “intelligence failure” of the ruling class. Contrary to the terms of debate in security circles, it is not that they missed some indicators of institutional change; it is rather that all their models are based on the presumption of popular passivity. “Ordinary Egyptians have a reputation as fatalists,” pronounced a former Canadian diplomat to Egypt in the early days of the revolution, explaining that Egypt would not go the way of Tunisia, where dictator Ben Ali was toppled only weeks earlier.[1] In so doing, the diplomat revealed not only his own foolishness, but also the tone deaf incapacity of elites to comprehend people's power.

People's Creative Energies

After all, revolutions are not just about changing institutions. Most profoundly, they are about the dramatic remaking of the downtrodden. Revolutions are schools of profound self-education. They destroy submission and resignation, and they release long-repressed creative energies – intelligence, solidarity, invention, self-activity. In so doing, they reweave the fabric of everyday life. The horizons of possibility expand. The unthinkable – that ordinary people might control their lives – becomes both thinkable and practical.

All of this eludes bosses, bureaucrats, generals, politicians, and the vast majority of journalists because they do not understand the inner heart of a genuinely revolutionary process – that having taken to the stage of history, oppressed people are never again the same.

It is this error that explains the frantic tacking and turning of rulers confronted with mass insurgency. One moment they make concessions, the next moment they send in the goons – all in the belief that ordinary people can be beaten back into submission, or bribed with crumbs from the tables of the rich. But the longer they do this, the more they force the mass movement to broaden its base and deepen its struggles. President Ben Ali made this mistake in Tunisia; Mubarak keeps making it in Egypt. And by clinging to power in the face of mass opposition, they give the lowest layers of society the time and space to enter the political sphere. The result is that popular revolutions open the doors to great upsurges of working class struggle.

That has been Mubarak's greatest folly. It is why Egyptian capitalists, parts of the Egyptian regime and the U.S. state have concluded that he has to go. But the genie of the Egyptian workers having now been awakened, it will be very hard to put it back in the bottle.

The Birth of Popular Power

Philosopher Peter Hallward is among those few commentators who have grasped the inner workings of the Egyptian Revolution. Writing in the Guardian of London, he observes:

“Every step of the way, the basic fact of the uprising has become more obvious and more explicit: with each new confrontation, the protestors have realised, and demonstrated, that they are more powerful than their oppressors. When they are prepared to act in sufficient numbers with sufficient determination, the people have proved that there’s no stopping them. Again and again, elated protestors have marvelled at the sudden discovery of their own power.”[2]

Participants repeatedly describe how their fear has lifted. “When we stopped being afraid we knew we would win,” Ahmad Mahmoud told a reporter. “What we have achieved,” proclaimed another, “is the revolution in our minds.” The significance of such a revolution in attitudes is inestimable. But such shifts do not happen at the level of consciousness alone; they are inextricably connected to a revolution in the relations of everyday life – by way of the birth of popular power. And these new forms of people's power and radical democracy from below have emerged as steps necessary to preserve the Revolution and keep it moving it forward.

So, when violently attacked, as they were on February 2, 2011, by undercover police and goons of the ruling party wielding guns, knives, Molotov cocktails and more, the insurgents held their ground and fought back, holding Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. In the process, they extended their grassroots self-organization. As reporters for the Washington Post noted, the rebels of Tahrir Square created popular prisons to hold undercover security forces, and people's clinics to care for the wounded:

“Refusing to end their 10-day old demonstration, protesters set up makeshift hospitals in alleyways off the square to treat their wounded, and fashioned a holding cell in a nearby travel office to detain those they suspected of inciting the violence. Organizers said they had captured more than 350 ‘thugs of the government’ among the pro-government demonstrators, some carrying police identification cards, and turned them over to the Egyptian army.”[3]

In the same spirit, the movement has formed People's Protection forces, staffed by both women and men, to provide safety and security in neighbourhoods and in the mass marches and assemblies. In some towns, like El Arish, the biggest city in the northern Sinai, official police and security forces have melted away only to be replaced by armed Popular Committees, which have maintained the peace.[4]

Developing alongside these forms of popular self-organization are new practices of radical democracy. In Tahrir Square, the nerve center of the Revolution, the crowd engages in direct decision-making, sometimes in its hundreds of thousands. Organized into smaller groups, people discuss and debate, and then send elected delegates to consultations about the movement's demands. As one journalist explains, “delegates from these mini-gatherings then come together to discuss the prevailing mood, before potential demands are read out over the square's makeshift speaker system. The adoption of each proposal is based on the proportion of boos or cheers it receives from the crowd at large.”[5]

Tahrir Square and public spaces in Alexandria, Suez and dozens of smaller cities, are now sites of ongoing festivals of the oppressed. Describing the popular security services and people's “food supply chains,” demonstrator Karim Medhat Ennarah proclaims, “We have already created a liberated republic within the heart of Egypt.”[6]

Enter the Workers

Years of courageous struggle by Egypt's workers were decisive in creating the conditions for the popular uprising. And now, mere weeks into the upsurge, tens of thousands of workers are mobilizing, raising both economic and political demands as part of a rising wave of strikes. The consequences could be momentous.

Social movements generally have been on the move recently in Egypt. The years 2002-03 saw important stirrings of political protest in solidarity with the Palestinian Intifada and in opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Shortly after this, the Kefaya (Enough) movement organized for democratic reform and the feminist group, We Are Watching You (Shayfenkom) came out in defence of women's rights.

But by 2004 it was strike action, sit-ins and demonstrations by workers that comprised the most determined and persistent oppositional activity – most of it illegal under the emergency edicts and laws that deny workers the right to form independent unions. Over the past six years or so, more than two million workers engaged in thousands of direct actions. Most importantly, they regularly won significant concessions on wages and working conditions. The result was a growing confidence among workers – so much so that genuinely independent unions began to emerge in a society where the official unions are effectively extensions of the state.

In 2006-07 mass working class protest erupted in the Nile Delta, spearheaded by the militant action of 50,000 workers in textiles and the cement and poultry industries. This was followed by strikes of train drivers, journalists, truckers, miners and engineers. Then 2007-08 saw another labour explosion, with riots at the state-owned weaving factory in Al-Mahla Al-Kobra. The youth-based April 6th Movement emerged at this point in support of workers’ strikes. Meanwhile, workers began to address the general interests of all working people, particularly the poorest, by pressing the demand for a substantial increase in the minimum wage.

Now, workers are again throwing their collective power onto the scales of the political struggle in Egypt. And Mubarak and his cronies will live to regret it.

In the course of a few days during the week of February 7, tens of thousands of them stormed into action. Thousands of railworkers took strike action, blockading railway lines in the process. Six thousand workers at the Suez Canal Authority walked off the job, staging sit-ins at Suez and two other cities. In Mahalla, 1,500 workers at Abul Sebae Textiles struck and blockaded the highway. At the Kafr al-Zayyat hospital hundreds of nurses staged a sit-in and were joined by hundreds of other hospital employees.

Across Egypt, thousands of others – bus workers in Cairo, employees at Telecom Egypt, journalists at a number of newspapers, workers at pharmaceutical plants and steel mills – joined the strike wave. They demanded improved wages, the firing of ruthless managers, back pay, better working conditions and independent unions. In many cases they also called for the resignation of President Mubarak. And in some cases, like that of the 2,000 workers at Helwan Silk Factory, they demanded the removal of their company's Board of Directors. Then there were the thousands of faculty members at Cairo University who joined the protests, confronted security forces, and prevented Prime Minister Ahmed Shariq from getting to his government office.[7]

What we are seeing, in other words, is the rising of the Egyptian working class. Having been at the heart of the popular upsurge in the streets, tens of thousands of workers are now taking the revolutionary struggle back to their workplaces, extending and deepening the movement in the process. In so doing, they are proving the continuing relevance of the analysis developed by the great Polish-German socialist, Rosa Luxemburg. In her book, The Mass Strike,
http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1906/mass-strike/
based on the experience of mass strikes of 1905 against the Tsarist dictatorship in Russia, Luxemburg argued that truly revolutionary movements develop by way of interacting waves of political and economic struggle, each enriching the other. In a passage that could have been inspired by the upheaval in Egypt, she explains,

“Every new onset and every fresh victory of the political struggle is transformed into a powerful impetus for the economic struggle... After every foaming wave of political action a fructifying deposit remains behind from which a thousand stalks of economic struggle burst forth. And conversely. The workers condition of ceaseless economic struggle with the capitalists keeps their fighting spirit alive in every political interval ...”
http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1906/mass-strike/ch04.htm

And so it is in the Egyptian Revolution. Tens of millions of workers – in transportation, healthcare, textiles, education, heavy industry, the service sector – are being awakened and mobilized. They are fusing demands for economic justice to those for democracy, and they are among the hundreds of thousands building popular power and self-organization. Moreover, should the rising of the workers move toward mass strikes that paralyze the economy, the Egyptian Revolution would move to a new and more powerful level.

What the coming weeks will bring is still uncertain. But Mubarak's folly has triggered an upsurge of workers’ struggle whose effects will endure. “The most precious, because lasting, thing in this ebb and flow of the [revolutionary] wave is . . . the intellectual, cultural growth of the working class,” wrote Rosa Luxemburg. ["Development of the Mass Strike Movement in Russia":
http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1906/mass-strike/ch03.htm ]

In Tahrir Square and elsewhere thousands of signs depict Mubarak accompanied by the words “Game Over.” For the workers of Egypt it is now, “Game On.” •


David McNally teaches political science at York University, Toronto and is the author of the recently published, Global Slump: The Economics and Politics of Crisis and Resistance (PM Press)
http://www.pmpress.org/content/article.php?story=DavidMcNally#bookinfo
This article first appeared on his blog, http://davidmcnally.org

Endnotes:
1. Michael Bell, “Will Egypt go the way of Tunisia?” Globe and Mail, January 27, 2011:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/article1884022.ece

2. Peter Hallward, “Egypt's popular revolution will change the world,” Guardian, February 9, 2011. Available at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/09/egypt-north-africa-revolution

3. Leila Fadel, Will Englund and Debbi Wilgoren, “5 shot in 2nd day of bloody clashes; amid outcry Egyptian PM apologizes,” Washington Post, February 3, 2011:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/02/AR2011020202176.html

4. Tobias Buck, “Palestinians hope for change and resumption of border trade,” Financial Times, February 8, 2011.

5. Jack Shenker, “Cairo's biggest protest yet demands Mubarak's immediate departure,” Guardian, February 5, 2011:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/05/egypt-protest-demands-mubarak-departure

6. Quoted in Hallward.

7. My sources on workers’ protests include Aljazeera, Al-Masry Al-Youm, the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services, newsocialist.org, and socialistworker.org. Special thanks to Jack Hicks for documents and reports.

The article was published by "The Bullet", an organ of the Socialist Project from Canada:
http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/460.php

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Αλεξάνδρεια: Έκπτωτος ο Βασιλεύς Μουμπάρακ
Ο Λαός Πανηγυρίζει στους Δρόμους !
http://cyprusindymedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/blog-post_12.html

Η Αιγυπτιακή Αντίσταση
http://cyprusindymedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/blog-post_06.html

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Η Αιγυπτιακή Αντίσταση

Κείμενα Διαμαρτυρίας από το Κίνημα γιά Δημοκρατία και Κοινωνική Δικαιοσύνη

o- Αν Ήταν Στο Χέρι Μου
ο- Δύσκολη Εξίσωση
ο- Απολεσθέντα

Παρουσιάζουμε σήμερα μερικά από τα κείμενα που δημοσιεύτηκαν σε εφημερίδα επί εποχής Μουμπάρακ που κόστισαν στον δημοσιογράφο που τα έγραψε την ολοκληρωτική καταστροφή της ζωής του στην Αίγυπτο, τον εξοστρακισμό του στην εξορία και την εκτέλεση του εξάδελφου του από το παρακράτος του δικτάτορα.

Ένα αυτοκίνητο χωρίς αριθμούς γεμάτο ένοπλους πέρασε δίπλα από τον εξάδελφο του συγγραφέα και τον κτύπησαν επί τόπου χωρίς καν να κατεβούν οι φονιάδες από το αυτοκίνητο. Προτού πεθάνει, ο άνθρωπος είχε φροντίσει να βοηθήσει στη φυγάδευση του αρθρογράφου στο εξωτερικό γιά να γλυτώσει - έδωσε τη δική του ζωή γιά να τον προστατέψει.

Ο συγγραφέας είναι σήμερα πολιτικός πρόσφυγας στην Κύπρο. Ονομάζεται Χασάν Μοχάμετ Ζάυουτατ Μπαής / Hasan Mohamed Jawdad Baes. Η σημερινή εξέγερση και δημοκρατική κινητοποίηση στην Αίγυπτο έφερε τα κείμενα του ξανά στο προσκήνιο... και στις σελίδες μας.

Ανατριχιαστική η συνειδητοποίηση πως σκοτώθηκαν άνθρωποι γιά αυτά τα απλά λόγια, γιά την ανθρωπιά και τις απλές αλήθειες που βγαίνουν μέσα από τα κείμενα του Χασάν. Υπογραμμίζουν την επίγνωση του σε πόσο μεγάλες θηριωδίες επιδίδονται ανθρωπόμορφα τέρατα γιά να πνίξουν τον λόγο, να φιμώσουν την ανθρωπιά και την απλή επιθυμία του λαού γιά κοινωνική δικαιοσύνη και ελευθερία.

Οι απανταχού εξόριστοι και πολιτικοί πρόσφυγες από την Αίγυπτο σήμερα κοιτάζουν πρός τη χώρα τους με αναζωπυρωμένο τον πόθο του γυρισμού, και προς την δημοκρατική λαϊκή εξέγερση με την ελπίδα της απελευθέρωσης. Συμμετέχουν στις διεθνείς κινητοποιήσεις αλληλεγγύης όπου βρίσκονται και με χίλιους δυό τρόπους συμβάλλουν από μακρυά στη μεγάλη λαϊκή κινητοποίηση της Αιγύπτου ενάντια στη δικτατορία. Μαζί τους και ο εξόριστος Χασάν.

Τα κείμενα φέρουν τη σφραγίδα του Γραφείου Τύπου και Πληροφοριών της Κυπριακής Δημοκρατίας και επίσημη βεβαίωση πως αποτελούν πιστή μετάφραση των πρωτότυπων εγγράφων του Χασάν Μοχάμετ Ζάυουτατ Μπαής.

Ομάδα Σύνταξης,
Ενδο~Μήδεια / Cyprus IndyMedia

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Αν ήταν στο χέρι μου

ο- Θα τύπωνα τις φωτογραφίες του Ντ. Ζουέλι, του Όμαρ Μούσα, και Ζαχαρία Άζμι και του Σαμ σε κάθε γωνιά της πατρίδας μου.
ο- Θα αναβίωνα το νόμο του πόθεν έσχες και θα δίκαζα κάθε διεφθαρμένο ιθύνοντα με την κατηγορία της εσχάτης προδοσίας.
ο- Θα έδινα διαταγή ο Υπουργός Υγείας να τυγχάνει ιατρικής περίθαλψης μόνο στα δημόσια νοσοκομεία και μέσω της βασανιστικής ασφάλισης υγείας.
ο- Θα έδινα διαταγή ο Υπουργός Συγκοινωνιών να μετακινείται μόνο με τα δημόσια λεωφορεία και τα τρένα τρίτης και δεύτερης κατηγορίας.
ο- Θα έδινα διαταγή να παρακαθίσει ο Υπουργός Παιδείας τις τελικές εξετάσεις του Λυκείου κάθε χρόνο.
ο- Θα έδινα διαταγή να μετατραπεί το Συμβούλιο του Λαού και το Συμβουλευτικό Συμβούλιο σε δύο σχολεία για την αντιμετώπιση του αναλφαβητισμού, τουλάχιστον έτσι θα αποβάλλεται κάθε «μαθητής», « μέλος» εννοώ, μετά από κάθε απουσία 15 συνεδριάσεων.

Χασάν Μοχάμετ Ζάυουιατ Μπαής
(Hasan Mohamed Jawdad Baes)

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Δύσκολη εξίσωση

Προς αυτούς μου μας καταπιέζουν

Είμαι δημόσιος υπάλληλος και επιβλέπω έργα αξίας εκατοντάδων χιλιάδων λιρών ακόμα και εκατομμυρίων λιρών. Ο μισθός μου ανέρχεται σε ογδόντα πέντε λίρες το μήνα. Είναι άραγε αρκετός αυτός ο μισθός κατά τη γνώμη σας για να κατοικήσω σε χώρο ανάλογο με τη θέση μου ως υπάλληλος στην κυβέρνηση σας; Είναι αρκετός ο μισθός μου για ένα πιάτο φαγητό, για ένα σύνολο χειμερινό και ένα καλοκαιρινό, και για ένα ζευγάρι εσώρουχα; Σημειώστε ότι δεν χρησιμοποιώ τις συγκοινωνίες, δεν αγοράζω φάρμακο όταν αρρωστήσω, δεν αγοράζω σαπούνι για να κάνω μπάνιο ακολουθώντας τις συμβουλές για την κατανάλωση νερού, δεν αγοράζω απορρυπαντικό για να πλένω τα ρούχα μου, αν έχω, δεν έχω παντρευτεί από ανάγκη να εξοικονομήσω τα δίδακτρα των παιδιών, δεν αγοράζω εφημερίδες γιατί είναι παραπλανητικές, δεν θέλω τηλεόραση γιατί παρουσιάζει προγράμματα για τη ζωή των ανθρώπων, των ψηλά ισταμένων, και ανεβάζει την πίεση του αίματος και δεν τρώγω φρούτα γιατί είναι ευημερία.

Χασάν Μοχάμετ Ζάυουιατ Μπαής
(Hasan Mohamed Jawdad Baes)

* * *

Απολεσθέντα

Ο Πρόεδρος διαχείρισης επισκέφθηκε ορισμένες επαρχίες της πατρίδας μας και όταν επισκέφθηκε την περιοχή μας, μας είπε :
"Πέστε μου τα παράπονα σας με ειλικρίνεια και δημόσια, μη φοβάστε κανένα, αυτές είναι περασμένες εποχές."

Τότε ο φίλος μου Χασάν είπε :
"Κύριε, που είναι το ψωμί και το γάλα; Που είναι η ασφάλιση σπιτιού ; Που είναι οι θέσεις εργασίας ; Που είναι το φάρμακο του φτωχού; Κύριε, όλα αυτά δεν υπάρχουν."

Ο Πρόεδρος απάντησε με λύπη :
"Θεέ και κύριε, όλα αυτά συμβαίνουν στη χώρα μου ; Ευχαριστώ για την ειλικρίνεια σου και την προειδοποίηση που μας έκανες παιδί μου, τα πράγματα θα γίνουν καλύτερα στο μέλλον."

Μετά από ένα χρόνο, μας επισκέφθηκε και πάλι και είπε :
"Πέστε μου τα παράπονα σας με ειλικρίνεια και δημόσια, μη φοβάστε κανένα, αυτά είναι περασμένα."

Ο κόσμος δεν παραπονέθηκε.

Τότε σηκώθηκα και είπα δημόσια :
"Που είναι το ψωμί και το γάλα; Που είναι η ασφάλιση σπιτιού ; Που είναι οι θέσεις εργασίας ; Που είναι το φάρμακο του φτωχού; Και μετά συγχωρήσεως Κύριε, που είναι ο φίλος μου ο Χασάν;"

Στην κηδεία του Χάσουν

Χασάν Μοχάμετ Ζάυουιατ Μπαής
(Hasan Mohamed Jawdad Baes)

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Η φωτογραφία είναι από την Hamdy Reda:
http://www.sawtalniswa.com/2011/02/documenting-violence-against-the-protestors

When the Moon Rises on The One You Love
The Arab Revolution
http://cyprusindymedia.blogspot.com/2011/01/when-moon-rises-on-one-you-love.html

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When the Moon Rises on The One You Love

The Arab Revolution

As the Arab Revolution spreads from Tunisia and Palestine now to Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Yemen, we are pleased to publish an article by Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD, a Palestinian human rights activist who has spent a large part of his life in the struggle for the liberation of his homeland, writing about the developments in Egypt and the rest of the Arab world with a wider view: something beyond the necessary street battles, fires and turmoil. Something about how a deeper Revolution will take seed in society and grow to be a fully living healthy organism.

And a tribute to Arab civil rights activists and freedom fighters - in the form of a song video. Please see and hear a rendition of the Arab Freedom Anthem with the lyrics (translated in english) displayed by Arab American Stephan Said sending this out to the world... from the rooftops.

Please click on the photo to start the video.

Cyprus IndyMedia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Or visit the link directly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVIwHMu1m-M

Transformation in the Arab World

by Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD mazin@qumsiyeh.org

"Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things and he's been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interest in the region, the Middle East peace efforts; the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing relationship with Israel.. I would not refer to him as a dictator".
- US Vice President Joe Biden (a lackey of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC], America's pro-Israel lobby.)

I first visited Egypt 30 years ago in 1981 to do research for my master's thesis which was later published in my first book "The Bats of Egypt". I visited Egypt twice since then and I recall vividly police abuse of their own people and yet the Egyptians I encountered mocked and joked about dictatorship. We tried at least from a distance to support our Egyptian brothers and sisters as they struggle for freedom. Arabs everywhere (yes even here in occupied Palestine) are talking about a transformation and about revolution. But all such transformations carry pain. Over 200 Egyptians were killed, thousands injured, and there is much destruction. Yet in a nation of 85 million people this is still a relatively peaceful transformation. While dealing with the present is critical we must also at this juncture start to look post dictatorship in the Arab world and plan the future.

I recall vividly a talk by a self-described "Liberal Zionist" (an oxymoron) at Duke University on 1 March 198l; at 77 year old he had no inhibitions in saying "Zionists do not want democracy in the Arab world." He explained that if Egypt was a democracy, it would not have signed a peace deal with Israel since the sentiments of the Arab people does not accept such arrangements that could be done with someone like President Sadat or King Hussein. On this point he was absolutely correct but in the long run such short-sighted perspective is self-destructive (1).

As I watched last night Hosni Mubarak make his (hopefully last) speech, I was very much reminded of the last speech of the Shah of Iran, Marcos of the Philippines, Bin Ali of Tunisia. They all claimed after so many years of torturing their own people that they now want to "reform". The US funded and supported the brutal Mubarak regime for over 30 years even as plenty of evidence from human rights organizations documented its abuse of its own citizens. See example videos of torture by Egyptian police (2). This is also the same police who, on the instruction of the Mubarak dictatorship, beat international activists trying to provide humanitarian relief to besieged Gaza (3). Mubarak then went on to for the first time appoint a vice president (his intelligence chief and ex-army buddy Omar Suleiman) and appoint another army officer as prime minister. It is now recognized that his reign is ending and a new era is beginning.

It is rather amusing that the brutal dictator of "Saudi" Arabia (a country named after a ruling family!) called to support Mubarak and stated that the demonstrators are hooligans and criminals. Anyone who knows anything about Egypt knows that this amazing and inspiring mostly nonviolent revolution is a true expression of the will of the Egyptian people regardless of their political or religious persuasions (leftist, Muslim Brotherhood, Nasserite Arab Nationalist, Christians, Muslims, etc).

In other news in brief for those who don't keep up with internet news or those who watch mainly the (supine) Western Media:

-Large demonstrations by Egyptians and human rights defenders at Egyptian embassies around the world all demanding democracy

-Israeli embassy in Cairo essentially emptied (an apartheid state embassy in the largest Arab country is an abomination)

-Israeli pundits very worried about how Egypt might look after Mubarak.

-There are many signs that the Egyptian military (like the Tunisian military) may be critical in this struggle. Already there are instances where the demonstrators were protected from the Egyptian police by the Egyptian military. See footage (4)

-A number of human rights groups and Egyptian community representatives abroad all called for ending the Egyptian police brutality. By contrast EU and US government officials are making feeble statements to hedge their bets and at best call for "peaceful" actions from "all sides". Slowly they were forced to modify their retorhic to talk about "change" but must finally call on their puppet Mubarak to leave power and insist that he and his sons and family return the billions stolen from the Egyptian people.

-A number of religious and civil organizations in Egypt broke their silence to support the ouster of the "last Pharaoh"

-The dictatorship cutting of web and mobile phone services and banning reporting by groups like Al-Jazeera did little to stem the tide of protest because people are living it daily in their homes and on the streets and they are not being incited from outside.

-Protests spread to Jordan and Yemen (two other Western supported governments). There are now plans for large protests in Syria and other countries.

-On the Palestinian Authority TV news, they noted that Mahmoud Abbas called Mubarak and stated his support for stability of Egypt. Other news outlets stated that he fully supports the Mubarak regime. Hamas then came in to say that they support the Egyptian people. Sadly, I think all rational human beings know which horse to bet on in this struggle between people and a western-supported dictator who accomplished nothing for his people and instead enriched his family (his sons are billionaires in a country in which tens of millions of people live on less than $1 a day).

I wrote seven months ago that "The political leadership in the fragmented Arab countries and Palestinian authority have convinced themselves that they have no option but to endlessly try to talk to politicians from Tel Aviv and Washington (the latter also Israeli occupied territory) hoping for some 'gestures'..I know most politicians like to feel 100% safe (mostly for their position of power) and are afraid of any change. But I wish they would realize that daring politicians make the history books and those who hang around trying to protect their seats will be forgotten. Cowardice is never a virtue." And then I concluded that "In the demonstrations yesterday, a child in Gaza was carrying a sign that says 'we demand freedom' and a child in Cairo that says 'children in Egypt and in Gaza want the siege lifted'. That is our future - not elderly politicians meeting to do media damage control with empty words. "(5)

But make no mistake about it: no power transformation happens without a period of unrest, instability, and pain. I believe in these difficult periods, humans are tested. Some are weak and may even try to use the situations to make some quick personal profit. Others are of strong and decent character and this shows in their watching for their neighbors and their community. I have seen countless pictures and heard countless stories of acts that can only be described as heroic (e.g. people protecting the national museum in Cairo or their neighbors' houses). Intellectuals are stepping forward to articulate rational scenarios for the future. People helping other people. So I think we will weather the transition. As to what the future holds. Clearly, the era of ignoring the masses is gone. It will not be easy since we have a legacy of decades of poor education (one that does not emphasize civic and individual responsibility etc). Getting rid of dictators is not enough. Building a civic participatory society is not easy (Europe's enlightenment did not come just from removing a few dictators).

People's expectation raised for change will dash against the reality that it will take decades to create systems of governance, accountability, economic justice, etc to allow for unleashing the great potential in the Arab world. And there is great potential (natural resources, water, educated hard-working middle class etc). It is critical that people begin to chart this future honestly and pragmatically. Slogans will not work. We the people must take responsibility for our own lives and for our communities. We need to take time to educate children in a very, very different way than we were educated. The beginnings may be simple. For example, in many Arab countries, people were thinking that as long as the country is not theirs (ruled by dictators), they can only watch over their own personal space and literally dump trash in the public space. In the new era, they have to learn that public space is theirs too. Order and respect for fellow citizens and for the country will have to be taught very early to our children. This is but one example for laying a brick in the road to real freedom and real prosperity. The bricks though are many and they will have to be fashioned and laid by the people. It is very hard work but it is the only way forward.

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

(1) I challenged him on this in the Q&A and then wrote a follow-up letter that was published in the Duke Chronicle. See
http://www.qumsiyeh.org/zionistpositionfailstorecognizeotherside/

(2) Torture at Egyptian police stations, here are three examples (warning disturbing content!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhQRFz65M6s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCHM6LYiBsY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8KG5N_yq1s

3) Egyptian police beat Free Gaza convoy activist on December 30, 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT4tk2RiNIo

4) See this associated press story about role of Egyptian military
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/29/ap/middleeast/main7296653.shtml
and this interesting footage of military shielding demonstrators
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfqcEsDwgYQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQD-X9G9xfk

5) Mazin Qumsiyeh "Of Cowardice, Dignity and Solidarity"
http://www.qumsiyeh.org/ofcowardicedignityandsolidarity/

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD http://qumsiyeh.org

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