#Jan25 The workers, middle class, military junta and the permanent revolution

[freepalestine]

#Jan25 The workers, middle class, military junta and the permanent revolution

February 12th, 2011 at 2:14pm | 28 comments (http://www.arabawy.org/2011/02/12/permanent-revolution/#comments)
Tags: Army (http://www.arabawy.org/tag/army/) | Cairo (http://www.arabawy.org/tag/cairo/) | Egypt (http://www.arabawy.org/tag/egypt/) | workers (http://www.arabawy.org/tag/workers/)



http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5015/5428856036_ea15c3024a.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/elhamalawy/5428856036/)



Since yesterday, and actually earlier, middle class activists have been urging Egyptians to suspend the protests and return to work, in the name of patriotism, singing some of the most ridiculous lullabies about “let’s build new Egypt,” “Let’s work harder than even before,” etc… In case you didn’t know, actually Egyptians are among the hardest working people in the globe already.. (http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/2837)

Those activists want us to trust Mubarak’s generals (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/09/egypt-army-detentions-torture-accused) with the transition to democracy–the same junta that has provided the backbone of his dictatorship over the past 30 years. And while I believe the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, who receive $1.3 billion annually from the US, will eventually engineer the transition to a “civilian” government, I have no doubt it will be a government that will guarantee the continuation of a system that will never touch the army’s privileges, keep the armed forces as the institution that will have the final say in politics (like for example Turkey), guarantee Egypt will continue to follow the US foreign policy whether it’s the undesired peace with Apartheid State of Israel, safe passage for the US navy in the Suez Canal, the continuation of the Gaza siege and exports of natural gas to Israel at subsidized rates. The “civilian” government is not about cabinet members who do not wear military uniforms. A civilian government means a government that fully represents the Egyptian people’s demands and desires without any intervention from the brass. And I see this hard to be accomplished or allowed by the junta.

The military has been the ruling institution in this country since 1952. Its leaders are part of the establishment. And while the young officers and soldiers are our allies, we cannot for one second lend our trust and confidence to the generals. Moreover, those army leaders need to be investigated. I want to know more about their involvement in the business sector.

All classes in Egypt took part in the uprising. In Tahrir Square you found sons and daughters of the Egyptian elite, together with the workers, middle class citizens, and the urban poor. Mubarak has managed to alienate all social classes in society including wide section of the bourgeoisie. But remember that it’s only when the mass strikes started three days ago that’s when the regime started crumbling and the army had to force Mubarak to resign because the system was about to collapse.

Some have been surprised that the workers started striking. I really don’t know what to say. This is completely idiotic. The workers have been staging the longest and most sustained strike wave in Egypt’s history since 1946, triggered by the Mahalla strike in December 2006. It’s not the workers’ fault that you were not paying attention to their news. Every single day over the past three years there was a strike in some factory whether it’s in Cairo or the provinces (http://groups.diigo.com/group/egyptianworkers). These strikes were not just economic, they were also political in nature. (http://www.arabawy.org/2010/06/04/politicization_workers/)

From day 1 of our uprising, the working class has been taking part in the protests. Who do you think were the protesters in Mahalla, Suez and Kafr el-Dawwar for example? However, the workers were taking part as “demonstrators” and not necessarily as “workers”– meaning, they were not moving independently. The govt had brought the economy to halt, not the protesters by its curfew, shutting down of banks and business. It was a capitalist strike, aiming at terrorizing the Egyptian people. Only when the govt tried to bring the country back to “normal” on Sunday that workers returned to their factories, discussed the current situation, and started to organize en masse, moving as a block.

The strikes waged by the workers this week were both economic and political fused together. In some of the locations the workers did not list the regime’s fall among their demands, but they used the same slogans as those protesting in Tahrir and in many cases, at least those I managed to learn about and I’m sure there are others, the workers put forward a list of political demands in solidarity with the revolution (http://www.arabawy.org/2011/02/09/jan25-public-transportation-workers-call-for-overthrowing-mubarak/).

These workers are not going home anytime soon. They started strikes because they couldn’t feed their families anymore. They have been emboldened by Mubarak’s overthrowal, and cannot go back to their children and tell them the army has promised to bring them food and their rights in I don’t know how many months. Many of the strikers have already started raising additional demands of establishing free trade unions away from the corrupt, state backed Egyptian Federation of Trade Unions.
Today, I’ve already started receiving news that thousands of Public Transport workers are staging protests in el-Gabal el-Ahmar.

The temporary workers at Helwan Steel Mills are also protesting. The Railway technicians continue to bring trains to halt (http://www.youm7.com//News.asp?NewsID=350453). Thousands of el-Hawamdiya Sugar Factory are protesting and oil workers will start a strike tomorrow (http://ayman1970.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%A9-%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B6%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A8%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF/) over economic demands and also to impeach Minister Sameh Fahmy and halt gas exports to Israel. And more reports are coming from other industrial centers (http://tadamonmasr.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/strikes/).

At this point, the Tahrir Square occupation is likely to be suspended. But we have to take Tahrir to the factories now. As the revolution proceeds an inevitable class polarization is to happen. We have to be vigilant. We shouldn’t stop here… We hold the keys to the liberation of the entire region, not just Egypt… Onwards with a permanent revolution (http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj83/rees.htm) that will empower the people of this country with direct democracy from below…


http://www.arabawy.org/2011/02/12/permanent-revolution/

[brigadista]

i can recommend arabawy - really good blog

[freepalestine]

The Egyptian Revolution enters a new stage


Alex Lantier



http://uruknet.info/pic.php?f=14jelveh2011020701485343577.jpg (http://uruknet.info/pic.php?f=14jelveh2011020701485343577.jpg)

WSWS (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/feb2011/pers-f14.shtml), February 14, 2011



The forced resignation of Hosni Mubarak, the dictator of Egypt who ruled the country for more than three decades, was a significant victory for workers and youth who have participated in their millions in demonstrations and strikes during the past several weeks. Subsequent events have shown, however, that this revolution is only in its initial stages.

With its series of communiqués issued over the weekend, the Egyptian military has made clear its response to the revolutionary struggles. Its aim is to divert and suppress the mass movement, while ensuring a tactical transfer of power to maintain the old regime in all but name.

The Egyptian army is highlighting its elimination of various legal fictions of the Mubarak regime—the rubberstamp parliament and the dictator’s constitution. In line with the Obama administration’s false claims that the army would lead a "democratic transition," the New York Times praised these measures as "sweeping steps that echoed protestors’ demands."

This is an absurd falsification. The army is trying to keep itself in power, while granting none of the basic demands that are driving millions of Egyptians into the streets. The country is now under the rule of a military junta, which is retaining all the emergency powers of the old regime, preserving the police, and attempting to rule through a network of old Mubarak cronies like Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq.

As for the Obama administration, having supported Mubarak for as long as possible, it is backing the military regime. On Saturday, the administration declared that it welcomed the measures taken by the generals and their supposed commitment to democracy. Having helped train many of Egypt’s officers, it intends to use them to secure its interests in Egypt and the Middle East. These include not only defending its strategic and military interests, but above all heading off a revolutionary challenge from the working class.

Deeply tied to Egypt’s business community, the officer corps is hostile to the wave of strikes that is shaking Egypt, and workers’ demands for improved wages and social conditions. While it does not yet feel strong enough to do so, the army is signaling its intention to move against strikers. In a statement denouncing "chaos and disorder," the Higher Military Council said it would ban meetings by labor unions or professional syndicates, effectively making strikes illegal.

In six months, and perhaps longer, the army plans to hold elections on the basis of a constitution drafted exclusively by itself, and without dissolving Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NDP). That is, it hopes to use the six-month period to wind down the protests and give a pseudo-democratic cover to a regime no more responsive to the demands of the population than the one controlled by the hated Mubarak.

This basic political fact is summed up in the person of Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi—now officially the ruler of Egypt—as depicted in cables by US Ambassador to Egypt Francis Ricciardone published by WikiLeaks. Describing Tantawi in March 2008 as committed to the 1979 treaty with Israel and firmly "opposed [to] both economic and political reforms," Ricciardone summed up Tantawi’s politics thus: "He and Mubarak are focused on regime stability and maintaining the status quo through the end of their time."

The claim that this corresponds to protestors’ demands is a repugnant lie. The millions of people now participating in strikes and protests—and the thousands who were killed or tortured—were not struggling to preserve the old regime.

Egypt’s official "opposition" is nonetheless signaling its support for the army. After stressing the need for "law and order" Friday, Mohammed ElBaradei declared yesterday: "We trust the army and call upon people to give them the opportunity to implement what they promised."

Mohamed el-Katatni, a leading official of the Muslim Brotherhood, said: "The main goal of the revolution has been achieved."

These statements clearly demonstrate that no constituency for genuine democracy exists in the Egyptian capitalist class, or its backers in Washington, or in the capitals of the other imperialist powers. The basic demands of the workers and oppressed masses—for better wages and living conditions, for social equality, and for an end to imperialist domination—fill all sections of the political establishment with dread. Faced with a mass upsurge of the working class, threatening their basic class interests, the pro-capitalist "opposition" reacts by backing the dictatorship.

This confirms a central tenet of the theory of Permanent Revolution elaborated by Leon Trotsky: the bourgeoisie of oppressed countries cannot lead a struggle for democracy and an end to imperialist domination. Any such struggle, Trotsky wrote in The Permanent Revolution, "is inevitably and very quickly confronted with tasks, the fulfillment of which is bound up with deep inroads into the rights of bourgeois property. The democratic revolution grows over directly into the socialist revolution and thereby becomes a permanent revolution."

The continuation of the revolution and the fight for its interests is bringing the working class and oppressed masses into ever more direct conflict with the military, the official opposition, and US imperialism.

To carry forward this struggle requires the building of independent organs of workers’ democracy, in opposition to the military-police state, to lay the groundwork for a transfer of power to the working class. It requires the fight to unify the workers of Egypt with the working class of the entire region, along with workers in the advanced capitalist countries—above all the United States. The revolutionary uprising in Egypt is part of a global struggle of workers and oppressed around the world against a common assault of the corporate and financial elite.

Above all, it requires the building of a new party dedicated to leading these struggles to their necessary conclusion: socialist revolution. The WSWS calls on all its readers and sympathizers in Egypt and internationally to join it in the fight to build such a party.

Alex Lantier






:: Article nr. 74968 sent on 14-feb-2011 16:49 ECT


www.uruknet.info?p=74968 (http://www.uruknet.info/?p=74968)

[DaringMehring]

#Jan25 The workers, middle class, military junta and the permanent revolution


Great article! Solidarity to Hamalawy and all the other Egyptian comrades who are fighting for socialism there!

[freepalestine]

Egyptian military asserts authority as strikes, protests spread

By Andrea Peters
14 February 2011



The Egyptian military moved to assume power after the collapse of the longtime dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak, issuing a decree that puts the Armed Forces Supreme Council—all officers chosen by Mubarak—in control of the government, while promising new presidential and parliamentary elections within six months.


While dismantling some of the most discredited elements of the dictatorship—suspending the constitution and dissolving the parliament chosen in rigged elections last fall—the military council maintained the state of emergency that has been the basis for political repression and authoritarian rule for the past 30 years. It also maintained the curfew, although cutting it from ten hours a night to six hours.

The military also took its first step towards reasserting physical control over the capital city, attempting to clear Cairo’s Tahrir Square of demonstrators, an action that brought several thousand protesters back into the streets.


The decree, dubbed “Communiqué 5,” confirms the cabinet appointed by Mubarak only two weeks ago to run the government until elections. Ahmad Shafiq, the Air Force general named prime minister by Mubarak in January, will remain in his post. He told a news conference, “There is no change in form, or method, or the process of work. Matters are stable completely.”

The Armed Forces Supreme Council will issue laws during the interim period and appoint a committee charged with amending the constitution and determining the rules for the holding of a popular referendum on proposed amendments.

The head of the military council, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, better known from WikiLeaks cables as “Mubarak’s poodle,” is de facto head of state and represents Egypt in its relations with foreign countries.



Making clear its commitment to defending the interests of US imperialism and Israel, on Saturday the military stated that it would honor all of Egypt’s international treaties and agreements, continuing the foreign policy of the Mubarak regime.

Palestinian protesters in Gaza had rejoiced at news of the downfall of Mubarak, who is blamed for aiding Israel’s brutalization of the population by sealing Egypt’s border crossing with Gaza. The military cabal in Cairo has made it clear they will continue to enforce the suffering of the Palestinians.


While the massive crowds that packed Tahrir Square largely disbanded over the weekend, several hundred protesters remain camped there. On Sunday morning, military personnel armed with batons attempted to push them out by taking down their tents, but news reports indicate that hundreds refused to leave, expressing skepticism about the army’s intentions to act as the caretaker of the revolution.


The crowd swelled again later in the day when protestors sent out messages over loudspeaker, cell phone, and social media about the military’s crackdown on demonstrators. According to news reports, several thousand returned to Tahrir Square upon hearing the news.

“The soldiers told us to go. They removed our tents but we will stay. We want another government. We need civilian government. They want to steal our revolution," Adel el-Ghendy, a 54-year-old building contractor, told the Guardian.

Skirmishes broke out between the two sides, with at least 30 people arrested. The British newspaper noted that those seized were “taken to a military compound at the nearby Egyptian museum where detained protesters have previously been beaten and interrogated.”

“We don’t want to leave,” Mohammed Shaheen told the Los Angeles Times. “They'll never give up the emergency laws. And they’ll use them to put people in jail,” he warned.



Another demonstrator, 36-year-old computer engineer Ahmed Abed Ghafur, told the Washington Post: “This is a revolution, not a half-revolution. We need a timetable for elections. We need an interim government. We need a committee for a new constitution. Once we get all that, then we can leave the square.”

Tensions escalated rapidly when several thousand police officers, demonstrating near the Ministry of Interior to demand pay raises and improvements in working conditions, marched into Tahrir Square. The police are widely despised by the population for their brutality, and were quickly confronted by the demonstrators.



The police appealed for military support, shouting, “The police and the army are one.” Military personnel fired shots into the air and sprayed smoke upon the crowd to force them to disperse, to little avail. Eventually, the police left the area.

There is a sharp dichotomy in the response to the departure of Mubarak and the military takeover. The bourgeois parties and would-be leaders generally declared victory and urged the population to disperse and allow the transition to go forward under military control. The masses of working people and youth have seen the overthrow of the longtime dictator as a signal to press forward with their own demands for jobs, pay increases, better working conditions, the ouster of hated and corrupt officials, and greater democratic rights.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s main Islamist movement, which initially came out against the anti-Mubarak uprising, has welcomed the military’s assumption of power, commending it for its behavior and winning “the trust” of the people.


Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency who returned to Egypt after a multi-decade hiatus, urged protesters to follow the military’s orders and “go home.”

He was echoed by Ayman Nour, the former presidential candidate of the liberal Al Ghad Party. Nour called the military’s actions “a victory for the revolution,” adding: “I think this will satisfy the protesters.”


Some representatives from the youth groups most active in the protests have told the press that they welcome Communiqué 5 as an indication that the army intends to meet protesters demands, which include new elections. While they continue to press for the release of political prisoners, as well as an end to the emergency law, they express illusions in the intentions of the military.

According to press reports, however, other youth associated with the April 6 Movement and the Popular Democratic Movement for Change refused to leave Tahrir Square.

The mass movement that brought down Mubarak is continuing to spread, with new strikes and protests breaking out over the weekend.



Public employees at Egypt’s national bank staged protests Sunday demanding higher wages and an end to corruption and nepotism. Thousands gathered outside bank buildings in Cairo, which were shuttered in an effort to prevent employees inside from joining forces with those outside. Crowds swelled over the course the day, forcing the government to declare Monday and Tuesday to be national bank holidays. Banking employees faced off with military personnel, who formed cordons around banks in Cairo.

Protesters chanted, “Leave! Leave! Leave!” demanding the ouster of the bank’s head. Late in the day, Chairman Tarek Amer sent out an email to employees on Sunday stating that he submitted his resignation, although it is not known whether it was accepted.


There are indications that the strike is spreading to other institutions, including the Bank of Alexandria and state-owned insurance agencies. At an insurance agency not far from Tahrir Square, Reuters reports speaking to one woman among a crowd of hundreds:

“I have been working for five years in the company,” Hala Fawzi told the news service. “Finally we have been encouraged to come out and speak.” The 34-year-old mother of two is paid 100 Egyptian pounds ($20) a month, one quarter the wage of a public school teacher.

On the Sinai Peninsula, 700 workers employed by a company that provides services to the multinational peacekeeping force in the region staged a sit-in. Massing outside the force’s headquarters in Sharm El-Sheikh and El Gorah, the employees demanded higher wages. In the Sinai town of Arish, 300 workers at hospitals and mining sites struck to demand permanent jobs and medical insurance.



As of Sunday, strikes by railway personnel and steel workers are continuing.

Employees at the Misr Spinning and Weaving factory in Mahalla, the largest textile operation in the country, suspended their strike action over the weekend, but indicated they would continue pressing their economic demands. “We have stopped striking for now, but we will continue to demand a raise in the minimum wage,” strike organizer Faisal Naousha told the AFP.

In a sharp warning to the working class, an army official told Reuters this weekend that the Armed Forces Supreme Council intends to “ban meetings by labour unions or professional syndicates, effectively forbidding strikes.” The military will not tolerate a return to “chaos and disorder,” he said.


Since taking power, the army has urged the population to cease protesting and go back to work. The military, which is deeply integrated into Egypt’s ruling class and business elite, is hostile to popular demands for wage increases, improved living conditions and measures to address widespread joblessness.

Making clear that the government would refuse to raise wages in the public sector, Prime Minister Shafiq said on Egyptian television this weekend, “We need to be practical. It’s very difficult to respond to the demands of all the government employees. The government will do everything it can do.” But, he insisted, it would move gradually so as not “to make big promises and then fail to deliver.”


http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/feb2011/mili-f14.shtml