Middle East & North Africa

The euphoria amongst the Egyptian masses that followed the fall of
Mubarak in February has disappeared. The hard reality of the situation –
in which political, social, and economic conditions have barely changed
– has set in. The revolution has not ended, however, but has, after a
brief lull, transitioned from the streets to the workplaces. The working
class in Egypt – the motor force of the revolution – is organising and
is on the move.

TUESDAY: Twenty four
hours ago, the streets of Tripoli were full of the sounds of rejoicing.
Now they are filled with the sounds of gunfire. The real battle for
Tripoli has commenced.

The end came suddenly and without warning. In the moment of truth the Gaddafi regime fell like a house of cards.

Last
night the streets of Tripoli were filled with wild rejoicing as rebel
forces occupied Green Square in Tripoli. Libyan rebels waved opposition
flags and fired shots into the air in jubilation after reaching the
central square of the capital in the early hours of Monday. Until now
the vast square was reserved for carefully orchestrated rallies praising
Moammar Gaddafi. Now it erupted in celebration after rebel troops
pushed into the centre of the Libyan capital.

Friday 8^th
July saw the largest protests since the departure of Hosni Mubarak as
tens of thousands took to the streets of Cairo, and thousands more came
out to protest in other cities across Egypt, such as Alexandria and
Suez. Material conditions have not improved for the workers and youth of
Egypt, and Tahrir Square has once again become a visible epicentre of
the revolution.

The
authors of this article visited Egypt last month to see the state of
the country after the fall of Mubarak and to get a first hand view of
the revolution. What they saw was a society still fraught with
contradictions that were barely concealed. All these contradictions have
now burst to the surface once more.

The
revolutionary wave sweeping through the Middle East has acquired a new
dimension with the eruption of the Palestinian masses along Israel’s
borders last weekend. Every 15 May, Palestinians commemorate the Nakba
(catastrophe) of the declaration of independence of the state of Israel
on 15 May 1948. In recent years, protests have been marked by clashes
between Israeli security forces and stone-throwing Palestinian youths,
but Sunday was the first time the commemorations took on a more
widespread and militant character.

Alan Woods, Political Editor of the In Defence of
Marxism website and a leading cadre of the International Marxist
Tendency, and Muayad Ahmed a leading cadre of the Worker Communist
Party of Iraq & Editor of the ‘Alsheoiya Al-Omalya’ (Worker
Communism) monthly paper, spoke on the way forward for the Revolution
in the Arab world at a meeting in London.

The Syrian revolution has taken a
significant and possibly key turn today after what has been a very
bloody week. As thousands of protesters once again took to the streets,
the regime has unleashed the most barbaric repression, no doubt gambling
on the idea that total repression can stop the movement. But cracks are
now appearing within the armed forces.

The British government, along with their French and Italian
counterparts, is stepping up its aggressive action in Libya by sending
military advisers to help secure its interests. Slowly, but surely, they
are being dragged into sending ground troops under the guise of “all
necessary means”.