With the
re-introduction of the emergency law, the military junta is desperately
trying to strangle the revolution and return to the “normality” of the
Mubarak era. But the workers are on the move. The recent upsurge in
strikes and protests could spell the end for the SCAF regime.
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.
According to press reports the Fine Gael and Labour
parliamentary “think ins” this week were upbeat and confident. Although
the Irish Times reports that both parties were warned “to brace
themselves for the bumpy ride ahead”. There has been talk
about Enda’s “honeymoon period” over the last few months. Although in
large measure the new coalition is benefitting from not being Fianna Fáil or the Green Party, while Enda Kenny is doing well in the polls for being neither Brian Cowen nor Brian Lenihan.
On the tenth anniversary of the attack on the Twin Towers millions of
people will relive the horrors of that fateful day. The television
screens are filled with shocking images of death and destruction.
As part of our coverage on the 10th anniversary of the "9/11" events, we republish here an interesting article by
Dr Tomasz Pierscionek, first published on the London Progressive
website, which compares the events of 11th September 2001 with that of
the 11th September 1973 – the other 9/11.
It is ten
years today since in 2001 an outrageous attack killed 3000 innocent
people and maimed hundreds of others in New York. This anniversary will
be commemorated at a grand ceremony in New York where the US elite will
gather in an outpouring of more pseudo-patriotism and chauvinism to dupe
the working classes of the mightiest empire in history which is now
plagued with economic disaster and social decay
The social
protest movement in Israel, after a hiatus, is now planning to gather
one million people in Tel Aviv on September 3. The ruling class is
certainly worried by this prospect and the Israeli railways have
announced that they will shut down train services between Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem, and between Tel Aviv and Be’er Sheva, supposedly for "for
maintenance work". Clearly this is a manoeuvre to try and weaken the
mobilisations that are being prepared
While I was in Venezuela a number of comrades asked me about some
manifesto against “Chavez’s attacks on trade union rights” and also
about the controversy over a letter Noam Chomsky had signed which the
bourgeois media had used in their campaign in defence of “human rights”
in Venezuela.
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.
In the Horn of Africa, a famine is raging that has claimed the lives of
tens of thousands of people. For the first time in 30 years, the UN has
officially declared a famine. The drought in East Africa has resulted in
a food crisis across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya that has affected over
12 million people; hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia have
fled to neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia, where unsanitary and crowded
conditions await, leading to thousands more deaths. But this seems to go
almost unreported in the media, which is dominated by stories of
rioting, phone hacking and the economic crisis.
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.
One recent evening, whilst fumbling through a collection of
documentaries by acclaimed journalist and film maker John Pilger, I came
across ‘Heroes’. This short film, produced in 1981, shone a spotlight
on the treatment of Vietnam veterans in the aftermath of the conflict by
an administration that had sent them to war.