History is indeed being written with
the fall of Mubarak and as the whole of the Middle East and North Africa
erupts in one revolutionary upheaval after another. This is also now
having an impact in Iran as the lines are once again being drawn for a
new round of battles since the eruptions that started one and a half
years ago. The focus is now on the call for a demonstration on Monday,
February 14.
According to news sources, Mubarak may be on the point of being forced
out of office. The army have issued a statement about how they intend to
"support the legitimate demands of the people" which many are
interpreting as code for "Mubarak – time to go!" Sources predict that this may be
confimed later tonight (UK Time).UPDATE: he says he is not going yet – we have arrived at a critical point!
There are situations in which mass
demonstrations are sufficient to bring about the fall of a regime. But
Egypt is not one of them. All the efforts of the masses to bring about
the overthrow of Mubarak through demonstrations and street protests have
so far failed to achieve their principal objective.
As the Irish General Election approaches, the Labour Party
leadership continues getting rid of the most radical aspects of its
election programme. And, Labour Party members only get to know about
these changes through the media. The Irish Times revealed the
last of such policy modifications on Monday, 31 Jan.
The Egyptian revolution, following on
rapidly from the Tunisian uprising, has sent shockwaves across the whole
of the Arab world. All the serious strategists of capital are
discussing the “domino effect” of the events unfolding in Egypt. None of
them, however, had anticipated any of this.
The posters are going up on the lamp posts
and the tourists and the European lorry drivers are starting to drive
round in circles looking for road signs obliterated by the airbrushed
smiles of party hopefuls. But this is no ordinary election. The election
on February 25th will represent a snapshot of the political fallout
from the economic collapse and the farcical slide into chaos of the
Fianna Fáil/Green Party coalition. Farcical that is, except
for the calamity that the government’s policies have created for the
working class people of Ireland.
One of the salient features of a
revolution is that the masses conquer the fear of the state and
repression. This has been graphically demonstrated on the streets of
Egypt. At the same time the surge of a mass upheaval breaks the taboos
in the psychology of the soldiers and the army begins to cleave on a
class basis. A rare fraternity between the security forces and the
masses, whom they are supposed to crush, develops as the revolution
blossoms.
“The sky was filled with rocks. The
fighting around me was so terrible we could smell the blood.” With these
words Robert Fisk describes the dramatic events in Tahrir Square, where
the forces of the Revolution met the counterrevolution head-on. All day
and all through the night, a ferocious battle raged in the Square and
the surrounding streets.
The revolution in Egypt is reaching a
critical point. The old state power is collapsing under the hammer blows
of the masses but revolution is a struggle of living forces. The old
regime does not intend to surrender without a fight. The
counterrevolutionary forces are going onto the offensive. There is
ferocious fighting on the streets of Cairo between pro- and anti-Mubarak
elements.
The
whole of Egypt is now in a precarious balance. That same precariousness
applies to the role of the armed forces, the sole remaining fulcrum of
the regime. On paper it is a formidable force, as solid as the
aforementioned pyramid. But armies are composed of human beings, and are
subject to the same pressures as any other social stratum or
institution.
According to the Bundesbank, German
GDP grew by 3.6% in 2010. This comes after the steep 4.7% drop in 2009,
when the recession hit Germany hard. Unemployment has gone down from the
10.5% peak of 2005 to 7%. It now stands at just under three million.
Volkswagen is taking on 3,000 workers, BMW and Daimler 400 each.
Lufthansa has announced plans to take on an extra 4,000 staff this year.
The same picture can be seen in chemicals, electronics and other
industries. When the rest of Europe is facing lay-offs and sluggish
growth, what is different about Germany?