Friday 8th
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.
Friday 8th
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.
July 8, Tahrir Square. Photo: Zeinab MohamedThe
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 Era of Revolution”
We arrived in Cairo on Friday 10th
June and headed straight to Tahrir Square to see it for our own eyes,
having seen the revolution play out in real time on the television since
the beginning of the movement on the 25th January. Tahrir
Square has gained a symbolic importance for the youth, workers, and
other oppressed layers of Egyptian society, who still gather in their
hundreds by the now famous roundabout every Friday to air their
grievances with the regime that has done nothing to improve their
material conditions.
The youth that we spoke to were eager to talk
to us and tell us about their protests and experiences of the
revolution, and were even more delighted when we said that we are firm
supporters of the Arab revolution and that the movements in Egypt and
Tunisia have been an inspiration to young people in our own countries.
Internationalism is a natural feeling for these young people who want
the whole world to know of their struggles; who yearn for solidarity
with their cause and want their revolution to spread all over the world.
These
youth are a living demonstration of what is meant by revolution: a
turning point in history when the mass of people, who are normally
passive and inactive, assert themselves as a political force in society.
The young protestors we spoke to were not politically active before the
25th January movement began. They were facing (and still are
facing) the most intolerable of conditions: the youth unemployment rate
was at 25%; inflation was biting into living standards; the future was
bleak.
The 25th January movement, however, pushed aside
these feelings of despair and passivity. For the first time in their
lives, the youth of Egypt said “enough is enough” and millions poured
onto the streets of Cairo to literally fight for their future. The young
people we met on our first evening in Egypt even showed us their
wounds, obtained in fights to defend those in Tahrir Square from the
policemen and lumpen thugs that Mubarak had released upon the
protestors.
For these people, who have tasted the potential power
of the masses to change society, there can be no talk of giving up and
going home. For these young people, who have their whole lives ahead of
them, the revolution is still going and will not be over until
conditions have improved for them and the other layers of society who
they fought alongside. Their determination to see the revolution through
to its end was inspirational. One student summed up this iron will when
he said, “I am prepared to fight; I am prepared to kill; I am prepared
to die; but I am not prepared to give up.”
The workers and youth
who we met spoke about the revolution, not in the past tense as an event
that is over, but in the present tense as a process that is still
taking place. We talked to one student called Omar, who studies in
America but who was visiting family in Egypt, who told us how people now
talk about “the era of revolution”, an era that will not be over until
material conditions have improved and the mass of people have access to
jobs, healthcare, educations. Omar described to us the change of
consciousness that has taken place in Egyptian society since the 25th
January: “Before the revolution, the streets were filthy; people didn’t
care about their neighbourhoods. They felt alienated from their own
surroundings. But now the streets are clean; people are starting to feel
like this is their country again. There is a sense of pride and a sense
of ownership that wasn’t there before.”
The Veneer of Change
The
situation that was described to us was clear: there has not been any
real change in the situation in Egypt; even simple democratic rights
have not been won; economic conditions are just as bad (if not worse)
than before. In a recent report on the Egyptian economy since the
beginning of the revolution, The Economist stated that:
“After
the uprising, GDP crashed, falling by 4% in the year to the first
quarter. Manufacturing declined by 12%. Revenues from tourism collapsed,
putting pressure on the balance of payments and starting a slide in
foreign reserves… The government has estimated that it faces an
external-financing gap of about $11 billion in the second half of this
year and the first half of next.” (The Economist, 25th June 2011).
These
economic conditions were visible and plain for all to see. Young people
wander through the streets of Cairo throughout the day with nothing to
do and nowhere to go; the main tourist sites, upon which the economy is
reliant, are empty. What is clear – both as a visitor to the country and
to the mass of workers and youth in Egypt themselves – is that life has
not improved despite the overthrow of Mubarak. Nobody we spoke to was
under any illusions about the military government or the idea that the
revolution was merely strictly about “democratic” demands, and all the
young people and activists we spoke to were yearning for real change to
improve their material conditions.
The
main force in the25th January movement was that of the organised
working class. The imposition of the working class on the movement,
through a wave of strikes across the country, was the turning point in
the revolution that (as in Tunisia) brought down the dictatorial leader.
In fact, these strike waves can be traced back to 2005 or even earlier,
and have been occurring on a regular basis in many workplaces, such as
the textile factories of Mahalla (Unprecedented strike wave of Egyptian workers).
For the workers in these factories, the revolution in Egypt did not
begin in 2011, but many years ago with these initial mass strikes.
Despite
a military clampdown, many of these strikes are still taking place,
mainly over strictly economic issues such as wages, conditions, and
hours. The workers of Egypt did not join the 25th January
movement merely to fight for democracy; for them, the revolution had a
clear social, economic content, and the veneer of change that has been
achieved by removing Mubarak is not enough.
These strikes are
helped in part by the formation of many new independent trade unions and
syndicates. We met with Talal Shukr, head of the new Federation of
Independent Trade Unions, who outlined the situation for us:
“Before
the revolution, there were only four trade unions that were independent
from the government – the tax collectors, the teachers, the health
workers, and the pension and benefit providers. During the beginning of
the revolution, these four unions met and created a Federation of
Independent Trade Unions. On the 8th February, this new
Federation released a statement appealing to workers to go to the
revolution as a class, as an organised force. Soon after, the railway
workers went on strike across Egypt, and then workers started going on
strike everywhere else. This is what made it a speedy retirement for
Mubarak. After only three days of these mass strikes across Egypt,
Mubarak was gone.“New independent trade unions and syndicates
have started up in other factories and industries, and are joining the
Federation. The existing, official trade union leaders are not happy
about this, nor are the owners of the factories and businesses. The
independent trade unions have been a major part of the struggles on the
streets for an improved minimum wage, and thanks to this pressure, the
government has now introduced a new minimum wage of 700 Egyptian pounds
[approximately £73 or $118] and is possibly also going to introduce a
new minimum pension. We’re still not happy with the size of the minimum
wage or the proposed pensions, but it’s a positive step. This is all the
result of the active participation of the trade unions and the working
class in the revolution.”
The continuing strikes have
exposed the facade that is the current military council in Egypt, who
have made it clear that further strike action will not be tolerated.
From this, it is clear to workers that the revolution so far has yet to
even guarantee basic democratic rights, such as the right to organise
and strike. The military council is part of the old regime and despite
paying lip service to the revolution, it does not differ in the
slightest in terms of economic policies from those of Mubarak, who
embraced privatisation and looted from the people in the process. For
the members of the military council to grant democratic demands to the
working class in Egypt would be for the council to put its own
privileged position at risk. They stood by and helped Mubarak pocket the
wealth of the nation in the past – whilst lining their own pockets of
course!
For the liberal bourgeoisie, democracy is an empty phrase
with no meaning other than the right for a small minority to exploit the
vast majority. For the revolutionary workers and youth of Egypt,
however, democracy means something concrete; it means the right to jobs,
housing, pensions, education, and healthcare – none of which can be
granted by the military council, or indeed granted under capitalism.
This proves, once more, that the struggle for democracy cannot be
separated from the class struggle in general, and that democratic
demands can only be achieved if given a revolutionary content.
Splits in the Revolution
Whilst the workers, youth, and poor masses of Egypt yearn for genuine change, there are layers of the 25th
January movement who are happy to maintain the status quo. The more
privileged layers insist that the revolution is over and refer to the
continuation of protests and strikes as a “hassle” and a “nuisance”.
Meanwhile, as mentioned previously, for workers and youth the revolution
is a process that is still taking place.
These wealthier elements
– the fair weather friends of the revolution – are forced to pay lip
service to the revolution, but in reality they only seek to make gains
for themselves. For these cynical people, the revolution is a brand from
which they can make money. Television stations constantly show images
from the revolution; T-shirts are sold in Tahrir Square emblazoned with
the “25th January” logo; pop stars and advertisers use
footage of the revolution in their videos. Apparently a high budget film
is even being made about the revolution. One can place a firm bet on
what kind of a political position such a film will take.
Whilst
the rich and wealthy look to make money from the revolution, the rest of
society simply looks to make a living. We were told by various
activists about popular assemblies that had been started in the early
stages of the revolution, and that were still meeting in various
neighbourhoods. In addition, as mentioned above, the strikes for
improved conditions and wages are continuing in the factories and
workplaces. However, there seems to be little co-ordination of the
struggles between the different workplaces at this stage, nor between
the popular assemblies and the factories. What is needed now is for all
the individual struggles to be linked up, generalised, and given a
political character.
political tendencies, representing the different class interests, are
also emerging in preparation for the elections that have been proposed
for September. The Muslim Brotherhood is once again playing a pernicious
role and is clinging to the tailcoats of the liberal bourgeoisie. In
turn, certain so-called Marxists cling to the tailcoats of the Muslim
Brotherhood. The only existing mass workers’ party “Tagammu” is torn
with internal conflicts of its own, reflecting the conflicting currents
within the revolution in general between those who do not want to
challenge the status quo and those who desire a genuine transformation
of society.
The youth, who have been at the forefront of the
revolution since its beginning, have been turned off by the existing
political groups and have a distrust of political organisations in
general. This “apolitical” stance has been seen in the movements of the
youth in Spain, Greece, and Britain, and in many ways is a healthy
reaction against the bureaucracy and corruption that has existed in
politics worldwide. Such an apolitical mood, however, can also be a
tremendous brake on the movement. The struggle for jobs, wages, and
improved living standards is, after all, a deeply political struggle
about how society is run and in whose benefit.
Given this distrust
of the existing political organisations, a number of young activists
have taken the initiative to form a new youth coalition called the Union
of Egyptian Socialist Youth (UESY). We spoke to Ahmed Belal and Haisam
Hasan, two young activists who have played a leading role in the
creation of the UESY, who explained that the UESY is a cross-party
coalition formed since the revolution and is intended to be a way of
capturing and channelling the energy of the youth from the revolution.
According to Ahmed Belal:
“There are a number of
socialist organisations in Egypt, and the youth are tired of all the old
leaders. The UESY is intended to unite the youth from all these
organisations and those outside of any organisation. We now have groups
in ten provinces, and we’ve been trying to make links with the workers’
movement, for example, by organising solidarity demonstrations when
there are strikes. I am from Mahalla where there are many textile
factories, and we are setting up a UESY group there. We have been
fighting with the workers against the government, who keep trying to say
to the people that these strikes are ‘anti-revolutionary’.“We
are also trying to create links with groups in the rest of the world,
because we believe all our struggles are one; revolution is
international.”
Haisam Hasan added that, “We have
already been working with the labour movement to fight for the new
minimum wage and other issues facing workers.”
The creation of the
UESY has been a very positive step. Unlike the “Coalition of the
Revolutionary Youth” – another youth group formed out of the 25th January movement –that, according to The Economist,
“has a market-orientated economic policy”, the UESY has been helping to
organise the youth into a political force with a revolutionary
programme, which in turn has placed the latest mass protests on a higher
level.
“Revolution Until Victory!”
The latest mass protests, which started on Friday 8th
July, indicate clearly all the contradictions that still exist within
Egyptian society. Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets once
more in Cairo, with tens of thousands more in Alexandria, Suez, and
other cities across Egypt. Material conditions have not improved for the
masses, and having shed blood, sweat, and tears earlier this year, the
revolutionary workers and youth will not stand for such superficial
change as to see Mubarak pushed aside and simply replaced by a military
council consisting entirely of members of the old regime. According to
reports by Al Jazeera:
“Many Egyptians feel
that little has changed since the regime was forced out, and the
nationwide protests are the latest calls for the country’s interim
military rulers to provide a roadmap towards democracy, jobs and
infrastructure improvements.“‘We want to change everything. The
old regime has corrupted everything. We want to change the government
and those in charge, the field marshal as well,’ Ehab Mohamed Mahmoud, a
demonstrator, said.” (Al Jazeera website, 8th July 2011)
According to most mainstream media sources, these latest protests are – like the 25th
January movement in general – only about “democracy” and “justice”. For
example, the BBC writes that, “[The protestors] particularly want to
see Mr Mubarak and his officials put on trial more quickly. They also
accuse the military government of failing to adequately try those
accused of killing and injuring protesters during the January and
February uprising, and want an end to military trials of civilian
protesters.” (BBC website, 9th July 2011)
But how can
the military council, composed entirely of members from the old regime,
be expected to put Mubarak – a man whom many of the members of the
council supported for decades – on trial in any meaningful sense? To put
Mubarak on trial with any real seriousness would in turn place the
spotlight on the current military council and expose all their links to
the old Mubarak regime. Such a trial would strip away the veneer of
change altogether and show the masses in broad daylight what they
already know – that despite everything that has happened, nothing has
fundamentally changed at all.
In turn, how can the military
council – who stood by Mubarak as he unleashed criminals and thugs upon
the protestors in January and February, and only finally gave him a
shove at the last minute –be expected to provide justice for the killing
of 846 people during the revolution? Again, to have a serious
investigation into the matter would simply show up the role that many
members of the military council had to play in suppressing the 25th January movement.
Essam Sharaf, the current Prime Minister of Egypt, announced on Saturday (9th
July) that officers accused of killing protestors during the revolution
would be suspended and that court cases against ministers who have been
accused of corruption under the old regime would be sped up. Such
superficial announcements are nothing but a distraction. The violence
from police officers and the corruption within the old regime are not
just restricted to a few “bad eggs”; the whole system – both political
and economic – is rotten and must be swept aside and replaced by a
government of the masses, by the masses, and for the masses.
Protestors can see right through these shallow promises by the Prime Minister and are not impressed. According to the Ahram Online,
an English language Egyptian news website, “Prime Minister Essam
Sharaf’s speech given Saturday night failed to satisfy protestors, even
stirring greater anger. ‘Sharaf’s speech did not say anything new and
shows that no demands will be met,’ said Heba, an independent sit-in
participant.” (Ahram Online, 9th July 2011). Sherif, a
young engineer, said that, “His speech sounded like one of these tricks
of the old government. He did not even give a timeline for his promise
of suspending police officers accused [of killing protesters]. It is
unacceptable that police officers accused of murder are still left on
duty… If this government is unable to take serious steps it should
resign.”
from satisfying the protestors’ urge for justice, these announcements
have resulted in the escalation of the movement. In the morning on
Sunday (10th July), protestors in Tahrir Square shut down
Mogamma, the largest government building in Egypt, which houses the
offices of the majority of civil servants. In Suez, protestors have
blockaded the main road into the city and thousands have threatened to
march on the Suez Canal and shut down this important trade route,
leading to clashes with the army. According to Ahram Online,
“Although the working week has started, the numbers participating in the
Tahrir Square sit-in are increasing. Those spending the night have at
least doubled, and despite the heat more continued coming in the
morning. It is estimated that some 20,000 people spent Saturday night on
the square.”
The bourgeois commentators, as ever, are only able
to see the surface of things. They are unable to see the true processes
at play, which progress due to the contradictions that exist within
society. For such commentators, the 25th January movement was
simply a movement for bourgeois democracy and the latest protests are
simply recognition by the masses of the slow progress towards these
goals of “justice” and “democracy”. The masses are, of course, acutely
aware of the lack of change since the departure of Mubarak. They fully
recognise the lack of justice and democracy. But they are also aware of
their own deteriorating living conditions; of doubling food prices and
rising unemployment; of the continued repression against their attempts
to struggle for these basic necessities.
Events in Cairo confirm
the true nature of the revolution, where the Federation of Independent
Trade Unions have released a statement with a new set of demands, which
go significantly beyond simply calling for “justice” and “democracy”.
According to Ahram Online:
“The statement was
read on Tahrir Square’s central stage by union activist Kamal Abu Eitta
who confirmed that after six months the revolution’s demands have not
been met and that consequently people decided to retake the streets. The
demands as listed by the statement include:
- Ending the military trial of civilians and referring all those tried by military tribunals to civil courts.
- Revoking the anti-strike law, the new party law and the new parliamentary law as going against the revolution’s demands.
- Dedicating
special courts to the trial of those responsible for the killing of the
martyrs of the revolution, and for cases of economic and political
corruption and for the trial of the Mubarak family and its regime.- Giving martyrs’ families and the injured their full rights.
- Recovering all the nation’s stolen money inside and outside the country.
- Appointing a civil minister of interior.
- Restructuring
the Ministry of Interior, firing and trying police officers involved in
torture, and establishing full judicial supervision over the ministry.- Dismantling Egypt’s General Workers’ Union for being a tool of the former ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).
- Setting
a new state budget that includes a LE1200 minimum wage, a maximum wage
that does not exceed 15 times the minimum wage, and linking wages with
prices.- Cleansing the Council of Ministers and all state institutions, including its media and banks, of corrupt former regime figures.
- Banning former NDP members from running for election for two consecutive parliamentary rounds.”
These
demands reflect the fact that workers and youth in Egypt have no faith
in the military council or its ability to bring “justice” to the
Egyptian people. The Federation of Independent Trade Unions, in the
statement above, is calling for “special courts” and “full judicial
supervision” over the Ministry of the Interior, and the end of all
anti-strike laws.
Most importantly, it can be seen that the
demands are also social and economic in their content, such as the
demand for “setting a new state budget that includes a LE1200 minimum
wage [£126 or $202], a maximum wage that does not exceed 15 times the
minimum wage, and linking wages with prices.” In addition, there are
also the important demands that, “all the nation’s stolen money inside and outside the country” be recovered, and that “all state institutions, including its media and banks, [be cleansed] of corrupt former regime figures” (our emphasis).
The
important task for revolutionaries in Egypt now is to give these
demands a transitional character; that is to say, to explain that in
order for these demands to be met, the masses must take power and
expropriate the wealth of the rich elite that rules over Egypt at the
moment. For example, in order to recover “the nation’s stolen money”,
the banks must open up their books so that the Egyptian people can see
how their money has been stolen and set about recovering it. This, in
turn, requires for the banks to be nationalised and put under the
control of the working class, the trade unions, and elected
representatives of the people.
The comparison has been made previously (Egypt: through what stage is the revolution passing)
between the current stage of the Egyptian revolution, and that of
Russia after the overthrow of the Tsar in February 1917: the dictator is
gone, but the old regime is still in power; basic demands for democracy
and improved living conditions have not been met (and cannot be met) by
superficial changes at the top; the revolution has split along class
lines representing the different interests in society.
The
revolution in Egypt is entering a new stage. The initial euphoria that
followed the toppling of Mubarak has gone. There is widespread
realisation that the revolution has not gone far enough; that material
conditions have not improved; that the interim government is incapable
of meeting even the most basic of demands. As the crowd in Tahrir Square
have been chanting in regards to the interim government: “farce, farce,
farce; the gang is still ruling!”
In 1917, the Bolsheviks put
forward the slogan of “bread, peace and land”, and patiently explained
how none of these simple demands could be achieved without the working
class taking power. The task of socialists in Egypt now, such as those
in the UESY, is to create this same revolutionary leadership that the
Bolsheviks provided in Russia in 1917: to connect with the workers in
the factories, the students in the universities, and the youth in the
streets; to link the struggles in each workplace and in every
neighbourhood to the need to transform society; to patiently explain how
their demands can only be met through a revolutionary transformation of
society, by expropriating the assets of the rich elites and placing
them under the democratic control of the masses.
The UESY were
present at the latest protests. The slogan of these revolutionary youth
was the correct one, and must be shouted loud and clear for all to hear:
“Thawra hatta’l nasr!” – “Revolution until victory!”
