Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Hidden Article

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

Mubarak has fallen, capitalism remains

PCInt | 17.02.2011 17:34 | Anti-militarism | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | Birmingham | Liverpool

Much to the jubilation of the throngs of demonstrators in Egypt Hosni Mubarak has announced his resignation, handing his powers to the army. The strongman who just a few hours before wanted to be the defender of the constitution and the ultimate bulwark against the “chaos”, has thus ratified a kind of cold coup d'Etat .



All the maneuvers and proclamations of the government could not prevent the clashes and massive protests which followed one after the other for 18 days in Egypt. On Friday, February 11 a throng even more massive than at previous demonstrations took to the streets of Cairo and other major cities, despite the declarations of Mubarak saying he was abandoning the real power to his vice president.
After the first few demonstrations involving some thousands of people, especially petit-bourgeois youth mobilized via the Internet, “specialists from the Arab world ”and other “informed commentators” learnedly explained that the Mubarak regime was solid and that a situation such as in Tunisia was impossible in Egypt. The eruption of tens of thousands of demonstrators from the neighborhoods of Cairo during demonstrations on Jan.26 and 28 has completely changed the situation. It was not just in Cairo but in other major Egyptian cities that huge masses poured out screaming their hatred of the power, muscling the police out of the way through sheer numbers.
Nothing could be done: not the cutting of internet and mobile telephone networks, not the censorship of the media, not the ferocity of the repression (more than 300 dead in early February), nor the half-concessions of Mubarak, could prevent this human tidal wave whose source lies in the increasingly miserable conditions of life of the proletarianized masses. For the ruling circles of the Egyptian bourgeoisie, like those of other Arab countries in the region and U.S. and European imperialism, the question was how to successfully contain the anger expressed in the streets and squares of Egypt, to prevent the revolt from becoming insurrection or indeed tranform itself into revolution.

Above all, the last few days have seen a new disquieting factor for the capitalists: the entry of the working class into the struggle. Calls have begun to circulate for a general strike and the first work stoppages were reported in the days before the departure of Mubarak. By February 10, tens of thousands of workers were on strike; it was the largest strike wave since the strikes in the textile industry in 2007-2008 – which had been severely repressed.
Strikes erupted in different jurisdictions, in the Cairo mass transit system and on the railways. In the Suez Canal Zone 3,000 oil workers went on strike. In the industrial region of Egypt, the delta where most of the Egyptian industry is located, a strike of 4,000 workers at a chemical plant at Al Nasr Helwan was reported, 2,000 workers (in fact mostly women workers) at the textile factory in the same city, 2000 also at the Sigma Pharmaceuticals plant in Quesna; in Al Mahalla, the center of the textile industry, the epicenter of the struggle of 2007-2008, an unlimited general strike was launched on February 10 at the Misr Spinning and Weaving Textile Factory, the biggest factory in Egypt, which employs 24,000 people, etc..
Their demands address low wages, (the minimum wage is only $ 70 per month), improved working conditions, the permanent hiring of temporary workers, etc..
All these strikes, of which we probably have only a small glimpse, were triggered independently of the official unions whose function is to maintain social peace and to prevent workers’struggles. Still partial, they are good signs for the future, provided that workers are able to organize on the basis of class, independent not only of the union apparatuses which have sold out to the bosses and the bourgeois state, but by rejecting all the false “brothers”who would use them for their bourgeois goals (such as those who stopped the strike at the Misr Spinning and Weaving Textiles Factory after Mubarak’s departure).


* * *

While Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority, mortally afraid of the mass movement, have all pledged their continued support to Mubarak, the U.S. government has stepped up pressure for a “peaceful political transition ”, that is to say that he give way, the only way to prevent further clashes with incalculable risks: Mubarak was the fuse which had to be replaced to protect capitalism from a high voltage shock which the outburst of class struggle in the greatest country in the Middle East could not fail to produce, with repercussions throughout the region. Within the regime, Mubarak’s closest allies have probably toyed with the idea of an Iranian or Chinese alternative: the crushing of protest, after the inevitable fatigue that has at least temporarily quieted the ardor of the demonstrators. The most influential bourgeois circles, those who are most represented among military leaders, have judged this scenario too risky, just as it was by American imperialism from its perspective.
The Egyptian army was rapidly mobilized to control the crowds, protect buildings, and essential services and goods, while letting the police do the dirty work of repression. Completely absent from the first major events, the Muslim Brotherhood, the only significant opposition force that the government has allowed to develop, has hopped on to the moving train: its role will be irreplaceable tomorrow to maintain bourgeois order. Today, military leaders, after announcing the dissolution of parliament and suspending the constitution, promise a return to civilian rule within six months, by which time they will develop a new constitution.

Whatever form the regime change takes, bourgeois political power remains intact in Egypt; worse, the Army, the mainstay of this power, arises momentarily haloed in the transition. But the Egyptian proletariat will quickly learn if they do not suspect it yet, that it is against them that the successors of Mubarak will mobilize, that they will be battered anew by police and military repression, and to defend their interests they will have to fight on their own, without the petit-bourgeois democrats, whether nationalist or religious. In Tunisia after Ben Ali had been removed, a new government, led by the same Prime Minister, was set up so that nothing essential changes: the police brutally evicted protesters who encamped in Tunis and continues to fire on the crowds ( 2 dead even on February 4), the capitalists continue to operate, while politicians are preparing for future electoral farce, the hoped-for coronation of the restoration and strengthening of the bourgeois order.

There will inevitably be the same thing in Egypt. Already the Supreme Military Council appears to prohibit any meeting of labor organizations or unions, and in fact prohibiting strikes, and it will call for the resumption of work. The coming period will be one of workers’ struggles and in addition to their determination, the Egyptian proletariat will need solidarity with their class brothers in other countries.
Shaken by an unprecedented economic crisis, the capitalist world order little-by-little begins to reveal fissures everywhere. The future heralds the return of the proletarian struggle, not only in the so-called “periphery ”but also in the richest “central ”capitalist countries where the consequences of the crisis have so far been largely amortized.

This will not happen in a day and will require the workers of all countries to expend a lot of energy and courage to resist repression just as their Egyptian and Tunisian fellow workers, to foil the false alternatives presented by the lackeys of the capitalist order; it will require much effort to retrace the road of the class struggle and to constitute the indispensable leadership organ of the international revolutionary proletarian struggle, but if these efforts succeed, they will lead to the reappearance of the spectre of communism. It will then be possible to shout out again:

The bourgeois of all countries tremble at the idea of a Communist revolution!
The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.

International Communist Party

PCInt
- Homepage: http://www.pcint.org

Comments

Display the following 2 comments

  1. Dream on Sparty — You murderous muppets lost in 1989 - game over
  2. rubbish — everyone else
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech