Letter to Egyptian Revolutionaries

by Turing Tue Aug 20, 2013 13:28

Since the ouster of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi by the military on July 3, clashes between pro-Morsi supporters and the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) have left the country’s streets stained with blood.

On July 24, General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi called for a security mandate that would fight the “violence and terrorism,” and for a 7 PM to 6 AM curfew to be enforced. The situation took a turn for the worse this week when the military opened fire on Morsi supporters and Muslim Brotherhood members near Nasr City. The death toll from the massacre climbed to over 600. The country has completely shut down: businesses remain closed, railways are suspended, and people are terrified to leave their homes. The original revolutionaries who marched for democracy are squeezed out of the equation as the military and Morsi supporters keep fighting and bodies continue to spill out of morgues and into mosques.

We video chatted with Gigi Ibrahim, a prominent activist in the Egyptian revolution, to try to make sense of everything that's been happening in the country.

Caption: Embedded video Youtube Video

by Crazy Cat Thu Aug 22, 2013 13:03

Robert Fisk Is keeping us all well informed with the ongoing situation

http://www.independent.co.uk/biography/robert-fisk

And here is an article from Pepe Escobar

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-05-200813.html

by Joe Mc Thu Aug 22, 2013 14:32

The link Turing gave to the SWP article doesn't work. From Turing’s intro though, it’s clear that the SWP is still trying to present the Egyptian coup as a "new wave of the Egyptian revolution" .

”Whoever dismisses the intervention of the gigantic mass movement which launched the new wave of the Egyptian revolution is fleeing from dealing with its inherent contradictions, and thus from both the new challenges in front of the Egyptian revolution, and the opportunities that the future holds.”

This link to yesterday’s WSWS does work. It examines the political somersaults performed by the SWP’s sister organization in Egypt in line with shifting American foreign policy imperatives.

“But the Revolutionary Socialists and their international co-thinkers, the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in Britain and the International Socialist Organisation (ISO) in the United States, are likewise up to their elbows in blood. An extensive public record shows that they not merely supported, but played a vital part in, a political conspiracy against the Egyptian working class. This conspiracy consisted of the setting up of a front organization, known as Tamarod (Rebellion), by the Egyptian military and sections of the bourgeoisie closest to the former regime of Hosni Mubarak and opposed to those sections allied with the Muslim Brotherhood. Through Tamarod, the RS maintained its own connections to these bourgeois layers, working to ensure their triumph in the coup of July 3.”
How Egypt’s Revolutionary Socialists helped pave the way for military repression
By Chris Marsden
20 August 2013

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/08/20/revs-a20.html

by T Thu Aug 22, 2013 23:35

Tarpley gives a really good account and analysis of what happened recently in Egypt. And in summary it was this. It was a counter-coup by the army to protect their own interests against the Muslim Brotherhood.

Morsi got in on a ticket of promises to the poor but renegade on that and he did a deal with the IMF which ordered removal of subsidies to the poor. At the same time the Muslim Brotherhood were going off in extreme directions and Morsi himself was becoming rapidly despotic and were wanting to launch a jihad against Syria and sent in fighters there. The army baulked at this and saw it would wind up as a dictatorship by Morsi and the top layer of the army would be liquidated since they would be the main thread. So in effect they moved first.

Tarpley claims the MB were pretty much controlled by the CIA and certainly their pandering to the IMF would suggest that they were ultimately acting on behalf of big capital.

The full interview is linked below

Egypt’s Gen. Sisi Acted to Pre-Empt a Civil War Planned by Moslem Brotherhood to Facilitate NATO Seizure of Suez Canal; Calming Trend in Cairo

by Felix Quigley - www.4international.me Fri Aug 23, 2013 09:53

WARNING

This mangy group wsws.org is NOT trotskyist

The first sentence in above article by Marsden says

"By Chris Marsden
20 August 2013

In a display of naked cynicism, Egypt’s Revolutionary Socialists group is advancing itself as an opponent of the brutal crackdown on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and deposed President Mohamed Mursi, which has claimed hundreds of lives." END QUOTE

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/08/20/revs-a20.html

I know nothing about these "revolutionary Socialists" referred to by Marsden

I do know about ww.4international.me

Marsden calls it a brutal crackdown by the army on the Muslim Brothers in Egypt and I say the more brutal the better.

That is the real Trotskyist position in this situation.

Our position towards Sisi is unconditional support against the Fascists of Muslim Brothers with their Sharia Law

Just as we would have defended Nasser when he had Sayeed Qutb hung because Nasser learned that there was no arguing with this Clerical Fascist Group.

At the same time it is a critical support because we have our own independent Trotskyist programme

The wsws are a mangy and disreputablle group of chancers and they are continually defending the Fascism of Islam

Warning to all youth and workers in Ireland the wsws are NOT Trotskysit.

And pro Islam trolls remember guideline 2 which states "Keep your comments on topic"

by Turing Fri Aug 23, 2013 10:25

Unhelpfully, he SWP changed the url.

http://www.swp.ie/content/latest-egyptian-revolutionaries