Egypt
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I wonder whether events there do not open up a debate on the significance of "one person, one vote" in countries where the working class are in a minority.
It seems that in such countries it serves to legitimise governments that reflect the backward views of the majority still living in the countryside and allows such governments to claim a "democratic" mandate to try to impose reactionary and socially conservative norms on the more advanced, established populations of the cities, even if they come unstuck, as in Egypt, if they try to push this agenda too far.
Obviously in such countries what is important for the working class is freedom of speech, assembly and organisation but at the present stage of economic development there is "one person, one vote" of equal importance from a working class point of view?
Listening to the BBC World Service sometimes offers a different perspective. It appears that the army intervention is being looked upon favourably by the "liberals" and anti-Morsi protestors. They expect new elections to be held which is their primary demand and something Morsi is refusing to carry out. Morsi having gleaned much of his support from those who had no-where else to go in the last election has lost a lot of their confidence and the Muslim Brotherhood is forecast to lose votes. They got 23% of the electorate last time so nor was that a unquestioning endorsement. Who the alternative will be has not been made clear in most reports i have seen. A similar point has been made about Turkey. Erdogan has won several elections from the same power-base, conservative minded country folk rather than the more secular-inclined city urban dweller. I suppose for ourselves the question is that we can envisage social ideas changing surprisingly rapidly but what happens when a newly elected government loses popular support but the next election is some years away. Can we expect workers to sit idly by twiddling their thumbs waiting for the next election while other workers in other countries are engaged in great changes. Shall the factory worker acquiesce to the peasant? In the past i have thought of countries such as China and India as being so diverse that the driving force for them, the main power centres is just the narrow coastal strip, not the vast interior…it is there socialist ideas will develop and the uneven development theory argued by the trotskyists does have some validity but does not possess a vital role. As capitalism by-passed certain feudal societies, socialism need not include or involve 100% of the world…they can catch up later which can be expected to be very sooner than later.
An extra thought comparing Turkey and Egypt . Morsi is pretty much a nonentity, his future irrelevant . The Muslim Brotherhood isn't leader-dependent. There is probably a host of aspiring Morsi's to choose from if it is decided to dispense with this one. The Muslim Brotherhood will no doubt rebound later if it suffers a set-back now. Erdogan is more a charismatic with a much bigger personal following. I'm not sure if Egypt is an actual uprising with military support, or an actual army coup….we'll have to wait and see what transpires. If elections are held soon. It seems a reverse of the original situation in Syria…a secular uprising there that the military refused to recognise as legitimate and Assad maintained control of the state despite the present exiles and mercenaries with sectarian motives now creating civil war. Without outside powers assistance and involving themselves militarily, a civil war is unlikely as in the Syrian situation. I don't see America rubber-stamping Saudi or Qatar interference when they are getting what they always wanted , a strong Egyptian Army influence.
Listen to John Humphrys get his come-uppance when he tried to argue down an eloquent opponent of the Muslim Brotherhood on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 earlier this morning:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-23176860
From what I'm hearing, and this may be rhetoric, some of Morsi's opponents are effectively accusing him of being anti-democratic, in the broad sense beyond nose counting. For instance, his attempt to rule by decree (something Chavez succeeded in doing). The bloc of working class votes gives oppositionists an incentive to court workers and their freedom, it also gives the working class an incentive to court the peasant vote as well. I think it remains preferable to any form of military dictatorship (even a, if you will, constitutional military dictatorship). That the generals have had to call a fresh poll indicates there is a democratic hope available, and maybe municipal autonomy for the big cities will allow compromise between the two forces.The other question is whether the military played a long game, and then orchestrated a popular uprising…
Hmm, Interesting article at the Weakly W.http://cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/969/egypt-not-the-next-stage-of-the-revolution
Quote:The reality is that, for all the lofty phrases about defending the poor and seeking social justice, political Islam – be it in Egypt, Turkey or Iran – is failing dramatically, mainly because it cannot provide answers in the face of the global crisis of capital. Out of power it was easy for Islamist populists in the Middle East and north Africa to blame the westernised upper classes for poverty, the gap between rich and poor, and so on. But in power Mursi, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad followed exactly the same economic policies as their predecessors, both on a national and international level.And I think that's the key.
80 sexual assaults in one day – the other story of Tahrir Square
Quote:On Wednesday night, when Egypt's army chief announced the forced departure of Mohamed Morsi, the streets around Tahrir Square turned into an all-night carnival. But not everyone there was allowed to celebrate. Among the masses dancing, singing and honking horns, more than 80 women were subjected to mob sexual assaults, harassment or rape. In Tahrir Square since Sunday, when protests against Morsi first began, there have been at least 169 counts of sexual mob crime."Egypt is full of sexual harassment and people have become desensitised to it – but this is a step up," said Soraya Bahgat, a women's rights advocate and co-founder of Tahrir Bodyguard, a group that rescues women from assault. "We're talking about mob sexual assaults, from stripping women naked and dragging them on the floor – to rape."[…]While in the past year many more people have begun to mobilise against it, sexual harassment still remains an accepted part of Egyptian life. According to a UN survey released this April, 99.3% of Egyptian women reported being sexually harassed, with 91% saying they feel insecure in the street as a result.One problem is that sexual harassment is not properly defined under Egyptian law, which makes prosecuting perpetrators difficult. Another is that when women try to file complaints under more general harassment and assault laws, their cases are not taken seriously by police. "Cases that are reported to the police are handled in a disgusting manner," said Mariam Kirollos, an OpAntish organiser, and an activist for women's rights. "They are not taken seriously. In some cases, girls filing a police report are even harassed."For most, the obstacles start long before they reach the police station, as passers-by try to excuse the harassers' behaviour. "People say, 'oh, he was poor, he didn't know what he was doing," said Bahgat."Primarily, the blame is on the woman. People always ask: what was she wearing?"[…]"The problem is that the state has been condoning these crimes," said Kirollos. "There's no accountability whatsoever. There has also been zero effort by the government to change how the media or the education system deals with this problem."Egypt's National Council for Women is working with the country's interior ministry to set up a system where women can report sexual harassment to a specialised team of female police officers – so that their cases might be taken more seriously. The group has also proposed new legislation to Egypt's cabinet that specifically outlaws sexual harassment.But with Wednesday's coup changing the people in power, both projects may not happen. Besides, campaigners are adamant that the problems cannot be solved by legal tweaks alone."It's going to take more than just laws, and more than just implementing those laws, to stop this happening," said Kirollos. "Society needs to change to stop it." (emphasis added)http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/05/egypt-women-rape-sexual-assault-tahrir-square
A thought provoking article here. http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/07/10/the-end-of-the-leaderless-revolution/ "The end of the leaderless revolution does not mean the end of the Egyptian revolutionary process. But it spells the end of the fallacy that the people can take power without an agenda, an alternative platform, an ideology, and leaders. The leaderless revolution has turned out to be the wrong substitute for the status quo and revolutions that end up in a cult of the leader. What we need is perhaps leaderful rather than leaderless revolutions." "Those who cannot represent themselves will be represented." "When the revolutionaries do not produce ideology, demands and leaders, this does not mean that the revolt will have no ideology, demands and leaders. In fact, Tamarod’s spontaneous ideology turned out to be militarist nationalism, its demand a postmodern coup, its leader the feloul (remnants of the old regime). This is the danger that awaits any allegedly leaderless revolt: Appropriation by the main institutional alternatives of the institutions they are fighting against." "What we learn from this case is that when movements don’t have (or claim not to have) ideologies, agendas, demands and leaders, they can go in two directions: they can dissipate (as did Occupy), or serve the agendas of others." It echoes our position that without the political party and a structured form of democracy and without a clear objective of socialism, the class war is weakened. This has been the root of many of our disagreements with Occupy and their ilk. It is also part of our case against the Left Communists such as the ICC who substitute temporary and transient workers assemblies and strike committees against the permanance of class struggle organisations such as trade union. The author's use of the terms leaderless, leaders and leadership may not be appropriate and could be due to his lack of acquaintance with alternative means and ways of working class self-rule.
US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Wednesday Mursi's government "wasn't a democratic rule"."What I mean is what we've been referencing about the 22 million people who have been out there voicing their views and making clear that democracy is not just about simply winning the vote at the ballot box."http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/11/us-egypt-protests-idUSBRE95Q0NO20130711 I'll have to remember that the next time an Occupy type grassroots street protest movement arises in the USA
Comment on recent events in Egypt sent us by email by the author :http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=172331&L=en
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