[Posted on February 9, 2015 ]
General al-Sisi, a former army chief (and now Egyptian leader – Organise! editors) must grapple with the country’s economic problems as with infighting in the circles of power. —- Abdel Fattah al-Sisi seems to be a victim of his own success. He who in July 2014, seemed to hold a “supernatural” power and popularity supported by a ferocious media machine devouring everything in its path, is now trapped in his post as the strongest man in Egypt. It is even ironic to see him drown in the same defects as those that toppled the President that he overthrew: An empty and populist discourse, measures to capture executive and legal authority in Egypt (while having put Adli Mansour as malleable puppet at the head of the state), etc. Likewise, the socio-economic problems on which he relied to bring down the government of the Muslim Brotherhood have not been solved: power cuts are back at the same rate as at the time of the Muslim Brotherhood, the geopolitical crisis from the construction of the Annahda (Renaissance) dam on the Nile by Ethiopia is nowhere near being solved, (which could have disastrous effects on Egyptian agriculture-Organise! editors) the prices of staple goods are rising, not to mention the crisis in the important area of the economy which is tourism.
Statement of the Egyptian Libertarian Socialist Movement
Crisis of the ruling class
The hesitation of al-Sisi in standing for the presidential elections was due only to refusal of the old guard of the army to acknowledge this child prodigy, who rose quickly through the ranks to take power. The current crisis in the power of al-Sisi is the crisis of the entire Egyptian ruling class, both civil and military, and of its internal conflict. The populist discourse of this ruling class, a sort of remake of the Nasser years, cannot conceal the class war it waged against workers when they go on strike, with the use of the army.
While al-Sisi asks the people to sacrifice on the altar of austerity, he replenishes the coffers of the horrendous Ministry of the Interior. Adding to that the second nature of the economic predator of the Egyptian military institution seems to take precedence over its “constitutional” activities: the army wants to take over every corner of the economy by expanding its grip on public companies, which is not without its problems with “civil” capitalism and especially the ultraliberal ( those in favour of an unbridled free market-Organise! editors) financial circles close to Mubarak, especially as they have contributed to financing and organising the army coup last June. In fact these circles want to regain their position of before the revolution of January 2011, when they shared power with the army, and they have no intention of being happy with the position the military has deigned to give them.
Maybe the hollow discourse tinged with nationalism, of al-Sissi will create an illusion for a longer period than that of the equally hollow tinged with religiosity of Morsi, but al-Sissi will not be spared by a popular uprising, as he begins to say that he must sacrifice one or even two generations so that Egypt can live in opulence. The people who rose up to say “Down with the power of the military” cannot accept this contempt. One can easily imagine that this slogan will resound in the streets of Egypt against al-Sissi in his turn.
Yasser Abdelkawy (Libertarian Socialist Movement, Egypt) Translated from the Arabic by Marouane Taharouri, adapted by Organise! editors.
Message on Egyptian situation from Anarchist Network
With the last contact we had with Egyptian Anarchists, they are in an emergency situation. Fascist military regime of Al Sisi / Mubarak has been more aggressively seeking to arrest all anarchists and any other radical left activists. According to the fascist government’s newspaper, more than 41,000 people have been arrested. Among them there are: Alaa Abdel Alfatah, very well-known blogger, and Mahienour El-Massry, a great woman human rights activist, women’s and workers’ rights activist, and also a progressive lawyer and campaigner against class society.
These huge numbers of arrest has happened within less than one year!! It was between July 2013 and May 2014. Repressive military regime continues to arrest all anarchists and any other radical left activists, who were involved in organising any kind of rallies or actions against fascist/military regime, who is supported by CIA-Zionism and other bloody Western powers. The intensity of the past few days has subsequently put so much pressure into the life of our dear comrades, so that the rest of them have been forced to live hidden and going underground. We Middle Eastern anarchists are asking for any kind of supports and solidarity, even if it is only a wide spread of this news.
Down with military rule of Al Sisi/Mubarak!
Abolish the reactionary forces of all religious organizations
and religious rulers!
Destroy all the power of warmongers, including CIA/USA,
Zionism, Western powers, Russia and China!
For a Free Egypt, Free Middle East and a Free World!
Anarchist Network (Anarchist Network is a collective of websites and actions coordinated by both anarchist sympathizers within the global public as well as an increasingly wide group of autonomous anarchist coordinators residing around the globe in areas such as various regions of Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Scandinavia, Morocco, Egypt, Germany, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France and other localities.)
World in Common 