AUSTRALIA
In solidarity with the people of Tunisia, Egypt and the Arab world
Socialist Alliance (Australia)
January 29, 2011 — The Socialist Alliance applauds the courage and tenacity of the Tunisian people, whose protests for democracy and economic and social justice, now in their second month, have ended the 23-year rule of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The Tunisian revolution has inspired ordinary people across the Arab world and protests have broken out in Algeria, Jordan, Yemen and, most dramatically, against the United States-backed dictatorship in Egypt.
The overthrow of Ben Ali was achieved by the Tunisian people without any outside help. The regime, on the other side, was supported by the Western powers, in particular France and the United States, right until the moment Ben Ali fled to refuge with the West’s closest ally in the Arab world, the Saudi monarchy.
In Egypt, hundreds of thousands of people are in the streets standing up to the violence of the security forces of Hosni Mubarak, dictator since 1981. While more than 40 million Egyptians live on less than US$2 per day and more than 1 million children live on the street, the people are denied free elections and a legal parliament, and suffer severe repression for any expression of dissent.
The tragedy of Iraq has demonstrated the falsehood of Western claims that its interference in the region is to bring about democratic regime change. The people of Tunisia and Egypt are showing where genuinely democratic regime change will come from — the people themselves.
The Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings are not just against Western-backed dictators. They are against an unjust global economic system based on the plunder of the human and natural resources of poor countries by Western corporations. The policies of multinational institutions like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, faithfully implemented by Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak, create poverty, unemployment and lack of opportunity for ordinary people.
On December 17, the twin evils of poverty and dictatorship in Tunisia became too much for Mohammed Bouazizi when he suffered police brutality and the confiscation of the fruit cart from which he eked out a living — a marginal living typical of the young, rural people who are the majority of Tunisians. His desperate response, burning himself to death in front of local government offices, catalysed a revolution.
After Ben Ali fled, Tunisians took out their anger on the mansions of his corrupt cronies and relatives. Tunisian workers, in enterprises from banks and insurance companies to airlines and the media, have literally thrown out managers who were close to the regime and taken over the enterprises themselves.
While the dictator has gone, the interim government is largely comprised of ministers who served under Ben Ali. The Tunisian people are now calling for the resignation of all ministers associated with the previous regime. In provincial towns, the regime has been challenged by the establishment of democratic councils based on participatory mass meetings.
Western leaders, while pretending since their dictator fled to be in favour of democracy in Tunisia, have demanded that the current interim government remain to oversee the transition to democracy. The Socialist Alliance expresses its full solidarity with the Tunisian people’s demands for a new, representative government.
The Socialist Alliance calls for:
• No Western interference in Tunisia. The Tunisian people have shown that it is they, and not the Western empires, who know what democracy means.
• The West to stop propping up the Mubarak dictatorship in Egypt, the second-largest recipient of US military aid in world (after Israel).
• An end to the ongoing Western military occupation of Iraq, and other Western military interference in the Arab world and the neighbouring region, including the occupation of Afghanistan and covert operations in Yemen and Somalia.
Socialist Alliance, Australia
CANADA
The Canadian Peace Alliance Congratulates People of Egypt,
Condemns Canadian Government
February 11, 2011 — The Canadian Peace Alliance, the country’s largest network of peace and anti-war groups, congratulates the people of Egypt for their determined struggle against the dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak.
Earlier today, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon declined to comment on Mubarak’s resignation. Last week, Cannon went so far as to endorse Mubarak’s so-called “transition plan” which would have seen the dictator stay in power until September. With scenes of millions celebrating in the streets of Egypt, it’s telling that the Harper government keeps silent on this inspiring step toward democracy in Egypt.
For years, the Canadian government, backed the Mubarak dictatorship and supported its policy of enforcing the siege against the people of Gaza. Harper’s government has worried aloud about what this move toward democracy in Egypt will mean for the Israeli government and its occupation and siege.
Egypt, and before that Tunisia, has shown that people power can overcome dictators backed by foreign powers. And they have shown that democracy and liberation come from struggle from below, never from U.S.-led wars and occupations. This quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln captures well the dilemma that the revolution in Egypt presents for Harper and Cannon today, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”
Stephen Harper has shown himself to be an opponent of democracy in Canada and abroad. His ongoing support for the corrupt regime in Afghanistan, against the wishes of the people there, proves he is on the wrong side of history. The Canadian Peace Alliance will continue to call for an end to Harper’s support for dictatorships around the world.
FRANCE
Egypt: Victory! Hosni Mubarak has gone!
Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste (NPA)
Statement by the NPA on 11th of February 2011.
The Egyptian people, the young people, the workers mobilizing daily for several weeks have won against the dictator Mubarak, in place for 30 years.
Bloody repression, the trial of strength, demagogic operations did not succeed in defeating the millions demonstrators who, in the path of the Tunisian revolution, started and would not stop.
The wind of the history is blowing in favour of social and democratic revolutions as the answer to the economic, social and ecological crisis which is destroying the working and living conditions of the popular classes.
The NPA will be at the sides of the Egyptian people in their fight for liberation.
Paris
February 11th, 2011
Ben Ali has fled, support the revolution underway!
NPA
President Ben Ali’s last speech did not convince anyone. All day there were massive demonstrations, particularly in the capital Tunis, with tens of thousands of people demanding Ben Ali out.
Neither the announcement of a complete change of government, nor of early elections put a stop to the mobilisation by young people, workers, the population as a whole.
Police repression continued.
The dictator Ben Ali who has been in power for 23 years, supported up to the very end by the French government has fled. It seems that he is heading for Paris. If this is true it will be one further proof of collusion between the French government and the overthrown dictator.
Ben Ali proclaimed a state of emergency before leaving. The army took control of the airport.
There is no doubt that there wil be a sharpened fight for power between Ben Ali’s supporters and the army.
The flight of the dictator is a great victory for the Tunisian people
The NPA renews all its support for the Tunisian people and the democratic revolution to which they aspire.
New Anti-capitalist Party
Paris
Friday 14th January 2011
New Anti-Capitalist Party on Tunisia: ’Ben Ali assassin, Sarkozy accomplice!’
NPA
11 January 2011
Statement by the New Anti-Capitalist Party (Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste) France.
January 11, 2011 — When Mohamed Bouazizi committed suicide by setting fire to himself after being harassed by the police his act became the spark which is now setting fire to the whole of the “miraculous Tunisia” of General Ben Ali.
In every town, large and small all over the country, demonstrations showed that the people have had enough. First of all the unemployed and semi-employed moved into action, then they were joined by the workers – unionised workers, but also other groups such as lawyers. The revolt then spread to university students and high school students back from the winter break. This massive wave of struggle has exploded under the slogans of “the right to work”, “the right to a fair share of the nation’s wealth” and “the fight against corruption and nepotism” (this last is a gangrene which has spread to all levels of society). The demonstrators smashed up the symbols of the party-state. The national leadership of the sole legal trade union confederation, the UGTT, which denounced the movement at the beginning (unlike some of its local and regional bodies) was finally obliged to give its official support.
What is immediately striking about these mobilisations, mostly involving the “Ben Ali Generation” (Ben Ali has been ruling the country with an iron first for 23 years) is their skill in harassing a regime that is expert in stifling the smallest spaces available for free speech.
As they did in Iran, web surfers have been able to set up conduits for information and details of actions by using proxies which the web police cannot censor. The police forces, even though there are 130,000 of them, have been overwhelmed and have called on the army to back them up in several towns.
The night of January 8-9 was particularly bloody. Dozens of people were shot dead at Gasserine, Tala and Meknassi. But murder, arrests, provocations and intimidation have not demoralised the demonstrators, who clearly named from the beginning the people responsible for their misery: Ben Ali and his family mafia.
The Ben Ali regime caught in a whirlwind
The world capitalist crisis has hit a country which had opened up practically the whole of its economy through deregulation and privatisation. This has shown clearly the contradictions of the corrupt dealings known as the “Tunisian miracle” which, according to its apostles, was to hoist Tunisia up into the ranks of the “emerging economies”. The official growth rate has fallen by half since 2008. The pharaohic projects to transform whole sections of Tunisia’s coastline into a series of theme parks have all collapsed under the financial crisis hitting the Gulf states which were to have injected their dollars in this huge real-estate speculation. While Ben Ali thought he was one of the good pupils of the Western powers, busy doing away with islamism, trade unionism and immigration, the United States government now says it is “concerned” by the situation. They say they are “following the situation closely” and all of a sudden they believe that democracy in Tunisia is a concern of theirs.
These raised eyebrows won’t be enough to satisfy a movement, which is affirming ever more strongly its desire to rid itself of a hated regime. Tunisians must count on the support of other peoples and not on the states which have always been accomplices of the dictatorship.
Many demonstrations have been organised in support of the movement, both in other Arab countries, and in the main countries with large numbers of Tunisian immigrants. In France, there have been rallies in Paris, Toulouse, Nantes, Lyon, Marseille and Lille. These rallies have brought together the Tunisian community, as well as activists from the Arab world and from the French left. They have denounced the dictatorship of Ben Ali and the complicity of Sarkozy. On these demonstrations could be seen many new faces, on the streets in protest for the first time. The Tunisian consuls and Ben Ali’s secret agents, who are usually around to harass the opposition, are nowhere to be seen. This is an unmistakeable sign that change is in the air.
The crisis hitting the countries on the northern shores of the Mediterranean is the same one which is destabilising the countries of the southern shores of the same sea. This is one more reason that solidarity is essential. We must not relax the pressure, and our first demand must be the freeing of all the activists in prison.
NPA Maghreb Commission
[Other statements from the NPA (France), especially on Egypt, are not yet available in Englihs.]
KOREA
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU)
Newsletter
February 8, 2011
International Day of Solidarity Action
“Egyptian People’s Struggle is right!”
“KCTU fully supports the protest of workers and people of Egypt!”
The Egyptian peoples struggle against the 30 year of pro-U.S. dictatorship has been continuing for more than 15 days. On February 8, KCTU joined the “International Day of Solidarity Action” to the Egyptian people’s struggle and held a protest action in front of the embassy of Egypt with various social movement organisations. Participants including an Egyptian resident confirmed their solidarity and support to the struggle. KCTU also express its solidarity to the newly established Egyptian Federation for Independent Unions.
“The struggle of Egyptian people reminded me the June Struggle for Democracy in 1987. The people who have suffered from the dictatorship for 30 years is now crying for freedom, rights to work and democracy. KCTU is standing by workers and people in Egypt. We will use every endeavour to support the courageous struggle,” said Jeong Ui-heon, the first vice president of KCTU. Kalhid Ali, an Egyptian participant reported “More than 300 people has died or disappeared since January 25, however Egyptian people are continuing their struggle,” calling for solidarity.
After a series of speeches, Jeong Ui-heon, KCTU first vice president tried to enter the embassy building to present the protest letter to Mr Mohamed Abdelrehim Elzorkany, the Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt in South Korea. However, the Korean Police blocked his entrance and the Egyptian embassy also rejected to receive the letter. In this situation, vice president Jeong tore up the letter and threw it over the wall of the building, to express his protest against the Mubarak government.
This action will be followed by the 2nd Rally for “Mubarak’s Stepping-down and a Free Egypt” on February 11, 3 p.m, in front of the Egyptian embassy.
[Press Statement]
Egyptian People’s Struggle is right!
KCTU fully supports the protest of workers and people of Egypt!
The Egyptian peoples struggle against the 30 year of pro-U.S. dictatorship has been continuing for more than 15 days. On February 8, the day which has been decided as a “Day of Solidarity Action” for Egyptian People by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), its affiliates in 151 countries start their solidarity action including presenting protest letter to the Egyptian embassies. KCTU welcomes the ITUC’s decision and will use every endeavour.
The claims of Egyptian people are right. Their demand for minimum wage and right to work is the same as the demand of the KCTU and Korean workers, and Korean people, who have experienced a series of military dictatorships of Park Jung-hee, Chun Du-hwan, and Noh Tae-woo, fully sympathize their demand for an abolition of the Emergency Laws. The international society already turned its back to the rule of an iron fist of Mubarak and is urging his resignation and transition to the democracy. The United States, which has stood by the anti-democracy of Egyptian governments for the sake of its hegemony, is at a loss which way to go.
KCTU, which has its root in the Gwang-ju People’s Uprising in 1980 and the June Struggle for Democracy and the following Great Struggle of Workers in 1987, is paying special attention to the Egyptian Federation for Independent Unions, which has newly established against the government’s national centre. The Federation has let the general strike and struggled strongly with other organizations including the April 6 Youth Movement and launched in the middle of the ongoing struggle. The federation determined to fight to the end despite the ruling class’s suppression. Their demand for right to work, minimum wage, free education and unemployment compensation, which meet the people’s basic demand of livelihood, is absolutely supported by the people.
Egypt is attracting the world’s attention. We firmly believe that the workers and people in Egypt will win the victory despite of the merciless oppression and sabotage of the Mubarak and the manipulation of the United State. KCTU starts its solidarity and support to the Egyptian people’s struggle with joining the international day of action of ITUC and will continue it until the people win a final victory.
“Transition Now, Respect the Will of the People!”
February 8, 2011
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions
South Korean support for the Egyptian revolution
February 8, 2011, Korean Confederation of Trade Unions-organised protest outside the Egyptian embassy in Seoul.
By Roddy Quines
February 13, 2011 — On February 8 the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) held a protest in front of the Egyptian embassy in Seoul to as part of the “International Day of Solidarity Action”. The KCTU expressed its support for the Egyptian protesters and its solidarity with the newly established Egyptian Federation of Trade Unions.
Speakers at the rally drew parallels between the struggle in Egypt and South Korea’s struggle for democracy in the 1980s, in which militant unions and radical students were at the forefront of the struggle against military rule.
“The struggle of Egyptian people reminded me the June Struggle for Democracy in 1987. The people who have suffered from the dictatorship for 30 years is now crying for freedom, rights to work and democracy. KCTU is standing by workers and people in Egypt. We will use every endeavour to support the courageous struggle” commented Jeong Ui-heon, first vice-president of the KCTU.
After speeches were made, Jeong Ui-heon tried to enter the embassy to give a protest letter to the Egyptian ambassador. However, police blocked the entrance of the embassy and the embassy also refused to accept the letter. In response to this Jeong ripped up the letter and threw it over the wall of the building.
On February 11, a crowd of Koreans and Egyptians gathered in front of the Egyptian embassy in Seoul for one more protest against the Mubarak regime. There were speakers in English, Arabic and Korean. As the protesters called for Mubarak to step down, little did they know that within hours their dreams of freedom for Egypt would come true.
LEBANON
“Dictator Hosni Mubarak has committed a new massacre”
Beirut, the 2d of February 2011
To Comrades
Representatives of Communist and Workers’ Parties
Dictator Hosni Mubarak has committed a new massacre, this evening, against Egyptian people.
The police forces of this dictator seized the buildings around the Liberation Place, in Cairo center and opened fire on protestors. [25] persons are killed and many thousands are wounded, including leaders of “Comity of 10”.
We could join our Comrade Salah ADLI, member of Political bureau of Egyptian Communist Party, who was on the scene, and, in agreement with him and other leaders of protestation movement, we ask you to demonstrate your solidarity with Egyptian people who struggle today for its liberty and human rights.
Cry loudly our outrage against a criminal who do not hesitate to transform his country in a big jail and to build his power over thousands of corpses.
Show our solidarity in action, tomorrow Thursday, with rallies and sit-in near the Egyptian embassies in our countries.
Demand the removal of the dictator and dragging him to justice for his past crimes and especially for his new present crimes against 85 millions of human being.
The Political bureau
of Lebanese Communist Party
INDIA
Press Statement
Mubarak Get Out
US imperialists, Keep Your Bloody Hands-off Egypt
The millions of Egyptian people in the streets of Cairo and Alexandria for almost last ten days have categorically declared their resolve to throw out Mubarak, the dictator who imposed a fascist rule over them for last thirty one years. When opposition to his continuation even for another day is mounting, it is becoming clear that it is the bloody hands of US imperialists behind him which is emboldening him to continue. It is a fact that Mubarak during all these years in power was functioning as the henchman of imperialists, especially US imperialists and of Israel. All of these reactionaries want him to continue till a suitable replacement is found. But the people want him to get out immediately. And if he is not quitting, they are getting ready to throw him out. The CPI (ML) declares solidarity with the fighting heroic people of Egypt to the fullest extent and joins with them wholeheartedly to demand Mubarak to quit without any further delay.
The US imperialists are playing their dirty game of interfering everywhere to impose their hegemony to plunder and to dominate. In the oil rich Middle East, using the Zionist Israel and their compradors and lackeys, like Mubarak, they have organized bloody aggressions as in Iraq and in Afghanistan and are enslaving the Palestinian people. That the people’s revolt started in Tunisia has now reached Egypt and may spread to other countries is frightening them. That is why they are trying to continue with Mubarak as much as possible. It is high time that these imperialist barbarians are exposed and thrown out from all over the world.
The Manmohan Singh government in India which is trying hard to strengthen the collaboration with US and Israel is reluctant to openly condemn the heinous acts of the Mubarak regime to provoke violence against the protesting people. It is playing a wait and see game like the Kings and sheikhs of the Middle East, as all of whom are afraid about the fall out of these people’s upsurge for democracy in their own countries.
The CPI(ML) calls upon all progressive democratic forces to mobilize people and organize demonstrations in support of the Egyptian people with the slogans: Mubarak Get Out, Yankees, Keep Off Egypt!
K.N. Ramachandran,
General Secretary, CPI(ML)
Dated 04-02-2011
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)
C-141, Sainik Nagar, New Delhi - 110059 Ph: +91 11 25332343
Email: info cpiml.in, Website: www.cpiml.in
IRAN
We Stand In Solidarity with Tunisian Women
Statement by Iranian Women’s Rights Activists
30 January 2011
On Saturday 29th of January there was a big demonstration arranged by independent women’s rights organizations in Tunisia.
Due to this occasion 155 Iranian women’s rights activists in a letter showed their solidarity with the Tunisian women and their struggles to preserve their achievements with respect to women’s rights.
The letter is as follows:
The world was taken by surprise at the show of will of the Tunisian people, who stood for their rights and took significant steps in ensuring their right to self determination. Like the rest of the world, Iranian women’s rights activists are watching closely the developments in Tunisia. We as Iranian women’s rights activists want to express our solidarity with the people of Tunisia, and women in particular, as they embark on an exciting, yet difficult process of building democracy and ensuring human rights and rule of law in their country. We are particularly interested and concerned with the impact of these developments on women’s rights and women’s equality.
We recognize that Tunisian women’s rights activists have not forgotten their struggle and their major achievements for women’s rights. Tunisian women’s rights activists should know that what they manage to accomplish in their quest for democracy and the equality of women will significantly impact the region and serve as a model for us all. Today, a gain for the women of Tunisia is a gain for all the nations in the region and for all women in Islamic countries.
So today, like the people of Tunisia, we harbor much hope. We hope that key actors will not compromise on women’s rights, and that women are involved fully in the process of defining the future of a democratic Tunisia. We hope that Tunisian citizens will not only safeguard their achievements with respect to women’s rights, but take steps to ensure the full equality of women under the law, and their equal participation in civic and political life. We hope that the achievements of the Tunisian people will work to inspire all the nations and peoples of our region to take concrete steps toward ensuring the rule of the people by the people, the protection of the rights of women and the equality of all citizens.
Collective
* Sunday 30 January 2011. From Change for Equality:
http://www.we-change.org/english/sp...
MALAYSIA
Stop Brutal Massacre in Libya NOW!
Power to the People of the Arab World
PSM
– Solidarity Statement with the People’s Uprising in Libya and the rest of Arab World Against Authoritarian Regimes
22 February 2011
The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) condemns the brutal repression committed by Muammar al-Gaddafi’s regime against its people who revolt against injustices and corruptions.
Gaddafi’s regime declared war on its people when Gaddafi’s son Saif El Islam Gaddafi threatened to “to fight to the last minute, until the last bullet”. Gaddafi even ordered fighter jet to attack parts of the capital city, Tripoli. Most of the killings have been in Benghazi on the north-east coast, Libya’s second largest city, where there has been massive uprisings of people since 15 February 2011. Due to government’s censorship, the actual death toll still yet to confirm but according to some reports more than 600 may have been killed in the murderous crackdown on civil disobedience.
Gaddafi may hide behind his “revolutionary past” by employing “anti-imperialist” rhetoric, but the fact is Libya has moved toward collusion with western capitalists in recent years when it opened up its economy for foreign investment, especially in energy sector. The economic liberalization polices have increasing destroyed the state economy, removed subsidies of basic foodstuff and invited more privatization. These have contributed to fueling social discontent among the Libyan people.
The recent waves of people upsurge in the Arab World have swept across the region, when we witness the downfall of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. Libya cannot isolate itself and escape from these revolutionary waves as its people becoming frustrated with the corrupted regime and its policies.
PSM expresses its solidarity with the people of Libya who are fighting courageously against the repressive regimes. Meaningful change can only be brought about through people’s power from below and go beyond the logic of capitalism.
PSM also supports the continuous struggle of the people in Tunisia and Egypt, as their struggle is not just about transition of power, but for a real change that would bring down a system that enriching the rich through impoverishing the poor.
PSM’s solidarity also with the people of Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria and elsewhere who rise up against precarious living conditions and repressiveness of the ruling regimes.
Released by,
Choo Chon Kai
International Bureau
Socialist Party of Malaysia / Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)
THOUSANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH EGPTIAN PEOPLE IN KUALA LUMPUR
Kuala Lumpur, 4 February 2011
In spite of a long holiday in Malaysia, thousands of people gathered at the KLCC Mosque and later walked 3 kilometers to the United States Embassy at Jalan Tun Razak. The Police initially tried to contain the gathering at the mosque but failed to stop the group from matching on.
Led by PAS’s Muhammad Sabu, Syed Ibrahim from GMI and S.Arutchelvan from PSM, the crowd estimated around 5,000 people waled towards the US Embassy. Along the way – they shouted anti Hosni Mubarak slogan and called on Mubarak to get lost.
At the embassy, numerous leaders gave speeches while a memorandum was handed to the US representative at the gate of the US Embassy accompanied by heavy police presence. The Memorandum was read by S.Arutchelvan – PSM Secretary General. Among other leaders present were Salahuddin Ayop, Shamsul Iskandar, Dr. Nasir Hashim, Cikgu Azmi and Zaid Kamaruddin.
Muhammad Sabu called on Hosni Mubarak to leave Egypt. Cikgu Azmi spoke for the need for a change in system in the entire region while Arul called on the Revolution to spread. But the most important call was the one asking Hosni Mubarak to step down.
The Demonstration today focused on the US embassy because it is felt that the US is the master behind the throne of Egypt. It was the US which kept people like Mubarak in power for 30 years in spite of corruption and bad governance.
Most Malaysia young and old who participated in the rally was in full support of the might of the people of Egypt.
As the program ended and while the crowd was dispersing, the Malaysian police attacked the people from behind. They shot water cannon and arrested around 7 people. It was an uncalled act of violence. In comparison, the Egyptian army seems to have more tolerance to peaceful assemblies.
Dr. Nasir Hashim – PSM Chairperson said that the police action was to create chaos so that peaceful assemblies are marred with arrest and violence. The Malaysia Prime Minister has called on the Malaysian people to learn from Egypt on the question of instability. It is clear that the Malaysia ruling party is equally worried which what is happening in Egypt. At the rally, many people called on all corrupt regimes to go. 2011 seems to be a year to watch
PAS-PSM Lead Protest at Egyptian Embassy
Kuala Lumpur, 31 January 2011
A last minute mobilization and continuous rain did not hinder about 70 protesters from assembling to call for Hosni Mubarak to step down as well as showing support to the brave people of Egypt.
The protest and memorandum handing ceremony was led by Mohamad Sabu – PAS Central Committee Member and S.Arutchelvan – PSM Secretary General .
The group walked a short distance and was greeted by around 50 police personnel in riot gear blocking the front entrance of the embassy. There were no confrontation with the police who also desperately tried to get a representative from the embassy to take the memorandum. Like in Egypt, the situation at the embassy was equally uncertain as no one wanted to take the responsibility to receive the memorandum.
The frustrated representatives from the political parties and the NGOs then decided to dump the memorandum in the post-box while speeches and slogans continued to feel the air. Besides PAS and PSM, other parties present were from PKR as well as NGOs from JIM, GMI, JERIT, SUARAM and Youth groups. Also present was PSM national Chairperson Dr. Nasir Hashim and PKR Vice President Tian Chua.
There were continues chanting of “Down down Mubarak” and “Power to the people”.
Muhammad Sabu called for the ouster of corrupt leaders in the Arab world and extended the solidarity of the Malaysian people to Egyptians as well as Tunisians. PSM Secretary General, S.Arutchelvan who read the joint statement to the media also called this a Peoples’ Revolution and said that all corrupt regime must go. He shouted, “ Long Live the people and Long live the Revolution”.
Many speakers also condemn the role played by the United States as the guarding of the corrupt and dictatorial Government of Hosni Mubarak. Till today the US has not called for ouster of Hosni Mubarak which has been their close ally.
PAS International Bureau chief Syed Azman Syed Ahmad said that if situation does not improve then a more massive rally in front of the US Embassy will be held on Friday. He said that it is the US that can dictate the fate of their key ally Mubarak .
Dr. Nasir Hashim, PSM Chairperson said that this is the struggle of the common people in Egypt against the Elites in Eqypt and America. The workers and the common people of the world are with the Egyptian people and the demand change now.
All Repressive Regimes Must Go! Solidarity Statement with the People’s Uprising in Egypt, Tunisia and the Middle East
The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) would like to express its solidarity with the revolutionary masses in Egypt, as well as in Tunisia and other countries in North Africa and the Middle East, for their courageous struggle against repressive regimes which are mostly backed by US-led imperialist powers.
28 January 2011 is a historical day for Egyptian people, when thousands of them filled the streets across Egypt on this “Friday of Anger”. Inspired by the recent Tunisian uprising which brought down a repressive regime, the struggle is still going on. The people of Egypt also took to the streets to protest against poor living conditions, unemployment, food inflation, lack of housing, low wages, corruption, suppression of freedom of speech, corruption, police brutality and a state of emergency since the US-backed Hosni Mubarak regime came to power 30 years ago.
The ordinary people of Egypt defied a nationwide curfew to participate in the intensified struggle against Mubarak’s regimes. The Egyptian government has sent in tanks to the streets to quell the mass protests. It also suspended internet access and the SMS network nationwide in its effort to cling onto power.
The flame of anger and people’s power is spreading in North Africa and the Middle East, and this has made the ruling regimes in the region tremble in front of the rising of massive revolutionary waves. The Tunisian revolution which sparked off in December 2010 has put an end to the 23-year rule of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who came to power through a coup d’état. Ben Ali has implemented pro-western capitalist policies and economic development that concentrated wealth into the hands of ruling elites and the comprador bourgeoisie clique. After overthrowing Ben Ali’s regime, working people and youth are continuing to fill the streets to fight against the provisional government that only serves to protect the interests of ruling elite and imperialist powers. There will only be real sustainable change when the ordinary people take charge of political and economic affairs.
While in Egypt, for the last 30 years, Mubarak has embraced pro-US policies and Egypt has become a close ally of US in its domination over the Middle East region. The working people and the poor in Egypt have been forced to endure economic hardships and poor living conditions as a result of privatisation policies. There have been mass struggles over the years against repressive measures, imperialist war and poor living conditions.
Besides Tunisia and Egypt, there are also massive waves of protest sweeping across Algeria, Yemen, Jordan and other parts of the Arab world. These people’s struggles deserve our solidarity.
All repressive regimes and those who collude with imperialist powers must go. The people of Tunisia and Egypt have shown the way and more nations will follow their footsteps. Like the past revolutions which have brought dramatic change to the world and the ongoing revolutionary struggles in Latin America, the people’s revolution in Tunisia and Egypt will continue to inspire people around the world to revive their fighting tradition and stand up against powerful ruling elites who collude with imperialist powers, and to build a better world from below.
29 January 2011
Released by,
Choo Chon Kai
International Bureau
Socialist Party of Malaysia / Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)
NEW ZEALAND
Stand in solidarity with the Egyptian people
January 28, 2011 — A revolution is unfolding in Egypt and across the world: from Tunisia to Athens, London to Amman people are demanding political freedom and economic justice. The current system of US imperialism, neo-liberal capitalism and constant social crisis is incapable of meeting the peoples demands and as revolt spreads we witness the system come crashing down.
Yet the ruling class will fight furiously to maintain their wealth and power. Armies of secret policemen will attack demonstrators on the streets, global corporations like Vodafone will cut cellphone and internet access to prevent news spreading, diplomats and politicians will urge protesters to be non-violent and listen to their rulers, even after decades of violence and deaf ears by rulers like Mubarak and Ben Ali. If the US thinks that Israel is threatened if the regime in Cairo falls then they might even intervene with force to suppress the Egyptian uprising.
The wildcard in world politics has always been international solidarity between workers and oppressed peoples. South African blacks remember the 1981 anti-Springbok Tour protests in New Zealand as a turning point in their struggle against Apartheid, in the 1970s ongoing rebellion by American students and massive GI resistance in the military forced the United States to end their war in Vietnam, in 1936 when Spain was taken over by General Franco, thousands of workers from across the world, including New Zealand went to fight fascism in defence of the Spanish Republic, in 1917 the Russian revolution and an uprising in Germany ended the murderous slaughter of the First World War.
In the face of the brutality of the Egyptian military and the callousness of the US imperialists, we need to urgently organise worldwide protests to show our solidarity with the Egyptian people and to demand that the US end its military support to its puppet dictators and regimes in North Africa and the Middle East. In workplaces, schools, universities, churches and mosques we should spread information about an uprising where Christians told Muslims that they would defend them from the police and where university professors and slum dwellers stand shoulder to shoulder against the regime. As tanks and tear gas fill the streets of Cairo, people across the world must stand in solidarity with the Egyptian people.
Socialist Aotearoa (New Zealand)
PAKISTAN
Left parties to organize picket of American Consulate in Lahore in solidarity with the struggle of Egyptian masses
Three Left parties of Pakistan have decided to organise a picket of American Consulate in Lahore in solidarity with the Egyptian masses to overthrow the Husni dictatorship. This is protest American imperialism consistent support to Husni Mubarak dictatorship. The parties are Labour Party Pakistan, Workers Party Pakistan and Awami Jamhuri Forum. The protest will start at 3pm on 2 February at Shimla Pehari Lahore in front of American Consulate.
Abid Hasan Minto president Workers Party Pakistan, Farooq Tariq spokesperson Labour Party Pakistan and Jamil Umer general secretary Awami Jamhuri Forum said in a joint statement, that Pakistani masses are in complete solidarity with the mass upsurge of the Egyptian people. They must win and they will win. It is duty of all the progressive forces of the world to come in open to support the heroic struggle of the Egyptian people against Husni dictatorship and its imperialist bosses.
They said that a revolution is taking place in Egypt after Tunisia and will spread to other dictatorial regimes in Middle East and other parts of the world including Pakistan. The situation as with any revolution is changing from hour to hour. Any evaluation will undoubtedly be overtaken by events within a few hours or days. But already we can say that the Tunisia and Egyptian people are writing the first pages of the revolutions of the 21st century. They are sending shock waves throughout the Arab world, from Algiers to Ramallah, from Amman to Sana’a in Yemen. These revolutions result, within the particular historical conditions of this society, from the crisis that is shaking the world capitalist system. The “poverty riots” are combined with an immense mobilisation for democracy. The effects of the world economic crisis combined with the oppressive dictatorships, are making these countries the weak links in imperialist domination in the current situation. They are creating the conditions for the opening of processes of social and democratic revolution.
In Tunisia, a bloody dictatorship was cut down. It was the focus of the hatred of a whole society; the popular classes and especially of youth. The Ben Ali regime, its repression, its corruption, a system supported by all the imperialist powers, France, the USA, the European Union, had to be thrown out. It is this same movement that is sweeping through Egypt today.
There are, of course, historical differences between the two countries. Egypt is the most populous country in the Arab world. It has a decisive geostrategic place in the Middle East. The structures of the State, the institutions, and the role of the Army are different there. But it is the same basic movement that is affecting the two countries.
Egypt had accepted all the dictates of the World bank and WTO and experienced the effects of this explosion of food prices. The economy does not create enough jobs to provide for the population’s needs. The neoliberal policies implemented since 2000 have caused an explosion of inequalities and the impoverishment of millions of families. Nearly 40% of the 80 million Egyptians continue to live on less than two dollars per day. And 90% of the unemployed are young people under 30.
The left leaders of Pakistan said in the joint statement that getting rid of the dictatorship and of all operations that want to protect the power of the ruling classes means today opening a process of free elections for a constituent Assembly. This process must be based on the organisation of committees, councils, coordination and popular councils that have emerged from the process if it is not to be confiscated by a new oligarchic regime. In this process, we will defend the key demands of a programme breaking with imperialism and capitalist logic: satisfaction of the vital needs of the popular classes - bread, wages, jobs; reorganization of the economy on the basis of fundamental social needs - free and adequate public services, schools, health, women’s rights, radical land reform, socialization of the banks and key sectors of the economy, broadening social protection for unemployment, health and retirement, cancellation of the debt, national and popular sovereignty. This is the programme of a democratic government that would be at the service of the workers and the population.
In Egypt, at the time we are writing this statement, the country is in a state of insurrection. In spite of bloody repression, the waves of mobilisation of the people develop. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators are in the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. The regime is vacillating. The Army leadership supported by the USA has tried a “self-managed coup” putting Omar Suleiman, head of the secret services and pillar of the current regime, alongside Mubrak as vice-president. The army is strained. There have been scenes of fraternisation between the people and the soldiers but faced with the determination of the Egyptians the Army leadership could also choose confrontation and harsh repression.
They said that the demand of the millions in the streets is crystal clear: Mubarak must go, but it is the whole dictatorship, the whole repressive apparatus that must be brought down and a democratic process with all rights and freedoms set in place. For the last 30 years Mubarak has maintained a dictatorial regime, imprisoning and murdering his opponents, suppressing any independent expression of the social movement and political opposition. The electoral masquerade of November 2010, entirely controlled by the National Democratic Party which won more than 80% of the seats, is the latest example.
They said that We will build a solidarity wall around the revolutionary processes which developing in Tunisia and Egypt, supported by active solidarity with the mobilisations throughout the Arab world. We cannot ignore the possibility of bad blows from the repressive apparatus of Ben Ali, or the threats of his friend Gaddafi. Also, if the regime decides on confrontation the Army leaders could unleash bloody repression.
They said that we call on Pakistani masses to show their solidarity with the Egyptian masses and rise up in Pakistan to end the corrupt feudal and capitalist system. We call upon the government of Pakistan to stop implementing neo liberal agenda, an end of privatization, say no to repayment of the foreign debts, announce land reforms, separate religion from the affairs of the state and a minimum wage of 15000 for every adult unskilled worker.
Farooq Tariq
Solidarity with Arab peoples’ Berlin Wall moment
In the footsteps of courageous Tunisians, the brave Egyptians are making history. The protesters will determine in the coming hours whether tyranny or democracy prevails in Egypt and across the region.
Millions of Egyptians are right now facing a fateful choice. Thousands have been jailed, injured or killed in the last few days. But if they press on in peaceful protest, they could end decades of tyranny.
People power is sweeping the Middle East. In days, peaceful protesters brought down Tunisia’s 30-year dictatorship. Now the protests are spreading to Egypt, Yemen, Jordan and beyond. This could be the Arab world’s Berlin Wall moment. If tyranny falls in Egypt, a tidal wave of democracy could sweep the entire region.
Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak has tried to crush the rallies. But with incredible bravery and determination, the protesters keep coming. There are moments when history is written not by the powerful, but by people. The actions of ordinary Egyptians in the coming hours will have a massive effect on their country, the region, and our world.
The shading away dictator ordered the military into the streets. He’s ominously promised zero tolerance for what he calls ‘chaos’. Either way, history will be made in the next few days. Let’s make this the moment that shows every dictator on our planet that they cannot stand long against the courage of people united.
The protesters have appealed for international solidarity, but the dictatorship knows the power of unity at a time like this – they’ve desperately tried to cut Egyptians off from the world and each other by completely shutting down the internet and mobile networks. Satellite and radio networks can still break through the regime blackout. The situation is at a tipping point — every hour counts.
The Egyptian people have appealed for international solidarity – let’s send them a massive response, and hold our governments accountable to stand with them too: Let’s cheer them on with our own pledge to stand with them in their struggle:
In solidarity
CADTM-Pakistan
LAHORE: 31 Jan 2010
Abdul Khaliq
focal person
CADTM-Pakistan
Solidarity statement on mass upsurge in Egypt and Tunisia
LPP
All repressive regimes and those who are subsequent the imperialist powers must go
We call on the masses of Pakistan to follow their brothers and sisters of Tunisia and Egypt
Labour Party Pakistan statement on mass upsurge in Egypt and Tunisia
The Labour Party Pakistan expresses its solidarity with the masses in Egypt for their daring struggle against authoritarian regimes in Middle East particularly in Egypt which are mostly backed by US-led imperialist powers. We stand in solidarity with the Egyptian people and the mass movement in the streets in these critical moments in their struggle for the ouster of the domineering Mubarak regime.
We salute them for fighting a ferocious regime, which has a notorious reputation for the brutality of its police and security forces that have been responsible for arbitrarily arresting and cruelly torturing government opponents. We support the people’s message that Mubarak must go.
The working people in Egypt have been forced to endure economic hardships and poor living conditions as a result of privatization policies. In Egypt, a devastating IMF program was imposed in 1991 at the height of the Gulf War. It was negotiated in exchange for the annulment of Egypt’s multibillion dollar military debt to the US as well as its participation in the war. The resulting deregulation of food prices, sweeping privatization and massive austerity measures led to the impoverishment of the Egyptian population and the destabilization of its economy.
When Egypt had parliamentary elections only two months ago, they were completely rigged. The party of President Hosni Mubarak left the opposition with only 3 percent of the seats. Now all that is been exposed by the mass upsurge.
The protests have drawn Egyptians from all walks of life, many of whom have never participated in demonstrations and feel that the time has come for them to voice their resentment. In an unprecedented show of civil disobedience and open revolt, young Egyptians have clearly and forcibly delivered a message that is still resonating in the Middle East and North Africa : Authoritarian rule in the region is over.
By calling for the ouster of Hosni Mubarak and unremitting in the face of tear gas, water cannons and baton beatings, young Egyptian men and women have beat back decades of one-party rule, brutal repression against civil liberties, iron-clad control of the media, and corrupt economic policies.
The protesters have been dismantling outmoded forms of governance in which the ruler is considered to be beyond reproach and economic policies are determined by his self-preserving business elite allies.
They are demanding equity in the distribution of wealth, an end to state corruption, greater employment opportunities and a curb to rampant inflation. They are not interested in a change of government – as Mubarak promised on January 28 - and they will not be dissuaded by repeated promises of economic reform and prosperity. They are calling for regime change, not cabinet change. They believe that Egypt’s current socio-economic malaise is rooted in the capitalist political system itself, a system which has not evolved since the first revolution overthrew the King of Egypt in 1952. We are happy that now working class is becoming part of the revolt, a necessary ingredient to overthrow the dictatorship. 1,700 public workers in Suez had gone on an indefinite strike seeking Mubarak’s resignation. We call on the international working class movement to side with the courageous struggle of the working class in Egypt.
The movement is continuing despite all the brutal repressive measures of the regime. Till Sunday 30th January, the number of people killed in protests is reported to be in the scores, with at least 23 deaths confirmed in Alexandria, and at least 27 confirmed in Suez, with a further 22 deaths in Cairo. More than 1,000 were also wounded in Friday’s violent protests, which occurred in Cairo and Suez, in addition to Alexandria.
Both Hosni Mubarak and Ben Ali stayed in power because their governments obeyed and effectively enforced the dictates of the IMF. We say that the relationship of « the dictator » to foreign interests must be addressed. We demand on the Egyptian masses that unseat the political puppets but do not forget to target the « real dictators » like IMF, World Bank and American imperialism.
From Pinochet and Videla to Baby Doc, Ben Ali and Mubarak, dictators have been installed by Washington. Historically in Latin America, dictators were instated through a series of US sponsored military coups. In today’s World, they are installed through « free and fair elections » under the surveillance of the « international community ».
No significant political change will occur unless the issue of foreign interference is meaningfully addressed by the protest movement.
We also salute the upsurge of the Tunisian peoples in overthrowing the US backed dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January 14, and how their victory has electrified and inspired the people of Egypt and the Middle East, while dictators shake with fear.
Besides Tunisia and Egypt, there are also massive waves of protest sweeping across Algeria, Yemen, Jordan and other parts of the Arab world. These people’s struggles deserve our solidarity.
All repressive regimes and those who are subsequent the imperialist powers must go. The people of Tunisia and Egypt have shown the way and we believe that more nations will follow their footsteps. Like the past revolutions which have brought dramatic change to the world and the ongoing revolutionary struggles in Latin America, the people’s revolution in Tunisia and Egypt will continue to inspire people around the world to revive their fighting tradition and stand up against powerful ruling elites who collude with imperialist powers, and to build a better world from below.
We condemn the conspiracy against struggling masses by the American imperialism to install/ impose again those elements (chips of same stone) having same agenda after the departure of previous corrupt rulers. Urging the masses to continues till the achievement of cherish goal to dislodge the pro imperialist ruling crust and their cronies.
We call on the masses of Pakistan to follow their brothers and sisters of Tunisia and Egypt. We call on the masses of Pakistan to over throw the present pro American imperialist capitalist feudal system and to elect a constituent assembly to do away from pro IMF policies, to separate the state from religion, to dismantle feudalism, end of privatization and a process of re nationalization, to grant right of self determination to the nations, equal rights to the minorities, an end of all discriminatory laws against women and minorities and to demand an end of imperialist occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Labour Party Pakistan calls for :
• No Western interference in Tunisia. The Tunisian people have shown that it is they, and not the Western empires, who know what democracy means.
• The West to stop propping up the Mubarak dictatorship in Egypt, the second largest recipient of US military aid in world (after Israel).
• An end to the ongoing Western military occupation of Iraq, and other Western military interference in the Arab world and the neighboring region, including the occupation of Afghanistan and covert operations in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.
Nisar Shah, general secretary
Farooq Tariq, spokesperson
Labour Party Pakistan
PHILIPPINES
KAISA KA Solidarity Message:
Greetings to the Egyptian People
KAISA KA, a transformational multi-sector women’s organization in the Philippines, congratulates the Egyptian people for their heroic and victorious unprecedented 18-day uprising that toppled their three-decades-old dictator. We have nothing but admiration for the people’s tenacity and united determination.
We are greatly inspired by the vigorous participation of women who persisted side by side with the men in the fight for democracy. They have surely won greater respect in their own country, in the whole Arab world and around the globe. Through their significant participation in the national struggle, they have surely advanced gender equality.
As we pursue our own fight for genuine democracy, freedom from US domination and genuine emancipation of women, we stand in solidarity with the Egyptian people as they pursue to further social change in their country.
Atty. Virginia Suarez-Pinlac
National Chairperson
In solidarity with the people of Egypt, Tunisia and the Middle East
29 January 2011
January 29, 2011 — The progressive movement and peoples of the Philippines stands in solidarity with the Egyptian people and the mass movement in the streets in these critical moments in their struggle for the ouster of the dictatorial Mubarak regime. We salute them for their tremendous courage in fighting a vicious regime, which has an infamous reputation for the brutality of its police and security forces, and that has been responsible for arbitrarily arresting and cruelly torturing government opponents. We support the people’s message that Mubarak must go and that the people no longer want his government and system.
We also salute the upsurge of the Tunisian peoples in overthrowing the US-backed dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January 14, and how their victory has electrified and inspired the people of Egypt and the Middle East, while dictators shake with fear.
We stand with them in sorrow and anger at the deaths of protesters, ordinary people, who have now become the martyrs of the movement. We note that the bullets that killed them and the tear gas used against the protesters are financed by the United States, which provides billions of dollars of funding to the Egyptian regime, for military equipment and “security” purposes. Despite Washington’s rhetoric about democratic rights, the Mubarak regime has been a key ally of the United States and has been propped up by the US for decades. Mubarak is Washington’s man in the region.
We understand the tremendous odds faced by the Egyptian people struggling in the streets today. However, we also know, based on our own experience in ousting the Marcos dictatorship in 1986, that people’s power can be victorious and prevail against the most cruel regimes backed by the mightiest powers on Earth, in this case the United States.
Revolutionary flames are sweeping across the Arab world. Yesterday Tunisia removed a barbaric dictator. Today is for Egypt. Tomorrow is for Palestine and all those in the Middle East struggling against dictatorships and exploitation and oppression.
Long live the revival of genuine peoples popular power in the Middle East!
Long live the revolution in the Middle East!
Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM, Party of the Labouring Masses), Philippines
(PLM)
Salute to the victorious people power uprising in Egypt
PM
February 12, 2011
Renato Magtubo
Chair, Partido ng Manggagawa [Labor Party-Philippines]
We salute the victorious people power uprising in Egypt against the Mubarak dictatorship. It is high time that the last pharaoh is buried in the desert. But the Egyptian people must not repeat the original sin of people power in the Philippines. They must not stop at simply changing the faces of the person in power but must continue on to changing the system that breeds poverty and unemployment.
The resignation of Murabak is only the first act of the drama that will play out in Egypt. It is game over for the dictator but with the military taking power, nobody knows how the game of the generals will play out. A civilian government ruling over a democratic and secular Egypt is still uncertain. The struggle of the courageous people and workers of Egypt for “tahrir” is unfinished.
Nonetheless we welcome the rebirth of an independent workers movement in Egypt. While evidently it was the youth of Egypt that sparked and led the uprising, the workers and their strikes later sustained and strengthened the uprising. The role of social media tools like Facebook and Twitter have been highlighted but in the background the strike movement of Egyptian workers since 2008 prepared the way and propelled the uprising to its victory.
While the popular uprisings in the Arab countries are directed at corrupt dictatorships, the underlying causes are the pervasive dissatisfaction at the lack of jobs and opportunities primarily among the youth but also among workers and even the middle class. Globalization has ravaged the Arab region as much as the Philippines. Unemployment, contractualization, retrenchment, rising prices and stagnant wages are also the norm in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan and Yemen. Everywhere the masses have become poorer while only the elite have become richer under globalization.
In fact, unrest may break out in the Philippines similar to Arab uprisings due to the rising prices of food and oil combined with worsening unemployment and poverty. Nobody was able to predict the explosion in the Arab region and nobody can discount unrest in the Philippines due to similar conditions of widespread desperation especially among the youth.
The prices of rice, bread, sugar, oil and gas together with transport fares and even toll fees are increasing thus squeezing the stagnant wages and incomes of workers and the poor. Today the unrest is expressed in the resistance of Philippine Airlines (PAL) workers against layoff and outsourcing. Tomorrow who knows if the struggle becomes generalized with high prices and food crisis making the lack of jobs and stagnant incomes unbearable?
South Africa
NEHAWU celebrates Egyptian revolution
Sizwe Pamla, NEHAWU Media Liaison Officer, 12 February 2011
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) of South Africa congratulates the heroic people of Egypt for toppling the autocratic regime of Hosni Mubarak and also commend the military for demonstrating what it means to be patriotic and to serve the country not individuals. This is an opportunity for Egyptians to put in place a social system that does not allow exploitation of man by another and be wary of allowing the intelligentsia to hijack a spontaneous working class revolution.
The Tunisian and Egyptian working class has proved that freedom and democracy comes from within and that with unity and perseverance nothing is impossible. We reiterate our message to the oppressed people of the world that where anarchy is law revolution is in order.
We call on South Africans to continue to support the struggles of the working class around the world especially the oppressed people of Swaziland, Palestine and Western Sahara in their fight against the brutal and oppressive regimes. The determination shown by the Egyptians and the sacrifices made by the people of South Sudan need to inspire and bring hope to all those who are fighting tyranny.
The union also calls on our government to side with those who are fighting for justice and learn from all those regimes who have found themselves on the wrong side of history by propping up dictatorships. The opponents of the working class are not invincible! Invincible are the people who know how to fight for their rights.
USA
Solidarity
See its Editorial posted on ESSF: Democracy is Power! The Middle East in Revolt
ISO
See the website http://socialistworker.org/
Rallying solidarity for Egypt
Thousands of people in cities around the U.S. attended demonstrations this weekend in solidarity with the revolt in Egypt. Elizabeth Schulte rounds up some of the actions. [Socialist Worer report]
January 31, 2011
Thousands of demonstrators came out in New York City to show their solidarity with the revolt in Egypt (Hadas Thier | SW)
NEWS OF the revolution unfolding in Egypt inspired demonstrations across the U.S. this weekend calling for an end to Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule—and in support of the people taking the streets in Egypt.
The protests emphasized the contagious power of solidarity—connecting the people of many countries, men and women, and people from different ethnic and religious groups—to topple totalitarian rulers. As one Chicago protester’s sign read, “1. Ben Ali 2. Mubarak 3. Coming soon.”
Or as signs in many other cities said simply: “We are all Egyptians.”
In addition to adding their voices of solidarity, protesters saw this as their opportunity to point out the U.S. government’s complicity in Mubarak’s crimes, as Washington has provided billions in funding for the regime. More than one protester pointed out that the tear-gas canisters being fired at Egyptian demonstrators had “Made in U.S.A.” clearly printed on them.
— In New York City, about 2,000 people protested in front of the United Nations building on January 29 as part of the quickly organized International Day of Solidarity with the Egyptian People. Among the chants in Arabic and English was “Hey, Mubarak. Hey, Mubarak. Saudi Arabia is waiting for you!”
Protesters drew the connection between the struggle of the Egyptian people and the struggle against U.S. empire around the globe. The demonstration, organized by an ad-hoc coalition of groups, was comprised of a diverse crowd of Egyptians, Arabs, U.S. leftists and others.
Suzanne of Al-Awda, the Palestine Right of Return Coalition, spoke movingly about how the Mubarak government’s emergency laws, enacted on the back of the U.S. government’s war on terror, have been used to repress the Egyptian people and to keep the Palestinian people in Gaza locked in open-air prison.
The impact of the uprising in Egypt on the struggle of the Palestinian people was much discussed today, just as the inspiring struggle of the Tunisian people was recognized as having led the way for the Egyptian uprising. The idea that this is just the beginning of a broader struggle of the people of the region against their repressive governments left the participants of today’s rally inspired.
— In Chicago, as many as 2,000 protesters squeezed into an enormous picket line on the sidewalk in front of the Egyptian consulate to demand the resignation of Mubarak and an end to U.S. aid to Egypt.
Demonstrators came from as far away as Indianapolis and Des Moines, Iowa—many alongside their families after finding out about the protest through Facebook or their mosque or community group. Chants of “Brick by brick, wall by wall, we will see Mubarak fall” rang out onto downtown Chicago’s busy shopping area on Michigan Avenue.
An Egyptian-American protester named Efraim drove to Chicago from Champaign-Urbana along with members of his family. “I’m here because this is a new beginning, not just for our brothers and sisters in Egypt, but for every person everywhere that has had enough—enough of no jobs, no food, no rights, no future,” he said. “It’s time for a new beginning for my father and sister in Port Said, but also for my daughter here.”
Several speakers highlighted the futility of Mubarak’s attempts to “reshuffle the deck chairs” atop his sinking regime, citing economic immiseration as the engine driving the protests.
“About 50 percent of Egyptians live on under $2 a day,” said a representative of the American Muslims for Palestine. “So Hosni Mubarak can come on any press conference and say as much as he’d like—that he’s going to get rid of everybody in the government, and that he’s going to get rid of all of this corruption, but these are just the symptoms.”
Several rally speakers drew attention to the hypocrisy of the contradictory position U.S. officials have so far taken on the revolt in Egypt.
“Obama said that he’s on the side of democracy and human rights...but every tear gas canister, every tank that we see in the streets of Egypt, that’s paid for by the American government,” said the International Socialist Organization’s Shaun Harkin. “Why has he not cut off the $2 billion that the U.S. government gives the Egyptian government every year?”
— In Washington, D.C., 700 people of all ages and backgrounds gathered outside the Egyptian embassy for a solidarity rally on January 29. Egyptians and Egyptian-Americans led the rally, and a sizable contingent of Tunisians was there, as well as students from area high schools and colleges.
The crowd quickly overflowed the small area of street between the embassies of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, and after rallying for several hours, the crowd relocated their protest to the White House. Most people drove or took the Metro, but hundreds marched the four miles downtown, taking over half of Connecticut Avenue as their ranks swelled to more than 300. As marchers met others at the White House, the combined rally came to over 1,000.
The previous day, 75 people rallied at the White House in support of the Egyptian protesters, and another rally was planned for the next day.
— In Los Angeles, some 400 people rallied on January 29 at the Federal Building in support of the Egyptian revolution and called on the U.S. government to withdraw its aid and backing of the Mubarak regime.
Organized through Facebook and other social media by Egyptian-American youth, the crowd brought out families, students and workers in joyous support of the protests in Egypt. Handmade signs carried messages from “Mubarak = Liar, criminal, dictator” to “Obama, don’t disappoint the Egyptian people.”
Nadine, a young Egyptian-American, summed up the feelings of protesters:
First, we want Mubarak out. We want real elections, real change and real democracy. Obama is doing nothing to stop the corrupt regime. We are here in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the streets of Egypt. Revolution is not going to be pretty, but it’s about damn time.
Earlier in the day, a group of 30 rallied in front of the office of the Egyptian consul in Los Angeles with the same message. Protesters carried signs that read, “Jail Mubarak, not the protesters,” “Free Egypt” and “Egypt’s Repression Made in the USA.”
“The over a billion dollars that the U.S. spends to support the Mubarak regime’s war on its own people could be spent on schools or jobs at home,” said Sarah, a high school teacher.
“We’re here to tell the consul that we’re here to stay: Mubarak must step down,” said Sami Wassef of the Arab American Press Guild. “Obama went to Egypt in 2009 to offer his hand in friendship. We say Obama, its time to take your hands off our necks!”
— In San Francisco, 400 loud and energetic people attended a demonstration and march in downtown. The crowd was made up of long-time activists as well as people new to protesting, young and old. The Arab-American community was well
Socialism and the spirit of Tahrir Square
By Andrea Pason and Billy Wharton, co-chairs Socialist Party USA
Tahrir Square transformed the idea of democracy from a stale ritual that occurs every few years to an open ended struggle for freedom.
February 11, 2011 — Socialist WebZine — We send greetings to the working people of Egypt on the day of their victorious struggle to depose the dictator Hosni Mubarak. Their grassroots movement provides definitive proof to the world that radical political activity can change the course of history. The activities of the protesters in Tahrir Square transformed the idea of democracy from a stale ritual that occurs every few years to an open ended struggle for freedom. We are inspired by the example provided by this mass revolt of the Egyptian people.
It is particularly important to recognise the central contribution made by the working class to the defeat of the dictator. While the occupation of the square and the street demonstrations in several cities galvanised the resistance, it was the mass strikes carried out by the workers that broke the back of the regime. On February 9 thousands of workers demonstrated the ability to shutdown the entire society and economy until their demands were met. After these mass strikes, the regime understood that surrender was its only option.
The victory of Tahrir Square need not be an isolated one – limited only to the removal of one dictatorial regime. The revolt was as much about the conditions imposed on Egyptians by capitalism – the lack of food, the unemployment, the poor housing, the declining environment – as it was about Mubarak. We can all join in the spirit of struggle initiated in Cairo by demanding a democratic socialist society where the needs of human beings are placed ahead of those of corporations.
See Tahrir Square for what it is – an open-ended struggle for freedom. And what the dissident voices in Egypt and many others parts of world are demanding are things that capitalism cannot deliver. In Egypt, the reorganisation of an independent trade union movement, the experiences of direct democracy in the protests and the revitalisation of a socialist left in the country offer greatest hope for advancing the political agenda for economic freedom developed in Tahrir Square.
As socialists located in the United Staes, we pledge to continue to do our part in the international struggle for socialism. We see our own political activity as a part of the larger international movement for jobs, peace and freedom. As a part of a Socialism for the 21st Century!
Union solidarity with Egypt
February 21, 2011
The revolution in Egypt has brought inspiration to millions across the globe, including in the U.S. Recently, teachers in the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) passed a motion, sponsored by the UTLA Human Rights Committee, expressing solidarity with the Egyptian people—and calling for an end to U.S. financial support to Egypt’s military. The vote passed with overwhelming support from the more than 100 delegates in attendance.
The union plans to write a letter of support for the Egyptian Federation for Independent Unions that UTLA President A.J. Duffy will sign.
Support democracy and workers’ rights in Egypt! End U.S. aid to the military regime!
MOVED THAT UTLA express our support for the struggle for workers’ rights in Egypt following the heroic protests that ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak, and for the recent formation of the Egyptian Federation for Independent Unions as an alternative to the state-controlled Egyptian Federation of Trade Unions.
Further moved that UTLA express our support for the immediate transition to free and fair democratic elections, and demand that President Obama and the U.S. Congress immediately halt all financial support for Egypt’s military regime—which has ruled the country and thwarted democracy for six decades.
Rationale: The U.S. government gives Egypt’s military regime approximately $1.3 billion per year. This “foreign aid” does not help the 40 percent of Egyptian people who survive on less than $2 per day, but instead helps the military purchase the tear gas, guns and other weapons that were used by Mubarak’s police and supporters to attack the peaceful democracy protesters in Tahrir Square.
It is unconscionable that our tax dollars are being used to help foreign governments repress their own populations while education, health care and other public services face budget cuts and layoffs across the U.S.
A rising wave of workers’ struggles, strikes and union organizing played a critical role in Mubarak’s ouster. Now for the first time many Egyptian workers are creating their own independent unions not controlled by the government. The right to independent unions is a cornerstone of democracy and civil liberties. Our sisters and brothers in the Teachers Independent Union are among the founders of the Egyptian Federation for Independent Unions.
Time Sensitive: Protests and strikes continue as we speak in Egypt, with the future of the country in the balance every day. Messages of support from unions like ours will make a huge difference by giving confidence to the Egyptian workers’ movement. Moreover, President Obama just announced his budget proposal, which cuts dozens of crucial public services at a time when they’re needed the most.
Thus the federal government is now deciding on budgetary expenditures, including aid to Egypt and other undemocratic regimes. Now is the perfect time to demand “money for educators, not for dictators!”
UTLA House of Representatives, Wednesday, February 16, 2011
INTERNATIONAL NETWORkS
Global civil society condemns abuses, calls for democratic reform and elections
A Joint Statement by global civil society actors
EGYPT: Global civil society condemns abuses, calls for democratic reform and elections
1 February, 2011
We, civil society organizations from across the world, strongly urge all governments, as well as regional and international organizations, to clearly and unequivocally denounce the ongoing violent crackdown against the public protests and demands for democratic reform and government accountability that have been occurring across Egypt since the 25th of January.
The Egyptian government has responded to protests with excessive force. This has included wide-spread use of beatings, arbitrary detentions and the use of rubber bullets and allegedly live ammunition against unarmed civilians, resulting in over a hundred deaths. Moreover, a state imposed black-out on national cell phone services, the internet and independent media channels was put in place on the 28th of January, making it very difficult for Egyptians to report any abuses occurring. On that same day the Egyptian government began to deploy military forces in supplement of internal security forces.
With the strong risk that repression, violence and instability in Egypt could escalate to unprecedented levels in the coming days, it is critical that individual governments from all regions of the world urgently exert strong and concerted pressure on the Egyptian government to curb human rights abuses.
We call on the United Nations, its Member States and regional bodies to condemn the serious and widespread human rights violations carried out by the Egyptian authorities against civilians throughout the country. The international community must remind the Egyptian government of its international human rights obligations, urge it to fully respect the rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of movement and freedom of expression, and support the demands of the Egyptian people for the holding of free and fair elections and the ending of the decades long State of Emergency law which has been used to enforce authoritarian rule.
Signatories:
Action for People’s Democracy (Thailand)
The African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS)
The Africa Democracy Forum (ADF)
Ain O Salish Kendra (Bangladesh)
Aitzaz Ahsan and Associates, Advocates and Attorneys(Pakistan)
Alkarama Foundation (Switzerland)
Angikar Bangladesh Foundation (Bangladesh)
Article 19
Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization
Asian Citizen’s Center for Environment and Health-South Korea (ACCEH)
Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), the Philippines
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC)
Asia Monitor Resource Centre- Hong Kong (AMRC)
Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE)
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
Cambodian Center for Human Rights
Centre for Independent Journalism (Malaysia)
Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales- CELS (Argentina)
Center for Health and Social Change- South Korea (CHSC)
Centre for Legal Awareness and Support (India)
Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR), the Philippines
CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation
The Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR)
Collectif des Familles des Desparus en Algerie
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)
Committee to Support Imprisoned Workers (South Korea)
Community Legal Aid Institute, (Indonesia)
Community Resource Centre- Thailand (CRC)
Conectas Direitos Humanos (Brazil)
DAGA Center for JustPeace in Asia (Thailand)
Damascus Centre for Human Rights
Democracy Coalition Project (DCP)
Democratic Workers’ Solidarity (South Korea)
The East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRP)
Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research, Inc.- Philippines (EILER)
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EURMED)
Federation of Independent Trade Union- Indonesia (GSBI)
Franciscans International (Switzerland)
Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT)
Friends of Women (Malaysia)
Human Rights Agenda (Nigeria)
Human Rights First (USA)
Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Imagination for International Solidarity- South Korea (IFIS)
Information & Culture Nuri for Disabled Koreans (South Korea)
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF)
International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
Jagaran Media Center- Nepal (JMC)
Janasansadaya (Sri Lanka)
Japan Occupational Safety and Health Resource Center
JINBONET (South Korea)
Justice for Peace Foundation (Thailand)
Korea Center for United Nations Human Rights Policy- South Korea (KOCUN)
Korean Federation of Medical Groups for Health Rights- South Korea (KFHR)
Korean House for International Solidarity- South Korea (KHIS)
Lawyers for Liberty (Malaysia)
The Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH)
Maldives Democracy Network (Maldives)
MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society (South Korea)
Muntada - Arab Forum for Sexuality Education and Health (Palestine)
Network of Accessible Environments for All (South Korea)
Open Society Foundations
The Other Media (India)
Palestine Peace Solidarity of South Korea (South Korea)
Partnership for Justice (Nigeria)
People’s Health Movement (USA)
Peoples Training & Research Centre (India)
Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Malaysia)
PILIPINA Legal Resources Center (Philippines)
RightOnCanada.ca
River, indigenous people and human rights watch Arunachal (India)
Sisters’ Arab Forum for Human Rights (Yemen)
Sisters in Islam (Malaysia)
Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination- South Korea (SADD)
Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea (South Korea)
Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)
Thai Labour Campaign
Triumph International Thailand Labour Union (TITLU)
Try Arm Underwear - Self-Managed Worker Cooperative (Thailand)
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
U.S. Campaign for Burma
Vikash (India)
VISION (Pakistan)
Western African Human Rights Defenders Network (WAHRDN)
Women’s Aid Organization (Malaysia)
Women for Women’s Human Rights – New Ways (Turkey)
The World Organization Against Torture (OMCT)
World Student Christian Federation Asia Pacific (Hong Kong)
The World Without War (South Korea)
Zi Teng (Hong Kong)
In Tunisia and Eypt the revolutions are underway
Fourth International
Statement by the Bureau of the Fourth International Fourth International.
“The most indubitable feature of a revolution is the direct interference of the masses in historical events. In ordinary times the state, be it monarchical or democratic, elevates itself above the nation, and history is made by specialists in that line of business - kings, ministers, bureaucrats, parliamentarians, journalists. But at those crucial moments when the old order becomes no longer endurable to the masses, they break over the barriers excluding them from the political arena,(...). The history of a revolution is for us first of all a history of the forcible entrance of the masses into the realm of rulership over their own destiny.”
Leon Trotsky, Preface to History of the Russian Revolution
The situation as with any revolution is changing from hour to hour. Any evaluation will undoubtedly be overtaken by events within a few hours or days. But already we can say that the Tunisia and Egyptian people are writing the first pages of the revolutions of the 21st century. They are sending shock waves throughout the Arab world, from Alger to Ramallah, from Amman to Sanaa in Yemen. These revolutions result, within the particular historical conditions of this society, from the crisis that is shaking the world capitalist system. The “poverty riots” are combined with an immense mobilisation for democracy. The effects of the world economic crisis combined with the oppression of dictatorships are making these countries in the current situation the weak links in imperialist domination. They are creating the conditions for the opening of processes of social and democratic revolutions.
Demonstrations, strikes, mass meetings, self-defence committees, mobilisations by trade unions and civil associations, mobilisation of all the popular classes, “those below” and “those in the middle” who are swinging over into insurrection, “those above who can no longer rule as before”, convergence between parties from the radical opposition against the system, these are all the ingredients of a pre-revolutionary or revolutionary situation that is today ready to explode.
It is today the turn of Egypt to see hundreds of thousands of workers, young people and unemployed stand up against the dictatorship of Mubarak.
In Tunisia, a bloody dictatorship was cut down. It was the focus of the hatred of a whole society, the popular classes and especially of youth. The Ben Ali regime, his repression, his corruption, a system supported by all the imperialist powers, France, the USA, the European Union, had to be thrown out.
It is this same movement that is sweeping through Egypt today.
There are, of course, historical differences between the two countries. Egypt is the most populous country in the Arab world. It has a decisive geo-strategic place in the Middle East. The structures of the State, the institutions, the role of the Army are different there. But it is the same basic movement that is affecting the two countries.
The Tunisian masses could longer stand an economic system - “a good pupil of the world economy” according to Mr. Strauss-Khan - which starved them. The explosion of the prices of basic foodstuffs, unemployment of almost 30%, and hundreds of thousands of trained and qualified young people without jobs constituted fertile ground for the growth of a social revolt that, combined with a political crisis, led to a revolution.
There were dramatic price rises for all essential products, including rice, wheat and corn, between 2006 and 2008. The price of rice tripled in five years, passing from approximately $600 per ton in 2003 to more than $1800 per ton in May 2008.
The recent increase in the price of the grain is illustrated by a jump of 32 % recorded during second half of 2010 in the compound index of food prices.
The big rise in prices of sugar, cereals and oilseed took world food prices to record levels in December, exceeding those of 2008, which had started riots throughout the world.
At the same time, the IMF and the WTO are demanding the lifting of all tariff barriers and end of to all food subsidies.
The recent speculative rise in food encouraged the worldwide development of famine on an unprecedented scale, which is hitting a series of countries of Africa and the Arab world.
Egypt has also experienced the effects of this explosion of the food prices. The economy does not create enough jobs to provide for the population’s needs. The neoliberal policies implemented since 2000 have caused an explosion of inequalities and an impoverishment of millions of families. Nearly 40% of the 80 million Egyptians continue to live on less than two dollars per day. And 90% of the unemployed are young people under 30.
The other remarkable thing is that the Egyptian national trade-union federation – led by members of the government – has partly withdrawn its support for the government in the two weeks since the Tunisian insurrection. They wanted price controls, wage rises and a system of subsidised distribution of foodstuffs, the people not being able to obtain basic necessities such as tea or oil. That the union leaders should demand this is unprecedented because they have been convinced neo-liberal supporters. That is the impact of the Tunisian events
In Tunisia, this revolution has deep roots. The current social movement is the result of a cycle of mobilizations and movements which draw their strength from the history of the struggles of the Tunisian people and its organizations, in particular, many associations for human rights and democratic freedoms and trade unions like many sectors of the UGTT (General Union of the Tunisian Workers).
We remember the fight of certain personalities for freedom of expression and to travel in 1999, the high-school students’ movement in 2000, the mobilisations against the war in Iraq in 2001, the second Intifadah in 2002-2003, strikes and demonstrations in Gafsa in 2008, Ben Guerdane in August 2010, and Sidi Bouzid, which at the end of 2010 opened up the way for the revolution.
It is a historical movement that started with this combination of social revolt and overthrowing a dictatorship but which today seeks to go further. It is a radical democratic revolution that has anticapitalist social demands.
Ben Ali had to flee, but the essence of his gangster system stayed in place. The force of the mobilisation has constrained the former Ben Ali supporters to leave the government gradually, but as we are writing this statement, the Prime Minister is still the Ben Ali supporter Ghannouchi.
And the revolution wants to go further: “RCD out! ”, “Ghannouchi out! ”, behind these demands, it is the whole of the political system, all the institutions, all the repressive apparatus that should be eradicated. It is necessary to finish with the whole Ben Ali system, and to establish all democratic rights and freedoms: right of free expression, right to strike, right to demonstrate, pluralism of associations, trade unions and parties
Abolish the presidency and install a provisional revolutionary government! Getting rid of the dictatorship and of all operations that want to protect the power of the ruling classes means today opening a process of free elections for a constituent Assembly. This process must be based on the organisation of committees, councils, coordination and popular councils that have emerged from the process if it is not to be confiscated by a new oligarchic regime.
In this process, the anticapitalists will defend the key demands of a programme breaking with imperialism and capitalist logic: satisfaction of the vital needs of the popular classes - bread, wages, jobs; reorganization of the economy on the basis of fundamental social needs - free and adequate public services, schools, health, women’s rights, radical land reform, socialization of the banks and key sectors of the economy, broadening social protection for unemployment, health and retirement, cancellation of the debt, national and popular sovereignty. This is the programme of a democratic government that would be at the service of the workers and the population.
At the same time, whether it is to organize the defence of the districts, to drive out RCD leaders of state administration or big companies, to reorganize the distribution of the food substances, workers and young people are organising their own assemblies and committees. The most combative sectors and most radical must support, stimulate, organize and coordinate all these self-organization structures. They are something to build on to establish a democratic power of the popular classes.
In Egypt, at the time we are writing this statement, the country is in a state of insurrection. In spite of bloody repression, the waves of mobilization of the people develop. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators are in the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. The party office of the ruling NDP and symbols of the regime have been attacked. The hatred for the Mubarak system, the total rejection of corruption, and the demand for satisfaction of vital social demands against price rises have provoked and stimulated the mobilisation of all the popular classes. The regime is vacillating. The Army leadership supported by the USA has tried a « self-managed coup » putting Omar Suleiman, head of the secret services and pillar of the current regime alongside Mubrak as Vic-president. The army is strained. There have been scenes of fraternisation between the people and the soldiers but faced with the determination of the Egyptians the Army leadership could also choose confrontation and harsh repression. The demand of the millions in the streets is crystal clear: Mubarak must go, but it is the whole dictatorship, the whole repressive apparatus that must be brought down and a democratic process wit all rights and freedoms set in place. The call for a day of mobilisation on 1st February is the next step.
In Egypt too, it is necessary to finish some with a dictatorship and to found a democratic process with all the rights and fundamental democratic liberties.
The current movement is the most important since the 1977 bread riots but here again it has deep roots.
For the last 30 years Mubarak has maintained a dictatorial regime, imprisoning and murdering his opponents, suppressing any independent expression of the social movement and political opposition. The electoral masquerade of November 2010, entirely controlled by the NDP which won more than 80% of the seats, is the latest example. In the lat few years there have been important strike movements particularly of the textile workers of El-Mahalla, general strikes and demonstrations and protests by different social categories, big anti-imperialist mobilisations against the military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan in 2004, marking the disavowal and isolation of a regime that is held up only by the USA and the European Union.
Egypt is, with Israel and Saudi Arabia, one of the three pillars of imperialist policy in the region. The USA, Israel and Europe will do everything they can to prevent Egypt escaping from their zone of influence and will do everything they can to oppose a revolutionary development of the protests.
The Tunisian revolution set the Arab world ablaze. It is also for a whole generation their first revolution. Everything can change today with the rising of the Egyptian people. The mobilisation will undoubtedly have repercussions through the region, in particular encouraging the Palestinian despite the shameful statement of Mahmoud Abbas.
We have to build a solidarity wall around the revolutionary processes which developing in Tunisia and Egypt, supported by active solidarity with the mobilizations throughout the Arab world. We cannot ignore the possibility of bad blows from the repressive apparatus of Ben Ali, or the threats of his friend Khadaffi. Also, if the regime decides on confrontation the Army leaders could unleash bloody repression.
Faced with the deepening of the revolutionary process, the western powers and the ruling classes will try to take back control by breaking this immense hope.
The Tunisian and Egyptian people must be able to count on the whole of the international labour movement, on all the global justice movement. In the trade unions, associations, the left parties, we must support the fights of these peoples and the revolt thundering through the Arab world.
Live the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions!
Solidarity with the fights in the Arab world!
Bureau of the Fourth International
8pm, 30th of January 2011