The
Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) salutes the heroic uprising of the
people of Egypt against the U.S.-backed Mubarak dictatorship.
The
unfolding revolution is filled with endless examples of heroic acts by workers,
students and other young people. The number of those martyred by police forces
grows, but their sacrifice has served to inspire rather than instill fear in
others. The ranks of the swelling street protests grow more numerous as people
lose their fear. Meanwhile, wealthy and pampered elites are heading to the
airports.
All
revolutions throughout history demonstrate the capacity of working people, and
especially young people, to enter the political stage and, through their own
deeds, their own heroism, become the force that shapes and changes society.
The
political convulsion in Egypt is part of a growing wave of rebellion and
uprising throughout the Arab world. From Tunisia to Jordan and Yemen, the
entire region is becoming a political battlefield where the oppressed, the impoverished,
the unemployed are taking to the streets against U.S.-backed proxy
dictatorships and monarchies.
The
Middle East is viewed as a geo-strategic pivot by U.S. imperialism. It is in
this vast region that two-thirds of the world’s oil supplies exist. The
anti-colonial struggles of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s made the Middle East the
primary focus for U.S. military intervention, subversion and occupation.
U.S. relies on client regimes
While
the U.S. government sent hundreds of thousands of troops to invade Iraq,
destroy its government, occupy its territory and hobble and diminish the
regional stature of the entire country, U.S. imperialism has largely maintained
its domination through the exercise of a colonial-type proxy strategy.
Primarily,
U.S. imperialist domination has been maintained through a network of proxy and
puppet governments that function as clients for the U.S. military and for U.S.
banking and corporate economic interests.
Central
to this network of proxy regimes is the settler regime in Tel Aviv. As a
settler regime viewed by the indigenous people of the Middle East as an
extension of colonial power, the Zionist government is entirely dependent for
its survival on the protection and guarantees provided by U.S. imperialism.
But
even a nuclear-armed Israel is incapable by itself of policing this geo-strategically
vital region. For that, the United States used the Mubarak dictatorship, the
Ben Ali regime in Tunisia, the monarchies in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait,
the government in Yemen and others.
While
these U.S.-backed dictatorships have brutally used U.S. military hardware and
equipment and dollars to beat down and suppress their own people, each of them
has a significant vulnerability that does not exist for the U.S.-backed Israeli
regime.
As
evidenced by what happened in Tunisia in recent weeks and what is happening
today throughout Egypt and elsewhere, the puppet regimes of U.S. imperialism
are inherently vulnerable to revolutionary uprisings of their own people. Guns,
missiles, torture and the other instruments of repression cannot by themselves
seal the fate of the Arab nation. The working class, the peasantry and the
youth constitute the vast majority of these class-divided societies. These social forces can rise up and topple the U.S. client government that
rules over them.
Israel, on the other hand, is a settler regime. If any of its
governments were toppled by a domestic internal struggle, the next government
would be equally dependent on U.S. aid and support to guarantee its continued
existence in a region populated by 300 million Arab and other indigenous
peoples. Israel is thus an inherent extension of U.S. power, and is viewed as the
most stable U.S. client in the region.
Mubarak: Anchor of U.S. strategy
The
Mubarak regime, like the Sadat government that preceded it, is an anchor of the
strategy of U.S. imperialism in the Middle East. This huge nation of 80
million, possessing the largest army in the Arab world, was a principal target
of U.S. designs. The so-called Camp David Accord, signed between Egypt and
Israel in 1979 under the stewardship of then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter,
constituted a historic setback for the entire Arab nation and especially the
Palestinian people. It created a U.S.-Israeli-Egyptian partnership ratified in
the Camp David treaty and removed the largest Arab country and the largest Arab
army from the historic Arab alliance.
While
they embraced Tel Aviv, the Sadat regime and the Mubarak government that
followed opened the door for the Israeli invasion and occupation of Lebanon in
1982 and the intensification of Israeli aggression against other Arab lands,
and especially the Palestinian people.
In
recent years, the Egyptian government cooperated with the Israeli regime, under
the watchful supervision of Washington, to maintain the murderous siege of the
people of Gaza. Egypt and Israel are the two primary recipients of U.S. foreign
aid.
As
it has over the years, the reaction of the U.S. government has been
fundamentally supportive in all ways of the Egyptian regime. Even recently,
P.J. Crowley, the Obama administration’s State Department spokesperson, said in
an interview with Al Jazeera that “Egypt is an anchor of stability,
friend, and an ally of the United States.” He continued to state that the United
States “wants to see a peaceful transitional into democracy.”
Tear gas canisters “Made in the USA”
While
representatives of the Obama administration cheered on the pro-Western “Green
Movement” street protests in Iran last year, in the case of the Egyptian
people’s uprising, President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton urged
both the government and protesters to “use restraint” and be “peaceful.” The
matchless hypocrisy of these appeals have been illuminated by demonstrators in
Cairo holding up tear gas canisters marked “Made in the USA.”
But
events have gone far beyond the careful diplomatic clichés uttered by the
administration in Washington. The fear that allowed the Mubarak administration
to remain in power despite the people’s hatred has been lifted, and a new stage
of heroic resistance has shaped the latest events.
Thus,
the Obama administration is preparing a “Plan B” if Mubarak is overthrown. It
is seeking to promote pro-imperialist leaders from within the multi-class
opposition movement that could function as a post-Mubarak transitional regime
and maintain the nexus with U.S. imperialism. Specifically, the presence inside
the opposition of Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the International
Atomic Emergency Agency (IAEA), who has now returned to Egypt, could provide
the United States with a pro-imperialist political leader in the event of the
overthrow of Mubarak.
The
unfolding uprising in Egypt is dynamic. It is impossible to know what the final
outcome of the current phase of this struggle will be. The replacement of
Mubarak with another pro-U.S. political leader will not solve the problems of
poverty, unemployment, inflationary food prices and dependency on Washington.
The historic potential for Egypt and the peoples of the Middle East
Egyptian
society can be reorganized on the basis of a new social and class power. The
working classes, both urban and rural, can take hold of the vast resources of
the nation and use them for the benefit of the masses of people rather than the
international corporate and banking elites, the International Monetary Fund and
the Egyptian comprador capitalist class. It could reverse the IMF/World
Bank-imposed neoliberal policies which have impoverished tens of millions while
enriching a tiny handful at the top.
New
political and social forces are crystallized alongside a spontaneous uprising
of the masses of people. In them lies the true historic potential for Egypt and
the oppressed people of the Middle East.
For
our part, the people of the United States must—as we are—go into the streets in
the coming days to show solidarity with the people of Egypt to demand an end to
all U.S. imperialist aid to the Mubarak government. All people engaged in
revolution become the symbol and the inspiration for those who suffer a similar
injustice and oppression everywhere. We must denounce the multi-layered efforts
of the U.S. government and its military and intelligence resources that have
been used for decades to maintain the dictatorship in Cairo.
Long
live the struggling people of Egypt!
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