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<h1><font size=4 color="#FF0000"><b>2 articles follow<br><br>
</i></font>DR. ASHRAF EZZAT:THE DOWNFALL OF MUBARAK OF
EGYPT</b></h1>
<img src="http://www.intifada-palestine.com/wp-content/themes/headlines/images/ico-time.png" alt="[]">
</b></h1><font size=3>27. Jan,
2011<a href="http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2011/01/dr-ashraf-ezzatthe-downfall-of-mubarak-of-egypt/print/">
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</font><h3><b>What is happening now in Egypt is historic by all means and
all parties involved should acknowledge that and deal with it as
such.</b></h3><font size=3><b>By Dr. Ashraf Ezzat / from Alexandria,
Egypt
for<a href="http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/01/27/dr-ashraf-ezzatthe-downfall-of-mubarak-of-egypt/">
Veterans Today</a><br><br>
<br>
</b>“Without beating around the bush or postponing or playing us for
fools and without more false promises, we, the people of Egypt, demand
all of our long forgotten rights to be granted and this time there is no
turning back … we have learned our lesson …we have finally broken free of
all fears<br>
… thus stated a written flier that has been circulating – by banned
oppostion -all over major cities of Egypt in thousands of copies on the
night before January, 25th or what is now known as <b>the Egyptian day of
wrath.</b> <br><br>
The flier contained a lot of economic and political demands amongst
which;</font>
<ul>
<ul>
<li>Salaries and pensions increase that would cope up with the high
prices and to include financial aid to the unemployed wide segment of the
youth.</b>
<li>Cancel the law of emergency – that gives the government the right to
abduct any citizen without need for any law warrant.</b>
<li>Egypt is no monarchy. 30 years are more than enough for Mubarak. He
must go and his son Gamal- the probable successor or heir to his father’s
presidency.</b>
<li>The dissolution of the current parliament- whose elections deemed
fraudulent.</b>
<li>Fair and democratic parliamentary and presidential elections.</b>
<li>Ban Egyptian exports to Israel and mainly the Egyptian natural
Gas.</b> <br><br>
</ul>
</ul>The paper had been written in Arabic slang with a language that
reflected a lot of spontaneity and simplicity, nevertheless, it managed
to reflect how the Egyptians felt toward their current regime.<br><br>
Egypt is ruled by an authoritarian and oppressive regime headed by Hosni
Mubarak who has been in power for almost 30 years now.<br><br>
<h3><b>Egypt under Mubarak’s regime</b></h3><font size=3>Egypt – once
known amongst Arabs as the mother of the world- that used to be the
leader nation of the Arab world during the presidency of late President
<a href="http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamal_Abdel_Nasser">Nasser</a>
has turned during Mubarak’s reign into a shadowy and subordinate
political entity.<br><br>
The deeply rooted corruption of the Mubarak regime has turned one of the
oldest agricultural societies on earth into one of the world’s biggest
importers of wheat.<br><br>
Mubarak’s agricultural cooperation with Israel has destroyed Egypt’s
production of the world’s finest cotton to be replaced by fields of
carcinogenic[i] fruits and vegetables.<br><br>
Mubarak’s autocratic rule has never allowed the emergence of actively
participating secular parties and free democratic elections.<br><br>
The education and health care systems have dramatically declined during
Mubarak’s regime.<br><br>
Freedom of speech and demonstration has been widely denied and human
rights have been violated.<br><br>
Mubarak has been busy setting the stage for his son Gamal to take over
the kingdom he thought was immune from mutiny.<br><br>
On Tuesday thousands of ordinary Egyptians took to the streets – drived
by years of oppression and not by any foreign agenda - chanting slogans
calling for change and freedom.<br><br>
Throughout the long history of Egypt its people seldom rallied in huge
numbers except during the first half of the twentieth century when
Egyptians were trying to liberate the country from the British
colonialism and one unprecedented time when they spontaneously swarmed
the streets in June 1967 denouncing president Nasser`s decision to resign
following the setback brought about by the six -day war with
Israel<br><br>
Egyptian protestors and clashes with security<br><br>
The security forces managed to disperse the nearly thirty thousands
protestors who were going to stay afoot and spend the night of Tuesday at
Tahrir square in Cairo but that did not deter them, they hit the streets
again the following day despite the prosecution and the brutality of the
police forces which began to be more aggressive and to even fire live
ammunition at protestors especially at the city of Suez [ii] whose
citizens are putting up a courageous street to street fight with police
forces.<br><br>
Egypt could not be compared to Tunisia as far as the security and
military apparatus is concerned. Egypt enjoys one of the biggest military
and police forces in Africa and the Middle East. But Tunisia has to be
given the credit for the domino effect that is sweeping across the Arab
world now.<br><br>
Mubarak – being a former military man – knows very well that he needs the
support of the army and police forces to keep his reign safe and secure.
That’s why he keeps himself surrounded by a close ring of loyal and
strong men in the police and the military and that’s why the downfall of
Mubarak won’t be an easy job nor without sacrifice.<br><br>
</font><h3><b>The demise of 30 years of
authoritarianism</b></h3><font size=3>The authoritarian regime of Mubarak
has been so stunned and taken by surprise by the swift and abrupt
uprising of the Egyptians; it failed to respond yet by any official
statement to what has been happening.<br><br>
One thing is sure now, Mubarak’s credibility has been shattered, he can
no longer look in the eyes of any ordinary Egyptian, and to me, this is
the clear sign of the end of his long and agonizing reign over
Egypt.<br><br>
What is characteristic of any Muslim Metropolis city like Cairo is the
peak of crowd of people that fills the streets and mosques after
<a href="http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumu%27ah">Friday prayers
</a>which often witness reference to the latest national events during
its speech – khotbah- delivered by
<a href="http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imam">imams</a>.<br><br>
Most of the historic demonstrations in Egypt – against the
<a href="http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Campaign_in_Egypt_and_Syria">
French campaign</a> (1789-1803) and against
<a href="http://http//www.touregypt.net/hbritish.htm">British
occupation</a> (1882-1936) erupted by people gathered after they had
finished their assembly for Friday prayers at
<a href="http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Azhar_Mosque">Al-Azhar
mosque</a>. Likewise, and keeping this legacy alive, free Egyptians are
now calling for the assembly of around one million protestors next Friday
to go on a never seen before rallies that will demand that Mubarak should
go.<br><br>
This political unrest in Egypt might take a while, the stubborn regime of
Mubarak might buy some time and concede to some of the protestors
demands, he might announce that this would be his last term in office and
he might want to drive his son – as rumours say-out of the country but
what is certain is that the downfall of Mubarak will be -if not next
Friday- on any given Friday.<br><br>
The Egyptian addiction to Authoritarianism is finally coming to an
end.<br><br>
For more posts by Dr. Ashraf Ezzat visit his website at:
<a href="http://ashraf62.wordpress.com/">
http://ashraf62.wordpress.com/</a><br><br>
Footnotes<br><br>
</b>[i] –
<a href="http://challahhuakbar.blogspot.com/2011/01/israel-sending-agricultural.html">
http://challahhuakbar.blogspot.com/2011/01/israel-sending-agricultural.html</a>
<br><br>
[ii] –
<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/201112621340630620.html">
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/201112621340630620.html</a>
<br><br>
</font><font size=3>*************************************************<br>
Interview with Hossam el-Hamalawy <br><br>
Professor Mark LeVine interviews journalist and blogger Hossam
el-Hamalawy on the situation in Egypt.<br>
Mark LeVine Last Modified: 27 Jan 2011 13:07 GMT <br><br>
Hossam el-Hamalawy, is an Egyptian journalist and blogger for the website
<a href="http://www.arabawy.org/">3arabawy</a>. Mark LeVine, professor of
History at UC Irvine, managed to catch up with Hossam via Skype to get a
first-hand account of events unfolding in Egypt.<br><br>
<b>Mark LeVine:</b> <br><br>
Why did it take a revolution in Tunisia to get Egyptians onto the streets
in unprecedented numbers?<br><br>
<b>Hossam el-Hamalawy:</b> <br><br>
In Egypt we say that Tunis was more or less a catalyst, not an
instigator, because the objective conditions for an uprising existed in
Egypt, and revolt has been in the air over the past few years. Indeed, we
already managed to have 2 mini-intifadas or "mini Tunisias" in
2008. The first was the April 2008 uprising in Mahalla, followed by
another one in Borollos, in the north of the country.<br><br>
Revolutions don't happen out of the blue. It's not because of Tunisia
yesterday that we have one in Egypt mechanically the next day. You can't
isolate these protests from the last four years of labour strikes in
Egypt, or from international events such as the al-Aqsa intifada and the
US invasion of Iraq. The outbreak of the al-Aqsa intifada was especially
important because in the 1980s-90s, street activism had been effectively
shut down by the government as part of the fight against Islamist
insurgents. It only continued to exist inside university campuses or
party headquarters. But when the 2000 intifada erupted and Al Jazeera
started airing images of it, it inspired our youth to take to the
streets, in the same way we've been inspired by Tunisia today.<br><br>
<b>Mark LeVine:</b> <br><br>
How are the protests evolving?<br><br>
<b>Hossam el-Hamalawy:</b> <br><br>
It's too early to say how they will go. It's a miracle how they continued
past midnight yesterday in the face of fear and repression. But having
said that, the situation has reached a level that everyone is fed up,
seriously fed up. And even if security forces manage to put down protests
today they will fail to put down the ones that happen next week, or next
month or later this year. There is definitely a change in the level of
courage of the people. The state was helped by the excuse of fighting
terrorism in 1990s in order to fight all sorts of dissent in the country,
which is a trick all governments use, including the US. But once formal
opposition to a regime turns from guns to mass protests, it's very
difficult to confront such dissent. You can plan to take out a group of
terrorists fighting in the sugar cane fields, but what are you going to
do with thousands of protesters on the streets? You can't kill them all.
You can't even guarantee that troops will do it, will fire on the
poor.<br><br>
<b>Mark LeVine:<br><br>
</b>What is the relationship between regional and local events
here?<br><br>
<b>Hossam el-Hamalawy:<br><br>
</b>You have to understand that the regional is local here. In 2000 the
protests didn't started as anti-regime protests but rather against Israel
and in support of Palestinians. The same occurred with the US invasion of
Iraq three years later. But once you take to the streets and are
confronted by regime violence you start asking questions: Why is Mubarak
sending troops to confront protesters instead of confronting Israel? Why
is he exporting cement to be used by Israel to build settlements instead
of helping Palestinians? Why are police so brutal with us when we're just
trying to express our solidarity with Palestinians in a peaceful manner?
And so regional issues like Israel and Iraq were shifted to local issues.
And within moments, the same protesters who chanted pro-Palestinian
slogans started chanting against Mubarak. The specific internal turning
point in terms of protests was 2004, when dissent turned
domestic.<br><br>
<b>Mark LeVine:<br><br>
</b>In Tunisia the labour unions played a crucial role in the revolution,
as their large and disciplined membership ensured that protests could not
be easily quashed and gave an organisational edge. What's the role of the
labour movement in Egypt in the current uprising?<br><br>
<b>Hossam el-Hamalawy:<br><br>
</b>The Egyptian labour movement was quite under attack in the 1980s and
1990s by police, who used live ammunition against peaceful strikers in
1989 during strikes in the steel mills and in 1994 in the textile mill
strikes. But steadily since December 2006 our country has been witnessing
the biggest and most sustained waves of strike actions since 1946,
triggered by textile strikes in the Nile Delta town of Mahalla, home of
largest labour force in the Middle East with over 28,000 workers. It
started because of labour issues but spread to every sector in society
except the police and military.<br><br>
As a result of these strikes we've managed to get 2 independent unions,
the first of their kind since 1957 property tax collectors, including
more than 40,000 civil servants, and then health technicians, more than
30,000 of whom launched a union just last month outside of the state
controlled unions.<br><br>
But it's true that one major distinction between us and Tunisia is that
although it was a dictatorship, Tunisia had a semi-independent trade
union federation. Even if the leadership was collaborating with the
regime, the rank and file were militant trade unionists. So when time
came for general strikes, the unions could pull it together. But here in
Egypt we have a vacuum that we hope to fill soon. Independent trade
unionists have already been subjected to witch hunts since they tried to
be established; there are already lawsuits filed against them by state
and state-backed unions, but they are getting stronger despite the
continued attempts to silence them.<br><br>
Of course, in the last few days the crackdown has been directed against
street protesters, who aren't necessarily trade unionists. These protests
have gathered a wide spectrum of Egyptians, including sons and daughters
of the elite. So we have a combination of urban poor and youth together
with the middle class and the sons and daughters of elite.<br><br>
I think Mubarak has managed to alienate all sectors of society except his
close circle of<br>
cronies.<br><br>
<b>Mark LeVine:<br><br>
</b>The Tunisian revolution has been described as very much a
"youth"-led revolt and dependent on social media technologies
like Facebook and Twitter for its success. And now people are focusing on
youth in Egypt as a major catalyst event. Is this a "youth
intifada" and could it happen without Facebook and other new media
technologies?<br><br>
<b>Hossam el-Hamalawy:<br><br>
</b>Yes, it's youth intifada on the ground. The internet plays only a
role in spreading the word and the images about what goes on the ground.
We do not use the internet to organise. We use the internet to publicise
what we are doing on the ground hoping to inspire others into
action.<br><br>
<b>Mark LeVine:<br><br>
</b>As you might have heard, in the US, the right wing talk show host
Glenn Beck has gone after an elderly academic, Frances Fox Piven, because
of an article she wrote calling on the unemployed to stage mass protests
for jobs. She's even gotten death threats, some from unemployed people
who seem happier fantasising about shooting her with one of their many
guns than actually fighting for their rights. It's amazing to think about
the crucial role of trade unions in the Arab world today considering more
than two decades of neoliberal regimes across the region whose primary
goal has been to destroy working class solidarity. Why have unions
remained so important?<br><br>
<b>Hossam el-Hamalawy:<br><br>
</b>Unions have always been proven to be the silver bullet for any
dictatorship. Look at Poland, South Korea, Latin America and Tunisia.
Unions were always instrumental in mass mobilisation. You want a general
strike to overthrow a dictatorship, and there is nothing better than an
independent union to do so.<br><br>
<b>Mark LeVine:<br><br>
</b>Is there a larger ideological program behind the protests, or just
get rid of Mubarak?<br><br>
<b>Hossam el-Hamalawy: <br><br>
</b>Everyone has his or her reasons to take to the streets, but I would
assume that if our uprising became successful and he's overthrown you'll
start getting divisions. The poor will want to push the revolution to a
much more radical position, to push the radical redistribution of wealth
and to fight corruption, whereas the so-called reformers who want to put
breaks and more or less lobby for change in top and curb powers of state
a little bit but keep some essence of the state. But we're not there
yet.<br><br>
<b>Mark LeVine:</b> <br><br>
What is the role of the Muslim Brotherhood and how will its remaining
aloof from the current protests impact the situation?<br><br>
<b>Hossam el-Hamalawy:<br><br>
</b>The Brotherhood has been suffering from divisions since the outbreak
of the al-Aqsa intifada. Its involvement in the Palestinian Solidarity
Movement when it came to confronting the regime was abysmal. Basically,
whenever their leadership makes a compromise with the regime, especially
the most recent leadership of the current supreme guide, it has
demoralised its base cadres. I know personally many young brothers who
left the group, some of them have joined other groups or remained
independent. As the current street movement grows and the lower
leadership gets involved, there will be more divisions because the higher
leadership can't justify why they're not part of the new
uprising.<br><br>
<b>Mark LeVine:<br><br>
</b>What about the role of the US in this conflict. How do people on the
street view its positions?<br><br>
<b>Hossam el-Hamalawy:<br><br>
</b>Mubarak is the second largest recipient of US foreign aid aside from
Israel. He's known to be America's thug in the region; one of the tools
of American foreign policy and implementing its agenda of security for
Israel and the smooth flow of oil while keeping Palestinians in line. So
it's no secret that this dictatorship has enjoyed the backing of US
administrations since day one, even during Bush's phony pro-democracy
rhetoric. So one should not be surprised by Clinton's ludicrous
statements that were more or less defending the Mubarak regime, since one
of the pillars of US foreign policy was to keep regimes stable at expense
of freedom and civil liberties.<br><br>
We don't expect anything from Obama, whom we regard as a great hypocrite.
But we hope and expect the American people - trade unions, professors'
associations, student unions, activist groups, to come out in support of
us. What we want for the US government is to completely get out of the
picture. We don't want any sort of backing; just cut aid to Mubarak
immediately and withdraw backing from him, withdraw from all Middle
Eastern bases, and stop supporting the state of Israel.<br><br>
Ultimately, Mubarak will do whatever he has to do to protect himself. He
will suddenly adopt the most anti-US rhetoric if he thought that would
help him save his skin. At the end of the day he's committed to his own
interests, and if he thinks the US won't support him, he'll turn
somewhere else. The reality is that any really clean government that
comes to power in the region will come into open conflict with the US
because it will call for radical redistribution of wealth and ending
support for Israel or other dictatorships. So we don't expect any help
from America, just to leave us alone.<br><br>
<b><i> <br><br>
Mark LeVine is a professor of history at UC Irvine and senior visiting
researcher at the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University in
Sweden. His most recent books are Heavy Metal Islam (Random House) and
Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989 (Zed Books).<br><br>
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not
necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.<br><br>
<br><br>
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