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<font size=3><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/<br>
</a></font><font size=2 color="#990000">February 1, 2011<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>People Power in
Action<br><br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">The
Making of Egypt's
Revolution</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>By
ESAM AL-AMIN<br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd><font size=3>Freedom lies behind a door, closed shut<br>
<dd>It can only be knocked down with a bleeding fist<br><br>
<dd>-- Egyptian Poet-Laureate Ahmad Shawqi (1869-1932)<br><br>
</i>
</dl>On April 21, 2008, an assistant high school principal placed an
advertisement in Al-Ahram</i>, the largest daily newspaper in Egypt,
pleading disparately with President Hosni Mubarak and his wife to
intervene and release her daughter from prison.<br><br>
It turned out that her 27 year-old daughter, Israa’ Abd el-Fattah, was
arrested 10 days earlier because of her role in placing a page on
Facebook encouraging Egyptians to support a strike in the industrial city
of al-Mahalla that had taken place on April 6.<br><br>
In her spare time, she and two of her colleagues created the Facebook
page. Within days of posting it, over 70,000 people supported their call.
After the security forces cracked down against the huge riots in
al-Mahalla on April 6, Abd el-Fattah was arrested. <br><br>
What was odd about this arrest was that although thousands of people have
been arrested over the past three decades, it was the first time that a
warrant was issued against a female under the notorious emergency laws
imposed in the country since 1981. To get out of prison she had to
apologize and express regret for her actions. But the experience made her
more determined than ever to be politically active. <br><br>
On that day, the “April 6 Youth” movement was created. For the next two
and a half years it maintained its presence and created one of the most
popular political forums on several social networking sites such as
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.<br><br>
When the president of Tunisia, Zein al-Abideen Ben Ali, was deposed
on January 14, following a four week popular uprising, the April 6
movement, like millions of youth across the Arab World, was inspired,
energized, and called for action.<br><br>
Changing of the Guard: the Youth leads<br><br>
</b>Looking at the calendar, Israa’ and her colleagues picked the next
Egyptian holiday, which was ironically “Police Day” falling on Tuesday,
January 25. Within a few days they called on all social media sites for
massive protests and an uprising against the Mubarak regime. <br><br>
They called for marches to start from all major squares, mosques and
churches in Cairo and Alexandria while asking others to help plan in
other Egyptian cities. They insisted that the protests would be peaceful
and that no one should bring weapons of any type.<br><br>
They had four demands: that the government develops programs to address
poverty and unemployment; that it would end the state of emergency and
uphold judicial independence; the resignation of the interior minister
whose ministry was notorious for torture and abuse of human rights; and
for political reforms including the limitation of presidential terms to
two, the dissolution of the parliament, and for new elections to be held
after the massive elections fraud of last November.<br><br>
Within a few days, over ninety thousand youth signed up and charted a
comprehensive protest throughout Egypt. Initially, neither the government
nor the opposition took them seriously. Even former IAEA director Dr.
Mohammad Elbaradei, who has been criticizing the regime for over a year,
was abroad due to his frequent speaking engagements.<br><br>
In a show of force, the government assembled over two hundred thousand of
its security forces surrounding the protesters throughout the country. On
the other hand, hundreds of thousands of protesters marched representing
broad cross sections of society, men and women, young and old, educated
and illiterate, and declared that their demonstrations were peaceful but
that they were determined to press their demands. <br><br>
When they could not control the crowds the police beat back the
protesters using water canons, tear gas and rubber bullets. By the end of
the day there were over a dozen casualties and hundreds of injuries. This
not only outraged the demonstrators, but also ignited the whole
country.<br><br>
Most of the protesters refused to go home and escalated the confrontation
declaring an open demonstration in Liberation Square in downtown Cairo
and throughout the country. The government continued its crackdown
calling for curfews in Cairo, Alexandria, and Suez from 6 PM to 6 AM.
<br><br>
The curfews for the following days kept getting longer until the
government called for a general curfew from 3 PM to 8 AM. But each
time the people simply ignored it and increased their demands, calling
for total regime change and the ouster of Mubarak.<br><br>
An Uprising turns into a Revolution <br><br>
</b>By Thursday, the organizers called for “A Day of Rage” after Friday’s
congregational prayers. The next round of protests included participation
by all opposition groups, the largest of which was the Muslim Brotherhood
(MB). Immediately hundreds of their leaders were rounded up and detained.
As millions of people across Egypt took to the street, all 350,000
security forces and police were mobilized, advancing on the protesters
and turning Egyptian streets and neighborhoods into battlegrounds. By the
end of the day dozens more were killed and thousands injured.<br><br>
Afterwards, security forces evacuated from all the cities. Chaos and
confusion ensued. Police stations and buildings belonging to the ruling
party were torched. The secret police opened all police stations and
prisons releasing all criminals in a scorched-earth attempt to spread
fear and chaos. The regime hoped to regain the upper hand by proving its
worth to the people as their source of security.<br><br>
After a four-day absence, at midnight on Friday, the 82-year old Egyptian
president addressed his nation of 85 million by blaming his government,
describing it as “inept,” and promising to appoint a new cabinet. By the
following day he appointed two generals, his chief of intelligence, Gen.
Omar Suleiman as his first ever vice president and Gen. Ahmad Shafiq as
prime minister. <br><br>
People immediately dismissed the superficial gestures and demanded an end
to Mubarak’s 30-year rule. By Monday the new cabinet was sworn in,
retaining 18 of the previous ministers, including those occupying the
important posts of defense, foreign, communications, justice, and oil.
<br><br>
The only major change was the sacking of the interior minister,
appointing another general in his place. Not a single opposition party
was consulted, let alone appointed. The first order of business of the
new government was to reconstitute the security forces and restore
order.<br><br>
Although by Friday the authorities had completely cut mobile phone and
Internet services, the genie was already out of the bottle. When asked by
the French news service AFP, Abd el-Fattah, who has been camping with her
colleagues since Tuesday in Liberation Square, said, after the government
disrupted the internet, "We've already announced the meeting places.
So we've done it, we no longer need means of
communication."<br><br>
She continued, “We want the regime to go. We've been asking for reforms
for 30 years and the regime has never answered or paid attention to our
demands.” She then added, "It won't just be tomorrow, but the day
after and the day after that as well. We won't stop, we won't go
home.”<br><br>
Amidst the chant “the People demand the fall of the regime,” Abd
el-Fattah talked to Al-Jazeera TV, which has been covering the unfolding
events non-stop since it began four days earlier, and called for all
opposition parties to form a transitional government. But by Saturday the
regime interrupted all satellite channels including Al-Jazeera. Egyptians
were now totally cut off from all means of information and
communications.<br><br>
By Sunday afternoon a provisional parliament, made up of the major
opposition parties including the MB, the liberal Wafd, and the April 6
and Kefaya movements, met at Liberation Square and appointed a 10-member
committee, headed by Dr. Elbaradei. Their mandate was to negotiate with
the regime the departure of the embattled president. The April 6 youth
was disappointed since they had hoped for a formation of a transitional
government rather than a committee that would initiate negotiations with
the despised regime.<br><br>
Meanwhile, in the absence of the police and security forces, the
president sent the army to restore order and intimidate the protesters.
Tanks and armed vehicles were occupying major squares, thoroughfares, and
public buildings. The following day F-16s and military helicopters were
roaming the skies in a show of force. But the protesters immediately
embraced the army, hugging them, chanting for them, and asking them to be
on their side. <br><br>
The head of the army declared that the military would not attack or
intimidate the people but would only protect the country and maintain
order. A few officers even joined the demonstrators in denouncing the
regime. Overall, however, the army seems to have kept its loyalty to the
regime despite the popular call to oust the president.<br><br>
Meanwhile, people formed popular committees to protect their properties
and neighborhoods. Hundreds of looters caught by the people were found to
be either deserted police officers or common criminals released by the
police. All were turned to the army for detention.<br><br>
Despite the massive demonstrations, the total paralysis of the country,
and the increasingly hardened will of the Egyptian people, President
Mubarak remained arrogant, stubborn, and unmoved by his people’s rage
towards his regime. He also was emboldened as he received support from
other authoritarians such as the King of Saudi Arabia, and the leaders of
Libya and the Palestinian Authority.<br><br>
Furthermore, a former Israeli defense minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer,
considered one of the closest Israeli politicians to Mubarak, told the
Jerusalem Post after speaking to Mubarak, “I have no doubt that the
situation in Egypt is under control.” He then added, “Our relations with
Egypt are strategic and intimate.”<br><br>
As the events unfolded the regime seemed confounded and shaken.
Initially, the official news agencies in Egypt blamed some members of the
ruling party and low-ranking officials. For instance the party demanded
and received the resignation of Ahmad Ezz, the right-hand man of Jamal
Mubarak, the president’s son and undeclared heir apparent. <br><br>
Ezz was a corrupt billionaire businessman who quickly rose through the
party ranks and oversaw the latest fraudulent parliamentary elections
where the party won 97 per cent of the seats. Just a few weeks ago, he
was praised by ruling party officials for orchestrating the overwhelming
victory despite more than 1500 judicial orders that overturned much of
the election results, but were ignored by the government. Ezz and his
family immediately left the country in his private jet. <br><br>
Likewise, both of Mubarak’s sons and their families left to London in
their private jets. The head of the Cairo International Airport also
announced that 19 private jets owned by the richest families in the
country left to Dubai on Saturday. One of these corrupt billionaires was
Hussein Salem, a former intelligence officer and a close confidant of the
president. Dubai airport officials declared that they seized over $300
million in cash from him.<br><br>
Salem was the head of a private energy company that teamed up with an
Israeli conglomerate to secure a long-term contract to sell natural gas
to Israel. In June 2008 Les Afriques</i> reported that Egypt was
subsidizing Israel with hundreds of millions of dollars every year in
energy purchase. By January 2010, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz</i>
exposed the secret and reported that Israel was in fact receiving natural
gas from Egypt at a 70 per cent discount. The scandal was swept aside by
the former Egyptian prime minister who refused to divulge to the
parliament the terms of the contract. Subsequently when the government
was sued, a judge ruled against it and invalidated the contract, which
the government totally ignored.<br><br>
Looking the other way: Human Rights but not for all<br><br>
</b>The Mubarak regime had one of the worst human rights records in the
world. In June 2010, Human Rights Watch reported that “the Egyptian
Government continued to suppress political dissent … dispersing
demonstrations; harassing rights activists; and detaining journalists,
bloggers, and Muslim Brotherhood members.”<br><br>
Even the U.S. State Department 2008 Human Rights Report to Congress
stated that “The (Egyptian) government's respect for human rights
remained poor, and serious abuses continued in many areas.” It continued,
“The government limited citizens' right to change their government and
continued a state of emergency that has been in place almost continuously
since 1967. Security forces used unwarranted lethal force and tortured
and abused prisoners and detainees, in most cases with impunity.”
<br><br>
It concluded, “Security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained
individuals, in some cases for political purposes, and kept them in
prolonged pretrial detention. The executive branch placed limits on and
pressured the judiciary. The government's respect for freedoms of press,
association, and religion declined during the year, and the government
continued to restrict other civil liberties, particularly freedom of
speech, including Internet freedom, and freedom of assembly, including
restrictions on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Government
corruption and lack of transparency persisted.”<br><br>
But despite this massive indictment of the Egyptian regime by the U.S.
government, the U.S. continued to support the Mubarak regime, providing
it with almost $2 billion annually, the second largest foreign aid
recipient after Israel. According to the Congressional Research Report
submitted to Congress in September 2009, the U.S. had subsidized the
Egyptian regime with over $64 billion since it signed the peace treaty
with Israel in 1979, including $40 billion in military hardware and
security gear.<br><br>
It also rewarded the regime with $7 billion debt relief in April 1991 for
its support of the Gulf war earlier that year. Furthermore, it intervened
with the Paris club to forgive half of Egypt’s $20 billion debt to
Western governments. In short, the U.S. and other Western governments
favored establishing a strategic relationship with Mubarak, because of
the peace treaty with Israel, overlooking the nature of the regime’s
corruption and repression.<br><br>
After 9/11, the Mubarak regime played a major role in aiding and abetting
the U.S. counterterrorism policy on rendition and torture. In 2005, the
BBC reported that both the United States and the United Kingdom sent
terrorist suspects to Egypt for detention. In that report, Egypt's prime
minister acknowledged that since 2001, the U.S. had transferred some
60-70 detainees to Egypt as part of the "war on terror.” According
to journalist Jane Mayer’s investigative book “The Dark Side,” the new
Vice President, Suleiman, was the coordinator of the CIA’s extraordinary
rendition program during the Bush era. [See Stephen Soldz’s
<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/soldz01312011.html">account of
Suleiman’s role on CounterPunch, January 31.]</a><br><br>
Despite George Bush’s grandiose rhetoric on democracy and freedom, Bush
welcomed Mubarak, calling him a “good friend” and explaining that he
looked forward to “his wise counsel,” when the Egyptian president visited
Bush in his Crawford ranch in April 2004. With Mubarak standing next to
him Bush said, “Our nations have a relationship that is strong and warm.
Egypt is a strategic partner of the United States.” He then thanked
Mubarak’s efforts on rendition and torture when he said, “I'm grateful
for President Mubarak's support in the global war against
terror.”<br><br>
In fact, the Bush administration subsequently received Jamal Mubarak at
the highest levels of government in an attempt to groom him to succeed
his father. In May 2006, the Washington Post</i> reported that, “It was
unusual for a private foreign citizen with no official portfolio to
receive so much high-level attention.” The younger Mubarak met with Vice
President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and National
Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, during his “private visit” to the U.S.
While he was at the White House the former President stopped by to
“welcome him.”<br><br>
The sacred equation: Egyptian Dictatorship equals Secure Israel<br><br>
</b>The strategic relationship between Egypt and the U.S. was bipartisan.
When President Barak Obama was asked by the BBC during his celebrated
visit to Egypt in June 2009, whether he regarded President Mubarak as an
authoritarian ruler, Obama answered with an emphatic “No.” Then he
spelled out the strategic value of Mubarak when he said, “He has been a
stalwart ally in many respects to the United States. He has sustained
peace with Israel which is a very difficult thing to do in that region.”
<br><br>
This perceived security for Israel was key in the West’s continued
support of the Egyptian regime. When Vice President Joe Biden was asked
to comment about the turmoil in Egypt by Jim Lehrer of PBS, he
shamelessly declared on January 27, that Mubarak was not a
dictator. Presenting the Israeli viewpoint, Biden said, “Look,
Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things and he's been very
responsible on-- relative to geopolitical interests in the region: Middle
East peace efforts, the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing
the relationship with Israel. I would not refer to him as a
dictator.”<br><br>
On the same day, while Egypt’s security forces were killing, beating and
gassing the Egyptian people by the thousands, Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton offered this flimsy reaction: "Our assessment is that the
Egyptian government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the
legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people." <br><br>
Likewise, when White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked whether
the White House believed the Egyptian government was stable, he replied
without hesitation: “Yes.” When he was next asked whether the U.S. still
supports Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, he reiterated that Egypt
remains “a strong ally.” <br><br>
Not a single U.S. government official or member of Congress condemned the
Egyptian government for killing and attacking its own citizens. When Neda
Agha-Sultan was killed in Tehran in June 2009, many Western governments
immediately issued world-wide condemnations blaming the Iranian
government. But not so for the hundreds of Egyptians gunned down by their
own government in broad daylight. Regretting the loss of life without
denouncing the culprits is a disguised attempt to cover for the crimes
and protect the perpetrators.<br><br>
As the Egyptian people showed determination and resilience while the
embattled regime intensified its brutality, the administration tried to
backtrack. President Obama offered a stark warning to Mubarak when he
said on Friday evening, "Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making
them go away." Without condemning the regime he then urged Egyptian
authorities to refrain from violence against their citizens," Obama
stressed that governments "must maintain power through consent, not
coercion," and that "Ultimately the future of Egypt will be
determined by the Egyptian people.” Human rights advocates were
encouraged and relieved by these statements.<br><br>
Take a stand: Either with the people or with the regime<br><br>
</b>The following day the President convened his National Security
Council and spoke to several world leaders. He gave a statement imploring
Mubarak to open the political process and engage the opposition. Britain,
France, Germany, and the European Union also called for political
openness as well as restraint against the demonstrators.<br><br>
In an interview with CNN on Sunday January 30, Secretary Clinton, sensing
the weakness of the Egyptian regime, gave implicit support to the guarded
approach in handling the popular revolution when she said “What we're
trying to do is to help clear the air so that those who remain in power,
starting with President Mubarak, with his new vice president, with the
new prime minister, will begin a process of reaching out, of creating a
dialogue that will bring in peaceful activists and representatives of
civil society to, you know, plan a way forward that will meet the
legitimate grievances of the Egyptian people.”<br><br>
Yet all these mixed statements were not lost on the millions of
protesters. In denouncing these ambivalent stands they chanted “No to
Mubarak, No to Suleiman… No to the agents of al-Amrikan (the Americans).”
Dr. Elbaradei declared that the moment of truth has arrived, “The U.S.
has to side either with the people or the regime. They could not be with
both.” But on Monday January 31, Press Secretary Gibbs said that the
administration would not take sides in the confrontation between the
regime and the people.<br><br>
This hypocritical stand was in a stark contrast to the position Obama
took two days earlier, or that of successive U.S. administrations with
regard to the color revolutions in the past 20 years as in the Ukraine
and Georgia in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, or the demonstrations by
the opposition groups in Iran in the aftermath of its elections in June
2009. <br><br>
So what happened over the weekend for the administration’s
turnabout?<br><br>
The answer to this double standard seems to be the influence of Israel
and its supporters in Congress, where the new Republican Speaker John
Boehner and other Republican leaders supported the administration’s
ambivalent policy of not abandoning the Egyptian dictator.<br><br>
In Israel, a real hysteria has engulfed the political establishment. On
January 31, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a news
conference in Jerusalem that he was concerned about the fate of Israel's
peace treaty with Egypt should President Mubarak be forced out of power
and replaced by someone more hostile toward Israel. He asked for support
of the Egyptian regime lest an antagonistic regime emerges in its
place.<br><br>
The same day Haaretz</i> reported that Israel called on the United States
and a number of European countries over the weekend to curb their
criticism of President Hosni Mubarak to preserve stability in the
region.<br><br>
It was reported on the Cairo streets that when a speech writer of
President Mubarak rushed into his office and said “Mr. President; this is
your farewell speech to the nation.” Mubarak remarked, “Why? Are the
people leaving the country?”<br><br>
This Egyptian joke captures the essence of the stalemate in the streets.
Mubarak insists on staying in power regardless of any consequence,
counting on his security apparatus, the army, and the implicit backing of
the West. Meanwhile, the popular committee headed by Dr. Elbaradaei is
not recognized by the regime, let alone to engage with it in meaningful
negotiations.<br><br>
Meanwhile, the decisive moment seems to have arrived. The protesters
called for a million-man march in Liberation Square in Cairo and for a
similar one in Alexandria on Tuesday February 1. Upon hearing this move,
the military sent an important signal to the people. Gen. Ismail Othman,
the military spokesman declared on national TV that the army recognizes
the legitimate demands of the people and would not shoot at them. With
this declaration the army gave an unmistakable sign for the president to
yield. The government immediately went overdrive blocking all entrances
to Liberation Square and stopped all public transportations to Cairo and
Alexandria including trains coming from the delta and upper
Egypt.<br><br>
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people have flocked to Liberation
Square. Politicians and party leaders, Imams and priests, judges and
lawyers, former military officers and veterans, labor and farmers,
professionals and the unemployed, taxi drivers and garbage collectors,
young and old, women and men, families with their children, as well as
prominent actors, artists, poets, movie directors, journalists, and
authors have declared their support and participation in this massive
march. Egypt had never seen such unanimity in its modern
history.<br><br>
Trickery and treachery are the practices of fools<br><br>
</b>On Monday January 31, the new vice president Suleiman addressed the
nation saying that he was asked by Mubarak to open a dialogue with all
opposition groups and to ask the judiciary to overturn the disputed
elections results of last November. It was a tactical retreat by the
regime in order to waste time and exhaust the protesters. <br><br>
However, the protest leaders instantly rejected this disingenuous offer
and insisted on their main demand of the total removal of Mubarak and for
regime change.<br><br>
It seems that the embattled president would have to make a choice soon.
He will either submit to the demands of the popular revolution and leave
power or employ his exhausted security forces to battle his people,
transforming Liberation Square to Tiananmen Square.<br><br>
On the other hand, the challenge to the Egyptian people is whether they
will stop their impressive revolution when the West and its local
hirelings give up Mubarak in order to save his regime. The leaders of
this revolution and civil society groups that have joined have so far
insisted on regime change, not change of characters.<br><br>
A few weeks after 9/11, the neo-cons persuaded Bush that after
Afghanistan, the U.S. should pursue regime change in Iraq, Iran, Libya,
Syria and its allies in Lebanon, and to give Israel a green light to
eliminate the Palestinian resistance in the Occupied territories.
<br><br>
After almost a decade, the U.S. is struggling in Afghanistan and has
enormously enhanced Iran’s strategic regional posture by handing Iraq to
its allies. Moreover, its ally in Lebanon was toppled while Hezbollah’s
candidate is forming the new government. The Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas and his negotiating team have completely lost
their credibility in the eyes of the Palestinian people after the recent
publications of the Palestine Papers. The West has lost its ally in
Tunisia, and is about to lose another in Egypt. Meanwhile its allies in
Algeria, Yemen and Jordan are hanging on by their fingernails.<br><br>
What a reversal of fortunes! <br><br>
For most of the past sixty years, the U.S. has perceived the Middle East,
and the Muslim world at large, from the dual prisms of Israel and oil. It
has provided Israel with massive military aid, economic assistance,
political cover and diplomatic shelter that not only denied the
Palestinians their legitimate rights, but also prolonged their suffering
and misery. <br><br>
Furthermore, in securing its short-term interests of oil and military
bases, successive U.S. administrations have favored dictatorships and
repressive regimes in the name of stability at the expense of the right
of self-determination to the people of the area.<br><br>
Thirty-two years ago the U.S. lost Iran and has ever since been in a
contentious relationship with it for its refusal to admit its role in
maintaining the regime of the Shah. It is doubtful whether the U.S.
government has learned that lesson and whether it would be willing now to
clearly and completely side with the people or respect their will to be
free and independent.<br><br>
In his farewell address of 1796, George Washington warned his countrymen
and women against the “passionate attachment” to a foreign country and
advised them that “against the insidious wiles of foreign influence . . .
the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history
and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful
foes of republican government.”<br><br>
Esam Al-Amin</b> can be reached at
<a href="mailto:alamin1919@gmail.com">alamin1919@gmail.com</a><br><br>
<br><br>
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