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<font size=4><b>Egypt's Elections Under Military Rule: <br>
Join Our Resistance to the Counter-Revolution<br><br>
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<a href="http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2012/egypt010612.html" eudora="autourl">
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2012/egypt010612.html<br>
</a>6/1/12<br>
by Comrades from Cairo <br><br>
To you at whose side we struggle,<br><br>
From the beginning of the Egyptian revolution, the powers that be have
launched a vicious counter-revolution to contain our struggle and subsume
it by drowning the people's voices in a process of meaningless, piecemeal
political reforms. This process aimed at deflecting the path of
revolution and the Egyptian people's demands for "bread, freedom and
social justice." Only 18 days into our revolution, and since
we forced Mubarak out of power, the discourse of the political classes
and the infrastructure of the elites, including both state and private
media, continues to privilege discussions of rotating Ministers, cabinet
reshuffles, referendums, committees, constitutions and most glaringly,
parliamentary and now presidential elections.<br><br>
Our choice from the very beginning was to reject in their entirety the
regime's attempts to drag the people's revolution into a farcical
dialogue with the counter-revolution shrouded in the discourse of a
"democratic process" which neither promotes the demands of the
revolution nor represents any substantial, real democracy. Thus our
revolution continues, and must continue.<br><br>
Egyptians now find themselves in a vulnerable moment. Official
political discourse would have the world believe that the technologies of
democracy presently spell a choice between 'two evils'. These are:
Ahmed Shafiq, who guarantees the consolidation of the outgoing regime and
its return with a vengeance, openly promising a criminal assault on the
revolution under the fascist spectres of 'security' and 'stability', and
the false promise of protection for religious minorities (against whom
the regime systematically stages assault and isolation as part of its
fear-mongering campaigns); and Mohamed Morsi, the candidate of the Muslim
Brotherhood whom we are expected to imagine might 'save' us from the 'old
regime' through the myths of cultural renaissance -- all while
consolidating its financial stronghold and the regional capitalist
hegemony that fosters and depends on it for a climate of rampant
exploitation of Egypt's people and their resources. This
consolidation, we are certain, will be accompanied by the subsequent
marshalling of the military apparatus to protect the emboldened ruling
class of the Muslim Brotherhood from the wrath and revolt of its victims:
the multitude whom the leaders of the organization have historically
fought by condemning and outlawing our struggles for livelihood, dignity
and equality.<br><br>
According to election officials, most voters themselves (75%) have chosen
neither Shafiq nor Morsi in the first round of elections. We refuse
to recognize the choice of "lesser of two evils" when these
evils masquerade in equal measure for the same regime. We believe
there is another choice. And in times where perceived common sense
is as far from the truth as can be, we find the need to speak out once
again.<br><br>
We perceive the affair of presidential elections in Egypt as an attempt
by the as yet prevailing military junta and its counter-revolutionary
forces to garner international legitimacy to cement the existing regime
and deliver more lethal blows to the Egyptian revolution. We ask
you to join us in resisting the logic of this process that seeks to
further entrench the counter-revolution.<br><br>
Our struggle does not exist in isolation from yours.<br><br>
What is revolution, but the immediate and uncompromising rejection of the
status quo: of militarized power, exploitation, class stratification, and
relentless police violence -- just to name a few of the most basic and
cancerous features of society in the present moment. These
structural realities are not unique to Egypt or the Egyptian
revolution. In both the South and the North communities resist what
we are meant to accept without questioning, rising up against the narrow
realist perspective that tells us that democracy is merely choosing the
lesser of 'two evils', and that the election of either represents a
choice in government rather than what it is: an affirmation of the only
government that exists -- that of unbridled, repressive and dehumanizing
capitalist relations. We stand in solidarity with the masses of
precarious and endangered people who have chosen to defend their being
from an aggressive global system that is in crisis; indeed, a sputtering
system that, in its twilight hours, reaches for unprecedented levels of
surveillance, militarization and violence to quell our
insurrections.<br><br>
We must make clear that despite the fact of the international political
establishment's praise of the 'democratic' nature of the first round of
the Egyptian presidential elections, we strongly and categorically reject
the outcome of these elections for they do not represent the desires of
the Egyptian people that fought in the January 25th Revolution.<br><br>
Furthermore, we categorically reject the elections themselves in
principle, for the following reasons: <br><br>
1- Even by the standards of the deceased and irrelevant systems of
representation that once existed in the Global North, no 'free and fair
elections' can take place under the supervision of a power-hungry
military junta, vying relentlessly for continued political domination and
the protection of their vast economic empire, so relentlessly, indeed,
that no constitution exists to define the powers of any presidency.
How can we tolerate a military dictatorship's supervision of any
political process when thousands of Egyptians continue to languish in the
dungeons of military prison after undergoing arbitrary arrest, campaigns
of systematic torture, and exceptional military tribunals.<br><br>
2- The abuse of law in favor of the power mongering of the ruling
military generals: in order to run the junta's preferred candidate,
former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, the Supreme Presidential Electoral
Commission has simply and blatantly disregarded the law of political
exclusion recently passed in order to ban the candidacy of any members of
Mubarak's regime from running in the presidential elections.<br><br>
3- The absurdity of unlimited power concentrated in the hands of an
electoral commission made up of central figures from the Mubarak era who
are meant to supervise a 'democratic' process.<br><br>
4- The vague programs marketed by the most strongly backed candidates fly
in the face of the values and object of the revolution, the very reason
why we are even having these elections today and the cause for which over
a thousand martyrs gave their lives: "bread, freedom and social
justice."<br><br>
If these elections take place and are internationally recognized the
regime will have received the world's stamp of approval to make void
everything the revolution stands for. If these elections are to
pass while we remain silent, we believe the coming regime will license
itself to hunt us down, lock us up and torture us in an attempt to quell
all forms of resistance to its very raison d'être.<br><br>
We continue on our revolutionary path committed to resisting military
rule and putting an end to military tribunals for civilians and the
release of all detainees in military prisons. We continue to
struggle in the workplace, in schools and universities and with popular
committees in our neighborhoods. But our fight is as much against
the governments and systems supporting the regime that suppresses
us. We are determined to audit loan agreements that did and
continue to occur between international financial institutions or foreign
governments with a regime that claims to represent us while thriving from
exploiting and repressing us. We call on you to join us in our
struggle against the reinforcements of the counter-revolution. How
will you stand in solidarity with us? If we are under attack, you
are also under attack for our battle is a global one against the forces
that seek our obedience and suppression.<br><br>
We stand with the ongoing revolution, a revolution that will only be
realized by the strength, community and persistence of the people; not
through a poisonous referendum for military rule.<br><br>
<hr>
Contact the Comrades from Cairo at
<<a href="mailto:comradesfromcairo@gmail.com">
comradesfromcairo@gmail.com</a>> <br><br>
<br>
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