Critical masses
- By Heiko Khoo
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 11, 2013
![Egyptian people cheer and wave national flags as airplanes fly past the landmark Tahrir Square, trailing smoke in the colours of the national flag on July 4, 2013 in Cairo. [Xinhua/AFP]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20130711/001ec949c22b134855d802.jpg "Egyptian people cheer and wave national flags as airplanes fly past the landmark Tahrir Square, trailing smoke in the colours of the national flag on July 4, 2013 in Cairo. [Xinhua/AFP]") |
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Egyptian people cheer and wave national flags as airplanes fly past the landmark Tahrir Square, trailing smoke in the colours of the national flag on July 4, 2013 in Cairo. [Xinhua/AFP] |
The Egyptian revolution recalled former President Mohamed Morsi on July 4 after the Tamaroud (rebel) movement collected 22 million signatures supporting this demand. They mobilized millions of Egyptians onto the streets in what was perhaps the largest protest demonstration in world history. The masses are enraged at poverty and insecurity and the military could not have been used to defend Morsi as the majority of soldiers support the revolution. So, General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, the commander of Egypt’s armed forces and Morsi’s defense minister, abandoned him – gaining breathing space in which to attempt to reform the system of political power and protect the socio-economic system as a whole.
The generals have appointed Adly Mahmud Mansour, the head of Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court, as interim president until new elections are held. On the street, millions celebrated this coup as an act of revolutionary justice – the realization of popular consciousness. They were unwilling to be constricted by the formal rules of democracy, which they feel are designed to ensure that corrupt elites and hated politicians remain in power. The revolution of 2011 overthrew Hosni Mubarak and called a semi-democracy into being. The second revolution claimed its right to sweep away this form of democracy and create another. What is a percentage of votes compared to 17 million people on the streets demanding change?
The revolution refused to respect laws designed to ensnare the people’s will in legalistic formalities. As Solon the Great once said, “Laws are like spiders’ webs: if some light or powerless thing falls into them, it is caught, but a bigger one can break through and get away.”
The most powerful force in Egyptian society is the popular will of the urban masses. They could ignore constitutional niceties when they took to the streets to drive out Morsi. The movement has great revolutionary energy but it is split between diverse political forces. Egypt’s population is 43 percent urban. Forty percent of Egyptians live on less than US$2 a day and 27 million are employed, but official unemployment stands at 13 percent, rising to 25 percent amongst the under 30s. The backbone of the revolutionary movement is the discontented working class youth whose demands for social improvement inevitably raise socialist demands.
Egypt’s second most powerful societal force is the military. They executed the people’s will by ousting Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood from power. This act was jubilantly celebrated on the streets and in the squares – at last the army stood on the side of the people – or so it appeared.
The Egyptian military is an economic empire developed over decades with the support of the United States. Its purpose is to defend the interests of business elites, and specifically its own military-business complex, which controls more than 15 percent of the economy (some estimate that this figure is much larger).
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