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Critical masses

By Heiko Khoo: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, July 11, 2013

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An Egyptian woman walks holding a portrait of ousted president Mohammed Morsi as thousands of his supporters gather in front of Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque on July 9, 2013.[Xinhua/AFP]

When the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) took over from Mubarak, they played cat and mouse with Morsi and the Brotherhood, to lick them into shape, in order to protect their military-economic interests. The military is deeply embedded in the system of crony capitalist power relations which held Mubarak in power for so long. It is closely linked to the public sector bureaucracy and state patronage, and clashed with the policies of Mubarak and Morsi whenever those policies encroached on its military-economic turf.

The core foundation of any modern state lies in its monopoly over the means and instruments of force – the army and the police – which defend the dominant property relations. The military arrested Morsi and other leaders of the Brotherhood and are repressing protests by their supporters. This will almost certainly result in the defeat of the Brotherhood as their support in wider society has collapsed; and jihadist terrorism from a section of their supporters and other Islamic fanatics is the likely consequence. This will be bolstered by the sense that they were illegitimately removed from power.

From the standpoint of the military leadership, its intervention is designed to prevent this collapse of the Brotherhood’s political legitimacy from becoming a revolution against state authority itself. This would leave Egyptian capitalism exposed, unprotected and naked, making it the next target for the wrath of the masses, angry at poverty and grotesque inequality. Capitalist exploitation is tolerated in times of passivity, when the poor are isolated and atomised; but it becomes intolerable with the revolutionary awakening of collective consciousness.

Western media is abuzz with cries of military coup, foul play and the madness of crowds. The popular British historian Simon Schama scribed a condemnation of the hopes of man for the Financial Times. Revolutions, he says, always end badly. Alas! If only the world adopted the English system of a constitutional monarchy and succumbed to what he calls the “mystique” and “romance” of its “tribal, totemic spectacles,” then all would be at peace! Schama mocks revolutionary dreamers as fools, seduced by a spirit which defies the laws of history. They were always crushed. They are always crushed. They will always be crushed! For mankind is bad and utopias are delusions!

Despite constituting only a small minority only weeks ago, revolutionary socialists can rapidly gain an ascendant voice in Egyptian society. To do this, they must articulate the demands of the workers and the poor in ways which coalesce in organs of popular power. They could assume the authority to resolve burning problems faced by the masses and requisition the resources required to meet the needs, objectives and priorities of the people. The armed forces should be subordinate to popular organs of democratic control and administration; if their present declared role as servant of revolutionary democracy – rather than its enemy – is to become a reality. The military-business empire should be transformed into public property and be used to meet the pressing food, housing, health care, work and education needs of the masses.

Workers’ increasing unrest preceded the movement against Mubarak in 2011. Now the strength of such workers’ struggles has grown to affect whole branches of the economy. The discontent of the working class is developing into the primary terrain of social conflict – a new sense of a fundamental clash of class interests in society is emerging. The working class is the societal force capable of reorganizing the world.

The slave ancestors of Egypt’s contemporary revolutionaries carved awe-inspiring monuments out of rock and stone with their hands. These magnificent works were produced by design from above – material incarnations of an eternal afterlife for the pharaohs and their system of slavery. Now the future of Egypt is being written by the revolutionary action of the masses. That which appeared fixed is dissolving and the world is being made anew. If the revolution takes over ownership and control of the economy and society, it can plan how to combine the hands and brains of the Egyptian people to create magnificent new monuments of the people’s will. These will stand down the ages as the foundations of prosperity and enjoyment for present and future generations.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://china.org.cn/opinion/heikokhoo.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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