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http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/jahjah030211.html
Egypt: On the Barricades
by Dyab Abou Jahjah
2 February 2011
Every revolution, sooner or later, has to stand on the barricades and
fight a counter-revolution. The scenes today at the Tahrir Square are
nothing short of a scene that we imagine from the French revolution: the
people holding ground against hordes of militiamen of a dying regime.
Young and old, women and men, Muslims and Christians, women in hijab and
women in jeans, all are there. Some are throwing stones, women
gathering stones and passing them to young men; others are building
barricades. Doctors are attending to the wounded. Committees are being
organized and arresting thugs. . . . A people on the march.
Police ID Card
It is clear that what is happening now is an orchestrated attack on the
revolution. Behind it are Mubarak himself, who refuses to leave and is
willing to burn the whole country before budging, and corrupt
businessmen who feel they will lose their privileges and are paying
their employees and blackmailing others to join pro-regime
demonstrations (I have actual information of a boss who paid his
employees half of their salaries and promised them the rest tomorrow if
they would attend a pro-Mubarak demo). Add to them the goons of the
security forces who are afraid of trials after the revolution and who
are desperate to defend their status.
The position of the Americans is double: On one hand Obama and the State
Department are pushing for keeping the regime but under another name,
like Suleiman, the man of the CIA and of Israel. On the other hand, the
CIA and the Israelis would like Mubarak to stand ground, not for his
sake but to prevent the revolutionary scenario from spreading to other
Arab countries; they also know that deposing Mubarak will lead to
democracy and democracy will lead to an anti-Israel agenda.
Mubarak's speech yesterday did leave the opposition confused and the
street doubting. The argument of many was "he said he is leaving, so
let's wait a few months." The Wafd party and other liberals accepted
the Mubarak "geste" and ended their participation in the revolution.
The youth movement, which is the largest component of the revolution,
and the Muslim Brotherhood, which is the largest political party and the
best organized entity, both rejected the speech and declared their
determination to continue the struggle. Mohamed ElBaradei also joined
that position.
My fear, and that of many, was that confused and divided, starved and
scared, the people would back down and the revolution would die. But
Mubarak committed a large mistake sending his militias against the
people. In a surrealistic scene, thugs on horses and camels attacked
the Tahrir Square with swords, in a move coming from another time and
another planet. But the image speaks for it self: the thug on a horse
attacking the young man with a blackberry -- this is the contrast
between the Egypt of Mubarak and the new Egypt that the revolution is
claiming. Thousands upon thousands of thugs and regime troopers in
civilian clothing stormed the Tahrir square, but in vain: the people
stood its ground and fought on every entrance of the square. The battle
was live on Al Jazeera, and the people, after seven hours of fighting
for every inch, finally got the militias on the run.
At this moment, skirmishes are still happening in nearby areas (the
museum, Talaat Harb, etc.), 1,000 among the people fell wounded, but
more than 400 of the thugs were arrested and taken prisoners by the
popular committees. The militiamen are regrouping and planning another
attack, but also thousands of young men, led by figures of the Muslim
Brotherhood, are heading towards Tahrir Square.
The Brothers, historic rivals for me as an Arab nationalist and leftist,
are playing an important role in this revolution. They are putting
their neck on the line for it, they are putting their doctors at its
service, they are using their influence to sustain it, including having
Yusuf Qaradawi himself on Al Jazeera call for support for the people.
Above all, they are not usurping control, and, when talking to the
media, they stress that no one owns this revolution and that the people
who started it are the young men and women who went to the streets on
the 25th of January, when all the political parties including the
Brotherhood were taken by surprise, and the men and women who marched
yesterday in millions, making every political party including the
Brotherhood look small and negligible. But today the revolution needs
structured organizations to form a fighting machine, and the Brotherhood
has experience, resources, and the will to play that role. And they are
doing it for the movement without claiming it. This attitude is earning
respect from everybody, including the thousands of non-political,
nationalist, or leftist youth who are standing the ground with people
from the Brotherhood all over Egypt today.
The Brotherhood, the movement of 6 April, and Baradei are all playing
the role the UGTT played in Tunisia. They now have the responsibility
to regulate the rhythm of the revolution.
The youth of 6 April are the ones calling for action. They are calling
for another day of anger tomorrow and for the day of salvation on
Friday, hoping to use the momentum of the Friday prayers. The
Brotherhood are in an ideal position to support such a plan.
On Friday there must be a march to the presidential palace: the army can
do nothing, and the President can only take his airplane to join Ben Ali
or put a bullet in his own head. The regime's actions destroyed every
chance to appease the people, and now there is no way back, for sure.
Mubarak cannot control Egypt: either he will leave, or Egypt will
explode in violent turmoil till he does.
Dyab Abou Jahjah is founder and former president of the Arab European
League. This article was first published in his blog Abou Jahjah
Comments on 2 February 2011; it is reproduced here for non-profit
educational purposes. Cf. "Of course, I don't like Aljazeera's cleric,
Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, and it is not because I don't like clerics, priests,
etc. And I don't like him in particular but he is, whether I like it or
not, very very influential. Today, he appeared on Aljazeera and urged
the Egyptian Army to move against Mubarak, whom he accused of butchering
the Egyptian people, and he urged the clerics of Egypt to join the
revolt. He is quite influential and I would say his influence exceeds
that of all the Al-Azhar clerics combined" (As'ad AbuKhalil, "Yusuf
Al-Qaradawi," Angry Arab News Service, 2 February 2011); "The Egyptians
know that their peaceful democratic revolution, their remarkably
responsible and intelligent mass movement, is being crushed by America
and Israel as much as by Mubarak's dictatorship. I will make a
prediction: if this revolution fails, America will face an unprecedented
wave of Arab anger, and Egypt will be plagued by violence from now on.
The Muslim Brothers who have escaped from prison, for instance, know
that their fate in the coming weeks is to be rearrested and tortured to
death. They will fight" (Robin Yassin-Kassab, "Bloodbath," Qunfuz, 2
February 2011).
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