Thanks for this paper. I'm glad to see that american people are awakening from the torpor caused by this right-wing president who disguised himself as progressive. He is now the best option for the establishment because he can confound a lot of people both at home and abroad, people that W was unable to confound.
Poland?
It's easy and widely encouraged to turn towards the ruling world power, especially after the fall of the other (the enemy) world power.
The difficult thing is to turn AWAY from the ruling world power.
Oh my god!
Now it seems that not even Mubarak is being sacrifized in the short term:
Obama's envoy has just said that Mubarak must remaing to steer the transition! At the same time, the Egyptian governement spokeperson said clearly on TV that the governement is trying to negotiate with some key people from the 'opposition' in a bid to isolate those protesting in the streets. Counterrevolution is showing its true power.
Is it everything lost? No, but the chances for Egypt's people are fading by the hour.
Lesson probably learned: you can not give a second of peace to the people's enemies. A revolution is a miracle, a lot of factors need to align for a revolution to have a chance. So when all this factors align and the miracle appears, for god's sake! you need to push forward, to fight and overrun palaces as if there were no future, because it may turn out that there are no more opportunities.
The accomplishments of Egyptian demostrators are amzing, more sos if we remember that two months ago nobody would have bet that this was even possible. A police state with torture, disappearances, killing and imprisionment in profusion, supported by the US, Israel and UE countries, being the most powerful military in the arab world, with rebel or opposition groups greatly disorganized or suppresed... it's just amazing to see this revolt in Egypt!
However, I think time runs against the rebels. While they camp and wait in Tahrir square, the prospect of a true revolution is fading. Powerful people are manouvering behind the curtains, and a moderate US-approved transition is being consolidated. Mubarak is finished but his croonies are ready to maintain the 'stability'.
I hope to be proved wrong, but I'm afraid that Friday was the last chance for the people to proactively overthrow not just Mubarak but the entire regime. I still think that when you have 1 million people in a square you need to march over the Palace and key power centres as soon as possible. Tomorrow may be late.
Seeing all that people chanting again and again in the same square, I'm more and more pessimistic.
Mubarak is a political corpse. He is going to fall sooner than later. However, the Egyptian Regime is wider than Mubarak. The regime is what matters: collaboration with Israel, collaboration with western powers on islamism and Suez, 'free' market economy and supression of workers' rights, neo-colonial terms for corporation investment...
US and UE recognize now that their first choice (Mubarak) is down, so they are minimizing damages. How? Sacrifizing their client despot to avoid a true revolution. Mubarak resigns, the vicious chief of intelligence grabs power (or any other general from the US-subsidized army) and in the next months they perform some 'free' elections in which the candidate supported by the Army wins. Cosmetic changes to assure that everything remains the same. Even so, the regime will change a little toward freedom, but the difference will be a quantitative difference, not a qualitative one.
The important thing for western powers is that the uprising, the people, do not achieve their revolutionary objectives of true democracy.
If Mubarak remains for too long in power, there is a risk that people could radicalize their fight, overturning the entire regime. So it is vital to make a peaceful (i.e., controlled and channeled) transition as soon as possible.
Sadly, the Egyptian people is losing the iniciative. When you have 1 million people in a square you should head to the Palace! You could never have an oportunnity like this again. Meanwhile, the army generals, the business tycoons, the US and UE envoys, they are all moving their pieces and reaching accords behind curtains, formulating transition plans to stealth the iniciative and the future from the people.
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Thanks for this paper. I'm glad to see that american people are awakening from the torpor caused by this right-wing president who disguised himself as progressive. He is now the best option for the establishment because he can confound a lot of people both at home and abroad, people that W was unable to confound.
Poland?
It's easy and widely encouraged to turn towards the ruling world power, especially after the fall of the other (the enemy) world power.
The difficult thing is to turn AWAY from the ruling world power.
Oh my god!
Now it seems that not even Mubarak is being sacrifized in the short term:
Obama's envoy has just said that Mubarak must remaing to steer the transition! At the same time, the Egyptian governement spokeperson said clearly on TV that the governement is trying to negotiate with some key people from the 'opposition' in a bid to isolate those protesting in the streets. Counterrevolution is showing its true power.
Is it everything lost? No, but the chances for Egypt's people are fading by the hour.
Lesson probably learned: you can not give a second of peace to the people's enemies. A revolution is a miracle, a lot of factors need to align for a revolution to have a chance. So when all this factors align and the miracle appears, for god's sake! you need to push forward, to fight and overrun palaces as if there were no future, because it may turn out that there are no more opportunities.
The accomplishments of Egyptian demostrators are amzing, more sos if we remember that two months ago nobody would have bet that this was even possible. A police state with torture, disappearances, killing and imprisionment in profusion, supported by the US, Israel and UE countries, being the most powerful military in the arab world, with rebel or opposition groups greatly disorganized or suppresed... it's just amazing to see this revolt in Egypt!
However, I think time runs against the rebels. While they camp and wait in Tahrir square, the prospect of a true revolution is fading. Powerful people are manouvering behind the curtains, and a moderate US-approved transition is being consolidated. Mubarak is finished but his croonies are ready to maintain the 'stability'.
I hope to be proved wrong, but I'm afraid that Friday was the last chance for the people to proactively overthrow not just Mubarak but the entire regime. I still think that when you have 1 million people in a square you need to march over the Palace and key power centres as soon as possible. Tomorrow may be late.
I completely agree
Seeing all that people chanting again and again in the same square, I'm more and more pessimistic.
Mubarak is a political corpse. He is going to fall sooner than later. However, the Egyptian Regime is wider than Mubarak. The regime is what matters: collaboration with Israel, collaboration with western powers on islamism and Suez, 'free' market economy and supression of workers' rights, neo-colonial terms for corporation investment...
US and UE recognize now that their first choice (Mubarak) is down, so they are minimizing damages. How? Sacrifizing their client despot to avoid a true revolution. Mubarak resigns, the vicious chief of intelligence grabs power (or any other general from the US-subsidized army) and in the next months they perform some 'free' elections in which the candidate supported by the Army wins. Cosmetic changes to assure that everything remains the same. Even so, the regime will change a little toward freedom, but the difference will be a quantitative difference, not a qualitative one.
The important thing for western powers is that the uprising, the people, do not achieve their revolutionary objectives of true democracy.
If Mubarak remains for too long in power, there is a risk that people could radicalize their fight, overturning the entire regime. So it is vital to make a peaceful (i.e., controlled and channeled) transition as soon as possible.
Sadly, the Egyptian people is losing the iniciative. When you have 1 million people in a square you should head to the Palace! You could never have an oportunnity like this again. Meanwhile, the army generals, the business tycoons, the US and UE envoys, they are all moving their pieces and reaching accords behind curtains, formulating transition plans to stealth the iniciative and the future from the people.