***
Demands and demonstrations persist – a fortnightly affair – while the ominously named Supreme Military Council shucks and jives: business as usual.
New political party applications prosper – 148 at last count – while conventional parties exhibit their finely tuned campaigning skills, heavy in rhetoric, weak in substance, having learned well from their Canadian and American counterparts.
Military tribunals judge in secrecy – 30 min convictions – consistently dealing out 5 to 10 year sentences to activists for ‘disturbing the peace’: counter-revolution by stealth.
Spas and slums, wealth and poverty, remain frozen in time, unfazed by the thawing power of the so-called Arab spring: the rich do not give up their loot easily.
And religion – ever the hot button of the hapless – seasoning our revolutionary stew with sectarianism (Muslims in the red corner and Christians in the blue), fanaticism (the Salafis’ pursuit of heavenly love through earthly hate), and bang-for-your-buck prophecies (a vote in favour of the Brotherhood brings the fortunate ballotter closer to heaven, a vote against and you try your luck down below…no really).
Post-Mubarak Egypt looks eerily similar to Mubarak’s Egypt thus begging the question: was it all in vain?
The answer? Of course not.
***
In Greek mythology, the hydra was a multi-headed serpent. The characteristic most dangerous about the beast was its ability to regenerate two heads for every one severed. Partial success amounted to vulnerability and plausible defeat. In this instance, the analogy rings relevant.
Ghosting Mubarak all these years was a cabal of pretenders to power, patiently awaiting a revolutionary moment to seize the throne. On the heels of his fall, these pretenders pounced into place, blossoming multiple little big men to take over from the newly departed. What first seemed like a battle against one, quickly morphed into a battle against many.
Yet with cunning and teamwork – while one decapitates, the other cauterises – even a hydra can be defeated. Solidarity then, of the variety that was exhibited in Tahrir Square, is key to revolutionary struggle.
Add to this the fact that Mubarak was no mythical creature, merely a petty dictator as common and banal as the opportunistic politicians who are following in his stead, and the potential for permanent victory is perfectly within reach.
We are thus led to two more relevant questions: to who do the sprouting heads belong and what strategy must the Egyptian revolutionary movement adopt to defeat them?
***
Answering the first question requires little effort. More than anything, a popular revolution of the type witnessed in Egypt is a scream for change, amplified through a nation-strong bullhorn. Mass expressions of discontent are frequently tied to widening levels of inequality (an absence of economic rights) and frightening levels of military savagery (a violation of political rights).
In the case of Egypt, the bulk of national wealth – roughly 60% – is controlled by 1% of the population. In a nation of 85 million, where 40% live on less than $2 a day and where hunger, illiteracy, and homelessness are staples, the concentration is both nauseating and infuriating to the mass of dispossessed. Of course, these acrimonious feelings are not shared by the wealthy elite who are loath to see any efforts towards redistribution, having ‘suffered’ such attempts during the Nasserite era. Head #1.
As for the military – euphemistically termed ‘security forces’ – they have run rampant on citizens, inflicting unnamed torture, disappearances, and fraudulent imprisonment for decades. Not only are their scores to settle but the barbarity of their behaviour is unlikely to earn them any reconciliation commissions. Preserving their hold on power is essential to avoiding an earthly day of reckoning. Head #2.
Of course, as the actions of the latter have been bankrolled by their American sponsors – to the tune of $2 billion a year – and as the sponsors would like to maintain their influence, the status quo has much appeal. It’s always better to stick with the devil you know. Head #3.
An economic oligarchy, a repressive military, and a manipulative empire: easy finds perhaps but formidable foes rendering an answer to the second question more complex (but no less pressing).
***
Surely trite but it bears mentioning that a revolution happens both on the ground – the demise of an existing order – and in souls and hearts – the awakening of consciousness. More than mere transformation then, a revolution is also a path to ethical purification: a renewal of thought, of mind, and of society. A community that sheds the shackles of oppression and injustice now holds history by the horns; it need only decide in which direction to point the raging bull. And this, more than anything else, is key for the survival and success of a revolutionary movement.
What Egyptians must understand is that the genius of revolution lies in two things: its decisiveness and its equity. To survive the onslaught of the multiplying hydra, past struggles – from San Domingo to Havana, Petrograd to Boston – have shown us that revolutionaries must be swift in their execution of a plan to ensure a free and dignified life for all. Any hesitation and the power vacuum is capitalised upon and momentum usurped by reactionaries and counter-revolutionary forces of the worst kind (as happened in three of the four examples above).
Like a volcano, a revolution changes the landscape. But this change may – or may not – be permanent for tyranny, sadly, is easily defended. Before the dust settles, revolutionaries must move to establish a concrete plan that will provide for basic needs of their communities: poverty, illiteracy, and vulnerability must be taken to task.
Spontaneity may be necessary to knock the hydra down but justice is crucial to defeating the monstrosity for good.
A luta continua. {w}
