Egypt at Crossroads

One of the great seats of great ancient civilizations, and one of the oldest modern states is in turmoil.  Egypt is facing a civil war like situation.  In a military coup, the elected leader of Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed Morsi was ousted and captured.  After being held for about four weeks incommunicado, Morsi was allowed to meet EU envoy Catherine Ashton, who reported that he was well.  Meanwhile the streets of Cairo are rife with violence between pro-Morsi and pro-military supporters.  The bloody crackdown of police and military against pro-Morsi supporters, which recently left at least 72 dead due to police firing on pro-Morsi rally has polarized the country.  Only 3 weeks before, around 60 Muslim Brotherhood supporters were gunned down at a protest against Morsi’s ouster.  A repetition of such merciless attack on pro-Morsi protesters has left Egypt and the world stunned.  Even Egyptian Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, in a rare show of dissent criticized what he called "the excessive use of force" and said he hopes to seek a "peaceful solution."  The attack on came just hours after hundreds of thousands of Egyptians had turned out for competing political rallies in support for and against the Egyptian military rule.  A Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson denounced Egypt’s new interim government, saying: "They had orders to shoot to kill. This is the new regime."  Pro-Morsi supporters have squatted themselves in a mosque in Cairo, and are staging sit-ins in the capital since Morsi was ousted by the military on July 3.   

The sit-ins in Cairo are now over a month old.  Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and his Islamist allies say that the only peaceful resolution possible is for Egypt's first freely elected president Morsi to be restored to office.  The Brotherhood leaders and their allies have vowed to continue their street rallies until that happens, and have held new protests in Cairo outside the military intelligence offices, and in other cities around the country.  The military and interim government, in turn, have rejected releasing Morsi or other detained Brotherhood leaders, a step the Europeans have called for, and that Islamists have said could improve the atmosphere. Instead, they appear determined to prosecute detained Brotherhood members for crimes purportedly committed during Morsi's presidency and for violence after his fall.   Army Chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had called earlier for public backing of a military crackdown on what he called "violence and potential terrorism" by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, finally resulting in a coup when people gathered in Tahrir Square against Morsi’s rule.  Morsi now faces charges from Mubarak era of collaborating with Hamas and fleeing from Jail with the help of Hamas in 2011 when Hosni Mubarak was ousted.  Muslim Brotherhood did become autocratic with unprecedented influence under Morsi.  Morsi carried out same repressive policies of old regime of Mubarak.  Morsi’s action increasingly made his regime illegitimate.

On the face of it, the situation in Egypt appears to be marred by two hostile factions going at each other.  However, there is more to it than what meets the eye.  The deep state of Egypt that essentially comprises the army, security and judiciary allied with big business, resuscitated itself when Muslim Brotherhood’s relatively weak leadership came into power after Mubarak’s ouster.  The growing discontent against Morsi’s rule and Muslim Brotherhood in general ripened the grounds for a military coup.  The dream of peaceful revolution in middle-east stands shattered.  It is important to point out that, though the new generation and liberal elements of middle-class and media thought of Arab spring of Egypt as “revolution;” when it was merely a regime change where people could not tolerate decades of dictatorship of Mubarak any more.  They did not uproot the bourgeoisie underpinnings of state, nor did they bring about any radical change in existing bourgeoisie institutions.  It is definitely a clear lack of understanding of revolutionary process and revolution like what happened in Russia and China.  The movement had no deep theoretical political understanding of overthrowing the regime in all forms.  

It was a shadowy affair from the beginning to see people heeding the call of General Sisi to support army to overthrow Morsi government, and essentially re-instate military dictatorship.  This is fishy given that Egyptians suffered for decades under Mubarak regime, and ousted Mubarak only 2 years back.  No matter how corrupt or self-serving Morsi government had been, it was an elected government based on majority votes going for Muslim Brotherhood.  It was the fear of a strong emerging Islamic Republic, which made Western powers especially the US nervous, and a coup was staged.  It was masterfully staged with a pretext of popular discontent among masses against Morsi’s government.  What really lays the US intentions and its underhand activity bare is the flat refusal of the US to recognize the military coup in Egypt.  Obama administration shamelessly admitted that it is under no obligation to legally determine that what happened in Egypt was a coup.  Under US laws, any kind of US aid to a country which undergoes a coup is curtailed.  Egyptian military receives 1.5 billion dollars in aid from the US every year.  The interesting or ironic aspect of this aid is that Egyptian military is required to spend that aid money in buying weapons from US arms manufacturers.  So, ultimately, the money is siphoned back to the US corporations aiding its military-industrial complex.  The aid to Egyptian military has not stopped, which is a clear indication that these pseudo-protests and toppling of Morsi government was in fact masterminded by CIA.  Pre-orchestrated protests, and people gathering in Tahrir Square were played like a violin.  One has to give it to CIA for its expertise in co-opting any popular movement anywhere in the world to its own advantage.  As a token gesture, Obama administration delayed the delivery of four F-16 fighter planes to Egyptian military.

General Sisi who has come to head Egyptian military, has striking resemblance to Chilean dictator Augustus Pinochet, and hides behind dark glasses.  Already the massacre carried out by Egyptian army of Morsi’s supporters is an indication of the nature of Army rule to come.  It is going to be as repressive as any other military dictatorship anywhere in the world.  Constitution and any kind of civilian authority are simply in suspension, with bitter war on streets.  This chaos perfectly suits US imperialist needs which does not want to see any stable powerful Islamist nation in the region.  Egypt is the most populous state in the region.  With Egypt being strong and independent when Iran already exercises its sovereign rights, the dynamics could have been completely unpalatable to the US administration.  It was a direct threat to its oil interests in the region.  The best they hope is to let Egypt descend into a civil-war like situation with no stable democratic civilian governance in sight.  The US has always preferred and promoted dictators, as they have proved effective in controlling masses and popular uprisings so that US interests are pursued unhindered.  It is a pattern that has been a corner stone of US foreign policy.  It is almost embarrassing to note that leaders of many nations including Morsi are unable to see this and fall under the trap of extreme propaganda of ‘benevolence’ of US imperial empire.

The ousting of Mohammad Morsi also caters to a not so hidden Islamophobia, and a deep-seated prejudice against anything Muslim or Islamist in Western mainstream and liberal media, and makes them support the current situation in Egypt.  It is not that Mohammad Morsi was doing the most righteous things being in power, he was increasingly concentrating power in his hands, and scuttling democratic freedoms with increasing religiosity.  The secular fabric of Egypt was under slow attack.  What people thought of as revolutionary move to oust Hosni Mubarak was turning out to be not so much of a revolution, but a mere change of regime with same repressive state apparatus intact.  The disbanded “secret police” of Mubarak regime has been re-instated by army to deal with pro-Mubarak protesters.  The “secret police” has been notorious for violent crackdown against people, killing people mercilessly without any fear of law, and Mubarak used it as a tool to control and repress masses, and any popular movement.  This reminds of storm-troopers used by fascist regimes in Russia (before revolution), Italy and Germany to control masses by inflicting violence and murder on them, and keeping them in line.  The fascist states supported them tacitly, and never were any of these hooligans and lumpen elements brought to any serious trial.  The reinstatement of the feared “secret police” in Egypt is analogous to storm-troopers with state’s face on it.      

The Egyptian people now face a mighty challenge and an uphill task to gain unity and perceive their real enemy, which may emerge in fascist or religious dictatorship.  The country is divided into pro-Morsi and pro-military factions, the age old divide and rule at play here.  One one hand army is entertaining its supporting faction by doing air shows of its fighter planes, and on the other hand they are massacring people resisting the coup.  A fig leaf is offered in the promise of elections to be held soon.  It is going to be an uphill task for the people of Egypt to come out as united and overthrow the military state.  From the underbelly of this massive turmoil, a tiny faction seems to be emerging that is refusing to identify either with Morsi or the military.  They claim, and is true that Tahrir now has too much of military support to consider it as a ground for popular movement.  They call themselves “Third Square” who are for people and for implementation of progressive proposals and plans that were drafted in 2011 after the ouster of Mubarak.  Their success will shape Egypt’s and region’s history.  It is at this juncture that a revolutionary communist party is needed which can guide people to their final and true emancipation.