Mubarak | NewsClick

Unfolding Events in Egypt

Author / Source / Date:

Newsclick Production, December 12, 2012

Professor Aijaz Ahmad discusses with NewsClick on the unfolding events in Egypt. He feels President Morsi has overplayed his hand. The move at putting his decisions above the reach of judicial review smacks of dictatorship. Prof. Ahmad apprehends that if the current events continue for long, there is a danger of military intervention, probably with the collusion of Muslim Brotherhood

Egypt: Military and Brotherhood working for a Dyarchy?

Author / Source / Date:

Newsclick Report, June 23, 2012

There are three components to the current crisis in Egypt. Right now, the most important, at least in public eye, is who will become the next president of Egypt?

The first round of the presidential elections in Egypt

Author / Source / Date:

Samir Amin, Newsclick, June 1, 2012

The first round of the presidential elections was organized to produce the result that Washington and the Egyptian ruling power are pursuing, that is, to reinforce the alliance between the two pillars of the system, the high command of the Army and the Moslem Brotherhood.

The reader will find on this site a paper entitled “The Arab revolution: a year later” (14/3/2012) in which I explained the main reasons which led to the electoral victory of the Moslem Brotherhood in the January parliamentary elections, and which reads as follows :

“The success of political Islam requires further clarification regarding the relationship between the success of imperialist globalisation on the one hand and the rise of Brotherhood slogans on the other hand.”

The deterioration that accompanied this globalisation produced proliferation in the activities of the informal sector in economic and social life, which represents the most important sources of income for the majority of people in Egypt (statistics say 60 percent). The Brotherhood’s organisations have real ability to work in these circumstances, so that the success of the Brotherhood in these areas in turn has produced more inflation in these activities and thus ensured its reproduction on a larger scale. The political culture offered by the Brotherhood is known for its great simplicity. As this culture is content with only conferring Islamic ‘legitimacy’ to the principle of private property and the ‘free’ market relations, without considering the nature of the activities concerned, which are rudimentary (‘Bazaar’) activities that are unable to push forward the national economy and lead to its development.

Furthermore, the provision of funds widely by the Gulf states has allowed for the boom of such activities as these states have been pumping in the required funds in the form of small loans or grants. This is in addition to charity work (clinics, etc.) that has accompanied this inflated sector, thanks to the support of Gulf states. The Gulf states do not intend to contribute to the development of productive capacity in Egyptian economy (building factories, etc), but only the development of this form of ‘lumpen development’, since reviving Egypt as a developing state would end the domination of the Gulf states (that are based on the acceptance of the slogan of Islamization of the society), the dominance of the United States (which assumes Egypt as a comprador state infected with worsening poverty), and the domination of Israel (which assumes the impotence of Egypt in the face of Zionist expansion).

This axis between an authority that hides behind the ‘Islamic’ slogans and at the same time succumbs to the prevailing imperialist capitalism and the consequent impoverishment of the people is not specific only to Egypt. It is a common feature of most Arabic and Islamic societies. This axis is at work in Iran, where Khumainism insured the dominance of the ‘Bazaar economy’ from the beginning. It is also the cause for catastrophe in Somalia, which is a state that was removed from the list of states of the modern contemporary world.”

The first round of the Presidential elections (23/24 may) has been organized in order to produce the result that Washington and the Egyptian ruling power are pursuing, i.e. to reinforce the alliance between the two pillars of the system, the High Command of the Army and the Moslem Brotherhood and secure that “nothing will be changed”. That assumes also that the two partners find a solution to their competition and decide who will be “in command” or appear to be so.

The two candidates selected to implement the plan were Mohamed Morsi (Moslem Brotherhood) and Ahmad Chafiq (former prime minister of Mubarak). Both benefited from massive financial support and acces to means for their campaign which the other candidates could not get, in particular Hamdeen Sabbahi, the best representative of the movement for democracy, social progress and national independence, therefore not acceptable for Washington.

The official results gave 24.7 % to Morsi, 23.6 to Chafiq and 20.7 to Sabbahi. Those results have been arranged in order to avoid Sabbahi being on the second round. These dishonest practices of so called democracy have nevertheless been ignored by the Western media. The Egyptian people is fully aware that the struggle must continue. Let us see what happens next…

Egypt on the Boil Again

Author / Source / Date:

Prabir Purkayastha, Newsclick, Nov. 28, 2011

After a week of street battles, the people again control Tahrir Square with the security forces beating a retreat.

The Sorrows of Afghanistan and Pakistan

Author / Source / Date:

Vijay Prashad, Counterpunch, June 18, 2011

Cleverly, the Washington establishment seeks to reorder events so that it can take credit for things it did not do and pass on the blame for things it did do. President Barack Obama not only wants to share the Arab Spring's glory but, with the Group of Eight (G8) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), wants to help shape its aftermath. On the other hand, Obama seeks to avert his eyes from the mess of Afghanistan and pay less heed to the desperate rants from President Hamid Karzai about the manufactured futility of his country.

Egypt after Mubarak: Challenges before the people

Author / Source / Date:

Newsclick Production, May 07, 2011

Hani Serag, Egyptian democracy activist and part of Peoples Health Movement discusses with Newsclick the issues in Egypt after the removal of Hosni Mubarak as President.

Events in Syria: Assad’s Fate Hangs in Balance

Author / Source / Date:

Prabir Purkayastha, Newsclick, May 2, 2011

The trajectory of the democratic movement in the Arab world was never going to be straight line with clear goals and objectives. The Arab regimes are not homogeneous; they have medieval Islamist monarchies as in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, secular but completely authoritarian regimes -- both western puppets like Mubarak to anti-west figures such as Bashir al-Assad. Gaddafi falls in a class by himself – originally anti-west but later made up with the west before being discarded and proclaimed an enemy once again.