Showing posts with label mubarak. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mubarak. Show all posts
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
what i expect to happen in egypt
sorry this is rough. I will be back soon to edit. Heading out to tahrir now.
Friday night I witnessed the tanks roll into Tahrir square downtown Cairo on Friday night. To my amazement the crowds cheered. So for the most part the demonstrators are celebrating the military presence on the streets of Cairo. One demonstrator told me "the police protect us from our enemies, they won't do us any harm." Until last night demonstrators holding a permanent sit-in in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo were surrounded by a number of military tanks charing cigarettes and jokes with soldiers, while one soldier I saw joined the protestors for evening prayer.
This morning about 11am security officials stormed the Aljazeera office in downtown Cairo and closed the office. Two mobile phone carriers sent out messages that people should stay home to protect their homes from the looting. According to Aljazeera earlier today the protestors are no longer sitting on the tanks and there are reports that the military presence is spreading all over Cairo. Via @justimage the US embassy is calling on its citizens to leave Egypt, via Dutch journalist Dirk Wanrooj Heineken and Shell have evacuated their employees. @monasosh reports at 12:15 the military are tightening access for civilians to Tahrir Square. At 1pm the satellite carrier Nile Sat blocks Aljazeera Arabic from viewers in the Arab world. Choppers are increasingly flying over the skies of Cairo.
Despite the positive attitude of the people towards the army, there is no reason to believe that the military shares any interests with the common Egyptians on the street. The reason people are calling for change is that they are tired of economic policies of the Mubarak regime, they have had enough of police violence and a government that does not provide for its people. The faltering Egyptian regime's allies are interested only in what they term "stability" which means prosperity for a small class of Egyptian elites and upper middle class on the backs of the labor of the vast population. What this process entails is the selling off of Egyptian natural resources and enslaving of the Egyptian labor force working to next to nothing while food price go through the roof. The reason for this is the decisions made by the Egyptian policy makers in line with the logic of neo-liberal institutions like the World Bank and IMF, seated in the USA that primarily benefit the economies of the global North.
As we slowly approach sundown and the supposed recent daily curfew in Cairo I expect tonight will be different than the past few days. At some stage the military is going to stop acting as a mediating force and will try to take direct control. I have no illusions that they are acting as anything but a vessel for this sort of "stability" that the global North desires. In Egypt we are no longer in the age of military coups, it is not a question of who has the most influence within the military and what they can get away with, it is a matter of the interests of external forces are and these external forces are looking for the right partner within the current Egyptian regime. What does this mean on the ground? There will be harsh clashes between demonstrators against the military who will quickly switch sides. But the people will not let go easily. In the middle of all this there a lot of looting taking place especially in the suburbs. This has a mix of sources, many of the looters are police officers following orders to loot just like Fateh PA members did during Hamas' initial rule in the Gaza Strip. Other looters are petty criminals released from police stations, partly by the police themselves before they fled, also involved are opportunists who are simply hungry under the economic pressure of living under the circumstances existent in Egypt today.
All this to say, this mass mobilization of the Egyptian street is not without purpose. Rather, this is a powerful manifestation of the will of the people. As I walked the streets amongst protestors I was constantly amazed by the extreme attention protesters paid to parked cars and stores we passed by. The heart of this protest is a strong rejection of a tyrant, the rejection of classist economic policies and proof of the failure of neo-colonial capitalism everywhere.
Friday night I witnessed the tanks roll into Tahrir square downtown Cairo on Friday night. To my amazement the crowds cheered. So for the most part the demonstrators are celebrating the military presence on the streets of Cairo. One demonstrator told me "the police protect us from our enemies, they won't do us any harm." Until last night demonstrators holding a permanent sit-in in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo were surrounded by a number of military tanks charing cigarettes and jokes with soldiers, while one soldier I saw joined the protestors for evening prayer.
This morning about 11am security officials stormed the Aljazeera office in downtown Cairo and closed the office. Two mobile phone carriers sent out messages that people should stay home to protect their homes from the looting. According to Aljazeera earlier today the protestors are no longer sitting on the tanks and there are reports that the military presence is spreading all over Cairo. Via @justimage the US embassy is calling on its citizens to leave Egypt, via Dutch journalist Dirk Wanrooj Heineken and Shell have evacuated their employees. @monasosh reports at 12:15 the military are tightening access for civilians to Tahrir Square. At 1pm the satellite carrier Nile Sat blocks Aljazeera Arabic from viewers in the Arab world. Choppers are increasingly flying over the skies of Cairo.
Despite the positive attitude of the people towards the army, there is no reason to believe that the military shares any interests with the common Egyptians on the street. The reason people are calling for change is that they are tired of economic policies of the Mubarak regime, they have had enough of police violence and a government that does not provide for its people. The faltering Egyptian regime's allies are interested only in what they term "stability" which means prosperity for a small class of Egyptian elites and upper middle class on the backs of the labor of the vast population. What this process entails is the selling off of Egyptian natural resources and enslaving of the Egyptian labor force working to next to nothing while food price go through the roof. The reason for this is the decisions made by the Egyptian policy makers in line with the logic of neo-liberal institutions like the World Bank and IMF, seated in the USA that primarily benefit the economies of the global North.
As we slowly approach sundown and the supposed recent daily curfew in Cairo I expect tonight will be different than the past few days. At some stage the military is going to stop acting as a mediating force and will try to take direct control. I have no illusions that they are acting as anything but a vessel for this sort of "stability" that the global North desires. In Egypt we are no longer in the age of military coups, it is not a question of who has the most influence within the military and what they can get away with, it is a matter of the interests of external forces are and these external forces are looking for the right partner within the current Egyptian regime. What does this mean on the ground? There will be harsh clashes between demonstrators against the military who will quickly switch sides. But the people will not let go easily. In the middle of all this there a lot of looting taking place especially in the suburbs. This has a mix of sources, many of the looters are police officers following orders to loot just like Fateh PA members did during Hamas' initial rule in the Gaza Strip. Other looters are petty criminals released from police stations, partly by the police themselves before they fled, also involved are opportunists who are simply hungry under the economic pressure of living under the circumstances existent in Egypt today.
All this to say, this mass mobilization of the Egyptian street is not without purpose. Rather, this is a powerful manifestation of the will of the people. As I walked the streets amongst protestors I was constantly amazed by the extreme attention protesters paid to parked cars and stores we passed by. The heart of this protest is a strong rejection of a tyrant, the rejection of classist economic policies and proof of the failure of neo-colonial capitalism everywhere.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
The Failing of Gaza
The democratically elected Hamas government was doomed to failure when the world refused to recognize the last election outcome. Furthermore, as the former government dominated by Fatah was not willing to hand over authority over government institutions and security forces, Hamas was forced to carry out what was practically a coup d’etat in order to take its place as sole governing body of the Palestinians and thus be able to tackle the ever increasing lawlessness there.
Now, the new mini state of Gaza will fail, because the world will not allow it to succeed.
Aristotle considered chaos to be a very likely outcome of the competing interests given voice in democracy. In Gaza, Palestinian differences have been exploited to bring about Aristotle’s predicted internal division. On a national level US leadership is determined through a democratic process. Yet, in its foreign policy US leadership resembles an oligarchy, a wolf in sheep’s clothing that hypocritically insists on an increased spread of democracy while forcing its personal agenda on world leaders. Abu Mazen is its latest victim forced to promote “democracy”, yet consent to the demands of the US-aligned oligarchy. The giving in to this duplicitous policy will, much like the Native American experience, lead to the demise of the Palestinian cause.
The Failing of Gaza
Transportation is one of the few sectors of Gaza’s economy that is relatively constant. No matter how dire the financial situation, collective taxis are always shuttling people along the main roads of the Gaza Strip. This past week saw an exception to even this rule, reflecting the severe desperation of Gazans. There are a few reasons for this.
Many people are afraid of what the future may bring. Militarily, Hamas has shown its domination over Fatah by ousting the latter in 48 hours. Yet, politically, Hamas has dug itself into a hole, with seemingly little foresight for a political agenda of realpolitik. Because of Fatah’s unwillingness to hand over power and Hamas’ weak position on the world’s political stage, it is the people who will suffer. The US and Israel are now, more urgently than ever trying to bring about the weakening of Hamas, for their deeper goal of conquer and divide. Yet neither has learned that starving a people does not break their determination, it only reinforces it. Fatah has lost a vast amount of legitimacy in the eyes of its people, while Hamas is being internationally weakened; as a result the Palestinians are more divided than ever. The oligarchy and its partners continue to use whatever means necessary, be it force or a vernacular of promoting the people’s rights, to attain their personal interests.
In Gaza government employees, despite being largely unpaid, still attended their work until Hamas took over the Gaza Strip last week. President Mahmoud Abbas’s new US-backed emergency government has called for all government employees, including the police force not to report for work while promising to finally pay them a full month’s salary. Economic borders with Israel are largely sealed slowing trade down to a trickle. Many Gazans are staying home because of the uncertainty of their future. These are difficult days and yet many rather save their money for the even harder times ahead.
On the Egyptian side of the Rafah border thousands of Palestinians are once again living in tents in refugee camps like in 1948. Wednesday morning Egypt declared it would not open the border, thus effectively closing Gaza’s only gateway to the world. The emergency government canceled Palestinian passports last week calling for their reissuing in the West Bank. Gazans are left without access to the rest of the world, without internationally recognized travel documents, with only the bare minimum of food to survive on and are largely unemployed in a depleted economy. The Western backed emergency government is complicit in the creation of this sealing off of Gaza and the further severing of Gaza from the West Bank.
How long can Gaza survive while its civil servants are ordered to stay home by its Fatah leadership whom they are loyal to, yet which has deserted them? How long can Gaza go on with school teachers, ministry employees and policemen remaining in their homes? These should answer to their elected government and yet the oligarchy has illegitimized it and instated a puppet government, while international leaders follow suit.
One taxi driver told me security is more important than bread because what does one do with all the money in the world if you don’t have security to keep you alive to enjoy it. Another driver told me a man can’t get married and say to his wife, “good morning, habibti, my love,” and then disappear for the rest of the day without providing for her and their home. Palestinians cannot survive without bread.
Israeli Promises
After the Hamas military takeover in Gaza, Olmert’s government promised to ease roadblocks and security restrictions in the West Bank. This statement was put on hold after the Israeli army raised objections. Further promises have been made that Palestinian taxes, illegally withheld by Israel over the past year and a half are to be returned to the new emergency government. The details of when and how much and if at all, still lie in Israel’s hands. Olmert was reported saying Tuesday,
"We aren't deluding ourselves… there are concerns that Abu Mazen will be tempted to do what he did with the Mecca agreement, and enter into a new unity government alongside Hamas." Israeli Minister Eli Yishai said, “funds should be transferred to the PA in stages, in order to determine whether it has any practical effect in terms of strengthening Abbas.”
Israel seems hardly concerned with the legality of its actions or even its dialogue partner Abu Mazen’s needs.
Twisting Reality
On Tuesday Egyptian President Husni Mubarak explained, "Fatah has also committed mistakes, but it is clear that Hamas started the whole thing and confused the world."
Mubarak rightfully points out the “confusion” that reigns after recent events in Gaza. Yet, the sources of this deliberate “confusion” are the world oligarchy’s leaders and its partners.
Mubarak went on to say, “Hamas had made a dangerous mistake in allowing chaos to prevail.”
On Tuesday US secretary of state envoy to the Middle East David Welch said,
“We are supporting the legitimate security forces and enhancing them in order to establish a Palestinian entity which will be able to provide security and stability for Palestinian citizens, and we will be committed to this in the future.”
In his leaked report retired UN special envoy to the Middle East Alvaro De Soto contradicts such statements saying, “the Americans clearly encouraged a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas and worked to isolate and damage Hamas and build up Fatah with recognition and weaponry.”
Since Hamas has taken rightful control in Gaza, the people have witnessed a complete turn-around in its security situation. No civilians are seen walking the streets carrying arms, no more gunfire is heard as was becoming the norm while Fatah security forces dominated, reports of theft and crime are almost unheard of and drug lords are being round up and criminals brought to justice. Mubarak’s claim of chaos prevailing under Hamas doesn’t hold water and the US’s effort of training illegitimate security forces brought anything but peace and security.
The Way Out
In addition to the rhetoric President Mubarak also had something insightful to say Tuesday,
“Unify the Palestinian ranks through dialogue… a common Palestinian position” is “an immediate requirement that can bear no delay.”
Indeed these two factions so torn apart must sit together once more and find a way forward. Hamas is calling for dialogue already. Fatah needs to prioritize their own people’s choices and silence Western voices that are tempting them with legitimacy in the world’s eyes if they concede to the oligarchy’s demands.
After Hamas’ election victory early last year, Fatah was not able to come to terms with its election loss. 16 months later, Fatah is still in denial of the ultimate outcome, Hamas’ seizing of power in the Gaza Strip. For Fatah, the Palestinian national agenda seems to be buried beneath a pride and the prioritizing of certain individuals of their personal interests tied closely to those of the oligarchy. This could well lead to the movement’s downfall while taking the Palestinian national agenda years to recover.
Now, the new mini state of Gaza will fail, because the world will not allow it to succeed.
Aristotle considered chaos to be a very likely outcome of the competing interests given voice in democracy. In Gaza, Palestinian differences have been exploited to bring about Aristotle’s predicted internal division. On a national level US leadership is determined through a democratic process. Yet, in its foreign policy US leadership resembles an oligarchy, a wolf in sheep’s clothing that hypocritically insists on an increased spread of democracy while forcing its personal agenda on world leaders. Abu Mazen is its latest victim forced to promote “democracy”, yet consent to the demands of the US-aligned oligarchy. The giving in to this duplicitous policy will, much like the Native American experience, lead to the demise of the Palestinian cause.
The Failing of Gaza
Transportation is one of the few sectors of Gaza’s economy that is relatively constant. No matter how dire the financial situation, collective taxis are always shuttling people along the main roads of the Gaza Strip. This past week saw an exception to even this rule, reflecting the severe desperation of Gazans. There are a few reasons for this.
Many people are afraid of what the future may bring. Militarily, Hamas has shown its domination over Fatah by ousting the latter in 48 hours. Yet, politically, Hamas has dug itself into a hole, with seemingly little foresight for a political agenda of realpolitik. Because of Fatah’s unwillingness to hand over power and Hamas’ weak position on the world’s political stage, it is the people who will suffer. The US and Israel are now, more urgently than ever trying to bring about the weakening of Hamas, for their deeper goal of conquer and divide. Yet neither has learned that starving a people does not break their determination, it only reinforces it. Fatah has lost a vast amount of legitimacy in the eyes of its people, while Hamas is being internationally weakened; as a result the Palestinians are more divided than ever. The oligarchy and its partners continue to use whatever means necessary, be it force or a vernacular of promoting the people’s rights, to attain their personal interests.
In Gaza government employees, despite being largely unpaid, still attended their work until Hamas took over the Gaza Strip last week. President Mahmoud Abbas’s new US-backed emergency government has called for all government employees, including the police force not to report for work while promising to finally pay them a full month’s salary. Economic borders with Israel are largely sealed slowing trade down to a trickle. Many Gazans are staying home because of the uncertainty of their future. These are difficult days and yet many rather save their money for the even harder times ahead.
On the Egyptian side of the Rafah border thousands of Palestinians are once again living in tents in refugee camps like in 1948. Wednesday morning Egypt declared it would not open the border, thus effectively closing Gaza’s only gateway to the world. The emergency government canceled Palestinian passports last week calling for their reissuing in the West Bank. Gazans are left without access to the rest of the world, without internationally recognized travel documents, with only the bare minimum of food to survive on and are largely unemployed in a depleted economy. The Western backed emergency government is complicit in the creation of this sealing off of Gaza and the further severing of Gaza from the West Bank.
How long can Gaza survive while its civil servants are ordered to stay home by its Fatah leadership whom they are loyal to, yet which has deserted them? How long can Gaza go on with school teachers, ministry employees and policemen remaining in their homes? These should answer to their elected government and yet the oligarchy has illegitimized it and instated a puppet government, while international leaders follow suit.
One taxi driver told me security is more important than bread because what does one do with all the money in the world if you don’t have security to keep you alive to enjoy it. Another driver told me a man can’t get married and say to his wife, “good morning, habibti, my love,” and then disappear for the rest of the day without providing for her and their home. Palestinians cannot survive without bread.
Israeli Promises
After the Hamas military takeover in Gaza, Olmert’s government promised to ease roadblocks and security restrictions in the West Bank. This statement was put on hold after the Israeli army raised objections. Further promises have been made that Palestinian taxes, illegally withheld by Israel over the past year and a half are to be returned to the new emergency government. The details of when and how much and if at all, still lie in Israel’s hands. Olmert was reported saying Tuesday,
"We aren't deluding ourselves… there are concerns that Abu Mazen will be tempted to do what he did with the Mecca agreement, and enter into a new unity government alongside Hamas." Israeli Minister Eli Yishai said, “funds should be transferred to the PA in stages, in order to determine whether it has any practical effect in terms of strengthening Abbas.”
Israel seems hardly concerned with the legality of its actions or even its dialogue partner Abu Mazen’s needs.
Twisting Reality
On Tuesday Egyptian President Husni Mubarak explained, "Fatah has also committed mistakes, but it is clear that Hamas started the whole thing and confused the world."
Mubarak rightfully points out the “confusion” that reigns after recent events in Gaza. Yet, the sources of this deliberate “confusion” are the world oligarchy’s leaders and its partners.
Mubarak went on to say, “Hamas had made a dangerous mistake in allowing chaos to prevail.”
On Tuesday US secretary of state envoy to the Middle East David Welch said,
“We are supporting the legitimate security forces and enhancing them in order to establish a Palestinian entity which will be able to provide security and stability for Palestinian citizens, and we will be committed to this in the future.”
In his leaked report retired UN special envoy to the Middle East Alvaro De Soto contradicts such statements saying, “the Americans clearly encouraged a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas and worked to isolate and damage Hamas and build up Fatah with recognition and weaponry.”
Since Hamas has taken rightful control in Gaza, the people have witnessed a complete turn-around in its security situation. No civilians are seen walking the streets carrying arms, no more gunfire is heard as was becoming the norm while Fatah security forces dominated, reports of theft and crime are almost unheard of and drug lords are being round up and criminals brought to justice. Mubarak’s claim of chaos prevailing under Hamas doesn’t hold water and the US’s effort of training illegitimate security forces brought anything but peace and security.
The Way Out
In addition to the rhetoric President Mubarak also had something insightful to say Tuesday,
“Unify the Palestinian ranks through dialogue… a common Palestinian position” is “an immediate requirement that can bear no delay.”
Indeed these two factions so torn apart must sit together once more and find a way forward. Hamas is calling for dialogue already. Fatah needs to prioritize their own people’s choices and silence Western voices that are tempting them with legitimacy in the world’s eyes if they concede to the oligarchy’s demands.
After Hamas’ election victory early last year, Fatah was not able to come to terms with its election loss. 16 months later, Fatah is still in denial of the ultimate outcome, Hamas’ seizing of power in the Gaza Strip. For Fatah, the Palestinian national agenda seems to be buried beneath a pride and the prioritizing of certain individuals of their personal interests tied closely to those of the oligarchy. This could well lead to the movement’s downfall while taking the Palestinian national agenda years to recover.
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