Britain, AF Organise #83 - Statement of the Egyptian Libertarian Socialist Movement

General al-Sisi, a former army chief (and now Egyptian leader - Organise! editors) must 
grapple with the country's economic problems as with infighting in the circles of power. 
---- Abdel Fattah al-Sisi seems to be a victim of his own success. He who in July 2014, 
seemed to hold a "supernatural" power and popularity supported by a ferocious media 
machine devouring everything in its path, is now trapped in his post as the strongest man 
in Egypt. It is even ironic to see him drown in the same defects as those that toppled the 
President that he overthrew: An empty and populist discourse, measures to capture 
executive and legal authority in Egypt (while having put Adli Mansour as malleable puppet 
at the head of the state), etc. Likewise, the socio-economic problems on which he relied 
to bring down the government of the Muslim Brotherhood have not been solved: power cuts 
are back at the same rate as at the time of the Muslim Brotherhood, the geopolitical 
crisis from the construction of the Annahda (Renaissance) dam on the Nile by Ethiopia is 
nowhere near being solved, (which could have disastrous effects on Egyptian 
agriculture-Organise! editors) the prices of staple goods are rising, not to mention the 
crisis in the important area of the economy which is tourism.

Crisis of the ruling class

The hesitation of al-Sisi in
standing for the presidential
elections was due only to refusal
of the old guard of the army to
acknowledge this child prodigy,
who rose quickly through the
ranks to take power. The current
crisis in the power of al-Sisi is the
crisis of the entire Egyptian ruling
class, both civil and military, and
of its internal conflict. The
populist discourse of this ruling
class, a sort of remake of the
Nasser years, cannot conceal the
class war it waged against
workers when they go on strike,
with the use of the army.

While al-Sisi asks the people to
sacrifice on the altar of austerity,
he replenishes the coffers of the
horrendous Ministry of the
Interior. Adding to that the
second nature of the economic
predator of the Egyptian military
institution seems to take
precedence over its
"constitutional" activities: the
army wants to take over every
corner of the economy by
expanding its grip on public
companies, which is not without
its problems with "civil"
capitalism and especially the
ultraliberal ( those in favour of an
unbridled free market-Organise!
editors) financial circles close to
Mubarak, especially as they have
contributed to financing and
organising the army coup last
June. In fact these circles want to
regain their position of before the
revolution of January 2011, when
they shared power with the army,
and they have no intention of
being happy with the position the
military has deigned to give
them.

Maybe the hollow discourse
tinged with nationalism, of al-
Sissi will create an illusion for a
longer period than that of the
equally hollow tinged with
religiosity of Morsi, but al-Sissi
will not be spared by a popular
uprising, as he begins to say that
he must sacrifice one or even two
generations so that Egypt can live
in opulence. The people who rose
up to say "Down with the power
of the military" cannot accept
this contempt. One can easily
imagine that this slogan will
resound in the streets of Egypt
against al-Sissi in his turn.

Yasser Abdelkawy (Libertarian
Socialist Movement, Egypt)
Translated from the Arabic by
Marouane Taharouri, adapted by
Organise! editors

Message on Egyptian situation from Anarchist Network

With the last contact we had with
Egyptian Anarchists, they are in
an emergency situation. Fascist
military regime of Al Sisi /
Mubarak has been more
aggressively seeking to arrest all
anarchists and any other radical
left activists. According to the
fascist government's newspaper,
more than 41,000 people have
been arrested. Among them
there are: Alaa Abdel Alfatah,
very well-known blogger, and
Mahienour El-Massry, a great
woman human rights activist,
women's and workers' rights
activist, and also a progressive
lawyer and campaigner against
class society.

These huge numbers of arrest has
happened within less than one
year!! It was between July 2013
and May 2014. Repressive
military regime continues to
arrest all anarchists and any other
radical left activists, who were
involved in organising any kind of
rallies or actions against
fascist/military regime, who is
supported by CIA-Zionism and
other bloody Western powers.
The intensity of the past few days
has subsequently put so much
pressure into the life of our dear
comrades, so that the rest of
them have been forced to live
hidden and going underground.
We Middle Eastern anarchists are
asking for any kind of supports
and solidarity, even if it is only a
wide spread of this news.

Down with military rule of Al Sisi
/Mubarak!

Abolish the reactionary forces of
all religious organizations and
religious rulers!

Destroy all the power of
warmongers, including CIA/USA,
Zionism, Western powers, Russia
and China!

For a Free Egypt, Free Middle
East and a Free World
Anarchist Network
(Anarchist Network is a collective
of websites and actions
coordinated by both anarchist
sympathizers within the global
public as well as an increasingly
wide group of autonomous
anarchist coordinators residing
around the globe in areas such as
various regions of Iran,
Afghanistan, Turkey, Scandinavia,
Morocco, Egypt, Germany,
Australia, Canada, Denmark,
France and other localities.)