Statement on Egypt by the International Workers’ Union–Fourth International
No support for the military! Only the workers and the people in power will be a solution!
The fall of President Mursi, in Egypt, was the result of an immense revolutionary mobilization of the working people, youth and women focused for several days in Tahrir Square. The armed forces, that had been backing the government of Mursi, staged a coup to oust Mursi and install a new “transitional” government forced by circumstances and to avoid the revolutionary process overtaking them too.
The Egyptian people again went out into the streets and again topped Tahrir Square, demanding that Mursi go away, because this government of the Islamic party of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) broke with the expectations that the Egyptian people opened a year ago. The revolution of 2011 was made to demand democratic freedoms but also to demand better wages, more work and for an end to the exploitation of multinationals and business groups linked to the military. These expectations were dashed by the Mursi government, supported by the Armed Forces, which continued to rule for multinationals, big business and bankers, agreeing with Obama, and endorsing the power of business and the corrupt military. President Mursi, emerged from a powerful democratic revolution, published decrees that granted him superpowers as president. Meanwhile, the country plunged into a severe socio-economic crisis, with inflation at 8%, unemployment of around 15% and a semi-paralyzed economy, where tourism, one of the major sources of revenue fell 30%, which caused dissatisfaction and social protest to grow.
So the masses took to the streets under the slogans “Out with Mursi” and “for a second revolution”. It is estimated that mobilization in Tahrir Square came to be broader than the triumph of the revolution in early 2011 that ended the dictatorship of Mubarak. Then the military, which had been the mainstay of the old regime, also yielded to the force of the people’s revolution and dropped the dictator.
Once again the central protagonists of change are the mobilized masses and not the military, which in the new stage, were the mainstay of the government of Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood, which it has just fallen down.
We reject the military coup! No trust in the military or in the government of “transition”!
The military coup is a rearrangement of the armed forces amid fears of the revolution and the masses. They did not come out to suppress the people for fear of an overflow that would defeat them. They thus want to prevent further destabilization and further development of the revolution and to lose control. It is a maneuver of those above to try to deflect and defeat the revolution using democratic reaction combining the elections with new authoritarian and repressive measures. Its fundamental purpose is not to meet the demands of the masses but to remain in power by submissive governments, from where they can protect their economic interests (they control 40% of GDP) in partnerships with multinationals and imperialist sectors, while working people sink in poverty and unemployment. Additionally, the Egyptian armed forces have agreements with the U.S. from which they receive huge sums of money for their weapons and equipment.
For all this we condemn the military coup and its political transition plan backed by the highest religious authorities and the main leaders of the pro-US political opposition as Nobel Peace Prize, Mohamed ElBaradei.
We understand the jubilation of the masses in Tahrir Square, for the victory of the fall of Mursi, but do not share the expressions of support or confidence in the military and police which are repressive forces and defenders of the system of exploitation and plunder of multinationals and other exploiters in Egypt.
Only the people, the workers, women and the revolutionary youth mobilized and in power can achieve the fundamental changes that have been raised since the revolution that began in 2011.
The revolutionary mobilization must continue
The fall of Mursi shows that the Arab revolution continues and that they have not managed to stop it either in Egypt, or throughout North Africa and the Middle East. Part of that process has been the popular rebellion of Turkey against the government of Erdogan and the continuity of the resistance against the Syrian dictator.
Neither this military-civilian government of “transition” nor any which is composed of the military and political forces pro-business and pro-American will resolve the social and democratic goals of the masses. The mobilization of the working class and the Egyptian people and their organizations must continue because they are the only guarantee of change. Only a government of workers and their grassroots organizations, trade unions and youth, will be a definitive solution to the problems of the people.
The central problem of the Egyptian revolution is the lack of a revolutionary socialist leadership with weight of masses. Precisely this vacuum is covered circumstantially by the military and political leaders of the bosses as before the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and now the Nobel Peace Prize ElBaradei. The masses are making the experience with governments that emerged from the revolution, led by Islamic political forces of the bosses as the Muslim Brotherhood and others. There is a need that at the heat of the protests and strikes, alternative mass organizations are consolidated such as the trade unions and the independent youth organizations that are leading the calls to Tahrir Square, so that they consider being an alternative working and popular power.
On this path, without supporting civil-military government, , it is necessary to continue to promote workers and popular mobilization for an economic plan that provides the solutions that the people demand, for the expropriation of multinationals, the enterprises of the military and of the big national holdings, for the nationalization of banking, for non-payment of foreign debt and with those funds to grant a wage increase immediately, giving full employment and better education and health for all. For the full exercise of democratic freedoms, no to authoritarian constraints and plans of the military and their covenants at the top, no the Commission of Notables to make a constitution, for the free election of a Free and Sovereign Constituent Assembly that discusses everything and what sort of country the mobilized people want.
Long live the revolutionary mobilization of Tahrir Square!
No trust in the military or ElBaradei!
Continue the struggle to achieve a power of the workers and the people!
International Workers’ Union–Fourth International (IWU-FI)
4 July, 2013