Opinion Egyptian solidarity

It is estimated,it says,that 44 per cent of the population lives on less than $2 a day.

February 16, 2011 11:51 PM IST First published on: Feb 16, 2011 at 11:51 PM IST

Egyptian solidarity

In the latest issue of its journal Peoples Democracy,CPM general secretary Prakash Karat says the mass upsurge in Egypt is a reaction to the neo-liberal policies adopted by the Mubarak regime for the past three decades. It is estimated,it says,that 44 per cent of the population lives on less than $2 a day. Unemployment,especially among the youth,has reached high levels. The agrarian crisis has impoverished the peasantry. The working class movement has always been severely repressed. No trade unions outside the officially sponsored federation were allowed to exist. In the 1980s and 90s,this severe repression led to a weakening of the workers movement,but it has resumed force in the last decade.

The global economic crisis hit the Egyptian working class badly and the April 6,2008,strike in Mahallah Al Kubra town marked a watershed,according to Karat. About 28,000 workers participated in the strike,which was brutally repressed. The Mahallah struggle sparked similar struggles in industrial areas of the delta region,says Karat.

The Mubarak regime blames Islamic radicals for the unrest. For the Western media,Tahrir Square symbolises the spontaneous movement for democracy. Neither are correct. There are many streams which have converged to make this a genuine mass uprising, says Karat. The April 6 committee,which sprung up in 2008 in solidarity with the struggle of the Mahallah workers,has played a leading role in mobilising people for this movement,says Karat. The link between the working class struggle and the general democratic movement is exemplified by this committee,according to him.

Unlike in Tunisia,the stakes in Egypt are high for the United States and Israel. They will do everything to see that Egypt remains on the strategic course set out for it by US imperialism. The United States will bank upon the Egyptian ruling classes and the army to ensure this, says Karat.

Prime culprit

In a sharp attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,the CPI says that Congressmen may harp on him being the most honest prime minister India has ever had,one whose personal integrity cannot be questioned,but the mega scams and scandals that are tumbling out make it abundantly clear that he presides over the most corrupt government since Independence. An editorial in the partys journal,New Age,says: But it seems that this loot will appear to be meagre,if all the details of S-Band spectrum are really out… Without going into technical details of the deal,it can be said safely that ISRO under the prime ministers ministry had caused heavy loss to the public exchequer.

The PMO is trying to shield itself by claiming that ISRO did it without getting clearance from the prime minister… If that is true,then the logical question that arises is: is the prime minister a silent spectator of all what is happening under him? Is somebody else running the government from behind the scene? He was not able to control A. Raja… On the PMOs advice,the attorney general has misled the apex court of the country on the appointment of P.J. Thomas as CVC… Similarly,the prime minister is under a cloud for his handling of other scams and scandals. The economist PM has been found erring on the question of inflation control too, says the editorial.

The surging Nile

Referring to the popular upsurge in Tunisia and Egypt in its weekly ML Update,the CPI(ML) says that these movements have shown us what peoples upsurges will look like in the 21st century. The electronic speed with which the protests spread and how the people assembled using every new technological medium from television and mobile phones to the Internet gave us a glimpse of how revolutionary advances in information and communication technology can be made to serve the cause of a fighting people,it says. In many ways,Egypts evolution in the latter half of twentieth century has been similar to that of India. A close ally of India during the heady days of the non-aligned movement,and a big votary of state-led industrialisation and public welfare in the early Nasser years…. Egypt has fallen headlong into the trap of neoliberal economics and pro-American geopolitics,much the same way as India has. Will the rising tides of the Nile today be followed by a similar upsurge in the land of Ganga and Kaveri,Brahmaputra and Narmada? asks ML Update.