The Real Egyptian Revolution Is Yet To Come
By George Katsiaficas
Around the world, people
are enthusiastically greeting the “Egyptian Revolution”—the astonishing
victory won by the historic 18-day People Power Uprising. As events move more
rapidly than anyone can anticipate, not only has Mubarak been deposed, his
corrupt parliament has been dismissed and new elections promised within six
months. People’s ecstasy in the aftermath of these great victories belies the
fact that Mubarak’s authoritarian system remains intact—nay,
strengthened—by the ascension of Suleiman and the military to supreme
power in Cairo. While the world hails the Egyptian “revolution,” a more sober
assessment of recent events would question the accuracy of that label, at least
for now.
If we look at other
countries for comparison (and there are many recent examples of People Power
Uprisings suddenly ending the reign of longstanding authoritarian regimes), I am especially struck by parallels with Korea's 1987 June
Uprising, when for 19 consecutive days, hundreds of thousands of people
illegally went into the streets and battled tens of thousands of riot police to
a standstill. On June 29, the military dictatorship finally capitulated to the
opposition’s demands to hold direct presidential elections, thereby ending 26
years of military rule.
As in Egypt on
February 11, 2011, the man who made the announcement in Seoul on June 29, 1987
was none other than the dictatorship’s No. 2 leader. Roh Tae-woo went on to
become the country’s new president after elections marked by both a bitter
split between rival progressive candidates and widespread allegations of ballot
tampering. People’s high expectations and optimism after the military was
forced to grant elections turned into bitter disappointment. Throughout the
country, new massive mobilizations were organized, during which more than a
dozen young people committed suicide to spur forward the movement for change.
Like Suleiman,
Roh was a long-time US asset with ties to a list of nefarious deeds. In 1996,
Roh and his predecessor Chun Doo-hwan were convicted of high crimes, sent to
prison, and ultimately ordered to return hundreds of millions of dollars they
had illegally garnered. (Roh eventually returned around $300 million; Chun
deceitfully pleaded poverty and, although thereby dishonored, he absconded with
even more than that amount of Korea’s wealth.)
Roh was never
linked to any direct act of sadism, but Suleiman is known to have personally
participated in the torture of CIA rendered terrorist suspects. As “the CIA’s
Man in Cairo,” he helped design and implement the American rendition program
through which dozens of suspected terrorists were kidnapped, imprisoned and
tortured. Suleiman took a personal hand in the torture of Australian citizen
Mamdouh Habib. In his memoirs, Habib recounted one torture session of electric
shocks, broken fingers and being hung from meat hooks that culminated in being
slapped so hard that his blindfold flew off—-revealing Suleiman as the
purveyor of the violence.
While Habib was
innocent, another rendered suspect, Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi, confessed to
participation in training anti-US fighters and famously asserted under torture
that ties existed between al-Queda and Saddam’s government in Iraq. That lie
became one of Colin Powell’s most significant assertions to the UN Security
Council when the US convinced much of the world to attack Iraq. When al-Libi
later recanted and threatened to expose his lie, he “committed suicide” in a
Libyan prison—coincidentally at the same time as Suleiman made his first
ever visit to Tripoli.
For
his extraordinary efforts on behalf of the US, Suleiman found his fortunes
rise. Thanks to WikiLeaks, we know today that almost three years ago, the US
was prepared to elevate him to the top slot in Egypt. According to a US
diplomatic cable of May 14, 2007, entitled “Presidential Succession in Egypt,”
Suleiman was to be named vice-president (as occurred on January 29, 2011).
The chief of the
Egyptian armed forces, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, like Suleiman and
Mubarak, is a regime insider with long ties to the Pentagon. One U.S. Embassy cable released by
WikiLeaks noted that, “Tantawi has opposed both economic and political reforms
that he perceives as eroding central government power.” While Suleiman and Tantawi are clearly cut from the
same cloth as Mubarek, my objection is not simply to these men but to the
system they embody. For a genuine revolution to take place, Suleiman and his
kind must be driven from power—even punished for their crimes—not
elevated to the highest levels of government.
What the masses of
Egyptians want is freedom from dictatorship and foreign domination. They want
the right to participate in their own government and to do so freely, with a
free press, and in a society where civil liberties are guaranteed. They want an
end to the country’s poverty and to take back the mountain of wealth stolen by
the super-rich.
As it seems
that Korea's democratization might hold possible lessons for Egypt, so might
the Philippines in 1986. Less than a year after the first “People Power
Revolution” sent long-time dictator Ferdinand Marcos into exile, Corazon
Aquino’s new government shot to death 21 landless farmers who marched in Manila
to demand she keep her promises for land reform. The Philippines today is
plagued by increasing hunger, and more than three million children are
underweight and underheight. In 1973, students in Thailand overthrew a hated
military dictatorship after 77 people were gunned down in the streets of
Bangkok. After a two-year hiatus, one of the most free periods in the history
of Thailand, the military bloodily reimposed dictatorship and killed dozens of
students. In Nepal in 1990, fifty days of popular protests during which 62
citizens were killed won a constitutional monarchy, but within a few years, the
royal family again seized absolute power. A 19-day People Power Uprising in
2006 ended the monarchy altogether, but only after 21 more unarmed civilians
had been killed by the forces of order.
No one can
anticipate the outcome of what has been set in motion in Egypt, but historical
antecedents may provide insight into possible outcomes. Will the blood of the
300 murdered citizens in Egypt, like the hundreds of martyrs of the 1980
Gwangju Uprising, water the tree of liberty? Or will their sacrifice grease the
wheels as US banks and global corporations rush to replace "crony
capitalism" with ever more profitable arenas for wealthy investors?
Young activists in Cairo
remain camped in Tahrir Square—for now at least—where they have
already had to stand up to the army’s attempt to clear them out. Remaining
steadfast, they are calling for substantive reforms—for a new system and
democracy worthy of the name. Even with Mubarak gone, so long as his military
commanders and chief of intelligence remain in power, nothing like a revolution
can be said to have transpired in Egypt.
For that to be said,
rather than celebrating their victory from high positions of power, Suleiman
and his buddies should themselves be guests in the very prisons where they were
previously hosts. The full turning of the wheel of justice—a revolution
in the true sense of the word—demands nothing less. The sites where
Suleiman tortured Habib and al-Lidi should become public museums open to
ordinary Egyptians to sadly recount the country’s decades of suffering under
the US-backed dictatorship of Mubarak. Instead, unless the movement continues
to propel the country forward, Suleiman’s torture chambers may be destined to
be used against young activists whose only crime is to insist upon making
reality what is today claimed by nearly everyone—a revolution in Egypt.
February 14, 2011