En Passant

There are two things that are certain. One, the crisis of poverty and inequality and injustice that brought forth the Arab revolution has not been resolved and will not go away. Two, however terrible the defeats suffered by revolutionaries across the Middle East these past years, the flame of resistance has not been extinguished.

Workers in Egypt do have the power to overthrow their own corrupt and reactionary dictatorship. It is that possibility that offers the ultimate hope for the region and for the liberation of all of Palestine and all of its peoples – Jews, Arabs, Christians, atheists and the rest alike.

A democratic and secular Palestine is only possible, in my view, if there is a working class revolution in Egypt showing the way for democracy and peace and setting the Arab masses across the region alight.

Freedom for Haitham Mohamedain – To sign this statement click on the link at the bottom of the page

We condemn the arrest and detention of Haitham Mohamedain by the Egyptian army on 5th September in Suez. Haitham is a well known labour lawyer and revolutionary activist who has represented hundreds of workers arrested on picket lines or facing court hearings as a result of victimisation by their bosses or assaults by the police. Just two weeks ago he was in Suez defending steel workers whose strike for higher wages was broken up by the Army.

As a leading member of the Revolutionary Socialists, Haitham has also been one of only a small number of revolutionary activists prepared to publicly condemn the brutal crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood by the Army in recent weeks, including the killing of hundreds of protesters on 14th August.

Down with military rule … no to the return of the old regime … no to the return of the Brotherhood

Down with military rule!
No to the return of the old regime!
No to the return of the Brotherhood!
All power and wealth to the people

We must build popular committees to defend ourselves against attacks by the Brotherhood and to protect our revolution which will not subside before it overthrows the regime, and before it wins bread, freedom and social justice, and retribution for all the killers of the martyrs.

he new government is offering the exact same policies as Mohamed Mursi, who offered the exact same policies as Hosni Mubarak. It’s the same neoliberalism and the same strategic alliances with the Gulf dictatorships, the US and Israel. It is as if these policies are written in stone. So the aspirations of the people do not seem to have a reformist outlet.

The revolutionary left is not yet big enough to pose the question of a real alternative, to point beyond the capitalist state. But the revolution could go on for years—and that gives us an unmissable opportunity to grow.

The Revolutionary Socialists sprang from underground to play a leading role in Egypt’s revolt. Sameh Naguib explains how they built a party to shape the struggle. The last two and a half years in Egypt have been like being in a kind of hurricane that doesn’t settle. The Revolutionary Socialists as an organisation has been vindicated.

But if we hadn’t built an organisation before the revolution we would have been decimated, splintered into a hundred pieces.

Wave

Unless we prepare ourselves for those moments of mass action and revolution the wave will be too strong for us to stand on our feet and offer an alternative.

We have grown rapidly since the revolution began, in terms of numbers of members and in terms of being active in areas that were very difficult to be in before.

In the face of the attacks of the Muslim Brotherhood, we will not take refuge in anything but our revolution, and we will protect it from any assault for the millions who have taken to the streets since June 30 through today. The people are capable of responding to any attack on their revolution. We shall continue to mobilize millions into the streets and squares, to form our popular committees to defend ourselves against the coercion of the Muslim Brotherhood. We will protect our revolution against any assaults, in the face of any attempts to circumvent it or to whitewash our demands for bread, freedom, social justice and retribution for the martyrs against the killers…all the killers.

We struggle with the masses of the revolution for its continuance and for the implementation of its goals. For the revolution, there is a people to protect it. All power and wealth to the people.

The revolution is continuing, but it still needs time and to organise itself. This requires the reformation of popular committees to defend our revolution in every street, neighbourhood and factory. We are multitudes, but we lack organisation in our ranks.