Riveting video/manifesto from Mosireen– who has educated us before— featuring martyrs to the military rulers of Egypt. A friend translates the Arabic in the video description:
These are images you have never seen before, or maybe you have but you did not pay attention to them. Though these are images of everyday life, they hide sites of pain, corners of terror, the places left behind by martyrs.
Most of these images were taken in spaces where the state’s security forces kidnapped, tortured or murdered one of us. The very fact that these images were taken is due to the courage by those left behind, to give witness. We carry a heavy burden, to carry this revolution forward.
The speaker in this video is one of those who will not give up the fight, no matter the complexity, no matter the success of their propaganda, he will speak out and stand in their path and this is why they hunt him.
Whether on our streets in broad daylight or in the dark corners of their citadels, these security men practice their violence on us with all the legitimacy the state can offer.
This is why we went to the street January 25 2011.
This is why we continue to fight them today.
The situation in Egypt will only get better when American aid to the Egyptian army is ended. As things currently stand, the army is a vast and bloated organization more akin to a huge Mafia. They will continue to rule Egypt until the balance of power is normalized.
Morsi was a dictator.
Sisi may be heavy handed, but his is advocating women’s rights and Christian rights.
He is the best guy in Egypt right now.
I don’t know what to make of the video clip or Phil’s take on it. I remember when the NYT dissed the Iraqi elections, but the reality turned out that those Iraqi’s turned out at nearly 100% to vote, more than any % ever in America, and they held up their purple inked finger in elation. The Arab Spring may have been sprung, and no longer thrives, but the US government has had a big hand in all of this. The whole ball game for the USA is to maintain Arab powers that act as Israel’s shield, bucked up by US bucks, and, as Mearsheirmer and Walt surmised, Big Oil is not really in that picture since they could be more profitable by siding with the Arabs, and the same can be said by siding with Iran. The Bill Kristols of this world say contrary, but it’s the truth, and why Bill praised himself for ending the era of “the Arabists” in the US state department. Why could anybody with half a brain think that giving Israel a blank check both with free dollars and UN SC veto is good for the USA?
Gotta be an MK Top Ten…
Morsi was a dictator. Except that he was elected.
Sisi may be heavy handed, but his is advocating women’s rights and Christian rights. By killing anyone who disagrees, or looks like they might disagree, or had something that disagreed with them at lunch.
He is the best guy in Egypt right now. As viewed from the back end of his tank.
—
I’d call it bizarre, but methinks you’ve managed to capture the alpha-omega of Beltway/DC conventional wisdom on this.
I continue to be astonished and dismayed by all of this reference to an Egyptian “revolution” as if that is what it really was. It wasn’t. It was basically an IMF riot in reaction to neoliberal globalization. There is a problem with labeling it a revolution, then basing your analysis upon your label. There is way too much giddy romanticism and too little understanding going on. There is no revolution unless you seize control of the underlying mechanisms of power. This never occurred. The army continued to effectively control the country with the support of the empire, including the global financial system upon which Egypt was dependent for survival. I said at the time that Egypt didn’t have the wherewithal to break free from the global system. It didn’t and it doesn’t. More street riots will result in more street riots and little else. Unless Egypt can feed itself without foreign assistance, it is incapable of breaking free from imperial control. Below is a quote from Tariq Ali saying essentially the same thing.
“Ever since the beginning of the Arab Spring there has been much talk of revolutions. Not from me. I’ve argued against the position that mass uprisings on their own constitute a revolution, i.e., a transfer of power from one social class (or even a layer) to another that leads to fundamental change. The actual size of the crowd is not a determinant—members of a crowd become a revolution only when they have, in their majority, a clear set of social and political aims. If they do not, they will always be outflanked by those who do, or by the state that will recapture lost ground very rapidly.” (Tariq Ali)
http://www.guernicamag.com/daily/tariq-ali-what-is-a-revolution/