Something I've seen widely circulated: 'Yesterday we were all Tunisians. Today we are all Egyptians. Tomorrow we will all be free.'
To understand the relevance of the above to discussion of revolutions,
one needs to both note that it really is widely circulated and that it
is aspirational rather than factual. It is a revolutionary sentiment.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
> On Behalf Of Carrol Cox
> Sent: Friday, February 11, 2011 11:56 AM
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] See!
>
> I agree with the post below but want to add a note.
>
> The people do not need to gain the Military, but the ranks of the military
> have to refuse to fire. As to the Egyptian Army, it only exists thanks to
> u.s. military aid. For them to break with the U.S. would be to liquidate
> themselves. But it's not a revolution but merely the "orderly transition"
> dear to Obama's heart that has been achieved. If the protesters accept this
> (and probably they will have to) the Revolution is over before it started.
> All we have is an abortive insurrection.
>
> Carrol
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
> On Behalf Of Adam Proctor
> Sent: Friday, February 11, 2011 11:49 AM
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] See!
>
> Wojtek wrote:
>
> [WS:] I am not beneath pointing out that I told you so. Here is what I
>> posted:
>>
>> "In other words - the protesters will win only if they manage to capture
>> the
>> Egyptian state but it seems likely only if the military switches sides.
>> Otherwise, the protest will end like the Polish Solidarity did."
>>
>> which was pooh-poohed by those who did not like my reference to Orwell.
> So
>> let me grin and say: movements - schmovements. It is the institutions
> with
>> real power that carry the day - just as uncle Stalin commented about the
>> pope's divisions. Ha!
>>
>>
> [To everyone else] Is he serious? "movements-schmovements"? Was it ever a
> question that to win a people's revolution, you have to win the military?
> No. But let's be serious. Mubarak is out. But the people have not yet
> won the military. Just because the military splits from the regime, to
> which it was loosely tied to begin with, does not mean the military has
> switched to the side of the people. So for now, the people's revolution
> remains incomplete. Will they be able to see it through? I hope so. But
> that will require the continuation of the worker's councils and such that
> have been formed over the last 2 weeks. This revolution started over not
> just state repression, but poor economic prospects for young people and a
> vastly uneven distribution of wealth. Instituting simple liberal reforms in
> a state that was already the poster child of neoliberal development will not
> satisfy the economic demands of the masses.
>
> [to Wojtek] Un-puff your chest, my man. This is far from over.
> Institutions bear the power in society. This is not a radical stance,
> rather, it is the definition of what it means to be an institution. The
> problem facing Egypt, and people's revolutions all of the world, is that
> these are bourgeois, liberal institutions that will only recreate much of
> the economic immiseration seen before the revolution began. The task at
> hand now is for the people to lay hold of these institutions and seek out a
> vastly different kind of social organization. Will it happen? Stay tuned.
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