[lbo-talk] Why Egypt’s Liberal Intellectuals Still Support the Army

[Charles Brown]

All state power regimes are military. The US government can only stay
in power because of the military's support That's why the President is
the Commander-in-Chief.  State powers is universally dependent upon a
special repressive apparatus , standing bodies of armed men, with
prisons etc. ; or the military and police; ever since the origin of
the state in Mesopotamia 5000 years ago or so.

And all are dictatorships of a ruling class.

The military in Egypt can make a plausible claim that it represents
the masses of people, the working people; and that it is a
dictatorship of the proletariat, since there were demonstrations of
millions (tens of millions by some reports; and petitions signed by
millions) of people for removal of the Muslim Brotherhood government.
It's like the Paris Commune.

On Sun, Jan 12, 2014 at 4:10 PM, Joseph Catron <jncatron at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 12, 2014 at 4:21 AM, Doug La Rocca <douglarocca at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> He is right to regard the dictatorship of the military as revolutionary in
>> these circumstances, for the simple reason that it DOESN'T offer itself as
>> a long-term political form but rather as transitional.
>
>
> I take it you've never spent five minutes researching Egypt's political
> history. The whole trick to military dictatorship there is to NOT "offer it
> ... as a long-term political form but rather" to call it something else
> altogether.
>
> Did Nasser ever (post-1956) call his regime a military one? Sadat? Abu
> Taleb? Mubarak?
>
> No. What's that tell you?
>
> --
> "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen
> lytlað."
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