This blog was originally meant to serve as an expose on my post-college life living unemployed at home in Westchester Co. New York. But Egypt seems so much more pressing.
I think it is very important that the rebels realize that they have effectively won the battle against Mubarak. To continue to put all of their energy into resisting his illusory grip on power will only cause a rebound effect and restore the ancien regime. Here's why: with the destruction of the state apparatus, chaos has begun to reign, and although urbanites in Cairo are forming local militias to prevent crime, their patience will quickly run out, if their food doesn't run out first. The protesters must find a means to organize a grass roots, democratic framework for keeping basic goods and services available. Otherwise Mubarak, or a hand-picked successor like the current Vice-President, can make the case that the protesters are unfit to provide basic stability and quality of life. Currently, Mohamed ElBaradei has joined with a group of tech-savvy protesters to form a party of sorts around which a new organized political apparatus could form. Ideally, they will use the power of social media to coordinate efforts across Egypt. Ideally...
This is not the time to rally around one leader, entrust power in him, and then call it a day. This is what the governments of developed democracies like the U.S. would like to see. But that's the problem with the Arab world: there's exists a tendency to find a strongman who serves as the singular savior of the people in their time of need. The Egyptian people must find the confidence not only to defy the oppression of the now crumbling Mubarak regime, but to come together to replace it in a holistic way. Otherwise, the old strongman will be replaced with a new one. To borrow from the Preamble to the Constitution of the Industrial Workers of the World:
By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old.
I've taken this quote from the syndicalist IWW mostly because it, more than anything else, captures what I believe the Egyptian protesters should do if they want to create a democratic society. If defeating political enemies becomes the sole focus and habit of this movement, it could easily be redirected toward, say, harming religious and political minorities, or a fruitless war against a long-hated foreign bogyman (*cough*Israel*cough*). That's the kind of barbarism a strongman would affect so as to keep the hands of discontent occupied, and away from the torches of liberty and democracy.
The people of Egypt must carry the spirit of solidarity and grass-roots action over to meeting the practical needs of the country.
PS: I have chosen this topic in response to Mohammed Sameer's plea that anyone and everyone endeavor to get the word out on events in Egypt. I encourage readers to do the same if they can.
PS: I have chosen this topic in response to Mohammed Sameer's plea that anyone and everyone endeavor to get the word out on events in Egypt. I encourage readers to do the same if they can.
