The Wall Street Journal editorial board, a cheerleading group and main mouthpiece for US capitalism has some advice for its class and its friends in the Obama administration, “The post Mubarak era is coming one way or another, and the U.S. can’t be seen as the authoritarian’s friend.” It tells them today.
The big problem is that everyone who isn’t announcing to the world on Facebook today that their new six-month-old puppy threw up on the rug knows that the US is, and always has been Mubarak’s friend. Friends are supposed to stick by you through “thick and thin” as the saying goes but the bond between US capitalism and the dictator Mubarak is one based on looting and plunder of the resources of the area; it is a pact between thieves and we all know there is no honor among thieves.
US capitalism, about to jump a sinking ship, is so concerned it is threatening to withhold the $1.5 billion annual US taxpayer donation it gives to the regime. No one is fooled by the proclamations from the folks in Washington about freedom, democracy and other such niceties. After years of doing nothing other than handing over our money to the dictator, the Egyptian workers and youth coming out on to the streets has forced them to shift position ‘workers’ power has forced the US public position to change.
It statements like these that reveal the Egyptian’s resolve and what forces US capitalism to abandon its former ally:
“Were staying here until we die.” (Abdel Ali Shokr, protestor in Tahrir Square)
“Why can’t that happen here?” (An Egyptian on the ouster of Tunsia’s Ben Ali)
“We’re a little afraid” says Hiram Sherif, as he and his wife “dabbed at the tear-gas filled eyes of their eight, nine and 11 year- old children,” “But we need freedom for the chidren”
“There must be reform, political, social and economic reforms that meet the aspirations of the Egyptian people.” President Obama responds in a speech last night after speaking with Mubarak over the phone. “In the latest effort to put his administration on the side of younger Arabs seeking democratic change”, the Wall Street Journal reports, Obama warns Mubarak, “In the Arab world, a new generation of citizens have a right to be heard.”
The problem is that this opportunism simply adds to the distrust of US foreign policy intentions in the region. Words uttered from the mouths of the folks in Washington have no credibility with the Arab masses, one exception being US VP Biden who still publicly expresses the truth much to the displeasure of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board that warns, “…it doesn’t help when Vice President Joe Biden denies the obvious fact that Mr. Mubarak is a ‘dictator’”. Those in the Middle East that have fought and died in the struggle against one western supported dictator or another would appreciate Biden’s honesty and understand that the "obvious" has been around longer than the last three days.
US capitalism is deathly afraid of an Islamic regime coming to power in Egypt and in other Arab countries in the region where the workers and youth have been spurred in to action by the Tunisian events.
In Jordan on Friday thousands demonstrated in Amman and throughout the small country calling for a change in government. In a domino effect, the Jordanians lauded the Egyptians for being willing to confront the police and security that have used rubber bullets, water cannon and tear gas against men, women and children. “Ben Ali, tell Mubarak the plane is ready”, the Jordanians shouted referring to the former Tunisian and US supported dictator that was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia. “Jordan, Jordan is free, the government should flee” the protestors chanted.
The fear barrier between these regimes and the people that suffer under their oppressive rule has been broken. A week or so I forwarded to my Facebook page an article by Robert Fisk on the developments in the Middle East that I felt was overly pessimistic, hinting that nothing would really change given the stifling grip the corrupt regimes had on society and the determination of the western governments to maintain control there.
It is very difficult for middle class academics and leftists and left/liberal journalists to see the potential power of the working class and the inherent revolutionary potential within it. This is not to say that reaction cannot and will not return with a vengeance, mostly in the form of Islamic fundamentalism. For my part I do not see that but the role of leadership is crucial as it is international capitalism’ led by US imperialism, that the workers in the different nations are fighting and a force that can resist this will be given some respect.
Fisk was correct that the western powers will be doing whatever they can to keep the working class from taking power. “Senior Egyptian army officers were visiting the Pentagon when Friday’s unrest broke out, and cut off their visit to head home” the Wall Street Journal wrote today. The approach to the army should be clear, the troops are workers in uniform and the officers are from the ruling class overwhelmingly and cannot be trusted no more than they trust us. A meeting between representatives of the US military at the Pentagon and “senior” Egyptian army officers is not a meeting of the friends of workers, neither workers in the Middle East or workers in the US.
It is this force that the struggle for democratic rights is up against.
The greatest fear is the fall of the absolute monarchy in Saudi Arabia which was the world’s largest producer and exporter of total petroleum liquids in 2010 according to the EIA * The Saudi’s are the world’s second largest crude oil producer behind Russia and in 2007, about 27% of US imported oil came from the Middle East, about 17% of that from the Saudis.
US capitalism supports the dictators of the Middle East because of the profits and wealth associated with energy production and oil and they have been successful in holding back the revolutionary potential of the Arab working class. They tell us that control over oil is essential and that if it falls in to the wrong hands it will be used to blackmail us. It's in the wrong hands now. Saudi Arabia’s economy is totally dependent on crude oil. Oil export revenues account for 80-90 percent of total Saudi revenues and more than 40% of the country's gross domestic product. This wealth belongs to the Arab workers, and youth but is stolen from them by the Saudi dictatorship and their US backers. Unemployment, poverty and democratic rights are all a major issue in Saudi Arabia.
As workers we need not be afraid if we have an independent position supporting the right of the Arab masses to control their own destiny. and strengthen our links with them through our trade Unions and other independent workers' organizations. You can’t eat oil, workers here and workers there have the same interests and don’t see natural resources as the ticket to a luxury yacht or a $10 million villa in the South of France or a mansion in the Hamptons.
Victory to the Arab workers and youth
For a socialist federation of nations of the Middle East
For an independent mass workers’ movement in the US
Build an independent mass workers party in the US
* US Energy Information Administration
No comments:
Post a Comment