This blog is not affiliated with the IMT but, as we have stated before with other commentaries we have reproduced here, we are in general agreement with this analysis by Alan Woods. It is fairly long though so we are including a link to the article on the IMT's website. It is truly a great day for the workers of the world and especially for our Egyptian and Arab comrades.
Written by Alan Woods Friday, 11 February 2011
The tyrant has fallen! As I write these lines, Hosni Mubarak has resigned. This is a great victory, not just for the people of Egypt, but for the workers of the entire world. After 18 days of continuous revolutionary mobilizations, with 300 dead and thousands injured, Hosni Mubarak's 30-year tyranny is no more.
This is the result of the marvellous movement of the masses, which has faced the guns and batons of the police and courageously resisted every attack by the forces of reaction. It is the culmination of two weeks of revolutionary struggle that has been an inspiration to us all.
Yesterday the mass of demonstrators thought that they had won. But the past 24 hours convinced the masses that all the negotiations and compromises were leading nowhere. That explains why today more people than ever turned out to protest as the idea that nothing short of a popular insurrection would lead to the overthrow of a hated and despised autocrat. Last night, before Mubarak spoke on television, one demonstrator on Tahrir Square told the BBC: “I will remain here until he goes. If he does not go, tomorrow will be a very rough day for Mubarak.” Tomorrow has now arrived.
Already at dawn thousands of people were converging on Tahrir Square, ready for a decisive confrontation with the regime. Events have moved with lightening speed. The movement was becoming radicalized by the hour. Protesters were "more emboldened by the day and more determined by the day", Ahmad Salah, an Egyptian activist, told Al Jazeera. "This is a growing movement, it's not shrinking." Political prisoners are being released from the jails. But there are still an unknown number of people missing, including activists thought to be detained during the recent unrest. Human rights groups have alleged that the Egyptian army has been involved in illegally detaining and sometimes torturing protesters.
The mood today became angry and defiant. Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin in Cairo reported yesterday that in the northeastern town of Port Said at least five government buildings, including the governor's office and the office for public housing, were set alight in two continuous days of riots. People have been blocking roads, there have been clashes, and huge numbers of people poured into Liberation Square. Nobody knows the real numbers involved today but the demonstrators have been out all over Egypt in their millions.
In the provinces things went even further than in Cairo. In Suez, where the movement has been particularly radical, and where the casualties have been especially numerous, the people occupied all official buildings. In Asyut, where tens of thousands have been out on the streets, they have taken over the headquarters of the ruling party and other official buildings.
In El Arish in northern Sinai, where tens of thousands demonstrated, a crowd of about one thousand youths broke away from the demonstration and engaged in gun battles with the police, attacking police stations with Molotov cocktails.
In Alexandria a crowd of at least 200,000 people gathered outside the Ras-el-Tin palace and fraternized with the sailors who distributed food to the protesters. Damietta, a city situated where the Nile meets the sea, has a population of around one million. Of these, 150,000 were on the streets today, surrounding the police stations and besieging government buildings. Similar reports are coming from all over Egypt.
Celebrations tonight
There was fury on the streets against the lying propaganda of the media. Last night on the BBC Newsnight programme the deputy editor of the official organ of the regime Al Ahram apologized to the people and promised to print truthful reports of the demonstrations: “The people are angry with us,” he admitted: “I have even received telephone calls threatening to burn the building down.”
In Cairo the protesters surrounded the central television station which was protected by paratroops. But the attitude of the troops has been friendly and fraternization was taking place. Acoording to one eyewitness, a paratrooper Major, was seen smiling and shaking hands with protesters, who tell the officer: “paratroopers are OK. But we don’t want the Presidential Guards. He smiles back. All the soldiers on the other side of the fencing around the television building look sympathetic towards the protesters. It is a very emotional scene.”
Read the remainder of the commentary here
This is the result of the marvellous movement of the masses, which has faced the guns and batons of the police and courageously resisted every attack by the forces of reaction. It is the culmination of two weeks of revolutionary struggle that has been an inspiration to us all.Yesterday the mass of demonstrators thought that they had won. But the past 24 hours convinced the masses that all the negotiations and compromises were leading nowhere. That explains why today more people than ever turned out to protest as the idea that nothing short of a popular insurrection would lead to the overthrow of a hated and despised autocrat. Last night, before Mubarak spoke on television, one demonstrator on Tahrir Square told the BBC: “I will remain here until he goes. If he does not go, tomorrow will be a very rough day for Mubarak.” Tomorrow has now arrived.
Already at dawn thousands of people were converging on Tahrir Square, ready for a decisive confrontation with the regime. Events have moved with lightening speed. The movement was becoming radicalized by the hour. Protesters were "more emboldened by the day and more determined by the day", Ahmad Salah, an Egyptian activist, told Al Jazeera. "This is a growing movement, it's not shrinking." Political prisoners are being released from the jails. But there are still an unknown number of people missing, including activists thought to be detained during the recent unrest. Human rights groups have alleged that the Egyptian army has been involved in illegally detaining and sometimes torturing protesters.
The mood today became angry and defiant. Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin in Cairo reported yesterday that in the northeastern town of Port Said at least five government buildings, including the governor's office and the office for public housing, were set alight in two continuous days of riots. People have been blocking roads, there have been clashes, and huge numbers of people poured into Liberation Square. Nobody knows the real numbers involved today but the demonstrators have been out all over Egypt in their millions.
In the provinces things went even further than in Cairo. In Suez, where the movement has been particularly radical, and where the casualties have been especially numerous, the people occupied all official buildings. In Asyut, where tens of thousands have been out on the streets, they have taken over the headquarters of the ruling party and other official buildings.
In El Arish in northern Sinai, where tens of thousands demonstrated, a crowd of about one thousand youths broke away from the demonstration and engaged in gun battles with the police, attacking police stations with Molotov cocktails.
In Alexandria a crowd of at least 200,000 people gathered outside the Ras-el-Tin palace and fraternized with the sailors who distributed food to the protesters. Damietta, a city situated where the Nile meets the sea, has a population of around one million. Of these, 150,000 were on the streets today, surrounding the police stations and besieging government buildings. Similar reports are coming from all over Egypt.
Celebrations tonightThere was fury on the streets against the lying propaganda of the media. Last night on the BBC Newsnight programme the deputy editor of the official organ of the regime Al Ahram apologized to the people and promised to print truthful reports of the demonstrations: “The people are angry with us,” he admitted: “I have even received telephone calls threatening to burn the building down.”
In Cairo the protesters surrounded the central television station which was protected by paratroops. But the attitude of the troops has been friendly and fraternization was taking place. Acoording to one eyewitness, a paratrooper Major, was seen smiling and shaking hands with protesters, who tell the officer: “paratroopers are OK. But we don’t want the Presidential Guards. He smiles back. All the soldiers on the other side of the fencing around the television building look sympathetic towards the protesters. It is a very emotional scene.”
- Long Live the Egyptian Revolution!
- Long Live Socialism!
- Workers of the world, unite!
Read the remainder of the commentary here
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