[Debate] (Fwd) Egypt's awful election: Samir Amin, Horace Campbell, Hossam El-Hamalawy, Sokari Ekine

[Patrick Bond]

  Features


    The first round of the presidential elections in Egypt


        Samir Amin


        2012-05-31, Issue 587 <http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/587>


        http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/82595
        <http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/82595>

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/cc Tarek/ <http://www.flickr.com/photos/gr33ndata/7189474188/>
/cc S S/ <http://www.flickr.com/photos/77068017@N07/6925632591/>The 
first round of the presidential elections was organized to produce the 
result that Washington and the Egyptian ruling power are pursuing, that 
is, to reinforce the alliance between the two pillars of the system, the 
high command of the Army and the Moslem Brotherhood.
The reader will find on this site a paper entitled "The Arab revolution: 
a year later" <http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/80745> 
(14/3/2012) in which I explained the main reasons which led to the 
electoral victory of the Moslem Brotherhood in the January parliamentary 
elections, and which reads as follows :

"The success of political Islam requires further clarification regarding 
the relationship between the success of imperialist globalisation on the 
one hand and the rise of Brotherhood slogans on the other hand."

The deterioration that accompanied this globalisation produced 
proliferation in the activities of the informal sector in economic and 
social life, which represents the most important sources of income for 
the majority of people in Egypt (statistics say 60 percent). The 
Brotherhood's organisations have real ability to work in these 
circumstances, so that the success of the Brotherhood in these areas in 
turn has produced more inflation in these activities and thus ensured 
its reproduction on a larger scale. The political culture offered by the 
Brotherhood is known for its great simplicity. As this culture is 
content with only conferring Islamic 'legitimacy' to the principle of 
private property and the 'free' market relations, without considering 
the nature of the activities concerned, which are rudimentary ('Bazaar') 
activities that are unable to push forward the national economy and lead 
to its development.

Furthermore, the provision of funds widely by the Gulf states has 
allowed for the boom of such activities as these states have been 
pumping in the required funds in the form of small loans or grants. This 
is in addition to charity work (clinics, etc.) that has accompanied this 
inflated sector, thanks to the support of Gulf states. The Gulf states 
do not intend to contribute to the development of productive capacity in 
Egyptian economy (building factories, etc), but only the development of 
this form of 'lumpen development', since reviving Egypt as a developing 
state would end the domination of the Gulf states (that are based on the 
acceptance of the slogan of Islamization of the society), the dominance 
of the United States (which assumes Egypt as a comprador state infected 
with worsening poverty), and the domination of Israel (which assumes the 
impotence of Egypt in the face of Zionist expansion).

This axis between an authority that hides behind the 'Islamic' slogans 
and at the same time succumbs to the prevailing imperialist capitalism 
and the consequent impoverishment of the people is not specific only to 
Egypt. It is a common feature of most Arabic and Islamic societies. This 
axis is at work in Iran, where Khumainism insured the dominance of the 
'Bazaar economy' from the beginning. It is also the cause for 
catastrophe in Somalia, which is a state that was removed from the list 
of states of the modern contemporary world."

The first round of the Presidential elections (23/24 may) has been 
organized in order to produce the result that Washington and the 
Egyptian ruling power are pursuing, i.e. to reinforce the alliance 
between the two pillars of the system, the High Command of the Army and 
the Moslem Brotherhood and secure that "nothing will be changed". That 
assumes also that the two partners find a solution to their competition 
and decide who will be "in command" or appear to be so.

The two candidates selected to implement the plan were Mohamed Morsi 
(Moslem Brotherhood) and Ahmad Chafiq (former prime minister of 
Mubarak). Both benefited from massive financial support and acces to 
means for their campaign which the other candidates could not get, in 
particular Hamdeen Sabbahi, the best representative of the movement for 
democracy, social progress and national independence, therefore not 
acceptable for Washington.

The official results gave 24.7 % to Morsi, 23.6 to Chafiq and 20.7 to 
Sabbahi. Those results have been arranged in order to avoid Sabbahi 
being on the second round. These dishonest practices of so called 
democracy have nevertheless been ignored by the Western media. The 
Egyptian people is fully aware that the struggle must continue. Let us 
see what happens next...

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* Samir Amin is director of the Third World Forum 
<http://www.forumtiersmonde.net/fren/index.php>. A selection of his 
books is available from Pambazuka Press.


***


    Revolutions are not decided by elections


      Lessons from the ongoing electoral processes in Egypt


        Horace Campbell


        2012-05-31, Issue 587 <http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/587>


        http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/82593
        <http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/82593>

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/cc J R/ <http://www.flickr.com/photos/drumzo/7264298402/>It is 
important for the Egyptian revolutionaries to build new structures 
outside of parliament and outside of the rigged game that is called 
elections.
BACKGROUND OF THE NEWS

I have been monitoring the flames and demonstrations that erupted in 
Egypt while I have been on the road in East Africa for the past two weeks.

I have been in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, attending a special symposium on 
Tajudeen Abdul Raheem organized by the United Nations Economic 
Commissions for Africa (UNECA). The colloquium theme was: Democracy, 
Governance and the Pan-African Idea: Whither Africa? This was an 
inspiring and challenging occasion that brought together a number of 
Pan-Africanists and friends of Tajudeen. The most impressive aspect of 
the event was the number of young persons who were keen to understand 
the contributions of Tajudeen and the current relevance of the 
Pan-African idea.

These questions of the relevance of Pan-Africanism at Africa Hall in 
Addis Ababa was one more testament of how much the current political 
leadership has been removed from the spirit of freedom and emancipation.