After a fortnight of shilly shallying over the Egyptian crisis, the Obama Administration, having obtained the backing of the feckless Europeans, has come down firmly on the side of “gradual transition.” In other words, Mubarak and his minions will stay in power.
It seems that President Obama is saying to Egyptians: ‘Stop holding your form of rigged elections, and start holding our form, where the choice is between blatant or sneaky continuation of military/corporate rule.’ Democracy be damned.
The shallow pundit class in America has declared Egypt’s uprising to be a clash of wills between the Mubarak regime and a significant segment of the Egyptian populace. Nothing could be further from the truth.
For one thing, it’s not a clash of wills, but a test and crucible to find out whether the people’s inner strength can stand against the egoistic will of tyranny. As such, the Arab people are not just revolting against the despotic rule of the darkness and evil of the Mubarak regime, but against a dying global empire, since the Egyptian police state has remained in power for decades through the backing of the United States.
Therefore the Arab struggle is the struggle of all people in this world who are still inwardly alive. As human beings, it’s our responsibility to join in this revolution, in whatever way fits our countries.
For the ten or twenty Americans left standing (I’m joking, sort of, since there seems to be damned few people of passion left in this land), we don’t need to rise up against a tyrannical political system, as the Palin-Beck brigades would have us believe. We have to simply speak the truth–that America has not been a living nation for two decades. (Note to deniers: There can be no rebirth without a deep acknowledgment of death.)
For people still wondering about where the Obama Administration stands (a deliberately vague proposition), it has supported this evil regime like the administrations before it, calling Mubarak a wise leader on his visit to Washington. Barack said that for show of course, as nearly everything he says and does is for show.
The Egyptian crisis is not, as Obama and the politicians of his ilk would have us believe, a matter of compromise between the Mubarak regime and the opposition. You can’t compromise with evil; you must stand against it until it inevitably falls.
Besides, what does ‘gradual transition’ from tyranny to democracy mean? In point of fact, it means the continuation of tyranny, either in the same form, or with a new cover.
Will the pejoratively labeled “hard core of the opposition” (in truth, the heart and soul of the Egyptian people) fall for the delaying tricks of the Mubarak regime and the Obama Administration?
When Secretary of State Hilary Clinton says, “An orderly transition takes some time…there are certain things that have to be done in order to prepare,” it means the Obama Administration has decided to play the postponing game, risking literally throwing the protesters that are still standing under the tanks in Cairo.
The best lies are cloaked in an undeniable truth. Of course it takes time for a new political framework to be implemented, much less for Egypt to develop a vibrant political culture after the death grip that the American-backed Mubarak regime has had on the Egyptian people.
But in order to begin authentic change, the slate has to be wiped clean, at least to the degree that the ruling people and party step down. The idea that chaos will ensue if Mubarak, and his detention/torture/CIA-rendition partner Omar Suleiman resign, is not only false, it’s propaganda.
Revolutions never happen gradually. Radical change never happens gradually. An end to tyranny never happens gradually.
So-called political leaders who speak and act in terms of time and ‘evolution’ aren’t interested in genuine change. Under the guise of ‘orderly transition,’ they’re really interested in perpetuating the status quo.
The best of the Egyptian people have put everything on the line for transformation of their system. Vice President Omar Suleiman has said that Egypt is not ready for democracy. The White House decried that as “unacceptable,” while effectively continuing to support the regime.
The Obama Administration, in its ploy of getting EU support for its spineless policy, transparently signals an under the table agreement with the Mubarak dictatorship not to crack down any further on protesters, either with security police dressed up as goons, or the army.
No significant change in history ever happened gradually. Most revolutions have been violent upheavals. But the fall of the Berlin Wall demonstrates that significant political change no longer requires upheaval and violence.
When radical change is urgently required however, upholding the existing state of affairs out of a fear of chaos (and that’s giving a generous interpretation to the Obama Administration’s motivations) is not only self-fulfilling, it’s unconscionable.
Martin LeFevre
