Opinion Editorials, February 2011

Egypt's Giant Step

By Husayn Al-Kurdi

 Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, February 21, 2011

 
(The following article is an official statement from the Iraqi-Palestine Committee  concerning current occurrences in Egypt. It also gives a historic background to the events. It was written by IPC spokesman, Husayn al-Kurdi.)

The Egyptian people have removed the dictator President Hosni Mubarak as a result of a determined and massive mobilization witnessed by billions on television and the Internet worldwide. We wholeheartedly support this historic breakthrough as a step on the path to the creation of a society which serves the basic needs of the people, facilitates the just distribution of the wealth and resources of the country and ultimately joins the rest of the Arab nation in attaining freedom from imperialist and Zionist domination.
 
The Mubarak regime colluded and compromised with the Zionist entity (Israel) while serving the US-led imperialist onslaught which has brought impoverishment and misery to the vast majority of more than 80 million Egyptians and to the Arab masses as a whole, who make up more than 340 million people, most of whom reside in the Arab national homeland which stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders with Iran.
 
Egypt has long struggled against foreign conquerors, among whom were Persians, Greeks, Romans, Ottoman Turks, Napoleon’s armies and the British empire, which occupied and controlled the country for over 70 years before the ouster of their puppet monarch Farouk in 1952.
 
Israel, Britain and France joined each other in attacking Egypt in 1956 after it nationalized its Suez Canal. The invaders retreated in the face of Arab resistance and universal condemnation, but only after bombing Egyptian cities and occupying the Canal Zone.
 
Egypt was attacked again in 1967, as the Zionist entity expanded its conquests to include Palestinian Gaza and the West Bank area, as well as part of Syria. The Egyptians recovered sufficiently in 1973 to engage Israel militarily in a manner which brought pride in their military capacity and showed that Arab armies could stand up to those who have invaded and occupied their lands. Unfortunately, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat yielded to US-Israeli pressure and signed the Camp David accords, which signified surrender of Palestine to its occupiers and a general capitulation to the enemies of the Arab cause. As a consequence of this betrayal, Sadat was removed from office via popularly-endorsed bullets, but the Camp David arrangements remained in force under his successor Hosni Mubarak.
 
In addition to continuing the treachery ushered in by Camp David, the Mubarak clique implemented policies which brought new levels of suffering to the Egyptian people while amassing huge fortunes for a few corrupt families and their associates. The military hierarchy joined in sharing the spoils, while playing a leading role in ensuring the continuation of an unacceptable status quo. This brutal government has applied massive doses of imprisonment, torture and murder to silence the cries of its victims, while helping Israel in crushing the Palestinians, most notably and directly in Gaza.
 
The ruling gang also played a leading role in attacking Ba’athist Iraq, an Arab state which dedicated itself to serving the needs of its people, to advancing the Arab cause and to rejecting the assaults, intrigues and blandishments of imperialism and the encroachment of Zionism on the Arab nation. Egypt, as the most populous Arab country situated geographically at the heart of the Arab nation and at the crossroads of three continents, has always been a crucial factor in the designs of those seeking to conquer the region.
 
There are three inter-related goals which are fundamental aspirations of the Egyptian people as well as the rest of the Arab nation. These include freedom from foreign domination, the achievement of a socialist society which overturns the pyramid of power and gives top priority to the basic needs of the popular masses while curtailing the privileges of the few exploiting profiteers and the unification of the Arabs throughout their lands into a just, progressive and ever-advancing civilization with a blossoming culture and a people who are happy and well cared-for.
 
A giant first step has been taken by Egypt in the removal from office of its hated dictator. A long and very tough struggle lies ahead to finish the job of removing the system and power structure which he headed. This will be ferociously opposed by the imperialists and Zionists who seek to maintain their stranglehold on Egypt and the rest of the Arabs. They will do everything in their power to stifle the revolutionary movement, mobilizing its media and other resources under the banner of “democracy” and brandishing its own brand of ersatz “freedom” to bamboozle and control people in Egypt and everywhere else and to cover its evil deeds and the results of its cruel and unjust policies. However, the Egyptian people have set an example of staunch resistance which is bound to be inspiring the Arabs and others around the world to rise up and fight for their own best interests, for a political revolution heralding the thoroughgoing change which will ultimately make all of the sacrifices and struggles worthwhile.

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