Statement by the IWU– FI / ILC Coordinating Committee
In Egypt there has been a slaughter at the hands of the military and police of the new dictatorship, installed in July. The violent eviction of the two camps of Egyptian protesters supporting the deposed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi left more than 600 dead and thousands injured. These are the first figures, but may be higher.
This is the bloodiest day in the history of the country. The savage repression ordered and executed by the military-civilian government took place not only in the capital, Cairo, but also in several towns in the interior.
Since the coup of July 3, supporters of the former president Morsi, summoned by the Muslim Brotherhood, mobilized massively permanently and ended up installing various camps claiming for freedom of Morsi and his reinstatement in the government. The army suppressed their protests several times and finally on Wednesday 14 launched a savage repression on the camps in cities and different neighbourhoods of Cairo. Especially in the Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adaweya Square where one of their camps was located.
Many of the bodies had been shot in the head or chest, clearly showing the action of Army snipers. «Bullets fall on the Rabaa al-Adaweya protesters from all directions,» said the spokesman of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed el Beltagui, who was later arrested by the police in the vicinity of such square. Among those killed by the repression are a journalist from Gulf News and a Sky News cameraman.
After the slaughter, the government declared a state of emergency for a month and announced a curfew in Cairo and in 10 provinces (Giza, Alexandria, Beni Suef, Minya, Asyut, Sohag, Beheira, North Sinai and South Suez), in an attempt to control the situation and prevent further demonstrations.
The peoples of the world must condemn this slaughter
Cynically the Obama Government «condemned» the violence, while never repudiated the coup and continues to send military «aid» of US$1.55 billion to the Egyptian army. All this to keep «paying» their support for the «peace» with Israel against the Palestinian people. This is why after the July coup, the government and the Egyptian army closed the border with Gaza.
It is the Arab and the world peoples who must take to the streets to seek to stop this slaughter and put an end to this new dictatorship installed in Egypt.
The military who actually wield power in Egypt, led by the bloodthirsty repressor General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, former Minister of Defence in the Morsi government, used in July the genuine popular uprising against the government of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood (MB ), with millions mobilized in the iconic Tahrir Square, to seize power in a coup.
In July, mistakenly, the mobilized people and youth welcomed the military intervention and the occurrence of a coup. Even the military and their new government received support from sectors of the Egyptian left, which are in the National Salvation Front, including the youth organization Tamarud, which prompted the uprising against Morsi, and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions, which placed the Minister of Labour. Only the April 6 Youth Movement distanced itself from the military government.
We reject the policy of class collaboration of a sector of the left forces now participating in the National Salvation Front, alongside the «fulul» (remnants of the former regime) and the liberal forces. The endorsement of a majority of the left to the military coup – that legitimized it to the masses – will have a heavy price. Only the people, the workers, women and the revolutionary youth mobilized and in power can achieve the fundamental changes that have been raised since the revolution that began in 2011.
The revolutionary socialists we said at the time that it was a serious mistake to endorse the coup and to open a trust in the military and in their new government composed of political forces and political leaders of the bosses and pro-imperialist opposed to the Muslin Brotherhood. Such as the Nobel Peace Prize Mohamed ElBaradei, now resigned, after he had supported previous repressions. The true power is a military that is suppressing and arresting thousands of supporters of MB. This is a new dictatorship that slaughters the people and threatens the democratic achievements of the Arab revolution.
No more repression! Down with the new dictatorship! Freedom to political prisoners!
We reject the repression of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). The popular sectors that are slaughtered today are essential to deepen the revolution. They must break with the neoliberal Islamist leadership, but this will only be possible if the left assumes an independent class policy. In addition, today the military attacks against supporters of Morsi, only prepare the repression against leftist forces tomorrow.
First of all, it must be the workers, youth and the Egyptian people who take to the streets to stop these massacres and demanding an end to the dictatorship. The same ones that were mobilized at the time against Morsi must do so. Starting with the Tamarud movement and Federation of Independent Trade Unions’ which must now break with the military and take to the streets to demand an end to the repression of the MB and the release of all its leaders and members in prison.
The revolutionary socialists we supported the popular mobilization against the government of Morsi and MB, because Morsi along with the military continued to repress the people and rule for those at the top. We do not give any political endorsement to the MB because it is a social and political force of the bosses, linked to major Egyptian business sectors. Morsi dug his own grave because he did not want a break with the old regime but a negotiated transition to contain the revolution. For this purpose he found support of the Army and the United States.
But we will never endorse a military government and its repression. And even less that they be the ones to judge Morsi and the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. It will be the working people and their organizations who will judge him. This has been a big mistake of the youth sectors and the Egyptian left. There is neither progressive military nor coups. Only workers, the revolutionary youth and the people in power will bring the fundamental change prompted by the Arab revolution. Therefore we call for an end to all repression, the lifting of emergency, the release of former President Morsi and all the leaders and activists of the MB, for all the military to leave and for government of trade unions, the youth and popular organizations that toppled Mubarak in 2011 and to impose a workers’ and people emergency economic plan.
In a dynamic of permanent revolution, the masses advance into the experience of mobilization and will defeat obstacles like political Islamism, which appeared as the main political force capable to divert the revolution of its objectives. But the needs of the masses and social democratic demands have no way out without a project that advances towards socialism and breaks with any remnants of the old regime. The fall of Morsi confirms that this process cannot be taken in stages, first consolidating bourgeois parliamentary democracy and then advancing in social measures, because any policy that does not progress toward breaking with capitalism will give the reactionary forces a chance to regroup. And because if democracy does not mean bread and work, what sense will it have for the millions who came out on June 30? The dilemma is not Islamism or dictatorship, but dictatorship or revolution.
From the IWU– FI / ILC Coordinating Committee we call to the workers and peoples of the world and all the organizations that claim to be democratic and of the left to speak out against this criminal repression and for the end of this new military dictatorship.
Repudiate the slaughter perpetrated by the military in Egypt!
No more repression! Out with the State of Emergency!
Freedom to Morsi and all political prisoners of the Muslim Brotherhood!
Out with the civilian-military government!
For a government of the unions, youth and popular organizations that toppled Mubarak!
IWU– FI / ILC Coordinating Committee
International Workers Union – Fourth International (IWU-FI)
International Liaison Committee (ILC, Internationalist Fight Spanish state – Workers Front, Turkey).
August 15, 2013
