From Egyptians To The People Of The World

We, the Egyptian people, who have decided to take to the streets on the 30th of June 2013, would like to make our voices heard .. Following the success of the People’s Revolution, and the ousting of the Fascist regime of the Muslim Brotherhood, we have witnessed Western media reports call our revolt – a military coup – well, it certainly is NOT .. More than 20 million of us took to the streets to say (GO) to a president who was not only incompetent in governing the country, but who also, with his group of fascists, threatened the very existence of Egypt .. We said NO to a regime that wanted to eradicate a 7000 thousand year old civilization; a regime that called opposition traitors and heretics, and a fascist group that incited Egyptians against each other and called for violence and bloodshed ...

Can people in the West condone such a regime? Would you have liked to live under a regime that ostracized women and minorities? Would you have liked to be ruled by a man who worked for the best interest of his own faction, ignoring the rest of the population, and encouraging exclusion? How many of you would have accepted the appointment of incompetent people in high office just because they are members of the ruling faction? Would you have liked to live under the rule of a government that encouraged nepotism? How would you have felt when you heard, on a daily basis, these horrible TV channels, encouraged by the Muslim Brotherhood, threatening all those opposed to the regime with violence and murder? Could you have appreciated a government that did nothing to stop, or end, the siege of the Supreme Constitutional Court and the Media City? Will you accept a regime that did nothing to stop the attack on the major Cathedral in your country, or punish those who have burned down churches and forcibly displaced hundreds of Christian families? Will you condone the thousands of lawsuits brought against journalists and artists? How would you have reacted when you had to go for days – in 2013 – without water, electricity or gas, just because those in office are totally incompetent? Tell us, will you have tolerated living surrounded by garbage because your government could not find a solution for garbage collection in this day and age? And finally, who in the West would have accepted a president who issued a constitutional declaration that gave him unlimited powers?

Nobody would have tolerated such excesses – SO WHY SHOULD WE? 

Dear world, To be informed by MB representatives and sympathizers in Egypt, and elsewhere, is certainly a biased act that only goes to prove that the media industry is directed by official government attitudes and is far from being honest in transferring the truth to the people. When in January 2011 Egyptians ousted Mubarak, all Western media hailed this as a revolution, despite the fact that he (unconstitutionally) delegated the power to the Supreme Council of Armed Forces, which ruled for 18 months! Why was it not called a military coup then? Strange! Well, it was encouraged because it was in the best interest of some governments to have this state of affairs. And today, when double the number of people in 2011 took to the streets against Morsi, and the head of the Constitutional Court is sworn in as interim president - it is labeled a “military coup”- double standards – to say the least!We fail to understand the rationale behind marring the image of an exceptional, truly magnificent great mass revolt against tyranny, fascism and terrorism .. Unless, indeed, it is in the best interest of governments who have invested in supporting religious fascism in Egypt! 

People of the world, please see the truth as it really is: we rejected a regime that was destroying our very identity and our homeland, we revolted and the army responded to our demands .. It is that simple .. Egyptians are inventing their own history, and that is how we want it, and the governments that are going against this had better understand that they are really going against the people of Egypt ..

Long live Egypt .. Egyptians & Proud.

via http://www.causes.com

Turkey: The Triple Strike That Could Change Everything

By Jerome Roos On June 4, 2013

The confluence of a public sector strike, a manufacturing strike and an investor strike could combine to bring the Turkish government to its knees.

For days, Turkey has been rocked by massive street demonstrations and violent clashes between protesters and police. Ever since authorities brutally uprooted a peaceful sit-in in Istanbul’s Gezi Park, which the government intends to destroy as part of its urban ‘renovation’ projects, millions of Turks have taken to the streets in what amounts to nothing less than a spontaneous popular insurrection against the authoritarian neoliberalism of prime minister Erdogan’s Islamist government and a nationwide uprising for real democracy.

Now the obvious question on everyone’s lips is simple: what’s next? The honest answer is that it’s simply to early to tell. One development, however — largely overlooked by the mainstream media so far — might change everything. Historical “coincidence” has it that two major Turkish unions have independently announced two strikes for June: one by the confederation of public sector workers and one by the metal workers’ union. The former represents civil servants; the latter represents the workers of Turkey’s main manufacturing export engine.

As BBC Newsnight editor Paul Mason writes in his latest blog post, and as I argued in an earlier analysis of the ongoing protests, all eyes are now on the workers — for it is they who hold the key to the insurrectionary gateway that could turn this popular uprising into a full-blown revolutionary event. After all, Mubarak’s government in Egypt only fell after the young middle-class radicals who sparked the uprising managed to mobilize Egyptian workers — culminating into the February 8 Suez strike that threatened to cripple the Egyptian economy.

This is where the dual public sector and metal workers’ strikes may turn out to be crucial events in the development of the ongoing unrest. On Tuesday, June 4, the Public Workers Unions Confederation (KESK), representing 240,000 civil servants, will hold a 48-hour “warning strike” to protest “state terror” in the face of peaceful popular dissent. The strike had already been called last month but happens to coincide with the ongoing protests. If it is to be truly effective, however, this action needs to be turned into an indefinite general strike.

The Türk Metal Union has similarly been mulling a strike for June, although it is not yet known if and when it will take place. This strike could be the real game-changer. If the metal workers’ union manages to mobilize anything close to its 115,000 membership, the strike could paralyze the single most important export engine of Turkey’s manufacturing sector. Taken together, these two strikes could bring to a halt not only large parts of the the state apparatus but also the industrial base, putting major pressure on the government to back down.

Meanwhile, the stock market is collapsing, losing over 10 percent on Monday alone, hinting at investor fears that Turkey may no longer be the regional role model and capital safe haven it was once touted to be. Over the past decade, Turkey witnessed an investment boom of epic proportions, turning the country into Europe’s fastest-growing economy. Most of the recent inflows, however, are those of Arab Sheiks who fear that their investments are no longer safe in Europe due to both the eurozone crisis and a clampdown on ‘dictatorial’ bank accounts.

These Sheiks may now wish to deposit their money outside of Turkey, triggering a sudden evaporation of the financial base upon which the Turkish economic miracle of the past years ultimately rested. In other words, the ongoing popular uprising may trigger consequences far beyond those currently foreseen by most Western media commentators. The economy, as always, is the Achilles heel of the capitalist state, and by striking right at the heart of the process of capital accumulation the people can significantly weaken the government.

In the end, all of this comes down to a simple notion that I have expressed in a number of recent writings, including this conference paper. The capitalist state — regardless of whether it is developing or developed, democratic or dictatorial — is structurally dependent on capital. Without the constant circulation of investment in the economy, the state simply risks collapse. This is why a triple public sector strike, manufacturing sector strike and investor strike could be the unholy trinity that brings Erdogan’s authoritarian government to its knees.

Again, as I emphasized in my more extensive analysis of the protests and the prospects of revolutionary change in Turkey, all of this remains undetermined. The future is yet to be written. But the historical confluence of popular unrest in the streets, labor strikes in the public sector and manufacturing industry, and investor panic in the stock market may combine into a toxic potion that could take Turkey far beyond even the wildest dreams of those currently assembled in the streets. Again, all eyes are on the workers.

via Turkey: the triple strike that could change everything | ROAR Magazine.