Revolt in the Maghreb - Introduction

Introduction

The events unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa (subsequently referred to as MENA) since December 2010 have been indeed breath taking. From Tunisia to Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and in a limited but complicated situations, Syria, one autocratic regime after another was challenged by mass movements. Some of these mass uprisings were successful in ejecting dictators from the rented palaces they have used the sweat, blood and flesh of working people to forcefully (and seemingly perpetually) occupy. However, most of the movements were derailed. In places like Bahrain (despite brutal crackdowns), Jordan, Algeria, Morocco, Iran and Saudi Arabia, the working people, youths and the downtrodden in general challenged their dictators and corrupt rulers. The small rats of the Maghreb had hitherto assumed the statures of giants having been given magnifying mirrors by imperialism as gifts for their subservience and turning in of their peoples’ lands to imperialist fiefdoms.

The world woke up to the mass rising of working people, youth and the oppressed strata in the Maghreb – a region that can be termed a safe haven of imperialism. As against all bourgeois prognosis that identify the region with stability (albeit with iron-grip rule of corrupt sit-tight, pro-imperialist rulers) or religious fundamentalism, the working masses not only rejected being made the foundation stones of imperialist rule, they also demanded end to the rule of penury in the midst of super-abundance. All hitherto prejudices that are used to hold people down, were broken by mass bravery, heroism and enthusiasm. All instruments of coercion were rendered useless by mass movements of people, determined to seek a fundamental change to their conditions irrespective of the immediate sacrifices. Reflecting the limit and banality of coercive forces, the most successful of the revolutions i.e. Tunisia and Egypt, saw mass movements defeating million-dollar funded armed forces, with regimes falling under the massive hammer force of general strikes.

To the participants of these revolts, it was like a dream undreamed of; to the mass of youth and working people globally, it was an awakening; and to the ousted regimes, it was rapture. Imperialism was fazed and dazed by these movements. The various prognoses of bourgeois thinkers and philosophers that humanity has reached end of class struggle was turned asunder. The vague and fraudulent idea of post-modernism and all other bankrupt theories became immediate obsolete. All economic analyses and projections about growth and GDP (in the midst of widespread poverty) had to justify themselves in the court of mass revolts. Indeed the whole world woke up to a new era of revolts and revolutions in the midst of global capitalist decay. The working people and youths of MENA have opened the window of change, the light of revolution have shorn on the dark room global capitalism has imprisoned humanity. It is left for the working people in not only MENA to keep the window of change open, but for working and poor people of the world to break down the edifice of capitalism that has imprisoned vast majority of humanity to a life of want, and future of calamity in the midst of super-abundance. Without this, the winds of capitalist counter-revolution will shut down this window of opportunity.

Having foresight over astonishment is a rare gift. To the capitalist oracles, capitalism has come to stay unchallenged. But for the genuine socialists and working class fighters, they know that the growth of capitalism will engender its own destroyers – the revolutions of working class and the poor. In fact, the more sober layer among bourgeois analysts, being on higher pedestals saw the coming storm, beyond the immediate mirage. Yet, like every capitalist oracle ready to defend the iniquitous system, their solution could not have stopped the movement. Indeed, the various analyses being propounded today and solutions being canvassed cannot stop the movement that is eroding the foundation of capitalism. At best, it can temporarily confuse a layer of workers and youth. However, the presence of a genuine working class, revolutionary party with clear understanding of ideas, will not only move the global revolt forward, but also catalyze and speed up the revolt to a more decisive direction. It is for this purpose that this essay is written as a contribution to the clarity of ideas and setting of perspective for the coming and surely inevitable mass revolutionary movement.

MENA Revolt: The Global Wildfire

The revolutionary events in the Arab and North African regions have elicited widespread supports and interests from virtually two-third of the world (including Hu Jintao’s China1, where the word Middle East has been removed from vocabularies in mass media). The working class and youth of the “democratically comfortable” Western World have not only risen in support of their brothers and sisters in the Maghreb but have also challenged their imperialist governments’ supports for the congenitally corrupt, repressive regimes in MENA. More than this, they are openly and directly revolting – through historic and heroic mass movements – against the brutal neo-liberal austerity being undertaken by the capitalist governments of Europe and North America to save the wealth of the rich few.

Wisconsin
Underlining the tremendous effects of the MENA revolutions in the West is the inspiration gained by tens of thousands of workers and youths in Wisconsin in the United States from the MENA revolts and revolutions who challenged the hawkish, pro-big business policies of the Walker/Republican government which launched an unprecedented attack on the welfare state and labour unions’ rights. These undemocratic anti-labour policies were aimed at staving off massive resistance to the Walker government’s $1billion social service cuts that would see thousands of jobs axed, pensions and wages reduced and public services like education and health seriously underfunded. The government had predicated the massive misadventure on the dwindling state resources; a result of the handing over of the economy to the capitalist big sharks, who burnt their fingers in the maddening racket that saw the world capitalist economy in tatters since 2008. Workers and youth refused to be made the sacrificial lamb for the crime of the gambling master. They dubbed Mr. Walker, a Walker Gaddafi; a reflection of the impact of the MENA revolts on the consciousness of the working people in US.

Though these mass enthusiasm was later misdirected by labour leaders who turned to the Democrat politicians in the Wisconsin House for ‘help’ only to be out-maneuvered by the capitalist politicians. At the peak of the mass opposition to the government’s policies workers, along with youths, had occupied government’s building and parliament to prevent the passage of the austerity and undemocratic bills. But this could not be sustained as a result of lack of revolutionary plans including appealing to working people across the US for supports. Coupled with total occupation of all government offices and big business centres and forming revolutionary committees to start to organize how the state is run, especially as concerning necessities like food, traffic, medical services, etc., Wisconsin workers have inspired the working people across the country to rise against the capitalist governments at all levels. Even, the minimal actions of Wisconsin workers inspired workers in other areas like Michigan. However, in the absence of a working people political platform to lead these initiatives, workers and youths were left in the lurch. 

Occupy Movement
Arguably, one of the outcomes of the MENA revolts is the tremor of Occupy movement that spread across North America and Europe. The impact of Occupy movement can also be seen in movements in Africa such as the January 2012 mass revolt in Nigeria against attempted hike of petroleum prices. The Occupy movement, which started arguably from Spain, became popular with the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) with its slogan of 99 percent against the 1 percent rich. OWS itself was a response in outlook and demand to the global economic meltdown that has the richest few losing little or nothing, having caused the crisis in the first place, while the majority millions are bearing the pangs of the crisis with high unemployment, housing foreclosures, debt-traps, loss of welfare securities, attack on workers’ rights, etc. At the same time, the OWS and other Occupy movements across US and Europe, drew inspiration in action from revolts in the Maghreb. The Occupy movement involved mass movements, pickets and mass occupation of public places and institutions.

However, unlike the MENA revolts and revolutions, the Occupy movements did not have specific goal or aim; neither was there strategic plan of actions sustainable and linked to organized social class, especially the working class and the labour movement. While most of the MENA revolts involved call for end to regimes, the Occupy movements only occur as spontaneous mass movements that was not necessarily demanding end of regime. Nevertheless, the movements actually represented a departure from the past as it set a new basis upon which further and future movements can be built. The real examination of Occupy Movement in relation to fall of Berlin wall and MENA revolt will be examined in subsequent sections. Nevertheless, worthy of mention is the fact that political landscape is changing since the Occupy Movement and the MENA revolts and revolutions, with more people believing, they have no future with the current political economic structure. There has been growing distrust for the two mainstream parties, has seen in the election of independent, pro-Labour and socialist politicians especially in the United States, the bastion of world capitalism. For instance, in the November 2013 a socialist, Kshama Sawant, was elected for the first time in close to a century, into Seattle Council in the Washington state. Also in Lorain, independent labour candidates were elected into councils. All of these, among several others, reflect the music of the very near future, if working people and socialist movements build on them.

Europe
The revolts in MENA have also inspired movements in Europe, which are reaction and opposition to the regimes of austerity being implemented by capitalist governments across Europe. The MENA revolts have become mirror for the mass movements that is engulfing the whole of Europe and North America, and they reflect the bankruptcy of capitalist politics and democracy in these regions. This was blown open by the global economic recession that has gripped the European and North American economies in the jugular since 2008, and the subsequent attempt of the capitalist classes in these countries to offload the burdens of the crises on the neck of the working and young people.

The youths in these so-called western democracies, gaining courage from the MENA revolts, are beginning to believe that they can revolt to remove governments. There has also been huge mistrust in all politicians (capitalist) in the whole of Europe as exemplified by various opinion polls in Europe. The historic mass strikes, protests and sit-ins that have shaken such countries as Britain, Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Iceland and Britain, among others reflects the contagious effect the revolt in any of the European countries will have on the consciousness of the working and young people in the rest of the continent; and on the politics of the continent. Indeed, the indignatio sit-ins in Spain, which was inspired by the MENA revolutions (especially the Egypt political revolution), played a major impact in instigating the Occupy Movements in US.

Half a million workers walk the streets of London to demand the end of neo-liberal austerity launched by the Tory government of David Cameron in May 20111. Prior to this, tens of thousands of British students and youths have risen up, in the wake of revolutionary movement in Tunisia and Egypt, against horrible hike in university education fees1. By November 2011, another mass movement of workers and youths challenging the authority of the British ruling class to rule with a massive demonstration of over half a million was organized by the trade union movement. These movements, especially the November 2011 one, sent terrible jitters down the spines of the 10 Downing Street occupiers.

In Spain, the youths and a layer of the working people numbering at the start, hundreds gathered at Madrid Square in May 2011, during elections, calling for total rejection of all political parties (capitalist). This later grew to tens of thousands across the country. Surely, this movement has drawn huge courage from the MENA revolts. The call for rejection of all parties has more to do with mass revolts and revolution than mere and deliberate expression of anarchism. This is an indirect call for mass revolt and rejection of political process in a democratic country. However, this actually depicts the contradictory nature of capitalist democracy in the so-called democratic countries: the pro-capitalist, neo-liberal orientation of all the political parties, including the so-called ‘centre-left’ parties, without alternative for the working class and youth.

In Greece, had there been a determined party of the working people, surely the capitalist ruling class would have been swept away by continuous mass strikes, demonstrations and uprisings against the brutal neo-liberal pills being forced down the throats of working people and youths, by the troika of EU, IMF and ECB acting on behalf of usurer and money gamblers. The capitalist class across the region, fearful of mass radicalization that could offset regional and global political economic setting are themselves losing hope in their bourgeois democracy. This explains the civil coups that led to the ouster of Papanderous in Greece, Zapatero in Spain and Berlusconi in Italy, to rush through the austerity pills that have simply ruined these economies. Furthermore, there are plans to institutionalize austerity and social budget cut into the European laws and those of individual countries as exemplified by the planned EU Fiscal Treaty, and agreement among the Papandreou government, bourgeois parties and the troika not to tamper with the laid down policy of bleeding the country white to pay the bondholders.

Africa
In sub-Saharan African countries like Djibouti, Uganda, Sudan, Senegal, Swaziland, Uganda, Mauritania, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, etc, movements are breaking out, gaining inspirations from revolts in the Maghreb. Although, the movements are still ‘mild’ compared to the revolt in MENA, big movements are emerging with prospects of massive development of struggles in the line of the MENA revolts and Occupy movements. This is the clear reality when placed against the backdrop of massive economic suffering the working people and youths are subjected to, and the unavoidable spillover of the global economic standoff. The mass movement in January 2012 against fuel prices increase in Nigeria; the continuous but burgeoning workers’ struggle in South Africa, marked recently by the Marikana crisis; the continuous but repressed mass movement in Sudan, among others, are expressions of the movement that will unfold in the coming period. Like every huge volcano, which is always preceded by tremors, the revolutions in the MENA are only tremors of bigger and far-reaching revolutionary volcanoes that will engulf the whole Africa, Middle East, the third world and indeed the world in the coming period. The question is not whether these revolutions will occur or not, inasmuch as the present iniquitous capitalist system continues to define the contradiction of world economy wherein there is huge resources/wealth for a tiny fraction at one end and endless misery for the majority of the world human inhabitants, on the other side. The real question is; will such revolutions lead to the ouster of imperialist capitalism in Africa, Middle East, and the world at large?