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Second revolution brings down Egypt's president

Sameh Naguib, Egyptian Revolutionary Socialist

July 5, 2013

Sameh Naguib of the Revolutionary Socialists reports from Cairo, where mass celebrations greeted the removal of president Mohamed Mursi on Wednesday evening
We have just removed the second president in only 30 months. It is a second revolution, a mass movement of millions. The scale of the mobilizations is unprecedented. On the ground people have gained huge confidence in their ability to change history.
This is a contradictory situation. It is formally a military coup. The army has effectively arrested the president and 77 leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. They intervened to save themselves from a new revolution.
But at the same time it is a mass popular revolt. The people forced the army to act, and the army only did so because they were worried about their own future. This is the second time they have done so. They are running out of choices. If Morsi was a failure then the bourgeois alternatives, such as Mohamed El Baradei, are weak. This is not the end of democracy, nor a simple military coup.
Revolution is actually an extremely democratic process. Simply voting every few years is a joke compared to this. The army is trying to cut this process off.
Major strikes were planned for tomorrow—Thursday. Bus and train workers, cement workers and Suez canal workers were all due to walk out. The protests could have developed into a general strike—the vast majority of the protesters are working class.
It’s not over. Right now there is euphoria, and people are cheering soldiers. But those celebrating in the streets are not stupid. They know what the police and army have done in the past. Expectations of change are sky high. They are even higher than they were when we brought down Mubarak. But the possibility of any new government being able to offer genuine reforms is very limited.
People feel empowered and entitled by the events of the last few days. They brought down the president after just one year because he did not deliver, and they will do it again.
This is republished from Socialist Worker (Britain)

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