Democratic Palestine : 20 (ص 28)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 20 (ص 28)
- المحتوى
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Egyptians protest US and Israeli aggression
between the leaders and the base. Some of the leaders have
close ties with Arab reactionary capital, such as the Islamic
banks, with commercial and industrial big capital (the Sharif
factories), and with investment companies. Some of them have
dubious relations with the US intelligence service. However,
the broad base consists of petit bourgeois elements that have
rebelled against the prevailing capitalist society and its injus-
tices. They suffer a great deal from the crisis, but are unable to
find a revolutionary alternative. Finding no alternative, in this
life, to their bitter situation, they try to escape from their rea-
lity by going backwards in time, chasing the illusion of
metaphysical solutions and reverting to the life style of pre-
capitalist societies. The leaders avoid offering definite poli-
tical, social and economic programs, which in turn averts class
polarization in the ranks of these groups. They depend solely
on evoking religious feelings with ‘glorious’ but vague slogans
about Islamic rule and Sharia (Islamic law).
The Islamic trend includes over 80 groups and circles.
Among these, there are many contradictions, so deep that they
accuse one another of being infidels. It is hard to imagine that
these groups could merge. All attempts to unite them in the
so-called Islamic Front have failed. There are two main trends
among the Islamic groups. The first tends to cooperate with the
regime, hoping to achieve their goals with its protection; this
applies to the Muslim Brotherhood groups. The second trend
rejects cooperation with the regime, seeking to replace it with
Islamic rule. Included in this trend are the Jihad (holy war)
groups.
Realizing that the religious trends are a real phenomenon
that cannot be ignored or underestimated, our party deals with
this on a clear basis:
1. We conduct a serious ideological struggle against their
thoughts and ideology.
2. We demand that they politicize their activities and present
a definite political and economic program. Such a program
will expose the leaders and their relations with imperialist cir-
28
cles and the big bourgeoisie. These programs will isolate the
leaders from their masses, expose their glittering moral slogans
and show what interests their ideology serves. We saw one
example of this when the leader of a prominent religious group
‘was forced to speak politics with Al Musawer magazine. He
clearly declared his concept of democracy, saying that under
Islamic rule there is no room for opposition, or for any parties
or organizations, not even Islamic ones. He also made clear
his view that the main illness from which the society is suffe-
ring is the public sector, and called for strengthening the
private sector!
3. Our party tries patiently to use any chance for joint action
with the religious trends, on a minimum platform, in the
struggle against Camp David and normalization with the Zio-
nist enemy, for liberating Jerusalem, freedom of political
organization and the defense of political prisoners and resis-
ting torture. We know that it is difficult to reach a point of
agreement with the Islamic groups, due to radically contradic-
tory concepts and their blind, fanatically sectarian nature.
These groups usually stay away from any joint nationalist
work, but in the past period they participated in a number of
activities organized as front work - the National Committee to
Defend Democracy, the struggle against Israeli participation in
the Cairo book fair, and the mass movement against the trial
of Suleiman Khater. Their participation, however, usually
confuses the national struggle, for they insist on imposing their
slogans, such as instating Islamic law, on the other forces.
They tend to make side battles, raising issues like atheism and
Afghanistan.
With the rise of the progressive national movement, the
growth of the left, the formulation of a correct, realistic pro-
gram and tactics, and the presentation of revolutionary, scien-
tific solutions to our national and social problems, we are con-
fident that we will minimize the power of the Salafi ideology
and isolate the extremist religious groups. (Salafi is an Islamic
reform movement in Egypt, founded by Mohammed Ahduh in
the late 1800’s).
For years now, there has been talk of economic,
social and political ‘reforms’. What has come of
these illusions?
The regime was able to implement some ‘reforms’, but we
cannot view. this question in isolation as some do. We must
employ a class point of view - what is the nature of these
‘reforms’ and which classes benefit from them? The ‘reforms’
made only serve the interests of foreign and local capital; they
consolidate the material base for the development of subordi-
nate capital. The ‘reforms’ focused on efforts to direct the
capitalist performance and the operation of the infrastructure.
The toilers and middle strata do not benefit at all from these
‘reforms’. On the contrary, the living conditions of the masses
are getting worse. Wages have lost their real value due to spi-
raling inflation. Unemployment and indirect taxation are
increasing. The limited advances that were made under
Nasser’s regime, in the fields of education, health and social
services, are being retracted.
It is enough to know that the ‘reforms’ enacted by the ruling
authority are directed by the International Monetary Fund,
international capital and its institutions. These ‘reforms’
caused a decrease in subsidies for locally produced, basic con-
sumer goods, and devaluation of the Egyptian pound, etc. The
results of these ‘reforms’ are a heavy burden on the masses’
shoulders, while the regime grants more benefits, such as
exemptions from customs duties and taxes, to capitalist enter-
prises, to an estimated value of tens of billions of dollars.
The most recent statistics available, for 1975-82, reveal that
for one per cent of families, income increased from 9.6% to
17.2% of gross family income, whereas for the vast majority
of the masses, income is declining. The governmental ‘reform’
program includes decreasing the number of workers and over-
all wages. Ibrahim Nafee, editor-in-chief of Al Ahram news- - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 20
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