They despise your revolution, Egyptians.
Furthermore, the current rulers are sure their brazen challenge to Egyptians and their undermining of Egyptians' ability to defend their revolution will not wake Egyptians' revolutionary consciousness.
The current scene in Egypt is exactly what is was before 25 January 2011. Cairo is once again a location for making deals and a backdrop for international conspiracies against any form of resistance to the Zionist project, in alliance with regressive and subordinate Arab regimes. The current regime's foreign policy is based on the idea that the Egyptian regime should not aspire to be more than a broker for negotiations and an advocate of normalising relations with Israel, extending its hand to whoever offers it conditional assistance.
Egypt is a strategic asset to the Israeli state, a venue that hosts negotiations to kill or cripple the Palestinian liberation project and projects for international enrichment through the war on terror. Egypt has reverted back to what it was under Mubarak, echoing the language he used at the World Economic Forum at Davos yesterday.
The legacy of Mubarak is the attempt to put a false Arab nationalist mask on a regime born murderous and raised in an Israeli nursery. |
The speech of the new general now ruling Egypt at the Davos forum focused on two main points.
The first was basically marketing, that is marketing himself as a bridge to the US-international war on terror, presenting himself as an obedient subordinate that western powers can rely on. He promoted himself as a supporter of the western agenda, and even drew parallels between the counter-revolution that brought him to power a year and a half ago and the demonstrations in Paris against the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
The second focus of his speech was selling the same service Mubarak sold in return for US and Israeli approval for his position and power. He utilised the Palestinian cause to defend the right of the Israeli occupier to enjoy security and life above Palestinian bodies. This is the legacy of Mubarak I described last April as being "an attempt to put a false Arab nationalist mask on a regime born murderous and raised in an Israeli nursery."
Internally, the regime does not hide its wish to implement the orders of the forces of capitalism that funded its coup against the January revolution. The regime has announced its intention to stop subsidising essential items, keeping in mind the connection between privatisation and the normalisation of relations with Israel since the reign of Anwar al-Sadat.
Will Egypt rise again?
The current picture in Egypt tells us that the underlying causes of the 2011 revolution are still there and are even more severe, so what makes the regime so sure the people will not rise again?
On the eve of the 2011 revolution, I remember a heated debate that took place in a seminar to discuss a book by Jalal al-Amin, between youths who were adamant to go out and protest the next morning and Jalal al-Amin. The author laughed at the youths and told the audience not to expect a revolution tomorrow. However, Tahrir square showed books and their authors how little they knew.
Today's attempts to scare and terrorise people are exactly the same as those of four years ago, and as I told a friend of mine, no revolution can be completely predicted and rehearsed. My message to the youth is to rebel against all attempts to scare them and divide them. They should go out as they did the first time, put their faith in God, open the book of January and fly towards their destiny.
Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the original author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of al-Araby al-Jadeed, its editorial board or staff.
This is an edited translation from our Arabic website.