CCDS Statement on Middle East Revolutions
By National Executive Committees of CCDS
March 4, 2011
The revolutionary tide sweeping the Middle East is one of the most significant and transforming events in recent memory.
The overthrow of corrupt and despotic regimes in Tunisia and Egypt as well as continuing struggles for democratic change in Yemen, Bahrain, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan and other states has profound implications for peace and justice activists. Those events may foretell new circumstances that can open the door to removing United States and NATO military bases, to freeing the region’s people to build societies that offer decent opportunities for work and for the full utilization of the talents of youth, to allow the region’s oil to be used to advance the welfare of its people, to allow the unhindered participation of labor unions and other civil organizations in the various states’ economic and political life, and to forge new power relations that can lead to settlement of the region’s major conflicts, especially the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.That potential for a new epoch of peace and democracy in the Middle East will inevitably strengthen the peace and justices forces in the United States and elsewhere – adding powerful substance to their demand for an end to a militarized economy and foreign bases, for ending the bogus “war on terror” and for the transfer of massive military outlays to programs to effectively deal with the domestic crises of unemployment and collapsing social programs.
Such enormously positive outcomes cannot be achieved without continuing struggle by the people of the region and crucially, without the strong supportive voices of progressive forces in the United States and throughout the world. Those voices are vital to prevent outside imperial powers from seeking to choke the liberating potential of those revolutions by continuing their traditional exploitative and militarist policies under a new guise of “support” for democratic change.
Some have attributed the successful first stages of democratic revolutions, especially in Tunisia and Egypt, to spontaneous eruptions by youth, intellectuals and workers. At best, that does not tell the whole story. At worst, it is a distortion of the processes that led to the rapid collapse of various corrupt dictatorships. The ability of young people to utilize new communications technologies has become widely recognized and heralded. But the emergence of a cohesive movement of youth with clearly defined short-term objectives was not spontaneous. Rather it has been gestating for a few years, that gestation driven by the failure of Tunisia, Egypt and other regional states to provide jobs and a modestly decent future for young people.
The source of that economic and social pain is globalized neo-liberalism: capitulation by the leaders of those countries to the anarchic “market” that mandates the lowest wages and poorest working conditions, opening of national markets to extraction of oil and other resources while allowing the unrestrained import of manufactured goods, the stripping of social safety nets to accommodate escalating debt, widening privatization, etc. While those who ruled those countries have benefited hugely from collaboration with neo-liberalism, the social and economic pain for the vast majority has deepened to the breaking point and has led to uprisings across the region.
At a crucial moment in those uprisings, the trade union movement, which had been repressed under dictatorships, launched strikes that hastened the end of those regimes and rescued the youth and professional sectors from brutal repression. In short, it was the long-gestating movements of labor, youth and professionals, organizing under severe circumstances that assured the overthrow of Mubarak and the other regional despots.
The democratic revolutions arose out of distinct historic conditions that reveal both the elements that brought success and the continuing dangers that threaten the full development of just and democratic societies. Well into the 1950s, many states in the region were dominated by semi-feudal remnants and comprador capitalists mostly sustained in power by foreign imperialists. Typically, the relatively dynamic force for modernization was the military that was among the most educated and technologically advanced elements in those societies. For example, the overthrow of the Farouk regime in Egypt in 1952 by Gamal Abdel Nasser and some fellow military officers constituted a potentially transforming revolution that initially brought a degree of economic justice for workers and peasants, widening nationalization of some businesses, growth of secular culture and crucially, movement towards pan-Arab unity based upon opposition to imperialism and neo-colonialism.
However, in virtually all cases of military-led revolts, corruption and moral decay arose and often became prevalent. Without the unhindered democratic participation of the working class, peasant, youth and professional majority in shaping and driving the policies of those countries, the re-emergence of comprador capitalism, the accumulation of wealth by military officers, the return of repression and extreme exploitation and the imposition of neo-liberalism became virtually inevitable.
Today, that lesson pervades the surging movements for democracy in the Middle East. In Tunisia and Egypt, the democratic forces insist that their countries’ problems are systemic and that the removal of corrupt leaders by itself does not solve the systemic questions that urgently need to be addressed. In Egypt, the largest and most strategically important state in the region, the ascendant role of the military, while contributing to the avoidance of widespread bloodshed, by no means represents the systemic transformation to democracy that is required. (In fact, the military takeover of government functions – while promising substantive change – reflects more a continuity of rule than a significant change.) That is why the progressive and democratic forces continue to mobilize and continue to demand the lifting of emergency powers, the release of all political prisoners and the quick transfer to civilian rule as prerequisites to a transformative change to a regime of economic justice for workers, farmers, students and professionals; to an end to neo-liberalism and the influence of imperial powers; to the building of pan-Arab cooperation on principles of peace and justice, etc.
The revolutions sweeping the Middle East (and gathering steam in other parts of the world) hold the potential for a profound alteration of global power. They promise a new period democratic renewal that will challenge and ultimately erode global neo-liberalism. They hold the prospect of eroding the dominance of military bases and militarism in general. That is why peace and justice activists have a vested interest in the positive outcome of those processes that at this moment are balanced precariously between ushering in systemic change and falling victim to old relations in new guises. That is why activists in our country should be raising their voices to demand that our government not attempt to re-impose neo-liberalism, to grab control of oil or to seek strategic advantage through military bases and military assistance. 'Hands Off!, No Invasions!, Solidarity and Self-determination!' are the watchwords of the day.
At this moment of potential qualitative regional and global change, peace and justice forces in our country and around the world should extend hands of friendship and support to the working class, youth, rural and professional forces fighting for a better life.
CCDS National Executive Committee
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