Subject: [SocialistWorker.org] Morsi's power grab sparks mass protests
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http://socialistworker.org/2012/11/26/morsi-power-grab-sparks-protests
Statement
======== MORSI'S POWER GRAB SPARKS MASS PROTESTS =============================
November 26, 2012
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The streets of Egypt erupted in protest last week after President Mohamed
Morsi issued a constitutional declaration that greatly expanded his own
powers, prompting some opponents to call the Muslim Brotherhood leader the
"new pharaoh."
Morsi had just helped in negotiating a cease-fire in Gaza that was viewed as
forcing Israel to retreat from its assault on the Palestinians when he made
his move. While the seven-point constitutional declaration claims to further
the goals of the 2011 revolution that toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak, most
Egyptians recognized it as a bid to consolidate Morsi's grip on power.
One provision dismisses the prosecutor general, a remnant of the Mubarak era,
and another orders new investigations and trials for those accused of
brutalizing and killing protesters since last year's revolt. But the
declaration also includes an article stipulating that the upper house of
parliament and the constituent assembly--the bodies in charge of writing
Egypt's new constitution--can't be dissolved by any court. Another clause [1]
states that constitutional declarations, laws and decrees made by the
president "are final and binding and cannot be appealed by any way or to any
entity."
Tens of thousands turned out to protest the power grab, including many
liberal and leftist forces. In some places, supporters of the old regime also
joined the anti-Morsi protests--like Amr Moussa, Mubarak's foreign minister,
who tried to join a rally at Tahrir Square, according to Ahram [2], sparking
an angry response from left-wing protesters.
The Revolutionary Socialists of Egypt issued this statement on November 22
explaining why they are protesting Morsi's constitutional declaration.
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TODAY, ALL the masks fell from Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood
organization, who trade in revolution, and for whom the revolution is nothing
but a means to reach the seat of power. They and the remnants of the old
regime are two sides of the same coin, which represents tyranny and enmity
toward the people.
Morsi has issued a constitutional declaration in the name of the revolution.
It appears on the surface to show compassion, but in reality, it promises
torment.
He has started to open investigations into the murder of revolutionaries--the
dozens who fell at Maspero, on Mohamed Mahmoud Street and outside the cabinet
offices. The Muslim Brotherhood had previously ignored them.
He announced the removal of the attorney general, whose firing we have been
demanding since the beginning of the revolution because he is a part of the
old regime. This is the same regime whose leadership Morsi has largely
preserved, such as the current interior minister or the businessmen who
accompany Morsi on his plane when he travels abroad.
The declaration then moved on to its real object: to give immunity to the
president's decisions until the election of a new parliament. This will also
preserve the Shura Council [the upper house of Egypt's parliament] and the
farcical Constituent Assembly, which has seen a large number of its members
resign in recent days.
This assembly does not represent the Egyptian masses. It was the result of a
deal in a hotel room between the Brotherhood, the Salafists and the parties
of the old era. Its members aren't concerned with economic and social rights.
They are more interested in the age of marriage for girls, in abolishing the
divorce law--and in expanding the powers of the president.
The declaration also gives Morsi the right to take any decisions necessary in
the face of threats to the country, national security, the revolution or
national unity.
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WE SAY to Morsi: you and your organization are the real threat to the
revolution, as you embrace Mubarak's businessmen, run panting after loans
from the IMF, trade in religion, threaten national unity and sell out the
revolution.
The words "social justice" are not even in your dictionary. You've forgotten
the minimum and maximum wage. You've raised prices and left the poor eating
mud while they still need a bottle of oil and kilo of meat before the
elections.
We will not accept a new pharaoh. You will not succeed in stabilizing your
tottering government, which crushed dozens of children with neglect, killed
and injured hundreds of young people with bullets and tear gas, and detained
hundreds after severe beatings and torture from the dogs of the Interior
Ministry.
But we will not accept remnants of the old regime returning to the
revolutionary scene under the pretext that "we are all against the
Brotherhood." We will not work with anyone who worked hand-in-glove with the
deposed dictator, because these people participated for many years in looting
and killing the best sons and daughters of the people. We call on our
comrades in the revolutionary march to step back from this game of shuffling
the decks of cards.
The Revolutionary Socialists call on the revolutionary people to save the
revolution that has been stolen by an alliance between the Brotherhood and
the remnants of Mubarak's regime. We call on people to come out into the
streets with the slogans: bread, freedom, social justice.
We demand:
>-- The cancellation of the supplementary constitutional declaration that
>entrenches tyranny and autocracy
>
>-- The formation of a new Constituent Assembly which represents all sections
>of society, including workers, peasants, civil servants, professionals,
>women, Copts, Nubians, the people of Sinai and Upper Egypt, fishermen and
>others
>
>--The resignation of Qandil's failed government and the formation of a
>revolutionary coalition government to take office until the completion of
>the new constitution and the election of a new parliament
>
>-- Serious steps toward achieving of social justice, such as: implementing a
>minimum wage of 1,500 Egyptian pounds a month and a maximum wage, seizing
>the assets of corrupt companies and Mubarak's businessmen for the benefit of
>the people, imposing progressive income taxes, re-nationalizing companies
>that were sold in corrupt deals and canceling the privatization program
>
All power and wealth to the people!
/Translated by Anne Alexander. The original Arabic is online at the
Revolutionary Socialists' website [3]/.
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[1] http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/0/58947/Egypt/0/English-text-of-Morsis-Constitutional-Declaration-.aspx
[2] http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/58994/Egypt/Politics-/Thousands-fill-Tahrir-on-Friday-to-protest-Morsis-.aspx
[3] http://revsoc.me/
