So once again there's a specter haunting the world and all that good stuff. Rightist commentators have been flipping their lid over this, and doing all they can to associate what is obviously a working class and democratic people's revolution and spin it as a Muslim conspiracy. The typical Zionist bigotry's been especially active here, with Bill Maher amongst others insisting that Arabs must be ruled by a strongman for their own good. I guess democratic rights are good and all that unless Muslims or commies are the ones wanting em.
What I've not heard a lot of comments on is that these uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt have marked the return of the working class as subjects consciously making history. No matter how these working class revolts end up, they're a huge setback for the imperialists and their financial aristocrat masters. It's an unmistakable feeling in the air. As far as I know, these two risings are the first workers revolutions since the global economic meltdown. And from what we can gather from the available evidence, prices of staple foods will only get worse from here on out, meaning that it's quite likely other revolts can be expected.
For a long time, since the financialization of the global economy in '79/80, the weakening of labor and the collapse of the Soviet Union, a lot of that "end of history" postmodernist garbage was popular. Some went so far as to say that class politics itself had completely melted away into a murky puddle of individualism. That's been proven false now.
For a few decades now, we heard the sound of one class struggling. It was anything but zen-like. Ironically it's the anarchy of revolution giving us some peace of mind now.
Revolutions tend to have a clarifying effect- so much so in this case that it's made the master of confusion himself, Zizek make very clear, succinct and direct sense! Check out his Guardian piece if you haven't seen it yet.
Just saw the CP of Egypt's list earlier. It would actually be a perfect list if only it were topped off with a socialist/workers' power demand or two:
The revolution will continue until the demands of the masses are fulfilled
Statement issued by the Communist Party of Egypt
February 1, 2011 -- The moment of truth is approaching. This is the decisive moment for the Egyptian popular forces for change; to topple the Mubarak regime. It seems that the imperialists, and their American masters in particular, are lifting their hands from him after the continuation of revolution everywhere in Egypt.
Today millions emerge to demand the departure of Mubarak. They will prevent all the conspiracies of the dictator and his gang of spies to thwart the revolution and overcome them.
The formation of a committee, which enjoys the confidence of the people and the demonstrators, is crucial to achieve the demands of the political, economic and social revolution, and we emphasise the basic demands presented by the national forces to the deputies of the people's parliament:
1. Dismissal of Mubarak and the formation of a presidential council for a transitional period of limited duration.
2. Forming a coalition government to administer the country during the transitional period.
3. To convene the election of a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution for the country based on the principle of the sovereignty of the nation and ensure the devolution of power within the framework of a democratic just civil state.
4. Prosecute those responsible for hundreds of deaths and injuries of revolutionary martyrs and victims of oppression as well as ensuring the prosecution of those responsible for plundering the wealth of the Egyptian people.
5. Long live the revolution of the Egyptian people
February 1, 2011 - Cairo
Also, I've been getting some great first-hand reports from a friend of my girlfriend's friend, so if you'd like me to forward them to you just drop me a line.
__________
Moving on to something far less important, I was quite surprised to see some bitching over at the AOL-occupied "progressive" site huffington post about the Catholic Church's comments in the UK:
LONDON (RNS) The Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, worried about the growing influence of Harry Potter and his team of young wizards, has published a guide aimed at helping teenagers deal with 21st century witchcraft.
The British church's publishing arm, the Catholic Truth Society, said its booklet, "Wicca and Witchcraft: Understanding the Dangers," offers advice to parents who find their children showing an interest in Wicca, paganism and the occult.
The society said it was concerned by the growing popularity among youths of the Potter stories and other aspects of witchcraft bordering on hero worship.
Elizabeth Dodd, the book's author and herself a former Wiccan who became a Catholic, conceded on the group's website that "Wicca and witchcraft have proved attractive, with much to offer."
She said the booklet is intended to help Catholics assess the history and beliefs of Wicca, and also how to talk to Wiccans they might meet in a pub.
Dodd also said Catholics should find "ways in which it is possible to bring witches and Wiccans to Christ and his church."
While it's a bit goofy to release a report on Wicca by way of Harry Potter, ya can't blame any religion for stating where they stand on a subject- that's what they do. What makes this even more annoying than the smugness of the huffington post are the comments, with various "pagans" crying about the centuries of the Church supposedly burning their kind at the stake. A sampling:
Talk about scary . . . Catholics, I mean.
Dodd also said Catholics should find "ways in which it is possible to bring witches and Wiccans to Christ and his church." ..so that they may be questioned and burned?
The Wiccan of course. Their days of evil were limited even before the Catholics started murdering the wiccans and pagans whole sale.
The interesting thing was how many comments didn't focus on the Church hierarchy, which would be somewhat understandable, but on the ordinary priests (the vast majority of course never abused a child) and average Catholics themselves. Not a pretty display or good advert for pagans.
You'd think witches would have a spell or charm or potion to prevent them from making
silly butthert whining over unimportant comments made by Catholics in
one corner of the world? The feined outrage is comical.
At the end of the day, so what? I've heard many wiccans mock everything about Christianity and claim it's evil. It's not hard to find examples of that. Most
wiccan/pagan adherents are taken from the Christian community, and they
know it, so why pretend you're any different when it comes to seeking adherents?
Time to drop the witch burning reference. leaving aside the massive
historical innaccuracies (those weren't really wtiches being
burned...), paganism was no picnic, either. Anglo-Saxon pagans
regularly buried their wives alive with their husbands- do you want us
to constantly reference that? (and don't try to worm out by pretending
to be "Celtic", Wicca is an Anglo-Saxon word).
It was afterall, a famous Christian Saint who condemned the very pagan practice of taking slaves (and it was the devout Christian John Brown who finally helped end
it). Does that mean we should accuse pagans of wanting to enslave us? Of
course not, it's childish and laughable, as is suggesting that
anything more than a statisically insignficant percent of Christians in this day and age would even think about burning a witch. Get over an historical tragedy
that had nothing to do with your community for Christ's sake.
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