Egypt: Another Leaderless Revolution Succeeds!

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After 18 days of protests, the most well-funded US-backed dictatorship has fallen and the people of Egypt, like their friends in Tunisia, are victorious. In this beautiful moment, Egyptians can also revel in the fact that their revolution, as in Tunisia, was one truly by and of the people. There was no political party leading the charge, no revolutionary vanguard agitating the masses and seizing power, and no charismatic politicians at the head of the crowd. In fact, the revolution was led by the thousands and sometimes millions of people in the streets who became actors in history over the past weeks.

The bottom-up nature of the protests in Egypt has been widely remarked in the international and US media, with reactions ranging from dismay to fascination. While much of the spotlight in the West tends to focus on the role of Twitter and Facebook, these were secondary to the people who were using them as some tools among many to overcome the Mubarak regime. The protests in Egypt were distinctly anarchist and anti-hierarchical in form, if not always in demand, as highlighted below:

- spontaneous protest with little or no planning
- acts of property destruction (police stations and party headquarters) were spontaneous and carried out en masse
- spontaneous strikes and resistance by workers in the last week of protests
- self-organization of protests and neighborhood defense
- women as leaders and protesters
- open discussions and consensus decision making about how to bring the regime down, what a new society would look like, etc. in Tahrir Square
- mutual aid - everything from Christians protecting Muslims from government thugs during prayer to sharing of food and knowledge in Tahrir Square
- the lack of any spokesperson, party or centralized leadership

This is a very exciting time in world history, and the meme of ‘leaderless revolution’ is now much more present within the consciousness of US media and political culture, a plus for those waging anti-hierarchical struggles here. What the future holds for Egypt is hard to tell at this point. A great battle has been won, but with the US-backed military in control declaring that they will for the time being maintain the crony government arranged by Mubarak protesters have vowed to defend the revolution.

In the words of Alice Cooper, stay hungry, Egypt!

Egyptian and Tunisian Revolts and the Limits of Nationalism

Among all the amazing events occurring in Tunisia, Egypt, and across the Middle East and North Africa, one of the most recurrent pictures has been massive crowds of people waving and even wearing national flags. News coverage has stressed that people from "all walks of life" have come out to protest the decrepit and failing dictatorships as they cling to power, and indeed it seems to be the case that entire countries have entered into revolt against these governments. Yet among the momentous events in recent weeks, there have been reminders that these riots are about more than overthrowing dictatorships and gaining political representation.

Within the battles against repressive governments, a class war has been unleashed. While protests continue to rage in Tunisia, shopkeepers are fighting against protesters in defense of the transitional government. In Egypt, the poor and dispossessed are looting wealthier areas. It is especially notable in Egypt, where the fearful specter of the mob has been conjured by both US media and Al Jazeera, that we see comments like this emerging:

“These big guys are stealing all the money,” said Mohamed Ibraham, a 24-year-old textile worker standing at his second job as a fruit peddler in a hard-pressed neighborhood called Dar-al-Salam. “If they were giving us our rights, why would we protest? People are desperate.”

He had little sympathy for those frightened by the specter of looting. He complained that he could barely afford his rent and said the police routinely humiliated him by shaking him down for money, overturning his cart or stealing his fruit. “And then we hear about how these big guys all have these new boats and the 100,000 pound villas. They are building housing, but not for us — for those people up high.”

In a massive protest against a dictatorship, just as everywhere else, class matters. "The Egyptian people" and "the Tunisian people" are not a single unit, and in both of these countries there are serious disparities in wealth (although not as serious as in the United States...). At the end of the day, will it be the "big guys" who take power again? Let's hope not.