Revolts from Tunisia to Afghanistan disrupt U.S. rule

By Gene Clancy

Apr 6, 2011

The historical tsunami that continues to shake the Middle East and Southwest Asia has the apologists and strategists of imperialism scrambling to catch up with events. “We have no permanent allies, only permanent interests” seems to be their slogan, but this “pragmatic” approach is fraught with unexpected dangers and contradictions.

In JORDAN, the U.S. has put its hopes on King Abdullah, who has promised preemptive reforms to put a kind face on his brutal monarchy. The imperialists were hoping to avoid the revolutions that have engulfed Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia and Bahrain and that is now troubling neighboring Syria.

The Jordanian regime showed its true character on March 25 when security forces launched themselves into thousands of demonstrators, beating them with sticks, throwing rocks and using water hoses. This led to the first deaths in the uprisings there. The broad-based opposition forces include not only Islamists, but “teachers who want unionization and poor day laborers seeking higher wages.” (Time, March 25)

Meanwhile, another U.S. client state, where the U.S. already has more than 100,000 troops and countless mercenaries on the ground, has been racked by protests caused by anti-Muslim activities going on half a world away within the borders of the U.S. Anger over the burning of the Muslim holy book by a Florida-based reactionary religious sect fueled a second day of angry rebellion in AFGHANISTAN. Kandahar activists set cars and shops ablaze April 2 in a demonstration in which nine protesters were killed. Earlier a crowd of protesters stormed a U.N. compound in an outpouring that left four Afghan protesters and seven foreign U.N. employees dead.

The burning of the Qu’ran took place on March 20 under the supervision of Terry Jones, who had promised last September, after backing down from previous threats to burn the Qu’ran, never to burn the Muslim holy book. The action took place the same week that a U.S. Congressional committee launched a vicious attack on Muslims residing in the U.S.

In still another U.S. client state, YEMEN, demonstrations reached new heights in size and ferocity. Hundreds of thousands packed a square in the capital of Yemen on April 1. In what appeared to be the largest demonstration in more than a month, protesters pressed demands that the country’s longtime ruler, Ali Abdullah Saleh, step down.

Many mosques in the capital shut down — a move unprecedented for Friday, the Muslim day of prayer — as worshipers and clerics streamed to the square outside Sana’a University.

Protesters filled the plaza and spilled out along three adjoining streets. Previous demonstrations have taken up the square and at most two of the streets that feed into it.

The Sana’a crowd was supported by soldiers with anti-aircraft guns and Kalashnikov rifles, who set up half a dozen checkpoints around the square to protect the protesters. Recently more than 50 people have been massacred by security forces.

Women and children, their faces painted in the colors of the Yemeni flag or the word “Leave,” joined the protests.

There were also anti-Saleh protests in at least 14 other provinces around the country on April 1. Witnesses said hundreds of thousands of people marched in villages and cities across the nation, but especially in the provinces of Aden, Taaz and Hadramout.

SYRIA, which has historically acted independently from the U.S., has also experienced widespread protests. The imperialist media have covered them extensively, sensationalizing the violence and downplaying the efforts of the government of President Bashar al Assad to deal with the unrest. Like all countries, Syria has been deeply affected by the worldwide economic crisis.

Assad announced salary and pension increases for state employees, worth an estimated $800 million for the year 2011. He has also ordered an immediate investigation into the recent deaths of some protesters and the formation of a committee to draft new laws on national security and counterterrorism. (New York Post, April 1)

In EGYPT, where continuing demonstrations are keeping the transitional government’s feet to the fire, there are diplomatic developments which are worrisome to imperialist interests in the Middle East. At a press conference on March 30, Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Al-Arabi said that his country would turn over a new leaf in its relations with all countries and with political parties in all countries — including Iran and Hezbollah. He said that Iran is not an enemy state and that Hezbollah is part of the politico-social environment in Lebanon.

Al-Arabi added that Egypt would adopt a different policy vis-à-vis the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip beginning next week.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi welcomed the statements and said that this would help security in the region. (Middle East Media Research Institute [MEMR], March 30)

These statements represent a complete reversal of the former Egyptian regime’s policy, which had been to follow the policies of the U.S. and Israel, especially with regard to the brutal and illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza.