The
greatest analysts of human society described real revolutions
as “festivals of the masses.” We see then that the 18 days
that overturned the Hosni Mubarak dictatorship is one of the
greatest revolutions in the history of humanity. Never before
have so many in such a condensed period of time become the
actors and writers of their own history. We congratulate the
people of Egypt for their tremendous victory over a tyrant who
for 30 years had the support of the “great powers” of the
European Union and especially of the United States until the
final moments of his reign.
.
We salute
the Tunisian people too who threw out the Ben Ali dictatorship
and launched this new chapter of world history. We salute the
Egyptian youths who called for the Jan. 25 protests. We salute
the women and men who defended with their bodies the
encampment at Tahrir Square against the counterattack of the
most reactionary forces on Feb. 2-4. We salute the textile,
petroleum and workers, the teachers, nurses, doctors and
lawyers, the Suez Canal employees, all workers whose strikes
in the last days brought a new element of strength to a
glorious revolution. We salute those who took the offensive
and attacked the headquarters of the police and the ruling
party. We salute the soldiers in Tahrir Square and the sailors
of Alexandria who fraternized with the demonstrators. We
salute especially the more than 300 martyrs of this
revolution
.
The
imperialist governments of the U.S. and Europe that now rush
to hide their 30 years of support for the dictatorship are now
asking: “What next?” They fear the revolution will spread
across North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and will help
liberate embattled Palestine from the Zionist occupation. They
fear the Egyptian success will inspire workers in the
imperialist countries to struggle harder and make political
demands. We in the IAC are confident that the Egyptian people
will soon give an answer. Our own experience with the Egyptian
community in the United States can show why we are so
optimistic.
In the
past weeks we have worked hand-in-hand with progressive
Egyptians assisting in organizing solidarity demonstrations.
For today, Feb. 12, we helped plan an emergency demonstration
in Washington, D.C., that yesterday’s victory replaced by a
series of local celebrations. We saw that the energy, the
willingness to sacrifice, the ingenuity and flexibility of the
Egyptians here, liberated by the strength of the revolution at
home, made it clear that the Egyptians will create the
institutions needed to overcome the obstacles to establishing
real national liberation and people’s democracy.
We
conclude with a message directed at progressive people inside
the United States. We recognize the hypocrisy of the U.S.
government in its current show of solidarity with a revolution
that they don’t dare dismiss or rebuke publicly. We know that
they are plotting many ways of intervening and reversing the
gains of the revolution. And we must pledge to do what we can
to prevent Washington from intervening in any way against the
people of Egypt and the entire region.
