[OccupyComms] Cairo Open Letter reply

[Manuel]

Glad to hear your words, Philp

I am striving for the human community already many years. I have achieved little and it is difficult for me just to be heard, but I am satisfied with every little progress in this direction because I truly think every effort towards this aims is worth. I think it is a way of thinking rather simple, therefore I think that it might turn up as a big stream one day soon.

In this regard I appeal to such talented people here as Ternura, Mikifus, Carolina..…I am sure they are able to move this forwards. (I have researched it, studied the main languages and cultures in the world but I am not good with new communication technologies).

Best wishes to all

Manuel

 

 

 

From: Philip Rizk [mailto:rizkphilip at googlemail.com] 
Sent: domingo, 10 de junio de 2012 16:14
To: Manuel
Cc: 917-arts-and-culture at googlegroups.com; Ternura Rojas; Karem Irene Said; Mark Barrett; pan at lists.takethesquare.net; occupycomms at email-lists.org; mikifus kimifus; carolina
Subject: RE: Cairo Open Letter reply

 

Thank you very much for your message Manuel. I agree with how close our battles lie. I was just in Berlin where though I was very disappointed with the co optation of political movements and ideas I think we could make the most of connecting with people to expand the networks we are a part of. Some members of the indignados were supposed to be on our panel (mosireen video collective) but did not show up. I will hopefully be back in Berlin at the end of July but the bottom line is to connect, to share and coordinate strategies because the more we see our battles as sharing front lines the stronger we are
Philip 

On Jun 5, 2012 4:48 PM, "Manuel" <manuel at whiteflag.info> wrote:

Hi Karem and Philp,

I am Manuel. I wanted to answer to your letter from Cairo (I feel Egypt close, I lived there in 1992 and 1993). It seems that Mark puts us in contact, but he has not sent it to you. So, I am doing it now. 

I know Carolina, Ternura and Mikifus have received it through the squares list, but I keep them posted. I noticed and appreciate Mikifus attention. 

In this letter you will see what I am striving for already many years, travelling to many countries, always working on this, and any cooperation proposal in this regard will get my full support.

Best wishes to all.

Manuel

 

Some considerations about our movement Arab Spring, Occupy, 15M:

 

1.      We all are very concerned about what is going on in Syria. Ceasefire

has ended, horrible crimes will go on.

It seems that the opposition to Assad regime put together again the

interests of Al Qaeda and the CIA because the regime there is a close ally

to Russia. Russia has there the only military base outside its territory.

2.      We see also what is going on in Egypt as an outcome of the Arab

Spring. Elections have taken place and the two candidates for presidency

are: one, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and the other one the heirs of

the former president Mubarak and also a general. I remember you that the

Muslim Brotherhood were outlawed when they killed the previous President

Anwar El Sadat after he signed peace with Israel. Then they were supposed

the authors of a number of tourists and Christian Copts killings in the

nineties.

3.      We have seen what has happened in Libya as a result of the Arab

Spring.

4.      We have seen also what has happened in Bahrain as a result of the

Arab Spring too. There the mostly Shia demonstrators claiming against the

Sunni power were quelled by Saudi troops trained by UK. In Bahrain, as

opposite to Syria, is the EEUU who docks its fleet for the Pacific there.

 

Our movement, 15M, Occupy, Arab Spring, here and there, everywhere claims

for more democracy and against capitalism.

 

Democracy, first of all, is a system successfully created in Greece upon

slavery. And the same goes for Rome.  Modern democracy is stable only in

rich countries, where also immigrants without rights occupy the lowest part

of society.

 

In not so rich countries, democracy leads to religious parties taking power,

as in the whole Arab world. In the nineties, when the FIS, Islamic Front of

Salvation, won in Algeria by more than 90%, the West supported a military

coup.

 

In other countries, not so rich countries, democracy leads to semi

dictatorial systems or populist regimes as in Latin America and maybe in

Russia, Asia and Africa.

Indeed, if democracy is “free” enough, poor people will use state power,

through a party, to redistribute country wealth even if they need to

expropriate from the rich people. This might be also our movement case

claiming against capitalism….(I know pretty well that succor those in need

is urgent....and I am for it too) but I do not think it is a way OUT.

 

This is life….No need to add that “democracy is the lesser evil, etc.” Or,

what we have is not "real democracy". I am talking about facing our problem

(human related), not about making politics (state related). And in the same

way, am using intelligence here, not ideology..

 

Therefore “more” democracy might have some sense, but it is not the way out,

nor it is fighting against capitalism because this is also the way to see

things from inside of our state but disregarding the state context which has

to compete (As China's case, a communist country, show us).

We have to open our eyes as human, Egyptians, Germans, Americans, Syrians,

Chinese, Spanish, Brazilians…. we are all the same because what is important

is to be human, no nationals, as we can understand each other, work together

and we can put ourselves in other people shoes –this is the key to a

solution, our common sense. Common sense valid not for the 99% (it actually

goes to 50% & 50%, especially if -state- violence is used) but for the 100%.

 

Let’s face reality now. I am not especially familiar with Syria domestic

problems, but I understand it that way: Every country has internal problems,

divisions. That division might be a question of races, faiths, beliefs,

clans, tribes, classes or just, what it is never missed rich and poor

people. And of course, one of those parts (to be more stable the rich) is in

power, while the others are in the “opposition” (usually as a result of a

previous war) and therefore submitted to state power (force) controlled by

the first one. I think in Syria a number of factors, I guess mainly the

invasion to Iraq and other related developments, has facilitated border

leaking and illegal weapons have been successfully introduced in the

country, because in every state only the state is allowed to have them. This

is all. There is not much to talk about who is right or who is wrong or to

talk about justice (all that is ideology again). The thing is that there is

already a FRONT there, same as happened in Libya and this is also a safe

haven for foreign intervention/help. (Not so safe as Russia is there to

check maybe, or not as safe as it was in Libya´s case)

 

Now, what is the cause of human disaster? The cause of human disaster is

that we live grouped in armed units called states, and we have to be this

way to exist in front of the other states (there is not democracy there were

an army requires a hierarchy. This is what is going on in Egypt now) This

means that a part has to control on the army, other forces and is in power,

while the other parts have to submit because for a country or armed unit to

exist among the 200 armed units in the world it has do so, as other

countries are also organized this way to compete or exist.

 

Only if we see it, we can look and find a way OUT of this misery. And this

way out is a call for the human community, which is achieved through global

common and total disarmament (process), as armies are against each other,

together it will be easy to disarm. In this way, humans will live and to

work together as EQUALS because hierarchy is no longer needed. While we

still need each other as we cannot survive each one on our own.

 

This is: we are free, no violence nobody is enforcing nobody, but it does

not mean chaos, but on the contrary, unity, human community, because we all

actually live spiritually and materially together.

 

(I have tried to tell you many times that if we are not living spiritually

and materially together already is because we are prevented by the simple

existence of the weapon in nature which has conditioned our agenda or

history generating the armed units as our way of organizing. I insist once

more; think about a weapon as experiencing its existence –not as an idea)

 

I hope our movement can play the role as cell and light of the human

community and I am calling for you to work on that purpose.

 

Best wishes.

Manuel

 

From: Mark Barrett [mailto:marknbarrett at googlemail.com] 
Sent: martes, 05 de junio de 2012 13:58
To: Karem Irene Said
Cc: rizkphilip at googlemail.com; mikifus kimifus; carolina; Ternura Rojas; Manuel
Subject: Re: Cairo Open Letter

 

Hello Philip and Karem

 

Thanks for putting us in touch Karem :)

 

I am ccing Mikifus, Manuel, Carolina and Ternura from Spain so you can all say hello and connect you to the global square. Also I know Manuel wanted to send a message to you so here is the link up. Also, Philip and Karem do consider blogging direct (anonyously if you prefer) to peoplesassemblies.org about the situation in Egypt. Happy to set you (and anyone else in the movements) with an account.     

 

In solidarity!

 

Mark

On 3 June 2012 00:21, Karem Irene Said <ksaid at stanford.edu> wrote:

Hi Mark,

 

Thanks so much for posting the letter! I have included Philip here, one of the Comrades from Cairo, so you two can be in touch. Hope it's alright that I didn't Reply All.

 

All the best,

Karem

  _____  

From: "Mark Barrett" <marknbarrett at googlemail.com>
To: "occupyus" <occupyus at googlegroups.com>, 917-arts-and-culture at googlegroups.com, pan at lists.takethesquare.net
Cc: "occupylondon" <occupylondon at groupspaces.com>, democracyvillage at googlegroups.com, "<occupycomms at email-lists.org>" <occupycomms at email-lists.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 2, 2012 2:43:55 AM
Subject: Cairo Open Letter



Posted at http://www.peoplesassemblies.org/2012/06/open-letter-from-cairo/
and
http://acampadabcninternacional.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/egypts-elections-under-military-rule-join-our-resistance-to-the-counter-revolution-by-comrades-from-cairo/
>
> 2012/6/1 <marknbarrett at googlemail.com>
>>
>> Received at PAN this evening, am in process of getting more info on it -
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I would like to pass along an open letter sent by Comrades from Cairo,
>> which explains  the counter-revolutionary strategies at work in Egypt's
>> upcoming presidential runoff:
>>
>> Egypt’s elections under military rule: Join our resistance to the
>> counter-revolution
>>
>> To you at whose side we struggle,
>> From the beginning of the Egyptian revolution, the powers that be have
>> launched a vicious counter-revolution to contain our struggle and subsume it
>> by drowning the people’s voices in a process of meaningless, piecemeal
>> political reforms. This process aimed at deflecting the path of revolution
>> and the Egyptian people’s demands for "bread, freedom and social justice."
>>
>> Only 18 days into our revolution, and since we forced Mubarak out of
>> power, the discourse of the political classes and the infrastructure of the
>> elites, including both state and private media, continues to privilege
>> discussions of rotating Ministers, cabinet reshuffles, referendums,
>> committees, constitutions and most glaringly, parliamentary and now
>> presidential elections.
>>
>> Our choice from the very beginning was to reject in their entirety the
>> regime's attempts to drag the people’s revolution into a farcical dialogue
>> with the counter-revolution shrouded in the discourse of a "democratic
>> process" which neither promotes the demands of the revolution nor represents
>> any substantial, real democracy. Thus our revolution continues, and must
>> continue.
>>
>> Egyptians now find themselves in a vulnerable moment. Official political
>> discourse would have the world believe that the technologies of democracy
>> presently spell a choice between ‘two evils’. These are: Ahmed Shafiq, who
>> guarantees the consolidation of the outgoing regime and its return with a
>> vengeance, openly promising a criminal assault on the revolution under the
>> fascist spectres of ‘security’ and ‘stability’, and the false promise of
>> protection for religious minorities (against whom the regime systematically
>> stages assault and isolation as part of its
>> fear-mongering campaigns); and Mohamed Morsi, the candidate of the Muslim
>> Brotherhood whom we are expected to imagine might ‘save’ us from the ‘old
>> regime’ through the myths of cultural renaissance - all while consolidating
>> its financial stronghold and the regional capitalist hegemony that fosters
>> and depends on it for a climate of rampant exploitation of Egypt’s people
>> and their resources. This consolidation, we are certain, will be accompanied
>> by the subsequent
>> marshalling of the military apparatus to protect the emboldened ruling
>> class of the Muslim Brotherhood from the wrath and revolt of its victims:
>> the multitude whom the leaders of the organization have historically fought
>> by condemning and outlawing our struggles for livelihood, dignity and
>> equality.
>>
>> According to election officials, most voters themselves (75%) have chosen
>> neither Shafiq nor Morsi in the first round of elections. We refuse to
>> recognize the choice of “lesser of two evils” when these evils masquerade in
>> equal measure for the same regime. We believe there is another choice. And
>> in times where perceived common sense is as far from the truth as can be, we
>> find the need to speak out once again.
>>
>> We perceive the affair of presidential elections in Egypt as an attempt by
>> the as yet prevailing military junta and its counter-revolutionary forces to
>> garner international legitimacy to cement the existing regime and deliver
>> more lethal blows to the Egyptian revolution. We ask you to join us in
>> resisting the logic of this process that seeks to further entrench the
>> counter-revolution.
>>
>> Our struggle does not exist in isolation from yours. What is revolution,
>> but the immediate and uncompromising rejection of the status quo: of
>> militarized power, exploitation, class stratification, and relentless police
>> violence—just to name
>> a few of the most basic and cancerous features of society in the present
>> moment. These structural realities are not unique to Egypt or the Egyptian
>> revolution. In both the South and the North communities resist what we are
>> meant to accept without questioning, rising up against the narrow realist
>> perspective that tells us that democracy is merely choosing the lesser of
>> ‘two evils’, and that the election of either represents a choice in
>> government rather than what it is: an affirmation of the only government
>> that exists - that of unbridled, repressive and dehumanizing
>> capitalist relations. We stand in solidarity with the masses of precarious
>> and endangered people who have chosen to defend their being from an
>> aggressive global system that is in crisis; indeed, a sputtering system
>> that, in its twilight hours, reaches for unprecedented levels of
>> surveillance, militarization and violence to quell our insurrections.
>>
>> We must make clear that despite the fact of the international political
>> establishment’s praise of the ‘democratic’ nature of the first round of the
>> Egyptian presidential elections, we strongly and categorically reject the
>> outcome of these elections for they do not represent the desires of the
>> Egyptian people that fought in the January 25th Revolution.
>>
>> Furthermore, we categorically reject the elections themselves in
>> principle, for the following reasons:
>>
>> 1- Even by the standards of the deceased and irrelevant systems of
>> representation that once
>> existed in the Global North, no ‘free and fair elections’ can take place
>> under the supervision
>> of a power-hungry military junta, vying relentlessly for continued
>> political domination and the protection of their vast economic empire, so
>> relentlessly, indeed, that no constitution exists to define the powers of
>> any presidency. How can we tolerate a military dictatorship’s supervision of
>> any political process when thousands of Egyptians continue to languish in
>> the dungeons of military prison after undergoing arbitrary arrest, campaigns
>> of systematic torture, and exceptional military tribunals.
>>
>> 2- The abuse of law in favor of the power mongering of the ruling military
>> generals: in order to run the junta's preferred candidate, former Prime
>> Minister Ahmed Shafiq, the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission has
>> simply and blatantly disregarded the law of political exclusion recently
>> passed in order to ban the candidacy of any members of Mubarak’s regime from
>> running in the presidential elections.
>>
>> 3- The absurdity of unlimited power concentrated in the hands of an
>> electoral commission made up of central figures from the Mubarak era who are
>> meant to supervise a ‘democratic’ process.
>>
>> 4- The vague programs marketed by the most strongly backed candidates fly
>> in the face of the values and object of the revolution, the very reason why
>> we are even having these elections today and the cause for which over a
>> thousand martyrs gave their lives: "bread, freedom and social justice."
>> If these elections take place and are internationally recognized the
>> regime will have received the world’s stamp of approval to make void
>> everything the revolution stands for. If these elections are to pass while
>> we remain silent, we believe the coming regime will license itself to hunt
>> us down, lock us up and torture us in an attempt to quell all forms of
>> resistance to its very raison d'être.
>>
>> We continue on our revolutionary path committed to resisting military rule
>> and putting an end to military tribunals for civilians and the release of
>> all detainees in military prisons. We continue to struggle in the workplace,
>> in schools and universities and with popular committees in our
>> neighborhoods. But our fight is as much against the governments and systems
>> supporting the regime that suppresses us. We are determined to audit loan
>> agreements that did and continue to occur between international financial
>> institutions or foreign governments with a regime that
>> claims to represent us while thriving from exploiting and repressing us.
>> We call on you to join us in our struggle against the reinforcements of the
>> counter-revolution. How will you stand in solidarity with us? If we are
>> under attack, you are also under attack for our battle is a global one
>> against the forces that seek our obedience and suppression.
>>
>> We stand with the ongoing revolution, a revolution that will only be
>> realized by the strength, community and persistence of the people; not
>> through a poisonous referendum for military rule.
>>
>> Comrades from Cairo
>>
>

 




-- 
Apathy is Dead ! http://www.flickr.com/photos/solarider/5254770064/#/photos/solarider/5254770064/lightbox/

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