ElBaradei - Another Saint of the Western Media

Much ado around ElBaradei quitting the Egyptian Presidential race. In practically every newspaper around the world there are reports and sophisticated political analyses on the Nobel Prize winner going home (wherever that is). But in fact, reality is different. The man is a big fat zero in his country just as Gorbatchov - another Nobelist - in Russia. In contrast to the latter, ElBaradei is probably not that hated figure, but rather insignificant, unnoticed by the Egyptian people. Gorbatchov didn't even reach 1% in the Presidential elections 1996 and ElBaradei would probably not receive more than 2%, as polls in last July showed. We can conclude that the Western Media like more to celebrate their prize-winning stars than to look at the harsh reality, where Salafists and other bearded fanatics are taking over Egypt. But mourning over an unimportant figure does not bring light into the more interesting and decisive processes going on, like the flow of millions of dollars from U.S. allied countries Qatar and Kuwait (and other anti-democratic gulf states) into the cash boxes of Islamistic parties in Egypt. 

German: Karim El-Gawhary - "Wer sind die Salafisten"

Egypt: Revolution in progress - Empire - Al Jazeera English

In addition to the previous posting, this Aljazeera discussion gives you further insights into the ongoing efforts to establish a socially balanced society in Egypt after the overthrow of Mubarak:
Egypt: Revolution in progress - Empire - Al Jazeera English
(Click here for a transcript)

It's also highly recommendable to compare the current situation with the times shortly before the revolution started. Here's a report on the elections in Egypt in 2010 illustrating the typical absurdities of a fake democracy:

News from Egypt

Do you remember the Egyptian Revolution? Shouldn't the elections already been held in September? And what about the emergency law (since 1981), has it been already abolished? What happened after the first televised day of the trial against Mubarak? Is it going on? How did some people storm the Israeli embassy in Cairo? You might be surprised ...

Other posts concerning Egypt on base2014:

A Must See Chomsky Interview

Chomsky On the Ongoing Arab Spring

Mubarak Steps Down From His Throne

Friends of a Dictator

Egypt Uprising - Standard Routine for an Unusual Event

Smart Villages and the City of the Dead

Egypt's Cyber Dissidents

A Must See Chomsky Interview

BBC journalist Jeremy Paxman is here trying to lead Chomsky up the garden path with partly provocating, but also crucial questions. Main topics are the ongoing Arab revolts and how the Western states are supposed to react, the role of technology and the internet with regard to the revolts and ... stupid people. Here are some highlights and cliffhangers:

Part I

[...]

Paxman: What should the West be doing?

Chomsky: For example, the Arab press – if you read it, including from London - is proposing that countries which have some respect in the region become involved, namely Egypt and Turkey. That would make a lot more sense than countries that are hated ... for good reasons.

Pacman: So, what do we do, just do nothing?

Chomsky: First, we're not asked to do anything. Mostly we've been asked to stay away. Just read what is being said. Mostly: "Stay away! You've got enough blood on your hands already. The question what to do is not up to us. We're not the only ones in the world.

Paxman: Sure.

Chomsky: So, say Brazil for example, is a respected country, so is Turkey. If you look at the Arab world, ask yourself: which leader is most respected? [...]

Paxman: We have an obligation - do we not – to behave responsibly.

Chomsky: Yes.

Paxman: And you're saying that the responsible thing is to simply not getting involved.

Chomsky: There may come a time when it would make sense for the West to become involved despite of its horrendous record of atrocities and crimes, in that region too [...]. But the question is: has this time come? There are other which have a much better status and may be able to do things that would lead to some sort of reconciliation or at least mediation. I mean it's very possible that Libya is going to break up into two states.

[...]

Paxman: We know [...] how you regard Bush's and Blair's record in the Middle-East. Do you think Obama has known better?

Chomsky: In many ways he's worse.

Paxman (laughing): Why? [...] Why is he worse?

Chomsky: Shall we go through the details?

Paxman: Please!

[...]

On Chomsky's famous saying "If the nuremberg Laws were applied ..." 

Paxman: You famously said that every American president since the 2^nd World War would fail in the judgement as applied in Nuremberg and therefore [...] should be hanged. [...]

Chomsky: I didn't say that. Not everybody was hanged at Nuremberg. I said that if we believed in the Nuremberg Principles, every American president would be subject to them. What the decision would be we have to check. [...]

Paxman: But Obama would fare no better if the principles were applied to him?

Chomsky: No, ... he's carrying out a major war in Afghanistan ... he's directly involved in aggressive and criminal actions carried out by Israel for example ...

--------------------------------------------------------

Part II

[..]

Paxman: Can I finish with a personal question? You're how old now?

Chomsky: 82.

Paxman: Why haven't you mellowed?

Chomsky: Because I look at the world. And there are things happening in the world which should lead anyone to become indignant, outraged, active and ... simply engaged.

[...]

Chomsky: Congress has already moved to ban funding for the most mild evironmental efforts. Furthermore, unfortunately, many of these people are true believers. The head of one of the Congressional Subcommittees, a republican, explained that the global warming can't be a problem because God promised there would be no other flood.  [...]

Paxman: But why do you care about stupid people?

Chomsky: Stupid people? These people have power! They're carrying out the actions defunding possible efforts ...

[...]

And certainly, if one looks at stupid people, we'll find them all over the place. For example, we happened to be right in the middle of a huge financial crisis, people have noticed. If you trace that back, a lot of it comes from a fanatic religious belief in what is called the efficient market hypothesis. It's pure fanaticism – dominated the economics profession, dominated the Federal Reserve. One consequence was that when an 8 trillion dollar housing bubble developed – totally unrelated to any fundamentals, completely off the hundred years history of housing prices - the profession and the Fed and the Central Bank said it's not necessary to pay attention because of the efficient markets. I mean is that very different from "God promised Noah"?

Paxman: That's great. Thank you very much!

Our Man in Romania

For all the Russians who didn't believe that Nicolae Ceausescu, the cruel dictator of Romania from 1974 to 1989, maintained warm relations to the USA (and the West in general) during the cold war era – as mentioned by Noam Chomsky in a previous post (see "Egypt Uprising ..."): You may want to take a look at Alina Stefanescu's blog

Exploring Ceausescu's warm relationship with the USA: Part 1

Exploring Ceausescu's warm relationship with the USA: Part 2

Like Egypt or Tunesia, Romania under Ceausescu

• was a tourist destination (Ceausescu eagerly welcomed tourists to the Black sea bringing foreign exchange),
• the dictator displayed an Israel-friendly Middle-East Politics,
• he proved his willingness to offer Romanians as cheap wage slaves for joint-ventures with Western firms,
• he had his torturing and killing secret police ("Securitate") between him and the ordinary people
• finally lost (financial) reality and left Romanians starving and 
• fled from the demonstrating crowd by helicopter (before he was finally killed).

Well, and the Queen gave him the Knight Grand Cross - don't forget!

from http://www.vivid.ro

Mubarak Steps Down From His Throne

Shortly after 17:00 CET, Omar Suleiman - the CIA's man in Cairo – announced in a one-minute speech that Hosni Mubarak has resigned from office and "instructed the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to run the affairs of the country".

base 2014 congratulates the people of Egypt to have succeeded in chasing away the long time oppressor and wishes good luck on the way to social freedom and fairness! Congrats especially to Egypt's Cyber Dissidents!

Just for the record, the following screenshot shows how Austrian television viewers came to know of the historical news of this day:

At exactly 17:02:31 CET, Karim El-Gawhary reporting live from

 Cairo for the Austrian ORF realizes that Mubarak has resigned.

The fate of other countries has shown that getting rid of the dictator himself - as the symbol of oppression - might lead to a balanced prosperous development - as long as his vasalls are banished, too. But Mubarak's henchmen are still in charge. His own party - the NDP -  is still in place.  

On January 28, base2014 suggested Mubarak's NDP to be the next member of the Socialist International to be expelled.

This was eventually done silently on January 31: the farewell-letter to the Secretary General of the National Democratic Party Egypt was published on the SI-website. A member of the Dutch Labour commented: "the SI’s  late calling of democratic sensibility is shameful and opportunistic. This behaviour of the SI represents part of the ideological and moral crisis of the Left, being so much a non-critical part of the global establishment.  Since the heydays of Olaf Palme, Willy Brandt and Bruno Kreisky within the SI, we have never heard anything substantial from this on paper mega-organisation any more."

The SI did not name any of the massive crimes committed and/or tolerated by the dictator's party.

Friends of a Dictator

„The U.S. has an overwhelmingly powerful role there. Egypt is the second-largest recipient over a long period of U.S. military and economic aid. Israel is first. Obama himself has been highly supportive of Mubarak. It’s worth remembering that on his way to that famous speech in Cairo, which was supposed to be a conciliatory speech towards the Arab world, he was asked by the press—I think it was the BBC—whether he was going to say anything about what they called Mubarak’s authoritarian government. And Obama said, no, he wouldn’t. He said, "I don’t like to use labels for folks. Mubarak is a good man. He has done good things. He has maintained stability. We will continue to support him. He is a friend." And so on. This is one of the most brutal dictators of the region, and how anyone could have taken Obama’s comments about human rights seriously after that is a bit of a mystery. But the support has been very powerful in diplomatic dimensions. Military—the planes flying over Tahrir Square are, of course, U.S. planes. The U.S. is the—has been the strongest, most solid, most important supporter of the regime. It’s not like Tunisia, where the main supporter was France. They’re the primary guilty party there. But in Egypt, it’s clearly the United States, and of course Israel. Israel is—of all the countries in the region, Israel, and I suppose Saudi Arabia, have been the most outspoken and supportive of the Mubarak regime. In fact, Israeli leaders were angry, at least expressed anger, that Obama hadn’t taken a stronger stand in support of their friend Mubarak.“

From an interview with Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now!

http://www.zcommunications.org/this-is-the-most-remarkable-regional-uprising-that-i-can-remember-by-noam-chomsky

Noam Chomsky

„Die Rolle der USA ist unglaublich gewichtig. Ägypten ist das Land, das - nach Israel - die meiste amerikanische Militär- und Wirtschaftshilfe erhält und zwar schon sehr lange. Obama hat Mubarak auch persönlich massiv unterstützt. Man sollte nicht vergessen, dass Obama auf dem Weg nach Kairo, wo er seine berühmte angebliche "Versöhnungsrede" an die arabische Welt hielt, von der Presse gefragt wurde (ich glaube, es war die BBC), ob er auch etwas über die 'autoritäre Regierung Mubarak' (so deren Worte) sagen werde. Obama verneinte dies. Er sagte: "Ich mag es nicht, wenn man Leuten Etiketten verpasst. Mubarak ist ein guter Mann. Er hat gute Dinge getan.  Er hat die Stabilität aufrechterhalten. Wir werden ihn weiter unterstützen. Er ist ein Freund." Und so weiter. Dabei ist er (Mubarak) einer der brutalsten Diktatoren in der Region. Es wirkte schon ein wenig seltsam, wie manche Leute Obamas Kommentare zum Thema Menschenrechte danach noch ernstnehmen konnten. In diplomatischer Hinsicht war die Unterstützung (für Mubarak) sehr wirkungsvoll. Zum militärischen Bereich ist zu sagen, dass es sich bei den Flugzeugen, die über den Tahrir-Platz (in Kairo) fliegen, natürlich um amerikanische Flugzeuge handelt. Die USA sind - und waren - der mächtigste, konstanteste und wichtigste Unterstützer dieses Regimes. Mit Tunesien kann man das nicht vergleichen. Hauptunterstützer Tunesiens war Frankreich. Es trägt in diesem Fall die Hauptschuld. Im Falle Ägyptens allerdings ist Amerika, ganz klar, der Hauptschuldige - und natürlich Israel. Von allen Ländern in der Region hat Israel - und ich glaube Saudi-Arabien - das Mubarak-Regime am unverbrämtesten unterstützt. Die Führer Israels waren wütend - zumindest gaben sie sich wütend -, weil Obama sich nicht stärker für ihren Freund Mubarak eingesetzt hat.“

Noam Chomsky in an interview with Democracy Now! Translation by Andrea Noll in ZMAG.

Egypt Uprising - Standard Routine for an Unusual Event

„The United States, so far, is essentially following the usual playbook. I mean, there have been many times when some favored dictator has lost control or is in danger of losing control. There’s a kind of a standard routine—Marcos, Duvalier, Ceausescu, strongly supported by the United States and Britain, Suharto: keep supporting them as long as possible; then, when it becomes unsustainable—typically, say, if the army shifts sides—switch 180 degrees, claim to have been on the side of the people all along, erase the past, and then make whatever moves are possible to restore the old system under new names. That succeeds or fails depending on the circumstances.“

From an interview with Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now!

http://www.zcommunications.org/this-is-the-most-remarkable-regional-uprising-that-i-can-remember-by-noam-chomsky

Noam Chomsky

„Die USA halten sich bislang an das übliche Drehbuch. Ich meine, es ist schon häufiger vorgekommen, dass ein von den USA favorisierter Diktator die Kontrolle verloren hat oder in Gefahr geriet, sie zu verlieren. Es gibt da eine gewisse routinemäßige Standardvorgehensweise - siehe Marcos (Philippinen), Duvalier (Haiti), Ceausecu (Rumänien) oder Suharto in Indonesien/Osttimor (der von den USA und Großbritannien massiv unterstützt wurde). Diese routinemäßige Standardvorgehensweise lautet: Unterstützt sie, solange es geht. Wenn es sich nicht mehr lohnt (typischer Weise ist das der Fall, wenn die Armee die Seiten wechselt), dreht euch um 180 Grad und behauptet, ihr hättet schon immer aufseiten des Volkes gestanden. Vergesst die Vergangenheit und unternehmt alle möglichen Schritte, um das alte System, unter neuer Bezeichnung, wiedereinzuführen. Ob das gelingt, hängt von den jeweiligen Umständen ab.“

Noam Chomsky in an interview with Democracy Now! Translation by Andrea Noll in ZMAG.

Smart Villages and the City of the Dead

There is a reason why Western governments remain silent during the ongoing uprising of the Egyptian people. Under Mubarak's police-state labor was cheap, Egypt a land of wage slaves, an outsourcing paradise, an offshore haven and a money laundering base - in other words, an excellent place for business.

Smart Village Office Building

"Egypt's minimum wage has been 35 Egyptian pounds (6.50 dollars) per month since 1984. When bonuses, incentives and annual increases are included, the minimum monthly salary of government employees and public sector workers reaches 289 Egyptian pounds (53 dollars). Some private sector employees earn much less."

How precarious the economic situation for the majority of the Egyptians really was and is, can be estimated by recognizing that even if both parents working in textile manufactories could not raise their income above the poverty line:

Smart Village Think Tank Lounge

"Wages of most Egyptian workers are inadequate to pay for food, clothing, shelter, and education. Even with two wage earners, the typical monthly wage of textile workers, which ranges from $45-$107 a month, is below the World Bank's poverty line of $2 a day for the average Egyptian family of 3.7 people. According to the World Bank, nearly 44 percent of Egyptians are "extremely poor" (unable to meet minimum food needs), "poor" (unable to meet basic food needs), or "near-poor" (able to meet some basic food needs)."

Not three years ago Egypt received the rather questionable title of

Outsourcing Destination of the Year at the National Outsourcing Association (NOA)’s 2008 Awards held in London, beating rivals the Philippines and Romania. Hence, call centre advertisers heap praise on this business location, since "compared [...] with other call centre locations [...] Egypt is much cheaper than other outsourced locations such as Canada, Mexico and Poland, it is marginally more expensive than India".

Since 2001, the Smart Villages Company, 80 % owned by the private sector and 20% by Mubarak's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, offers a wide range of decent facilities for foreign groups providing considerably more comfort and elegance than Cairo's City of the Dead.

If you've ever visited Egypt, you know that tourist busses usually pass by the City of the Dead, leaving sun burned guests from all over the world in a short moment of horror after catching a glimpse of the poor shapes between the shadows. (click here for Tourist Info)

The Socialist International Didn't Know?

While today Tunesia's citizens are still struggeling to get rid of any remaining member of the Trabelsi clan and friends in the new interim government (9 of them are still left), it should be noted that the Socialist International has announced 10 days ago the expulsion of the RCD – the Rassemblement constitutionnel démocratique*

SI decision on Tunisia, 17 JANUARY 2011

A decision has been taken by the President together with the Secretary General, in accordance with the statutes of the Socialist International, to cease the membership of the Constitutional Democratic Assembly (RCD) of Tunisia.

This decision, in extraordinary circumstances, reflects the values and principles which define our movement and the position of the International on developments in that country.

RCDs long-standing party leader was former President of the Tunesian Republic, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, fled to Saudia-Arabia on January 14, 2011, where he and a major part of his clan is still residing. The RCD was well known to have established the epitome of a police state, relentlessly persecuting labor unionists "through harassment, intimidation, detention, and even torture" - so reported by Human Rights Watch only in October 2010. The Report (available here) mentions the word 'torture' 33 times.

It's left to ask how many "socialist" parties around the globe using torture the International is still counting as its members? How about the NDP in Egypt?

German Article: Sozialistische Internationale schließt Ben Alis Partei aus

Egypt's Cyber Dissidents

German GEO 08/2010 reports about Egyptian bloggers. The Report entitled "Cyber Dissidenten. Demokratie 2.0" tells stories of various internet publishers bullied and/or tortured  by Mubarak's henchmen - the Egyptian police. (German mp3 coverage here)
Various Egyption bloggers - men and women - are introduced and their sufferings, fights and achievements briefly touched:

Wael Abbas - blogger - http://misrdigital.blogspirit.com

Karim el-Beheiry -  blogger - http://egyworkers.blogspot.com/

Ahmad Gharbeia - programmer and blogger from Cairo coaching other bloggers, often in internet security - http://ahmad.gharbeia.org/

Gamal Eid - Egyptian lawyer frequently defending bloggers, director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) - www.anhri.net; Gamal Eid is mentioned in this Amnesty International report: EGYPT MUST DROP CHARGES AGAINST THREE ACTIVISTS

Noha Atef - concentrates on (in her own words) " the daily experiences of citizens [..] with the Egyptian ministry of interior [...] which continues to protect the perpetrators and to deny victims access to justice" - http://www.tortureinegypt.net

Nora Younis - blogger, the hero of the "Black Wednesday, 25-05-2005" - http://norayounis.com/

Hossam el-Hamalawys - Marxist, reports of the miserable working conditions in Egypt - http://www.arabawy.org/

and others. If only 5 of these mentioned would meet offline in some Cairo café, bazar or some other public place, they could be arrested by the police due to the fact that Mubarak rules the country under emergency law since 1981. "If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria. If you want someone to disappear—never to see them again—you send them to Egypt" Robert Baer once said. The US financially and militarily support the Mubarak regime as the US Departement of State eagerly and proudly admits on its website (see section "U.S.-EGYPTIAN RELATIONS").