Solidarity with the people of Egypt

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Comment by Matthew Allen on February 19, 2011 at 15:13

Yeah, what can we do to support the people in Madison?

Comment by Lorenzo Canizares on February 19, 2011 at 15:12

And people please pay attention to what's happening inside of the belly of the beast. The struggle here (USA) is about collective bargaining rights. I am surprised to see the great reaction amongst the workers.

Comment by Matthew Allen on February 19, 2011 at 15:06

What's going on in terms of action about Egypt/Bahrain? I hear a lot of debate about theory, but not much actual organizing...

Comment by peter waterman on February 19, 2011 at 15:03

Just tried to post a gt piece on the indigenous nature of the

Egyptian revolution. Maybe it was too long, or the wrong shape, so

check it out on my blog, OK?

Comment by Rohini hensman on February 19, 2011 at 9:03

Just to clarify, Ira - I didn't think that workers could decide what to produce under capitalism. But they can debate what the priorities should be. Just to take the example you cite: should they produce flat-screen TVs? What about private cars? Chemical pesticides and fertilisers? Military hardware? What proportion of total social labour time should go into childcare and the care of the elderly and disabled? etc., etc.

Comment by AMSTERDAM COK on February 19, 2011 at 6:58

wol-san

Your article is excellent but you forgot to mention the corruption of the state-controlled labor movement called ETUF whose leader's wealth is estimated to $500 million and his deputy is $10 million. Also the workers membership to the unions is obligatory.    

 

Comment by Ira M Wechsler on February 19, 2011 at 1:00

Wol San , your piece was quite impressive and certainly laid out the challenges that face the Egyptian workers at this point. The fact is their is no true Left party of the working class in Egypt and one great advance would be its development. WE would not want the workers' agenda to be coopted by so-called progressive bourgeois, who merely desire more freedom for them to compete against the entrenched local capital.

Comment by Ira M Wechsler on February 19, 2011 at 0:37

Well Rohini, I agree we must wage an all out war to bring international solidarity. It must extend way beyond where we re at noew with exchange of information and support petitions and some rallies. WE must have international industrial actions built by rank and file activists across the boss-created borders of nations. Auto workers must unite internationally for unified action . This is a key industry where the bosses have pushed nationalism successfully, having the production workers believing in many cases that auto workers in other lands are their enemies. I never saw a Japanese or Mexican auto worker lay off any American auto worker. It has been the bosses who often have plants all over the world who do this.

As far as determining how much of each commodity we produce , that will NEVER happen under capitalism. That would fundamentally alter use-value versus exchange value relations under capitalism.  If we had the power to do this we would have the power to smash their system and run society for our own needs. If we had the power to do this we would just as well have the power to abolish the wage system and distribute to all workers what they need and not produce what is not useful to our class such as luxury yachts, mansions, private aircraft, carbon gases, and perhaps too many flat screen TVs as an example. I see a contradiction in your excellent proposals for change and what can be achieved without complete control of the state and production. Perhaps we can continue this discussion in another forum as Peter has suggested, though I think we are bound to touch on these issues to some extent in any forum , because this system is the great evil of the ages.

Comment by Matthew Allen on February 18, 2011 at 23:28

I want to do something about what's happening in Bahrain. I'm in Tokyo. Does anyone know anyone else on this website who's in Tokyo? I went to protest the Egyptian embassy, but it was just me...

Comment by Wol-san Liem on February 18, 2011 at 16:40

I've been reading the content here, but refraining from commenting. I just posted an English version of an article written for a Korean audience on my blog and here. I'd be interested in comments. The main point was to get information on the revolution and the role of unions to people/activists in Korea, but there is also a comment on what can be learned from Korean history that might be useful in relation to Egypt (the whole region?).

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