From Cairo to Oakland to Detroit: Build popular resistance of the working classes and poor!

Flier produced by: The Committee for a General Strike PO Box 15455, Detroit, MI 48215 –

Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Syria. Across North Africa and the Middle East we are witness to a great rising up of the popular classes: the working classes, poor, marginalized and oppressed! Young and old, women and men!

When Mohamed Al Bouazzizia, a Tunisian street vendor, set himself on fire in an act of anger and frustration in protest of the abuse and extortion by police and agents of the Ben Ali dictatorship, his act became one of martyrdom that set in to motion a worldwide revolutionary movement. These movements are ones of mass radical action whose struggles have confronted, challenged and toppled ruling autocrats.

As the Egyptians were influenced by the events in Tunisia, the Egyptian revolution inspired events here in United States. The occupation of the state capitol building in Madison by public workers, students, and an assemblage of supporters came literally on the heels of the occupation and heroic defense of Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Banners and chants of "Fight like an Egyptian" were commonplace. The Wall St. occupation and the now ongoing Occupy movement are a direct offspring, strongly identifying with the uprisings in Tahrir.

This global struggle is dynamic and evolving. It has potential to undermine the authority, power and monopoly the system has over us all. On a popular scale it has redefined the terms of debate by calling out the inequality, austerity, and the practices of the privileged ruling classes and their proxies. It is an absolute necessity that we continue to build on this moment through education, coordination, and action.

However, there are real dangers. There exists a web of ruling class forces that oppose both the revolutionary movements in Egypt as well as the developing independent radical movements here. Whether through outright force or through manipulation and co-optation, the radical democratic movements from below are in precarious situations. To extend this global radical opening it is essential that we argue for and promote ideas and activity based on anti-authoritarianism, direct action, democracy from below, anti-capitalism, and an anti-racist internationalist solidarity.

This solidarity is in direct opposition to the interests of the US and global ruling classes. Every day, the US sends millions of dollars in aid and equipment to the Egyptian military to ensure that even if the new government in Egypt takes on the appearance of democracy, it remains bought and sold by US interests. This means continuing Egypt's alliance with Israel in keeping the Palestinian people under the boot of apartheid, and attempting to destabilize countries like Iran, while at the same time propping up authoritarian regimes in Saudi Arabia, Syria, and elsewhere.

The movements in North Africa and the Middle East have spread across the world. It resonates with Black youth in Tottenham, England who are facing mass unemployment, police abuse and few life opportunities. It resonates with Greek anarchists and Spanish indignados facing another round of cutbacks to basic services and the selling off of national resources to private corporations. It resonates with the Nigerian working class who have carried out mass strikes against government austerity, inflation and cutting of fuel subsidies. And it resonates in Detroit, where the threat of an emergency financial manager allows the mayor and union officials to cut services to a bone already long exposed.

Yet despite this global impact, this movement is incomplete. The Egyptian revolution has stalled and offers us important lessons. The Tahrir Square occupation movement initiated and kept the revolution alive in its critical first days, but it was the massive strike wave in many sectors of the economy followed by the rebellions that swept the many working class cities outside of Cairo that brought about Mubarak's resignation in February. In Egypt, the easing of pressure in the wake of Mubarak's resignation, the unclear attitudes towards the army and a too narrow view of democratic revolution has allowed the generals, the elites and their US allies to reassert control. A new revolutionary wave is needed, a second revolution focused on both extending and securing democracy but also committed to egalitarian demands for workers' control and to building widespread, lasting organizations in workplaces and neighborhoods aimed at breaking apart the army and dissolving the state. The movement must build to take direct control of the economy and to expropriate and overthrow the wealth, power and control of ruling class in Egypt and internationally.

These revolutionary lessons hold true for both the struggles of the Arab Spring and our own Occupy movement in the US. So today let us not forget the unfinished struggles in Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and elsewhere. Let us not forget those martyred in Bahrain and the many falling daily in Syria. Ultimately to practice revolution at home is the most powerful act of solidarity.

TOWARD A WORLDWIDE SPRING OF ALL PEOPLES!