Preface to Revolts in the Maghreb

Preface

That the revolts and revolutions that swept the countries of the Arab world, herein referred to Middle East and North Africa (MENA), is an inspiration to hundreds of millions of disenchanted working people, youths and the oppressed globally, is only an understatement. Indeed, it has changed the political landscape of not only the Arab world, but also indeed the whole world. It has brought back on a global scale the culture of revolts and mass movement. Tearing the theory of the Francis Fukuyama of this world to shreds, the revolts and revolutions in MENA has brought back to consciousness class struggles against iniquitous capitalism.

The revolutions sparked off by the self-immolation of a young Mohammed Bouazizi, was given a class character when working and poor Tunisians decided to end the regime of corruption and perfidy. The world woke to the heroic mass movements of Tunisian workers and youths, who mobilized against the regime of Ben Ali. But the dust of Tunisian revolution was yet to settle when long-suffering Egyptians, mobilized to Tarhir Square to remind Mubarak that he was ruling over humans and not animals. The successful removal of Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak in Tunisia and Egypt respectively emboldened the oppressed in other Arab countries to challenge their various imperialist minions. From Libya to Syria, Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria, Djibouti, etc. working people, the poor, youth, unemployed, and even the infirm braced the bullets of the imperialism-propped regimes to demand not just regime change, but semi-consciously, a system change.

The revolutions, with its mass gatherings in Squares, peaceful organization, call for end to regime, etc. sent clear messages to working and poor people in the democratic West and third world to take the road to mass movement. Of course, there have been mass movements in several countries prior to the MENA revolutions. However, the MENA revolts and revolutions with its highly contagious nature and inspiring mass mobilization further instigated the culture of revolt.

The MENA revolutions have thrown up a lot issues relating to the current state of global capitalism in its neo-liberal age. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the discourse on revolutionary vanguard parties and leadership, and the economic programmes necessary to move society forward, has never been more vital. The revolutions and revolts have raised again, the state of working class movement is, and what ideas and programmes are needed to build alternative to the global horror of capitalism. Supports the western capitalist governments gave to the ousted regimes in MENA further underscore the inability of capitalist rulers to move society forward.

While the revolutions and revolts have shown the potential in mass movements, they have also shown the limits and challenges facing humanity if revolts and revolutions are not carried to logical conclusion that will change society not just politically but also economically and socially. The rise of Islamists and violent rightwing groups in Libya and Syria and the degeneration of these societies, not to mention the reemergence and consolidation of rotten ruling caste in not only Egypt and Tunisia, but also in other Arab countries where mass revolts weakened regimes, are clear indications of this reality. This trend tends to encourage capitalist pundits to rubbish the idea of mass movement and revolution as means of changing societies for the better.

It is therefore the contention of the writer that revolutions in themselves are not an end, but a means to the end. Without understanding the stage of global capitalism, its extent and limits, mass movements may not be able to use a proper means to achieve a better end – an egalitarian, socialist society. Moreover, the limitations in the revolutions and revolts, aside being a product of imperialist manipulations, also reflect the stage of class consciousness among working class and the oppressed, and also the lack of revolutionary platform of working people. However, there is the need to separate the setbacks of the revolutions from the cynicism being sold by pro-capitalist pundits. More than this, an essential tool in the analysis of the revolutions in MENA is the need to debunk and combat pro-capitalist ideologies that tend to subordinate the revolutions in MENA and its aftermath under capitalist triumphalism. As a result of absence of clear-headed leaderships in these revolutions, various strands of capitalist elites and oppositions have emerged to lay claim to leaderships of these revolutions; wanting to reorient them towards revival of neo-liberal capitalism.

It is with this background that this material is put forward to address some of the issues that have arisen in the MENA revolutions, and to place the revolutions in the context of global capitalist rule. This is with the aim of contributing to the arming, theoretically, the revolutions in MENA, but more importantly mass movements globally. The essays in this publication address such contemporary issues as relating to the role of youth and working class, the role of social media and mass media, the state of working class movements, aside addressing the fundamental political economic foundation of these revolts and revolutions.

The essay is aimed at arming working class activists and youths globally with ideas and programmes on how to build genuine revolutionary movement in this epoch, and the challenges facing the working class movement. It also aims to contribute to knowledge on not only political economy of MENA but also the political economy of global capitalism. While various political economic ideas are reviewed, using the MENA revolutions as background, the essay also practically proposed what genuine working class activists, organizations, and political economic scholars should be aiming at.

The revolutions and revolts are undergoing different stages, and almost every day there are new developments, with the revolutions and counterrevolutions staring at each other. Indeed, this essay was started in early 2011, but as a result of fast development of events in revolting society, it has to be constantly updated, which extended its lifespan to three years. This task of concluding the essay in such volatile situations posed a serious problem when one is writing a long and long-lasting essay that need to make some generalization and abstraction from the revolution.

This essay also relied on lots of data and also gained from analyses through various sources, thus the long footnotes. However, the core of the arguments and ideas enunciated in these essay, are those of the writer. Of course, relying on Marxist dialectical analysis of epistemology, ideas, knowledge and innovations are themselves social, but this should not imply that all ideas are mere plagiarism. Individual ideas – aside reflecting the worldview of their proponents – show levels of ability to abstract from reality. Therefore, while relying on so many sources for the data and facts, the central arguments and ideas enunciated in the essay are those of the writer; reflect his worldview and understanding of the society.

The writer, being a Marxist of Trotskyist tendency, understands that the overthrow of capitalist rule and enthronement of a democratic socialist system is the only means of ending the nightmares of poverty, suffering and misery, not only in MENA but throughout the world. In order to achieve this, the need to build genuine working class organizations and leadership, with democratic socialism boldly written on their front banners, is vital in this direction. Moreover, that the MENA revolutions have not achieved this aim reflect the political situation since the collapse of the Soviet Union and Eastern European nationalized economies. More than this, the writer explained that the revolutions in MENA, while highlighting the bankruptcy of the autocratic but corrupt regimes in the Arab world, is actually a reflection of the failure of global neo-liberal capitalism, introduced about two and half decades ago.

It is hoped that this essay achieve its aim of theoretically arming new generations of activists, working and young people. It is also hoped that it helps to deepen the understanding of scholars and activists on the current stage of global capitalism; and why in spite of huge and unprecedented wealth capitalism has unleashed, it cannot move humanity forward.

Kola Ibrahim
23 December 2013

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