State of the Union: The Revolution In Egypt

By Zach Foster

This is one in a series of articles responding to issues discussed by the President in his 2011 State of the Union address.

There is political turmoil in Egypt as the future of the Arab Republic is unknown.  People have been taking to the streets, protesting, even rioting, calling for an immediate end to the current twenty-nine year-old Presidency of Hosni Mubarak, as well as an end of the tenures of many members of the government.  This five-day old revolution has begun a critical point in which the people have rejected government authority and are demonstrating how they are no longer under its control.  Mubarak instituted martial law and a curfew which police and the army are actively failing to enforce as they take a semi-neutral stance in the matter.  Many government officials as well as members of the parliament have simply packed up and left the country.  It is clear that the Egyptian people are tired of the current regime and they simply want true democracy and self determination.  The popular uprising may turn the Arab Republic into a phoenix, as the regime is poised to fall while from its ashes the republic is ready to be reborn in democracy that comes about of the people, by the people, and for the people.

The world is watching the Egyptian people of the Arab Republic, especially in the United States.  Socialist and Communist parties and organizations are waving red flags, raising banners, and claiming solidarity with the working class of Egypt.  This is what Socialists and Communists do whenever there is a major change in the world: they shout solidarity, pledge moral support, and ride the coat tails of revolutions and secular political movements from the safety of their college campuses and video blogs.  Not since the days of the Abraham Lincoln brigade have American Reds had the courage to actually fight to oppose tyranny.  Yet here they are, having their political demonstrations, looking good for the newspapers and the cameras.  However, their bubble of delusion must be burst.  The uprising in Egypt is not a proletarian revolution, but rather a movement of all the Egyptian people, rich or poor, land-owning or not, who have felt betrayed or victimized by the abuses of the Mubarak regime.  The Egyptian people of all classes do not identify with Western leftist “intellectuals,” nor do they wish to.

On the right, American conservatives are watching the revolution and wondering what Barack Obama is going to do about it, waiting intently and hungrily to have something else with which to demonize his Presidency.  There is much talk of the Suez canal.  “Oh no!  Egypt controls the Suez canal!  What will this do to world peace?  What is Barack Obama going to do about this?!”  The answer is: nothing.  There is nothing the President can do, nor anything that he should do.  It is true that there are several hundred American troops there as part of the 1,500~ strong Multinational Force and Observers on the Sinai Peninsula.  They are not in danger.  The MFO’s mission is strictly to deter Egypt and Israel from going to war, nothing more.  The Constitution makes no provisions whatsoever for intervention in foreign affairs, and Congress takes no actions against peaceful movements.  The fate of the Arab Republic is up to the Egyptian people and no one else.  Let peace and democracy reign in Egypt and throughout the Middle East.